Monday, October 31, 2005
National Children's Book Week
A celebration of the written word, Children's Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes and bookstores. Through Children's Book Week, the Children's Book Council encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books. Children's Book Week will be observed November 14-20, 2005.
Since 1919, educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated Children's Book Week during the week before Thanksgiving. Children's books and the love of reading are celebrated with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book related events.
A celebration of the written word, Children's Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes and bookstores. Through Children's Book Week, the Children's Book Council encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books. Children's Book Week will be observed November 14-20, 2005.
Since 1919, educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated Children's Book Week during the week before Thanksgiving. Children's books and the love of reading are celebrated with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book related events.
From the Children's Book Council here are 25 Ideas for Celebrating Children's Book Week (many of which can be adapted to your child care):
- Host a reading and discussion event by a local children's book author. Or host an art exhibit and discussion event by a local children's book illustrator. For more information on hosting an author or illustrator visit, please visit the Author & Illustrator Visits page of the Children's Book Council Website.
- Hold a Poster Contest.
- Hold a book exchange day. Help your children explore new, yet popular, books and genres. Each student should bring a favorite book they own to class. All the books should be put in a box and handed out at random to the class until each person has a book that is new to them. Encourage the students to read their new books.
- Show students how books and reading are the gateways to learning. Set aside a class period in which each student reports on the most useful fact discovered and the title of the book in which it was found.
- Combine story hour with a craft for an afternoon of fun.
- Send "Happy Children's Book Week" e-mails to friends and family. Include a recommendation for favorite new children's book. Attach our "Imagination" animation from Michael Chesworth.
- Donate books to a local family shelter or children's hospital. Students should donate books they own that have been sitting their room or home unused. Collect the books in a big box during Children's Book Week.
- Ask your class to write about the most interesting character they have ever encountered while reading. Emphasize that this is different than a favorite character sketch. An interesting character does not need to be loveable, brave, or fun. Students should explain why this character is interesting to them, as well as why this character may or may not be a favorite.
- Invite students to bring in their favorite thing to read: newspapers, comic books, graphic novels, magazines, and of course, books. Foster a discussion on how each of these media treats a particular subject. You might even spark an informal debate over the question: can any medium treat a subject as completely as a book?
- Find a book set in your area and take a tour, using the book as a guide. It's a novel way to sightsee.
- Raise money to help a library, school, or day care center in your area to buy books. This is an excellent way to strengthen your town through community involvement.
- Play In What Book? A Classroom Battle of the Books.
- Inspire writing genius in your classroom. Pass out half of a chapter of a novel to be read in class. Ask your students to complete the chapter and then write the first paragraph of the next chapter. Pick an interesting book-- preferably one that no one in class has read--and watch those minds at work.
- Hold a Favorite Book Awards ceremony.
- Create your own books and stories. Use our Story Starters or begin from scratch in a blank book.
- Start Children's Book Week with a challenge to your students to read a book a day during the week. Extend the challenge to reading a book a week for the rest of the year. Hand out copies of our Children's Book Week Book Lists as a starting point for finding books to read.
- Take a trip to a children's hospital or nursing home and have students read to the patients and residents.
- Organize a Read-In.
- Write to your mayor or governor and have her issue an official proclamation declaring the week before Thanksgiving Children's Book Week.
- Choose a short story and work with your students to adapt it into a play. The exercise of turning prose and narration into dialogue and set design can illustrate the amount of sensory imagery you can pack into language. Begin the adaptation as early as possible in the school year and stage the play during Children's Book Week.
- Work on some Children's Book Week puzzles. Have students create some crossword puzzles and word searches of their own.
- Set aside a time period each day—10 or 20 minutes—for silent reading.
- Somehow, "book review" sounds better than "book report." Hold a contest asking students to submit 75-word reviews of their favorite books. Post the reviews in the library, on the class website, or in the school paper.
- Show and Read: Pick the names of ten students and ask them to select an illustrated book from the library to read in class during Children's Book Week. Have two ready each day, to pass around for reading aloud, to ensure that everyone gets a chance to read aloud.
