This Is Why We Run.....

It's both simple and complex....the members of the run committee love to run!! We love to be outside and be active with our children, we want them to run! We want you to run, or walk and have an active lifestyle.  At BELA, Health & Wellness is one of our foundational building blocks and one of our core values! We actively promote and model a healthy lifestyle to our students on a daily basis.  And, we want you to have fun!

We also NEED to increase awareness of the importance of early learning & early literacy!! We want you to read to your children, we want them to love to read! We want them to carry their early literacy skills with them as they move onto a successful school career. We don't just want to  support the children in our community, we NEED to!

30.19% of children in Brooks & Newell County are experiencing great difficulty in one or more of the 5 early learning developmental domains, supporting early literacy development.

(ECMap Project Alberta Education, Spring 2013)

 This is higher than the provincial average. EDMap results 2009-2012 indicate that 26.96% of children in Alberta are experiencing Great Difficulty in at least one of the 5 Developmental Domains.

 (EDMap Project, Winter, 2013)

For an in-depth look at the 5 developmental domains see the chart here. 

It is essential that we work as a community to better the statistics on the development of our children in Brooks & area. We use the money raised by the run to buy books and literacy materials and to invest in the continued learning of our staff in the area of early literacy. This allows us to continue focusing on literacy within our school and better support our students as they move towards Kindergarten.

This event hosted over 130 participants and with the positive feedback received we know those numbers will be even stronger next year. Close to $2000.00 was raised and we were also able to donate 2 bags of books each to BCIS &  the Brooks Women's Shelter- Cantara Safe House!

The Run For Reading would not be possible without our partners, Enerplus, Gord's Running Store, Pop Up Photo Booths & Frontier Signworks & our amazing team of volunteers! We also received donations of goods or services from Heritage Foods, Duffy's Fun Center, Alberta Health Services, the City of Brooks, The Pita Pit, League Pipeline, Freson Brothers, Water Pure & Simple, BRK Equipment Rentals, SPEC , the Early Childhood Development Coalition, JD Hogg Consulting, and our awesome face painters Celina & Amber Everett

 Thank you to all who participated! You are helping us support literacy in our school & community and we hope you had fun doing it!!

- CP

The Unwritten Curriculum- Or ..."Why should I send my child to Preschool??"

“Learning starts in infancy, long before formal education begins, and continues throughout life.  Early learning begets later learning and early success breeds later success, just as early failure breeds later failure.” (Heckman, James, 2014) The late Dr. Fraser Mustard gave voice to “three enduring messages that have permeated the popular culture: The years before 5 last a lifetime; It takes a village to raise a child and Pay now or pay later”(2011, Early Years Study 3).  Drs. Mustard, Heckman and many others in recent years, have given voice to the importance of the early learning years and providing the very best learning opportunities we can to children in the, birth to age eight years, in order to fully capitalize on their optimal learning years. 

While the awareness of the importance of early learning is increasing, parents still have questions. These are two of the questions we get asked most often and of course we have answers!

“My child attends a daycare/day home, what is the difference?”  

The Ontario Childcare Resource & Research Unit (Feb.2002) states, ‘the quality of ECEC services is absolutely critical in determining whether they are educational and enhance child development or are merely ‘care’ that supports parental employment. Indeed, ‘the positive relation between child care quality and virtually every facet of children’s development that has been studied is one of the most consistent findings in developmental science.(Shonkoff & Phillips 2001:313)  There is a growing awareness in our society of the importance of early childhood education, vs. child care, both of which are important in our society.  There is a difference, between caring for a child’s basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and safety; and providing educational learning opportunities which are planned purposefully, and implemented by staff who have educational background/experience in the early learning years, which support/extend the intellectual, linguistic, emotional, physical, and social learning of young children. The recommendations, and best possible scenario, would be for early child care and early childhood education, practitioners to collaborate and cooperate to strengthen all programs in a complimentary manner.

“What will he/she learn in preschool that I can’t teach them at home?”  

This is a valid question, as many parents, who choose to, are very capable of providing learning opportunities in relation to the learning outcomes which are the foundation of the early learning opportunities planned and implemented in Preschool.  At BELA, we have carefully and purposefully aligned our Program of Studies learning outcomes, with Alberta Education’s Kindergarten Program of Studies, in order to provide learning opportunities designed to support and enhance the learning success of children entering Kindergarten.

