Through volunteer recruitment, training, and recognition efforts led by Brian Carter, (AmeriCorps*VISTA member) Joyce Preschool has been fortunate to receive the support of many highly-skilled volunteers this school year. As a program focused on language and literacy in Spanish and English, we keep hundreds of books on hand. Our books, written in both Spanish and English, have traditionally been kept organized based on curricular themes such as The Fall Season, Health & Nutrition, and Colors of my World. Upon the start of new month, Joyce teachers would collect all the books accessible to children in the classroom, and switch them with books reflecting the new month’s theme. Until a few months ago, you could have opened our storage closet to find box upon cardboard box of children’s books labeled in Sharpie by theme. The towers of book boxes teetered and tottered, climbing to almost touch the ceiling and blocking out the light from the window.

Then, thankfully, along came Breanna, a Library Science major and Joyce Preschool volunteer. Breanna spent months sorting books and creating an inventory system which will allow staff members and families to search for and check out a book for use - just like a real library! Formerly, we relied on an antiquated index card system in which families wrote their name with dry-erase marker on a laminated card, leaving the card for the staff to know who had which book. While functional, this method was time consuming. In addition to Breanna’s expertise, a recent grant from the Donaldson Foundation will boost Joyce’s capacity to embrace up-to-date library technology, including a barcode scanner and electronic book search software. These technologies will complement Joyce’s emerging curriculum website, another AmeriCorps*VISTA project, which allows Joyce staff as well as other subscribers to search for lesson plans by theme, keyword, learning standard, age, language, and more.

Breanna writes: I have always loved books and reading. Most people always say the one thing they notice about me is that I always have my nose stuck in a book. My love of reading is why I decided to go into the library field. I wanted to learn more about how to share my passion with others and how to develop my researching and technological skills. I found out about a position at Joyce Preschool at a volunteer fair and have been working with the school for months. The library wasn’t fully developed, the materials were lacking organization, and no one knew for certain which titles Joyce did or did not have. I have begun organizing all of the school materials and inventorying the titles. We now have a book shelf for some of the materials and our plan is to one day have a developed library. Thanks to the recent grant from the Donaldson Foundation, we can also purchase software and other items to help in cataloging and managing the collection and eventually the students will be able to check-out and return materials just as they would at any other school or public library. The library project at Joyce has been a crazy, funny, hectic, sometimes frustrating experience, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I am proud of the time I have spent at Joyce and the work I have done, and I’m excited to take the next step.

Joyce staff members are accustomed to hearing spirited children’s songs sung in Spanish and English on a daily basis, but during these quiet days following the end of the school year, new words - in Malay - were filling the preschool’s halls with music and rhythm.

Rasa sayang, eh!,
Rasa sayang sayang eh,
Hey lihat nona jauh,
Rasa sayang sayang eh!

Joyce’s AmeriCorps*VISTA member, Brian Carter, started off the staff in-service training by teaching his “students” the words in Malay for stand, sit, paint, and dance. Brian spent two years in Malaysia working at Nur Salam childcare center before beginning his service at Joyce. Utilizing Brian’s knowledge of child development and proficiency in the Malay language, Joyce teachers and other staff members were able to experience language immersion from a different point of view Wednesday morning - as the students.

First, Brian spoke in a loud, commanding voice, making ambiguous gestures. He asked questions that no one understood, then called on individuals for their responses. He had expectations, but no one knew what they were. Sure, Brian was enthusiastic, and spoke clearly, but were his students learning anything?

Then, Brian switched his method. He wrote out the words “Rasa sayang” on the whiteboard, and made a heart-shape with his hands. This time around, when he led the class in song, he included clapping and knee-slapping as a way to participate. Brian jumped in the air and said, “melompat.” He held an invisible brush and made long, sweeping strokes through the air, repeating, “berwarna” Finally he waltzed with an imaginary partner in a small circle and said, “menari.” Everyone’s face lit up.

Brian utilized repetition, singing the Rasa Sayang song again, and again. He posted photographs. He found cognates between English and Malay and Spanish: activity = aktiviti = actividad. At the end of our short immersion experience in Malay, Joyce staff members were producing words, participating in music and movement activities, and eager to learn more. Sarah Clyne, Executive Director, followed Brian’s introduction with a presentation of dual language immersion best practices, and led a series of activities designed to reflect upon and hone Joyce’s quality two-way immersion techniques.

Your child can experience Spanish immersion this summer through one of Joyce’s five sessions of Spanish Immersion Summer Camp. Starting June 4th, with three added sessions in August. Register now!