- Host a Children's Book Week party.
Reading is one of the greatest things you can do with the children in your care. If you want to learn more about the importance of early literacy, I recommend taking some of the SEEDS of Early Literacy classes now being offered in Minnesota.
Have fun reading!
Friday, October 28, 2005
CACFP?
How many providers are members of the CACFP (Child and Adult Food Program)? If not, you should certainly consider it. One of the best explanations promoting this program comes for the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association
If you do currently belong to a food program, great! If not, there are many available options for you. If you are from Minnesota and would like a list of CACFP programs (no recommendations, just a listing) send me an e-mail.
How many providers are members of the CACFP (Child and Adult Food Program)? If not, you should certainly consider it. One of the best explanations promoting this program comes for the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association
“Why should I join the CACFP?
CACFP from a Business Income PerspectiveConsider the following example:
(Example uses rates as of July 2005)
Tier I Tier II
Breakfast $ 1.06 $ .39
Lunch/Supper $ 1.96 $ 1.18
Snacks $ .58 $ .16
Totals $ 3.60 $ 1.73
Tier I Example: Tier II Example:
6 children x $3.60 = $ 21.60 6 children x $1.73 = $ 10.38
5 days per week = $108.00 5 days per week = $ 51.90
4 weeks per month= $432.00 4 weeks per month = $207.60
Would you say no to $432.00 a month additional income? Even if you were Tier II, would you say not to $207.60 per month? According to Tom Copeland, Redleaf National Institute, the average amount of time per month for Food Program record keeping is 1-2 hours. Even at Tier II rates, you would earn almost $100.00 per hour for record keeping that you would be required to do anyway. Rule 2 standards require providers to keep records of menus and foods served to children to document that nutritional guidelines have been met.Sometimes providers are concerned that the Child and Adult Care Food Program reimbursement raises their income and the tax liability or they are concerned about losing the cost of food served as a tax deduction. The Food Program does increase your taxable income, and the reimbursement also decreases the amount you can deduct as food expense on your taxes. However, providers only pay a percentage of income as taxes. This means that you lose only a part of this additional income to taxes. A person does not turn down his or her paycheck because a percentage of it goes to pay taxes. This is the same principle. You may lose a portion of this income as a tax liability, but providers keep the majority of it as additional income for their family.”
If you do currently belong to a food program, great! If not, there are many available options for you. If you are from Minnesota and would like a list of CACFP programs (no recommendations, just a listing) send me an e-mail.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Celebrating Halloween
Monday is Halloween, the time for little spooks and goblins to have fun. I believe that, in child care, we should take every advantage to celebrate events, occasions, and holidays. It is even better if we can use these celebrations as learning experiences.
Here are some of my favorite links for Halloween crafts and fun things to do. Look them over and find some way to celebrate with the kids in your care…
DLTK Crafts has everything from coloring sheets to songs to costume ideas. Lots of fun things!
Kids Domain has quite a few craft ideas for Halloween.
Enchanted Learning is a membership site, but you may pick up some ideas from the main page or perhaps you would like to join for all the craft information they share.
All Crafts has several patterns and craft ideas.
Craft Library has craft ideas, recipes, and even some fun stories.
Amazing Moms has tons of information about things to do for Halloween.
Kiddy House has crafts, games, coloring activities and more.
There are many more sites, but these are some of my favorites. Enjoy yourself this Halloween. And if you live in Anoka, Minnesota don’t party too much.
Monday is Halloween, the time for little spooks and goblins to have fun. I believe that, in child care, we should take every advantage to celebrate events, occasions, and holidays. It is even better if we can use these celebrations as learning experiences.
Here are some of my favorite links for Halloween crafts and fun things to do. Look them over and find some way to celebrate with the kids in your care…
DLTK Crafts has everything from coloring sheets to songs to costume ideas. Lots of fun things!
Kids Domain has quite a few craft ideas for Halloween.
Enchanted Learning is a membership site, but you may pick up some ideas from the main page or perhaps you would like to join for all the craft information they share.
All Crafts has several patterns and craft ideas.
