Welcome to Success By 6
Success By 6, an initiative of the United Way, is a national community-based movement of public and private partnerships that work together to deliver proven solutions in early childhood development to help ensure that all children are healthy, nurtured, and ready to succeed. Locally, Success By 6 (SB6) operates under the United Way of Greater Oswego County. SB6 works to bring local businesses, parents, and non-profit leaders together to focus on improving early childhood learning through community change.
Contact Melanie Trexler, United Way Executive Director for more information at 593-1900 x 201 or leave a message for Success By 6 at 593-1900 x 204. Email address: successby6@windstream.net
Children Do Come With Directions, A Guide for Parents
Has been distributed throughout Oswego County to schools, agencies of United Way funded programs, doctors' offices, churches and service clubs. Many parents, especially young parents, are faced with problems and questions about their child that they don’t know how to answer. The purpose of this book is to act as a guide for parents from the minute a baby opens its eyes to the age of 5. The amount of learning that takes place the first 5 years in a child’s life is of great importance and lays the ground work for that child to learn when school starts; some parents or caregivers don’t realize this. Children Do Come With Directions, A Guide for Parents will aid parents and caregivers in a lot of unanswered questions and situations. It also includes pages to keep track of emergency and doctor numbers and shot records.
Children Do Come With Directions, A Guide for Parents was inspired after a booklet produced by Success By 6 of the United Way of Lancaster County. United Way of Greater Oswego County, Success By 6 edition was made possible from the funding support of Entergy James A. Fitzpatrick Plant of Oswego County and Oswego’s Noon Rotary Club. Click here for an electronic version of
Children Do Come With Directions, A Guide for Parents.
About Early Learning
Children are constantly learning, right from birth. Their early years are the foundation for growth and development, and what they learn during those years depends on the experiences they have each and every day. This is our greatest challenge as caregivers, as well as our greatest opportunity.
How can parents, grandparents and caregivers support learning? Since children learn in a variety of ways and styles, to achieve developmental milestones the relationship with parents and primary caregivers is essential. It’s a connection that allows for optimum learning.
You can find help here, along with more information like downloadable tips and tools. For more information, visit bornlearning.org
Bornlearning quick links
| Importance of reading to babies | Pregnancy | Infants | Toddlers | ||||
| Grandparents | Literacy | Starting school | Preschooler | ||||
7th Annual Stuff-A-Bus 2009 served 1200 students with school supplies!
Stuff-A-Bus is an annual county-wide campaign to collect school supplies for local children in need. In-house collection boxes are distributed to businesses and organizations throughout the county to collect donations of school supplies until, on a set date, all contributions are brought to the nearest Stuff-A-Bus location. On that date, the chosen locations will have a school bus on site to be “stuffed” with school supply donations. The Oswego County Teachers Association coordinates each district’s distribution site, allowing many children in need the opportunity to have the correct supplies to start the school year. Stuff-A-Bus is scheduled for August 13, 2010.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
If you are a grandparent, raising your grandchildren, we know that it can be an unexpected thing. Today in the United States, the Census Bureau estimated that there are more than four million children living in homes in which a grandparent is the primary caregiver. Almost a third of those homes, there is not a parent present. Children that come to live with their grandparents, bring with them more than the average share of emotional and behavioral problems. That makes the grandparents who become parents to their grandchildren inherit more than the average share of resistance, rebellion, and limit-testing behaviors.
Also, children whose parents have been unavailable or neglectful, end up feeling unwanted and abandoned. They also feel a burden to their new caretakers. Those children may desperately cling to what little their parent is able to give them, idealizing their parent and leaving their grandparent feeling unappreciated and rejected. For these reasons, support and information are important for all members of such a family. Since grandparents raising grandchildren is becoming more common, information and resources on this issue are becoming more numerous and more accessible.
Grandparents as Mentors
Grandparents are excellent mentors to their grandchildren. Parents have a harder time to be a mentor to their children because they have so much to do in a day. Grandparents on the other hand usually have more time to be a mentor. As a mentor, you are not just teaching your grandchild, you are firing the child's imagination. Also, guiding them to solve problems, and growing their ambition.
As a grandparent, you most likely have the patience to sit with your grandchildren and be a mentor. Children look up to their grandparents especially as mentors since they know much more than them and have the time to spend with them. Be a mentor to your grandchildren and help their minds grow.
Web resources
www.readingrocket.org - Great website for community reading programs and activities that you and your child can be involved in. Also, there is a lot of tools on this website to help show parents and educational instructors good techniques for teaching and encouraging reading. Are you a new teacher looking for up-to-date tips for creating a welcoming classroom? This site has it for you. Are you a concerned parent with a child who is struggling to read? Visit Reading Rocket and you might find some comfort or answers you’ve been looking for!
www.familyreading.org - This is a website for the non-profit organization Family Reading Partnership. This organization encourages early literacy by promoting family reading practices through out the community. The website also includes recent News and Events and a link to their page with tips to promote reading in the family, especially from a young age.
5 daily Things to Do With your Child
- Spend time with your child
- Read to them or with them
- Set Rules-Saying “no”
- Set a good example
- Encourage a healthy lifestyle
Spend time with your child - Children need communication, attention and stimulation.
Read to them or with them - This shows that you value reading; it gives them quality time with you and this creates a positive reading environment early on in development.
Set Rules-Saying “no” and setting boundaries are needed for children. They have to learn from a young age the difference between right and wrong. Correcting your child and explaining the rules you set with show them respect and consistency.
Set a good example - Children constantly observe what is around them and that is how they learn from the second they open their eyes. Showing them good behavior and manners through not only words but your actions will help them as they develop.
Encourage a healthy lifestyle - Giving your toddler healthy food like fruit and vegetables will encourage them to grow up liking healthier food. Along with consistently providing them with opportunities to be active inside and outdoors encourages them to continue this behavior as they grow.
Activities to Do over Summer Vacation
- Teach them to cook or bake
- Catch a lady bug or firefly
- Go for a light walk and talk
- Watch a thunderstorm and tell them fun facts
- Staple together paper to make a flip book
- Collect rocks and then paint or color them
- Build paper airplanes
- Pick out a number of books
Teach them to cook or bake with step-by-step recipes.
Go for a light walk and talk about the sun and different plants you see along your walk
Catch a lady bug or firefly and then read a book about what you caught to teach them more about that insect
Watch a thunderstorm and tell them fun facts about lighting and thunder
Staple together paper to make a flip book and then have your child draw on each of the pages to make a story
Pick out a number of books at the beginning of the summer, each book being in a different category (non-fiction, fiction, autobiography, a series of books, etc.) and have your child read the books over the summer. At the end of the summer if all the books have been read, reward your child with an activity or something they picked out to do for the day. This gives them structure and a task for the summer and also creates positive reinforcement.