During our research period, prior to opening BELA, we gathered information from a Parent Focus group, to learn more about priorities of families in our community, in relation to their child’s early learning. Of 10 criteria, which included early literacy and numeracy skills, 100% of parents participating indicated that one of their highest priorities was pre-kindergarten skill development of self- help skills, and independent ‘student like’ behaviors.   It is this ‘unwritten curriculum’ which is introduced in preschool, supporting later success in Kindergarten, and later grades, which is of equal, if not more, importance than the written curriculum/program.  This ‘unwritten curriculum’ introduces routines and expectations, and supports the children as they develop the self-regulation (emotional control) skills referred to by Mrs. Parenas in her recent blog .  These social/emotional skills are difficult, if not impossible, to learn without the context of a group setting with ones peers.  As with the intellectual, linguistic, and physical skills, the children begin learning in Preschool, the earlier we begin to purposefully plan to enhance and extend the social & emotional skills of young children, the earlier we ‘beget later learning and later success’ as Dr. Heckman recommends.  The ‘unwritten curriculum’ provides the tools children need to support their learning success. 

The ‘Unwritten Curriculum’ learned in Preschool, or Tools to support learning success in Kindergarten include, but are not limited to:

•        separates easily from parent(s)
•         willingly listen, and follows directions from, an adult other than his/her parent
•        is kind to everyone, lets other children play
•        doesn’t  hit anyone
•        listens to teachers when they are talking
•        waits for turn to talk
•        takes turns when playing with other children
•        shares toys, space, and adult attention
•        accepts responsibility and willingly helps clean up
•        when the teacher tells another child to stop talking, does not start talking
•        when someone greets child, or says good-bye, child responds
•       responds to frustration, disappointment, anger in an appropriate manner
•        is able to ask for help in an acceptable way
•        lines-up and waits in line quietly
•        treats toys and materials respectfully, doesn’t wreck, or throw, anything
•        treats  adults with respect and answers if  asked a question
•        if the teacher is talking to another child, doesn’t interrupt
•        when going to the washroom, flushes toilet and washes hands
•         hangs up back pack, jacket and other belongings in designated space
•        puts on/take off own coat, shoes/boots, mitts, hat, and attempts to do them up

There is a difference between childcare and early childhood education and no matter how fantastic the home setting and skills of the parent there are many benefits to children attending preschool. The skills of the unwritten curriculum are a daily focus at BELA as the children are immersed into a school setting and culture and activities are planned and executed to maximize the students’ independence.  Our students are mastering these skills along with all of those that are a part of the written curriculum and they are having fun!! Learning & Loving it – as we strive to support our students & their families every day!

- JR

 Jody Rutherford

Director of Education & Programming

Pink Ribbon Project & The Gift of Time

Where does your money go when you sponsor our event?  What are you buying when you support the Pink Ribbon Project?  I wish that I could tell you that the money you donated were those last dollars needed to find a cure. But I can't, at least not yet.  I believe that I will be able to tell you that one day in the near future.  But for now, I can tell you exactly what you bought - you bought time.  Time for a mother to spend more time with her children.  Time for a grandma to become a great Grandma.  Time for a husband to travel with his wife.  How do I know this for sure?  Because my family has been given the gift of time.

Eleven years ago I sat in a doctor’s office with my mom and dad waiting to hear the results of the biopsy of a lump in my mom’s left breast.  I sat there staring at my dad's hands, how his fingers were curled tightly around the arms of the chair.  I looked at his wedding ring - a symbol of love that had been there for twenty-seven years.  While the doctor entered the room, I just kept staring at my dad's hands.  The doctor said, "we have your results, and it is breast cancer."  I watched as my dad's knuckles turned white against his dark skin.  Then I stopped listening.  I had heard all I needed to hear.  My mom had cancer.  I was twenty-two.

We were very fortunate that my Mom received the care and the treatment that she did.  Over five years, she had two mastectomies, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and took part in a clinical trial.  At that time she was said to be in complete remission.  What does that kind of time buy you?

My Mom got to be there as my youngest sister graduated from high school. She was by our sides as all three of us girls completed our college or university educations.  She looked on proudly at three weddings and watched our family grow with the addition of each son-in-law.  She has been there to hold each of her five grandchildren as soon as they entered this world!  Our family has been given all of these gifts of unimaginable value.

My Mom made it to her ten-year mark before she had a recurrence. One year ago we learned that the cancer was back, metastasized to her bones. So once again we are painstakingly aware of time and focused on anything we can do to buy more of it.

When you sponsor or donate to the Pink Ribbon Project, you are directly supporting the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation as all the proceeds from our event go to them.  They are the leading supporter of breast cancer research in Canada.  Research leads to earlier detection, more treatment options and, most importantly, life saving and life extending treatment.

This year we were able to raise just over $19,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our sponsors and all those that attended the first annual Pink Ribbon Project!  Thank you for helping us to support the Foundation in the important work that they do, towards creating a future without breast cancer, all the while giving the gift of time to women and their families.  The support means more than we can ever say! 

- CP

Photo Blog!! Pink Ribbon Project

Had to share some photos from the first annual Pink Ribbon Project! Our sold out event raised over $19,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  In addition the hard working committee and our sponsors, so many people played a part in the success of this event. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!! To view the full gallery of photos please visit : http://jessicasurgenorphotography.com