Craft Library has craft ideas, recipes, and even some fun stories.
Amazing Moms has tons of information about things to do for Halloween.
Kiddy House has crafts, games, coloring activities and more.
There are many more sites, but these are some of my favorites. Enjoy yourself this Halloween. And if you live in Anoka, Minnesota don’t party too much.
Monday, October 24, 2005
I spent last week at the Sharing the Wisdom conference for early childhood trainers and consultants in Minnetonka (Minnesota). Sponsored by MECSATA (Minnesota Early Childhood and School-Age Trainers Association), this is always one of my favorite conferences of the year and I always learn something. I will probably be sharing some of the things I learned and topics that we discussed in this forum in the upcoming days.
MECSATA is an organization committed to promoting and supporting early childhood and school age trainers in the areas of professional growth and development, leadership, and advocacy for the field. This organization makes every active effort to be inclusive of the personal, cultural, and professional diversity of people desiring membership and leadership within the organization. MECSATA provides opportunities to network and develop contacts within the field and encourages the professional development of trainers through conferences, meetings, speakers, newsletters, and many other activities.
I am a member of MECSATA and think it is a wonderful organization. If you are an early childhood trainer in Minnesota, I encourage you to consider becoming a member. It's too late for this year's conference, but I will remind you when next year's event comes around. Hope to see you there!
MECSATA is an organization committed to promoting and supporting early childhood and school age trainers in the areas of professional growth and development, leadership, and advocacy for the field. This organization makes every active effort to be inclusive of the personal, cultural, and professional diversity of people desiring membership and leadership within the organization. MECSATA provides opportunities to network and develop contacts within the field and encourages the professional development of trainers through conferences, meetings, speakers, newsletters, and many other activities.
I am a member of MECSATA and think it is a wonderful organization. If you are an early childhood trainer in Minnesota, I encourage you to consider becoming a member. It's too late for this year's conference, but I will remind you when next year's event comes around. Hope to see you there!
Thursday, October 20, 2005
If you are not already aware, the last legislative session in Minnesota has made changes to the rule concerning care passenger restraint systems training. You can read the requirement in original language, but the summary is that family providers and center staff that are licensed by the Dept. of Human Services are required to complete training on the proper use and installation of child restraint systems in motor vehicles prior to transporting a child under the age of nine. This needs to be a one hour training by a trainer who is certified by the Dept of Public Safety and be repeated at least once every five years. This rule goes into effect January 1st, 2006.
This change brings several questions to mind concerning liabilty and insurance issues, but I will leave those to people more knowledgable and better informed than I. My concern is that I have been hearing from providers that this is not an issue that concerns them because they do not transport children. In my child care program, I do not normally transport children myself. However, the potential exists (especially in rural Minnesota) that in case of emergency, without a helper or sub care, I may have to transfort children. An emergency situation such as this is not addressed in the rule and without the mandatory training, this transportation would make you out of compliance with your license requirements. For this reason, I strongly recommend that all family child care providers complete this training when offered before January 1st.
Though all the issues concerning implementation of this training has not yet been worked out, I would expect that we will start seeing this training offered in upcoming training schedules from the CCR&R in your area.
This change brings several questions to mind concerning liabilty and insurance issues, but I will leave those to people more knowledgable and better informed than I. My concern is that I have been hearing from providers that this is not an issue that concerns them because they do not transport children. In my child care program, I do not normally transport children myself. However, the potential exists (especially in rural Minnesota) that in case of emergency, without a helper or sub care, I may have to transfort children. An emergency situation such as this is not addressed in the rule and without the mandatory training, this transportation would make you out of compliance with your license requirements. For this reason, I strongly recommend that all family child care providers complete this training when offered before January 1st.
Though all the issues concerning implementation of this training has not yet been worked out, I would expect that we will start seeing this training offered in upcoming training schedules from the CCR&R in your area.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Those of you who are family child care providers in the State of Minnesota are will aware of the problems, expense, and confusion caused by the 2003 change in law concerning licensing fees being set by the counties across the state.
