Striving for Excellence!

Congratulations to Community Learning Center Site Coordinator Talisa Smith and  Early Childhood Services Manager Phan Sanford for successfully completing the K-8 After-school and Youth Development Quality Project with Quinn Wilder (pictured with Talisa above) at the Youth Work Learning Center at UWM. The Youth Work Learning Center is an education, research and staff development resource for child and youth workers that, in partnership with the Wisconsin Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals,  provides quality and relevant services to help people who work with youth to implement the most effective programs possible.

Early Childhood  teachers spent a Saturday morning participating in the Flying Wild curriculum training. They also put some work into the new bird sanctuary right in our backyard, in the Neighborhood House Schoolyard Habitat. Flying Wild is an educator’s guide to celebrating birds that provides activities for teaching middle school youngsters about birds, their migration, and what people can do to help birds and their habitats; Neighborhood House staff are modifying activities to engage early childhood learners.  “Teachers had a lot of insights into how to modify the  curriculum, based on their experiences with ages 6 weeks to 4 years,” said Environmental Educator Christina Hill. For some staff, there were unexpected challenges. “Ms. Jamie is petrified of birds and squirrels,” said Environmental Educator Niki Espy, “but she did it, she pushed past her fear.”

Neighborhood House staff have been working hard to maintain a high level of service for children ages 6 weeks and up, recently ace-ing two key state evaluations, and partnering up with Next Door in a major national initiative.

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