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Please visit http://www.joycepreschool.org/blog/ to see what’s happening at Joyce Preschool!

…Joyce Preschool!

In recognition of Joyce’s commitment to accountability and our donor community, MAP for Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits have given Joyce Preschool the 2013 Excellence Award!

Recipients of Minnesota Nonprofit Excellence Awards demonstrate effective accountability principles and specific management practices based on the fundamental values of quality, responsibility and accountability; as identified in the Principles and Practices for Nonprofit Excellence.

There are a lot of emotions in our offices right now — we’re feeling proud, excited, floored — but more than anything, we’re feeling gratitude.

Gratitude for our kind and generous donor community: without you, our work would not be possible.
Gratitude to our current and past board members: you have guided us throughout a momentous journey, and ensure we continue to achieve our potential.
Gratitude to our parents, who give us the ultimate vote of confidence: you trust us with the education of your children.
Gratitude for the hardworking folks at MAP and MCN: you give us the tools to do our work efficiently and wisely.
Gratitude to our volunteers: you make our classrooms places rich with talent, and vibrant with culture.
And last but not least, gratitude to the members of our community who speak on our behalf: your voices ensure we are heard, and enable us to support our children and families.

Our most heartfelt thanks to all of you. Without your talents, your time, your trust, this recognition would not be possible. With your help, we’ll continue to push for excellence — for ourselves, our preschoolers, and our Minnesota community. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This post is by Rachel Strommen, our summer Development & Communications Intern. She shares her unique perspective as someone who has been with us almost exclusively during our time of transition to our new site. Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your time and talents with us this year. You’ve been a wonderful addition to the Joyce family — as you return to school, we’ll be thinking of you and wishing you well!

Fall is approaching and we’ve experienced a lot of change in the past few months! We’re now officially settled into our new location at Park Avenue. Although we were sad to say goodbye to our Uptown space, we are excited to start the school year fresh and get to know our new neighbors.

The Big Move was occasionally hectic, but staff and parents shared wonderful memories of our space as we packed away boxes, bid goodbye to our bathroom mural, and took down plaques, photos, and decorations. One family shared this story about their year in Uptown:

Joshua can be very shy. His first day at Joyce was filled with so much fear — new faces, new language…
My heart ached when there were tears at drop off, or when he would say “I don’t ever, ever want to go back.”

Every day we dropped him off he was met with open arms and smiling faces. “Hola, Joshua!” Joshua could feel the energy — so much loving energy and so much laughter. It took less than 2 weeks for him to love school, his teachers, and his new friends. Less than 2 weeks before he was asking to go to school on a non-school days.

Joshua learned a little more about himself every week he attended Joyce. That learning is priceless! The staff have such a warm positive energy — it’s what makes Joyce amazing!

Muchas Gracias (We are learning too…)

— Jay and Therese

We can’t wait to begin a whole new year of stories and learning. There is still plenty of unpacking to do at our new space, but the kids’ classrooms are coming together wonderfully and everyone is fully prepared to welcome the students back in the fall with new and exciting opportunities to learn and play!

Although the kids are still out enjoying their last few weeks of summer, the teachers are back in the office and starting their preparations for the new school year. The classrooms are freshly painted and filled with toys (and some familiar old friends, like the Joyce snack cart) just waiting to be used by our preschoolers come September.

Spanish Immersion Camp just finished — it was nice to hear laughter and music bouncing through the halls after a quiet summer without our kids. Our new classrooms and building are marked by a bright, welcoming environment that will foster growth in not only the Joyce team, but more importantly our children.

What are we working on next? Well, we’re working on our plans for a the natural playground that will allow our kids to play and learn outside even after the summer comes to a close. The teachers are reviewing our curriculum, planning the year, and optimizing the new space. Lots of change and lots of progress — we look forward to a new school year!

Hello, Joyce Community!

I am so excited to be here as the Lead Teacher of Joyce at Windom! I look forward to a year full of investigation, exploration, and fun with all of you.

I first became involved with Joyce Preschool as a volunteer muralist. (Many of you are familiar with the mural in the bathroom at the Uptown Joyce location. I painted that!) Two other muralists and I collaborated with Teacher Natalie to create a mural that reflected Joyce’s vision, mission, and the culture of the school and its community. After connecting with Joyce over its mural, I kept in touch by volunteering in the classroom — I wanted to stay connected to this great bilingual, multicultural preschool.