To help correct this situation, this past session, legislation was passed requiring a group to review the feasibility of standardizing licensing and bureau of criminal apprehension fees being charged to license family child care providers and to bring back a recommendation to the legislature by January 15, 2006. The exact language of the bill is:
Sec. 18. [RECOMMENDATIONS ON STANDARD STATEWIDE CHILD CARE LICENSE FEE; REPORT.] The commissioner of human services in conjunction with the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators and the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association, shall examine the feasibility of a statewide standard for setting license fees and background study fees for licensed family child care providers, and shall make recommendations on the feasibility of a statewide standard for setting license fees and background study fees in a report to the chairs of the senate and house of representatives committees having jurisdiction over child care issues. The report is due January 15, 2006.
The Department of Human Services Child Development Services and Licensing is coordinating the report, information gathering and dialogue about the issue with the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association and the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators.
Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association is seeking input from the family child care community in a variety of ways.
1. We are making this questionnaire available at this conference, on our website, and we will mail it out both to our Association Membership, our Food Program Participants and to our statewide contact list.
2. We are looking for a small number of providers who may be available to attend one meeting, do an on-line discussion, or to do a conference call discussion regarding standardization of licensing fees and the issues.
Please take just a few minutes to offer your feedback about the feasibility of standardizing licensing fees and about fees in your county.
Download the Questionnaire from the MLFCCA website.
To help correct this situation, this past session, legislation was passed requiring a group to review the feasibility of standardizing licensing and bureau of criminal apprehension fees being charged to license family child care providers and to bring back a recommendation to the legislature by January 15, 2006. The exact language of the bill is:
Sec. 18. [RECOMMENDATIONS ON STANDARD STATEWIDE CHILD CARE LICENSE FEE; REPORT.] The commissioner of human services in conjunction with the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators and the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association, shall examine the feasibility of a statewide standard for setting license fees and background study fees for licensed family child care providers, and shall make recommendations on the feasibility of a statewide standard for setting license fees and background study fees in a report to the chairs of the senate and house of representatives committees having jurisdiction over child care issues. The report is due January 15, 2006.
The Department of Human Services Child Development Services and Licensing is coordinating the report, information gathering and dialogue about the issue with the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association and the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators.
Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association is seeking input from the family child care community in a variety of ways.
1. We are making this questionnaire available at this conference, on our website, and we will mail it out both to our Association Membership, our Food Program Participants and to our statewide contact list.
2. We are looking for a small number of providers who may be available to attend one meeting, do an on-line discussion, or to do a conference call discussion regarding standardization of licensing fees and the issues.
Please take just a few minutes to offer your feedback about the feasibility of standardizing licensing fees and about fees in your county.
Download the Questionnaire from the MLFCCA website.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Almost makes you think about moving to Iowa, doesn't it...
Early childhood, alas, is a battleground here
Lori Sturdevant
Star Tribune, October 14, 2005 at 4:51 PM
When the governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, paid a visit a few days ago, I asked how he and his Legislature get anything done. The partisan split one state south is even meaner than Minnesota's: 25-25 in the Senate; 51 R's, 49 D's in the House.
Next thing I knew, the two-term Democrat was talking up early childhood education.
"The goal of governing is to figure out where the common ground is," Vilsack said. He found a fertile patch around efforts to improve the affordability and quality of child care. In the past three years, Iowa pumped $50 million more in state funds toward those goals -- $22 million this year -- without raising taxes to do it. He'll push for more next year.
Vilsack's Strong Start initiative was a natural for the state with the third-highest percentage of women in the workforce, he said. It includes higher child care subsidies for low-income parents, quality ratings for child care providers, training for child care workers (with the carrot of higher reimbursement for a trained staff), tax credits for preschool tuition, and grants for local efforts at parent education.
So what's going on in the state with the highest percentage of women in the workforce?
Let's see: Minnesota cut $150 million from child care support for low-income families in the past three years. Legislators cut, then partially restored, funds for Head Start and the state's much-admired Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program.
Maddeningly, the 2005 session also killed funding for a survey of kindergartners' school readiness. Three years of that effort produced the alarming finding that only about half of Minnesota kindergartners arrive at school fully prepared for its lessons. Apparently, that's news legislators would rather not hear.