On Tuesday, May 15th, Joyce Preschool celebrated with families at its All School Picnic at Veterans Memorial Park in Richfield.

The picnic, which is an annual tradition, brought together Joyce Preschool staff, students, families, and volunteers to celebrate year-end student successes and our unique bilingual and multicultural community. At the picnic, which was a potluck, we enjoyed dishes from around the world. One long table boasted diverse cuisine - from gourmet macaroni and cheese to arroz con pollo - and everything in between!

The picnic gave families a chance to connect with one another and make play dates for upcoming summer vacation. Most of the children ate their dinners with lightning speed, then ran off together to play at the park’s playground. Rounds a-plenty of pato, pato, ganso were relished under the warm afternoon sun, and Joyce Preschool staff enjoyed learning about families’ summer plans (some of which included a Spanish Immersion Summer Camps at Joyce!). “Where are you going to kindergarten in the fall?” was the question of the evening. Joyce’s families come from all over the metro area and surrounding suburbs, and this diversity was also reflected in graduating students’ kindergarten plans. Some families have chosen to enroll in a dual immersion kindergartens like Windom Dual Immersion Elementary, and were excited to learn that Joyce will be opening an additional classroom at Windom in the fall!

Guest writer Eun Joo, PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota, shares her experience at Joyce Preschool as a service learning site.

I first came to learn about Joyce Preschool while preparing to teach a service-learning course at the University of Minnesota last fall. I was impressed with what I was learning through the Community Service-Learning Center on campus and with the staff at Joyce, and I decided to include this program as one of several possible community sites for my students. Joyce was a popular choice among my students. Over the entire semester, my students who had committed to working with Joyce were enthusiastic about their engagement with early literacy and bilingual education. In sharing their experiences, my students helped enrichen our class discussions and broadened our collective understanding of literacy, as the majority of our class had been working with youth and adult literacy programs.

While the course lasted just a single semester, I was eager to continue my own education of literacy concerns and I decided to volunteer this spring and summer. As I had grown up bilingual myself (and having encountered my own obstacles with language), I also had personal investments in supporting Joyce Preschool. In the past several months, I have been challenged to rethink my conceptions of classroom education, encouraged to learn about ways to introduce literacy practices at a young age, and have thoroughly enjoyed singing, playing, and learning with the students.

As I am currently finishing up my doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota, I am so glad to have had a chance to work with the students, teachers, and staff at Joyce. My time at Joyce offers a welcome break from my other research and teaching commitments. As I begin making plans for my next steps, I am actively looking for further opportunities to include service engagement in the college-level courses I will teach at other schools and campuses. In many ways, Joyce has been an important part of my teaching, learning, and community engagement. In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to help prepare the 4- and 5-year-old students before they move on to kindergarten!

At the 2012 breakfast, attendees had a chance to mingle and hear from this year’s noted speaker, Rob Grunewald. Grunewald is an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and co-authored a ground-breaking study on the economic impact of Early Childhood Education.

Grunewald spoke about his own experience researching the importance of investing in children early, and what a huge difference this early-age intervention makes, noting that many of the neural connections in a child’s brain are firmly established by a very young age. He stated that quality programs, like those at Joyce Preschool, not only affect the child’s own education in an immediate way, but impact parent awareness and involvement, improve future education and success, and - most important when framed economically - benefit the community as a whole.

Guests at Investing in Our Future enjoyed a performance from the children in Maestra Carol’s class. The children sang “¿Cómo están?” and “ABC Disco.”

We’ve been celebrating el Día del Niño with our students by making banners, instruments, and going to the park in the beautiful spring weather. Just look at their smiling faces!

On Friday, we were excited to welcome a group of Target team members to volunteer with the children in the 2-day class. They came and made a box tunnel with the kids using recycled cardboard boxes, egg cartons and paint. The children loved taking turns climbing through their creation. The Target volunteers also enjoyed reading to the children, playing with blocks and other classroom activities. The children loved meeting all their new “teachers”. The Target volunteers will be coming back again to do more fun activities with the children at Joyce. Thanks Target!

Target Team Volunteers Video

Earth Day is Sunday, April 22nd. As teachers and parents, we can help children to develop knowledge of the environment and how we protect it through a variety of hands-on activities.

1) Recycle your crayons

Maestra Riana is Joyce Preschool’s crayon recycling expert! She developed an activity which turns unusable crayon bits into fun-shaped, color-swirl creations. Children help to gather up old and broken crayon bits. Peel off the labels, and collect the crayon pieces into an oven-safe mold of your choosing (shaped baking molds work great!). Bake the crayons at a medium heat until completely melted. To speed up the process, place molds directly in the freezer, and allow to cool. Children will begin to understand how different recycling processes help us to reduce our waste and reuse materials that we thought were garbage!