In the meantime, I graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with a B.A. in Spanish Studies and a minor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. In 2011, I became a certified yoga instructor, and began to teach community education yoga classes.

I also worked at Fraser Child and Family Center, a therapeutic day treatment center for children on the autism spectrum. There, I learned the power of play, patience, and creativity. Playing with and caring for children with autism enabled me to see the opportunity for success everywhere. My experience at Fraser also reinforced the foundational importance of family and caregiver involvement in each child’s development.

I also worked in the preschool and toddler classrooms at the YWCA Minneapolis. I was drawn to their program because of their mission to eliminate racism and empower women. These goals reflect my own hopes to foster caring, understanding, listening skills, kindness, patience, communication, and self-confidence in the children I teach.

I came to Joyce because I felt the strong connection among the staff members, and the care that they put into their community of students, families, and supporters. I wanted to be a part of that. Additionally, Joyce’s dual immersion curriculum is a dream come true: I get to use and develop my Spanish language skills while teaching kids. What could get better than that?

I love to practice, teach, and talk about yoga. I love cooking, baking, and experimenting with new recipes and flavors. I love music and usually have some playing in my classroom. I welcome any music suggestions and/or musical volunteers for the class!

Again, I am thrilled to be at Joyce, and can’t wait for the school year to begin! I look forward to meeting the rest of my Joyce family.

Warmly,

Katie

Community members gathered at Pancho Villa on Wednesday, June 26 to have an open discussion about immigration reform — its history, its present, and its future.

Keynote speaker Peter M. Reyes, Jr., national president of the HNBA, started with an overview of the change in landscape, citing the 2012 election — and the fact that if just 40% of Latinos had voted for Romney, he would have won the presidency — as a turning point for the national momentum toward immigration.

Keynote speaker Peter M. Reyes, Jr. (center) with Joyce board co-chair Consuelo Cervantes (left) and Joyce executive director Sarah Clyne (right)

The immigration reform bill, which at the time of the community gathering was still in discussion, has now passed the Senate, exactly as Reyes predicted it would. He noted that it would pass the senate more easily because all senators have Latino constituencies, whereas Representatives are anchored in much smaller geographic regions, and thus have less incentive to pass a bill that might not benefit any of their constituents.

“I think it’ll pass. The key question is what shape it’ll be in,” said Reyes. He said that some interests are trying to keep border security from interfering with the citizenship path, while others are advocating for secure borders before taking any actions on citizenship.

Reyes addresses packed tables at Pancho Villa on Nicollet Ave.

Reyes encouraged involvement from everyone present, especially those able to vote. “We need this passed,” he said, noting there was both a business case and a human case to be made.

“In my mind, this country was founded on family values,” Reyes said, and ”Hispanic values are very, very consistent with American values.” Watching families be torn apart, watching children separated from their parents because of immigration laws, is at odds with those family values. “Just because you’re Hispanic doesn’t mean you’re not American.”

The business case is no less compelling: according to a congressional report from the budget office, $1 trillion would be gained from fixing the broken immigration system.

Reyes also opened up the discussion to the group, encouraging questions both big and small. The group discussed a variety of topics, including:

• timelines (the proposed path to citizenship will take 10-12 years),
• the HNBA’s statement about what meaningful immigration reform looks like,
• filibuster of the bill (a cloture vote removed that possibility), and
• details about who is or is not eligible for the path to citizenship under the currently proposed bill (anyone who has lived in the U.S. since before 12/31/2011).

Joyce parent Emilia also shared her perspective as a parent who works here, lives here, and has been undocumented for 12 years. For her, safe spaces and community conversations move the discussion away from a place where it’s grounded in fear. Much of life as an undocumented person in the United States is powered by fear. Emilia has to live with the fact that, on any given day, “I might not be there to pick my daughter up from school.” But safe spaces — where the community can come together and hear the human side of the story, connect without fear — are an important tool in the fight for immigration reform, Emilia said.

Joyce parent Emilia shares her perspective on being undocumented and how that affects her family and her life.

To get involved and advocate for immigration reform:

Thank your Senators for passing the immigration bill >>

Tell your Representatives that immigration reform is important to you >>

Thanks to Pancho Villa Restaurant for their support of the evening’s event.