Those changes were pushed by Republicans and opposed by DFLers. Early childhood doesn't sit on common ground in Minnesota. It's on a battleground.
Why? I puzzled over that question Tuesday night at Sabathani Center in south Minneapolis, at a public forum convened by the Legislature's Early Childhood Caucus.
Two things were striking about that event. One was that people who care about child care just kept coming. A dimly lit room prepared for about 100 people overflowed with more than 200 grown-ups and kids.
The room buzzed with resentment over the escalating cost low-income parents must pay for licensed child care, and the stress the state's retreat has put not only on household budgets but also on child care providers. Several inner-city providers said they aren't sure they'll be in business in six months, because so many of the parents they serve can no longer afford their services.
The other conspicuous fact was this: There wasn't a Republican elected official in the room.
Five legislators represented the Early Childhood Caucus. All were DFLers. Members of and/or candidates for the city's school board, City Council and Park Board were there in force -- all DFLers.
Despite the strength in numbers the forum produced, the absence of Republicans made the big showing seem futile, and the cause marginal.
State Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, was obliged to explain that the Early Childhood Caucus she helped organize includes Republicans, too -- dozens of them. Further, the Minneapolis event was one of a series of forums, and at those in the suburbs, Republican legislators were in attendance.
But last session, some of those same Republicans were willing to cut child care help for poor families, even as they boasted about increases in ECFE and Head Start. They should have heard what the parents said at Sabathani: Licensed child care is the only shot many low-income kids get at preschool, and that shot is being taken away from them.
Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist.
Early childhood, alas, is a battleground here
Lori Sturdevant
Star Tribune, October 14, 2005 at 4:51 PM
When the governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, paid a visit a few days ago, I asked how he and his Legislature get anything done. The partisan split one state south is even meaner than Minnesota's: 25-25 in the Senate; 51 R's, 49 D's in the House.
Next thing I knew, the two-term Democrat was talking up early childhood education.
"The goal of governing is to figure out where the common ground is," Vilsack said. He found a fertile patch around efforts to improve the affordability and quality of child care. In the past three years, Iowa pumped $50 million more in state funds toward those goals -- $22 million this year -- without raising taxes to do it. He'll push for more next year.
Vilsack's Strong Start initiative was a natural for the state with the third-highest percentage of women in the workforce, he said. It includes higher child care subsidies for low-income parents, quality ratings for child care providers, training for child care workers (with the carrot of higher reimbursement for a trained staff), tax credits for preschool tuition, and grants for local efforts at parent education.
So what's going on in the state with the highest percentage of women in the workforce?
Let's see: Minnesota cut $150 million from child care support for low-income families in the past three years. Legislators cut, then partially restored, funds for Head Start and the state's much-admired Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program.
Maddeningly, the 2005 session also killed funding for a survey of kindergartners' school readiness. Three years of that effort produced the alarming finding that only about half of Minnesota kindergartners arrive at school fully prepared for its lessons. Apparently, that's news legislators would rather not hear.
Those changes were pushed by Republicans and opposed by DFLers. Early childhood doesn't sit on common ground in Minnesota. It's on a battleground.
Why? I puzzled over that question Tuesday night at Sabathani Center in south Minneapolis, at a public forum convened by the Legislature's Early Childhood Caucus.
Two things were striking about that event. One was that people who care about child care just kept coming. A dimly lit room prepared for about 100 people overflowed with more than 200 grown-ups and kids.
The room buzzed with resentment over the escalating cost low-income parents must pay for licensed child care, and the stress the state's retreat has put not only on household budgets but also on child care providers. Several inner-city providers said they aren't sure they'll be in business in six months, because so many of the parents they serve can no longer afford their services.
The other conspicuous fact was this: There wasn't a Republican elected official in the room.
Five legislators represented the Early Childhood Caucus. All were DFLers. Members of and/or candidates for the city's school board, City Council and Park Board were there in force -- all DFLers.