2) Explore the water cycle

Create an atmosphere of discovery in your home or classroom with the following materials: sensory table or large plastic tub, ice, snow (if available), water, measuring cups, scale, popsicle sticks, mittens or gloves, spray bottles, etc. As children enjoy this sensory exploration, discuss the three states of water: liquid, solid, and gas. Introduce vocabulary for transforming from one state to the other (freezing, melting, evaporation, sublimation). Guide children’s learning by asking questions such as, ““How do you make ice?” “What happens when you squish the snow?” Spray a paper towel with water and leave it in the sun for an hour. Take pictures to record the evaporation. Discuss the water cycle in nature and the connection between rainwater, rivers, lakes.

3) Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs

Children can help to count all the lights in the classroom or in your home. You can make this abstract idea easier to understand by explaining that an incandescent bulb lasts about 2,000 hours, but a compact fluorescent bulb lasts 10,000 hours. You can estimate how much money your family would save over the life of a single bulb, or a whole room or house of bulbs. With your child, plan what to do with your savings!

4) Start a kitchen compost

Spring is the perfect time to start this project, as weather becomes more favorable for gardening and outdoor fun. Find a plastic, metal, or ceramic container with a lid. The size depends on the space available in your kitchen and the frequency with which you prefer to empty the bin. You can start by cleaning out your refrigerator! Over-ripened fruits and shriveled vegetables make great compost. Help your child to distinguish fruit and vegetable scraps from meat and dairy. Avoid adding vegetables that have been cooked in oils and fats. You may choose to line your bin with a compostable bag.

Outdoors, find a place where you collect a big pile of kitchen compost. This should be turned and exposed to fresh oxygen regularly. Over time, compost will turn to soil, and makes great “food” for your yard and garden. Local farms may also be interested in your donation of compost. Children will begin to understand how soil gets its nutrients, and how this type of kitchen waste can be repurposed.

I had the incredible opportunity to travel to New Zealand and Australia this past February. New Zealand, home of all things kiwi - people, birds, and of course fruit - is a wonderful and beautiful country. The people are referred to as kiwis and they definitely embrace the term. Kiwis are laid back and friendly people who show a genuine interest in those that cross their paths. Aussies are equally laid back and friendly and love to interact with tourists.

New Zealand’s South Island, where I spent my time, has more sheep than people! New Zealand is known for its sheep farming, and as you explore the country, you definitely see sheep everywhere. New Zealand is also known for its amazing landscapes and beautiful scenery. Milford Sound and the Queenstown area are some of my favorite places in New Zealand and the pictures speak for themselves! Many visitors travel to Queenstown because of all of its adventure tourism. It is the home of the original bungee jump, along with paragliding, ziplining, and white water rafting. My short time in this area did not allow for any of those activities.

New Zealand is represented by the kiwi, the national symbol, which is a flightless bird. The kiwi is arare bird that has five different known species, all of which are endangered. The largest danger to the kiwi is mammal predators like cats, dogs, stoats, and ferrets. There are several kiwi sanctuaries designed to protect the kiwis from predators and allows visitors a chance to see one. Kiwis are nocturnal birds, so you have to go on a night visit to see one!

Australia is known for its many unusual animals. My favorite is the koala, which I had the chance to cuddle at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I also fed kangaroos, saw a wombat, crocodile, a dingo, platypus, and a kookaburra. I had so much fun seeing new animals and feeding the kangaroos. The Sanctuary has lots of different learning sessions where you get a chance to interact with the animals. It’s a great place for everyone.

Fraser Island was another place that I visited on my travels to Australia. It is the largest sand island in the world and has beautiful fresh water lakes and a rain forest. The fresh water is so pure that it has no minerals in it. This means that it is great for drinking; however it provides no nutrition that is important for us to be healthy.

On Wednesday, March 7th, Joyce Preschool hosted the PACER Center for their inclusive puppet show, “Count Me In.” The presentation taught students about children with different disabilities, maintaining a positive, inclusive message about all the things that children who are blind, deaf, or have limited mobility can do, and how to include them in play. In this video, Joyce Preschool students use sign language and sing the “Count Me In” song: “Maybe we don’t all walk the same, and maybe we don’t all talk the same, but all people want to say, ‘count me in!’”

For more information about the PACER Center, visit www.pacer.org.