From Teacher Natalie:

Dear Joyce Community,

Working at Joyce over the past four years has been a transformative experience for me. During my senior year of college, while I was studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I applied for an open position at Joyce: AmeriCorps*VISTA Curriculum and Outreach Coordinator. Joyce had been introduced to me as a trusted and respected organization by my uncle, whose son was enrolled there in his first year of preschool. Sitting in my host family’s living room in Buenos Aires, I used Skype to interview for the position. I remember being asked about working with diverse cultures and how I would handle a bustling school environment with frequent “interruptions.” I knew Joyce was committed to dual immersion when, during my interview, I was asked a few questions in Spanish by a native-speaking teacher.

In my VISTA role, I appreciated the many opportunities I was given to implement my ideas — from recruiting university art students to paint a mural in the school bathroom, to rummaging through cupboards to find enough matching dishes for our first breakfast event, to introducing a lesson plan format for curriculum documentation. I didn’t always feel prepared for these new and varied responsibilities, but Joyce supported me to grow my personal capacity and achieve things I’d never imagined before.

As I was wrapping up my second year as a VISTA, I was thrilled to be offered a position as one of Joyce’s Lead Teachers. My work with the curriculum, technology, and volunteer coordination had prepared me to join Joyce’s teaching staff to work directly with the children and families Joyce serves. I learned many, many things in my first year of teaching: solid communication on the teaching team is the key to success; all parents have a profound desire for their child to succeed; and each student will carve a permanent space in your heart.

This past school year, I had the honor to fill the role as Lead Teacher and Site Coordinator at Joyce’s first-ever remote classroom at Windom Dual Immersion Elementary. From the ribbon-cutting ceremony in August to our preschool graduation in May, I was constantly challenged to meet the high expectations that parents and Joyce leaders maintain for teachers and students. When people asked about my profession, I spoke with enthusiasm and pride, knowing that Joyce and the families that invest in the preschool take early childhood education seriously. I often took anecdotes from the preschool to share with my fellow classmates at Hamline’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, in which I enrolled to finish my license to teach at the K-12 level. My classmates and professors were often inspired by the work that this little preschool in South Minneapolis was doing.

My history with Joyce is full of many wonderful stories, people, and adventures, which makes my decision to leave Joyce very difficult. I will miss the staff, students, and community members which make Joyce Preschool an amazing place to work and learn.

My next adventure takes me to Hiawatha Leadership Academy, where I will be the Founding Music Teacher for their second elementary school. Hiawatha and Joyce share many of the same values, and I am excited to extend my ties in the education community.

With warmest regards y un abrazo enorme,
Natalie Ehalt

Our most sincere gratitude to Teacher Natalie — we’ll miss her! We wish her the best on her upcoming musical journey.

We also say goodbye to Maestro Rigo and Teacher Claire. Maestro Rigo leaves us to pursue life and love in New York, and Teacher Claire is completing her role as our Minnesota Reading Corps tutor. Safe and memorable travels to all our former teachers — they will always be part of our Joyce family!

With endings always come new beginnings. We’re excited to welcome Teacher Katie, who will be our new lead teacher and site coordinator at Windom, as well as Maestra Adriana, Teacher Caden, Teacher Carley, Maestra Ivonne, and Maestra Carmen! Look for a blog post about our new teachers this fall.

We’re done moving!

Well, our boxes are all in our new space. If you’ve ever moved, you know the process isn’t “done” quite yet. New boxes in a new space still leaves us with a lot to do. (Sometimes it seems like the unpacking will go on forever!) But as exhausting as the move has been for staff, we’re so excited for all the opportunities our new space brings, and thankful to have a great new home at Park Avenue United Methodist Church.

Now that we’re here, you can be a part of our move, and help us build the foundation for all the exciting things Joyce Preschool will do this coming year! Join us by volunteering your time, collecting items for donation, or lending us supplies for painting.

FENCE & PAINTING

During the weeks of July 22 and 29, we’ll be erecting our fence for the playground area, as well as painting our library space!

You can help by:

• painting
• helping build the fence
• lending supplies (brushes, tarps, ladders, etc.)
• cleaning and/or helping move items around the workspace

This is not an exhaustive list — if you’re interested in helping but none of these opportunities are a fit, please contact us anyway! We’ll do our best to find the perfect spot for you.