Despite the strength in numbers the forum produced, the absence of Republicans made the big showing seem futile, and the cause marginal.
State Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, was obliged to explain that the Early Childhood Caucus she helped organize includes Republicans, too -- dozens of them. Further, the Minneapolis event was one of a series of forums, and at those in the suburbs, Republican legislators were in attendance.
But last session, some of those same Republicans were willing to cut child care help for poor families, even as they boasted about increases in ECFE and Head Start. They should have heard what the parents said at Sabathani: Licensed child care is the only shot many low-income kids get at preschool, and that shot is being taken away from them.
Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Here is the story that was in the Star Tribune on Sunday that I thought you might find interesting and/or encouraging...
New life for dying language
EAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune
Cleone Thompson's mother was sent as a child to an Indian boarding school where she was hit with a ruler if she spoke Ojibwe. Seven decades later, Thompson is now part of an unusual experiment to breathe life back into the language her mother was punished for speaking. Thanks to a new federal grant, the young children she greets with the word "boozhoo" at the day care center she runs from her home in Minneapolis will be part of the first Indian-language immersion program in the nation for urban preschoolers.
Thompson said that in about 10 years most of the elders on the reservations will be gone and there won't be anyone left who speaks the language. "That's why we've got to do this now," she said. Thompson's mother, Emma Fairbanks, now a frail 79-year-old, can hardly believe the turn of events. "I never thought it would come back," she said. "I was worried they [future generations] would forget their Indian ways." About 55,000 American Indians are enrolled in tribes in Minnesota. Roughly 3,000 are fully fluent Ojibwe speakers and about 30 are fully fluent in Dakota, according to estimates by the Grotto Foundation, which has focused much of its philanthropy on language revitalization. Many Indian people can say certain words and phrases, but few can carry on a conversation, community leaders say. It's part of the legacy of the boarding schools that American Indians were forced to attend for decades.
"My parents didn't want me to speak Dakota; they were afraid for us," said Jennifer Bendickson. She is a program director at the Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals, which was awarded the federal grant to launch the preschools this month. "They would talk to each other in Dakota, but when we came in, they'd stop."
While universities and tribal schools have offered language and culture classes over the years, new ideas are taking root across Minnesota. Dozens of people are attending night classes in Ojibwe and Dakota at "language tables" in schools and community centers. There's an Ojibwe immersion preschool in Leech Lake; Indigenous Language Symposiums are held annually. Specialized classes are sprouting up, including one that teaches Dakota to entire households -- as opposed to an individual -- in the Upper Sioux community. And University of Minnesota language students drive up to Canada on weekends this time of the year for an immersion experience harvesting wild rice and learning the accompanying vocabulary.
Even so, much of the learning is being done piecemeal, said Margaret Boyer, executive director of the Alliance for Early Childhood Professionals. Research shows that immersion programs, from preschool to high school, are the best route to developing a core group students who are truly fluent, she said. "If you want to learn Spanish, you can go to South America," Boyer explained. "If you want to learn French, you go to France. But there's nowhere in the U.S. you can go and hear only Ojibwe or Dakota. So the best way to learn is immersion - and starting at a young age." These are Minnesota's first languages and saving them is saving an important piece of Minnesota heritage, say language activists. The word Minnesota, for example, is based on the Dakota word Mnisota which means "land where the water reflects the sky," said Neil McKay, University of Minnesota Dakota instructor. Values and a world view For Indian people, the language conveys the values and world view of their ancestors and their culture, said Gabrielle Strong, who oversees the Grotto Foundation's language program. For example, the word for family in Dakota means "the people who live in the same lodge" -- a much broader meaning than in English.
A Dakota elder sat in front of several preschoolers at All Nations Child Care Center last week, with a backdrop of colorful drawings of eagles, wolves and other animals that long have been symbols in Indian cultures. "Today we're going to count numbers," he said to the little girls. "Ready?" The girls nodded and began chanting, "Wancha. Nunpa. Yamni. Topa. Zaptan." "Wahshte," said the teacher. "Good." For the next 15 minutes, the children practiced animal names, colors and the alphabet. By next year, those 15 minutes will grow to three hours, and the program will be conducted only in Dakota. Similar immersion programs will be launched at Four Directions Child Development Center and Cherish the Children Learning Center, as well as Thompson's home day care, called Nokomis Child Care.