If you’re interested in signing on for a shift, please call Carolyn, our business manager, at (612) 823-2447 or e-mail her at carolyn@joycepreschool.org.

PLAYGROUND

The fallen trees from storms a few weeks ago are heartbreaking — the Minneapolis skyline will look a little more bleak and a little less green in the coming weeks as cleanup continues — but it also gives us the opportunity to collect some supplies for our new natural playground. Help us find some fallen trees and give them new life as play structures for preschoolers!

We are looking for:

• logs (birch, maple, oak, willow)
• branches (birch, maple, oak, willow)

If you see any logs or branches we could use for our playspace, call Carolyn, our business manager, at (612) 823-2447 or e-mail her at carolyn@joycepreschool.org. Thanks for being our eyes and ears in Minneapolis!

Joyce Preschool’s last graduation in Uptown was, as always, both joyful and tearful. Families gathered for the last time in the historic Joyce Church sanctuary to celebrate the successes of the school year, visit with friends and classmates, and say goodbye to the classrooms that were the students’ home away from home for the past two years.

Kids sang several songs, showcasing their bilingual skills and beaming with pride. Songs included Joyce favorites ¿Cómo están?, We are the Dinosaurs, and ABC Disco.

Lead teachers awarded the graduates their diplomas, reminiscing about the year and wishing the students and their families the best on their journey into K-12 education and beyond. After the graduation, families were invited to stay for a short social to say goodbye to the space and their classmates.

Thanks to all the families who came to celebrate and help us honor the Uptown space, which has been a second home to so many families. If the Uptown space has meant something to you and your family, share your memories with us!

RESET Education is a conversation-starter.

A set of strategies championed by The Minneapolis Foundation, which many believe could transform education, RESET is hosting a series of Minnesota Meetings to get community members talking — discussing education, what it means to have equal access, and looking at how education is or isn’t serving young people.

John Legend, a 9-time Grammy-award-winning R&B artist and deep advocate for education, shared his vision of education with an audience May 22 at The Fitzgerald Theater, bringing musical fans, educators, and community members together through a shared concern for the future of education.

He shared about his experience growing up, and the places and people that influenced him: at his church, where he learned we should love one another; at his library, where he learned about great leaders; and from his parents, who were examples of the power of giving back to the community.

Legend, who now works with several organizations in a philanthropic capacity, credits these influences with his deep desire to use musical success to give back. He believes education is the best way to effect change; that quality education for every child is the best way to break the cycle of poverty.

“Good education remains a gift for some when it should be a right for all,” Legend said. He lamented the existence of ‘drop-out factories,’ noting that about 10% of America’s high schools produce nearly half of our drop-outs. For Legend, this is educational inequality: when a student’s birthplace and parents’ income determines the quality of education and access to that education.

Legend also went through the different pieces of the RESET strategy, and encouraged attendants to not only talk about their educational convictions, but act — by joining a local or national educational organization’s board, by volunteering time as a tutor, and by voting.

While he ended the evening with a Q&A and a beautiful 30-minute set of his music, Legend’s conviction was the driving force behind the evening’s energy. “I know we can do better,” he said.

Read the RESET Education recap of this event. >>

Learn more about John Legend’s commitment to education. >>

Become a tutor by joining Minnesota Reading Corps. >>

Register to vote. >>

A pesar de la lluvia, la clase en Windom del Preescolar Joyce subió a un autobús escolar amarillo y viajó en su primer paseo al Centro de Naturaleza Wood Lake (Wood Lake Nature Center) el jueves, 9 de mayo. Nos enteramos de lo que necesitan los seres vivos (plantas y animales), incluyendo: alimentos, agua, aire, refugio y espacio. Leemos la historia La sala Salamandra, fuimos en una excursión por el bosque y en el pantano, ¡y nos presentaron a una verdadera salamandra en vivo y un serpiente! ¡Había incluso una visita inesperada de un ratón!

Despite the rain, the Joyce Preschool class at Windom boarded a yellow school bus and traveled on their first field trip to Wood Lake Nature Center on Thursday, May 9th. We learned about what living things need (plants and animals), including: food, water, air, shelter, and space. We read the story The Salamander Room, hiked through the woods and into the marsh, and got to meet a real, live salamander and a bull snake! There was even an unexpected visit from a mouse!