If all goes as planned, the first batch of tiny Dakota and Ojibwe speakers will graduate in three years. There's a ripple effect, said Boyer. Parents must take a class to learn the same materials as their children. The "language tables" have agreed to incorporate the children's weekly vocabulary. And people playing community bingo in the Phillips neighborhoods - where the immersion centers are - will hear the numbers yelled out in Dakota or Ojibwe, she said. "Our project rolls a lot of different things into one," said Boyer. "So all around the community, when people meet each other, they can use the same words." The model, said Boyer, hails from New Zealand, where the Maori Indians slowly brought back their language from near extinction. Hawaii used the same technique of immersion programs starting with preschoolers, with success, she said. That trend now is moving across the United States, she said. "We're one of the leaders," she said, referring to Minnesota.
The sheer dearth of fluent speakers, much less speakers who are skilled teachers, makes a full-blown language revitalization movement difficult, said community leaders. There's a distinct shortage of teaching materials such as books, music and tapes in Ojibwe and Dakota. At All Nations preschool, for example, the Dakota-language ABCs posted on the walls are hand-drawn letters with hand-drawn pictures. And there are no pretty preschool books or catchy kids' songs. In fact, Grammy award-winning musician Keith Secola has offered to record a CD of children's music that can be used in these and other pre-schools, said Boyer. Secola, an Ojibwe, even gave a mini-performance for the children at a park last weekend. The preschools -- and other language programs -- are likely to buy language materials from Canada, where language revitalization is about 10 years ahead of the U.S., said Dennis Jones, an Ojibwe language instructor at the University of Minnesota. About five years ago, the Canadian government, which also had forced its native children into boarding schools, issued a public apology, he said. It earmarked $365 million for language revitalization, money now being used to develop teaching materials and rekindle the country's first languages.
Minnesota's language activists dream of seeing that happen here. They imagine the day when American Indians can click on the radio or TV, and find Ojibwe or Dakota programming; when street signs will be printed in native languages, when kids can get a video of "The Lion King" dubbed in a native language. "Right now there's a little flame we're fanning ever so gently," said Strong. "We're hoping it becomes a brushfire."
New life for dying language
EAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune
Cleone Thompson's mother was sent as a child to an Indian boarding school where she was hit with a ruler if she spoke Ojibwe. Seven decades later, Thompson is now part of an unusual experiment to breathe life back into the language her mother was punished for speaking. Thanks to a new federal grant, the young children she greets with the word "boozhoo" at the day care center she runs from her home in Minneapolis will be part of the first Indian-language immersion program in the nation for urban preschoolers.
Thompson said that in about 10 years most of the elders on the reservations will be gone and there won't be anyone left who speaks the language. "That's why we've got to do this now," she said. Thompson's mother, Emma Fairbanks, now a frail 79-year-old, can hardly believe the turn of events. "I never thought it would come back," she said. "I was worried they [future generations] would forget their Indian ways." About 55,000 American Indians are enrolled in tribes in Minnesota. Roughly 3,000 are fully fluent Ojibwe speakers and about 30 are fully fluent in Dakota, according to estimates by the Grotto Foundation, which has focused much of its philanthropy on language revitalization. Many Indian people can say certain words and phrases, but few can carry on a conversation, community leaders say. It's part of the legacy of the boarding schools that American Indians were forced to attend for decades.
"My parents didn't want me to speak Dakota; they were afraid for us," said Jennifer Bendickson. She is a program director at the Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals, which was awarded the federal grant to launch the preschools this month. "They would talk to each other in Dakota, but when we came in, they'd stop."
While universities and tribal schools have offered language and culture classes over the years, new ideas are taking root across Minnesota. Dozens of people are attending night classes in Ojibwe and Dakota at "language tables" in schools and community centers. There's an Ojibwe immersion preschool in Leech Lake; Indigenous Language Symposiums are held annually. Specialized classes are sprouting up, including one that teaches Dakota to entire households -- as opposed to an individual -- in the Upper Sioux community. And University of Minnesota language students drive up to Canada on weekends this time of the year for an immersion experience harvesting wild rice and learning the accompanying vocabulary.
Even so, much of the learning is being done piecemeal, said Margaret Boyer, executive director of the Alliance for Early Childhood Professionals. Research shows that immersion programs, from preschool to high school, are the best route to developing a core group students who are truly fluent, she said. "If you want to learn Spanish, you can go to South America," Boyer explained. "If you want to learn French, you go to France. But there's nowhere in the U.S. you can go and hear only Ojibwe or Dakota. So the best way to learn is immersion - and starting at a young age." These are Minnesota's first languages and saving them is saving an important piece of Minnesota heritage, say language activists. The word Minnesota, for example, is based on the Dakota word Mnisota which means "land where the water reflects the sky," said Neil McKay, University of Minnesota Dakota instructor. Values and a world view For Indian people, the language conveys the values and world view of their ancestors and their culture, said Gabrielle Strong, who oversees the Grotto Foundation's language program. For example, the word for family in Dakota means "the people who live in the same lodge" -- a much broader meaning than in English.
A Dakota elder sat in front of several preschoolers at All Nations Child Care Center last week, with a backdrop of colorful drawings of eagles, wolves and other animals that long have been symbols in Indian cultures. "Today we're going to count numbers," he said to the little girls. "Ready?" The girls nodded and began chanting, "Wancha. Nunpa. Yamni. Topa. Zaptan." "Wahshte," said the teacher. "Good." For the next 15 minutes, the children practiced animal names, colors and the alphabet. By next year, those 15 minutes will grow to three hours, and the program will be conducted only in Dakota. Similar immersion programs will be launched at Four Directions Child Development Center and Cherish the Children Learning Center, as well as Thompson's home day care, called Nokomis Child Care.
If all goes as planned, the first batch of tiny Dakota and Ojibwe speakers will graduate in three years. There's a ripple effect, said Boyer. Parents must take a class to learn the same materials as their children. The "language tables" have agreed to incorporate the children's weekly vocabulary. And people playing community bingo in the Phillips neighborhoods - where the immersion centers are - will hear the numbers yelled out in Dakota or Ojibwe, she said. "Our project rolls a lot of different things into one," said Boyer. "So all around the community, when people meet each other, they can use the same words." The model, said Boyer, hails from New Zealand, where the Maori Indians slowly brought back their language from near extinction. Hawaii used the same technique of immersion programs starting with preschoolers, with success, she said. That trend now is moving across the United States, she said. "We're one of the leaders," she said, referring to Minnesota.
The sheer dearth of fluent speakers, much less speakers who are skilled teachers, makes a full-blown language revitalization movement difficult, said community leaders. There's a distinct shortage of teaching materials such as books, music and tapes in Ojibwe and Dakota. At All Nations preschool, for example, the Dakota-language ABCs posted on the walls are hand-drawn letters with hand-drawn pictures. And there are no pretty preschool books or catchy kids' songs. In fact, Grammy award-winning musician Keith Secola has offered to record a CD of children's music that can be used in these and other pre-schools, said Boyer. Secola, an Ojibwe, even gave a mini-performance for the children at a park last weekend. The preschools -- and other language programs -- are likely to buy language materials from Canada, where language revitalization is about 10 years ahead of the U.S., said Dennis Jones, an Ojibwe language instructor at the University of Minnesota. About five years ago, the Canadian government, which also had forced its native children into boarding schools, issued a public apology, he said. It earmarked $365 million for language revitalization, money now being used to develop teaching materials and rekindle the country's first languages.
Minnesota's language activists dream of seeing that happen here. They imagine the day when American Indians can click on the radio or TV, and find Ojibwe or Dakota programming; when street signs will be printed in native languages, when kids can get a video of "The Lion King" dubbed in a native language. "Right now there's a little flame we're fanning ever so gently," said Strong. "We're hoping it becomes a brushfire."
