Hello! Thank you for taking a moment to read through this month's Early Childhood Community Liaison Newsletter, with a big emphasis on COMMUNITY! Each month, you'll find great information from several entities in Cody that work directly with young children. (Please note that this newsletter works best using the Chrome web browser. If you have difficulties downloading any of the documents found below, please reach out to me directly and I'll send them to you. My contact information can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.)

All programs are FREE and open to children of ALL ages!! Attending any of these programs is a great way to support and extend the learning your child is already doing at his/her preschool or at home. Please note that parents must remain in the classroom for the duration of each program and are expected to be active participants with their child(ren). Be sure to download the April schedule below!

Reading and the Brain

What happens when neuroscience meets Dr. Seuss?

Hosted by Henry Winkler, who has had his own struggles with reading, Reading and the Brain explores how brain scientists are working to solve the puzzle of why some children struggle to read and others don't. Startling new research shows the answer may lie in how a child's brain is wired from birth.

This program is the eighth episode of Launching Young Readers, WETA's award–winning series of innovative half-hour programs about how children learn to read, why so many struggle, and what we can do to help.

Hand Strengthening:

Improve hand strength through squeezing, pushing, and pulling activities. Check out these things that naturally work on squeezing, pinching, cranking, twisting, tightening, pulling…

• Squeeze or wind flashlight
• Squirt bottle, squirt gun, water toys
• Ball poppers
• Wind up toys
• The ol’ tennis ball trick. Step 1: make a slice in a tennis ball. Step 2: draw eyes. Step 3: squeeze the sides and shove goodies in there! Om nomnom nom!

• Legos
• Games such as Trouble, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, Avalanche Fruit Stand, Bed Bugs, Twister, card games involving holding the deck or a hand and shuffling!
• Fidgets such as stress balls or check out actual hand exercisers that could double as fidgets like these or these.

As always, the Cody Public Library has several great events planned! Please see the calendar below this section for the full schedule. Here are a few highlights:

"Sleepy Time Stories" on Monday, April 3 at 6:00 p.m. Fun for the whole family with new books, cookies, & milk

“National Scrabble Day”, with scrabble tiles for kids to turn into craft projects – that’s Thursday, April 13th from 3:00-6:00

“Pretzel Day” on Wednesday, April 26th, with different kinds of pretzels to enjoy from 4:00-6:00

Biggest event is to save the date: May 30th for the start of Summer Reading for ALL ages!!

As School Counselor, students frequently come into my office with comments like, "No one likes me," "This has been the worst day ever," "I never do anything right," "Other kids should follow the rules better," "I'm stupid," "They are only my friends because they are being nice. They don't really like me," or "I know that they are talking about me."

...This list could be realllllly long. In fact, it could be never-ending! All of these comments have one thing in common: they are based on unhelpful thinking patterns that lead to us feeling worse about ourselves, our friends, and our situations. Many children (and adults for that matter!) get caught up in the "truthfulness" of these statements: for example, "Well, I AM stupid because I am not in the "good" reading group." Rather than arguing with our children about whether these thoughts are true, help them to recognize that whether or not they are true, they are not helping them to feel better. Over the years, I have worked with many children on adults on "cognitive restructuring" which is essentially helping them to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and consider how to think about things in a more helpful way.

I have included an article, found right below this section, from an article Marcy Willard, Ph.D., an expert and educator on childhood disorders. Although it looks long, it is a good read and I encourage you to check it out. It is an excellent synopsis on cognitive distortions and ways to support our children to think about situations in more helpful ways. I hope you find it as interesting as I did!

Where do the beads come from?

Around 1850, Euro-American traders brought small glass beads, or seed beads, to the Plains. These tiny, colorful beads were created in places like Holland, Venice, and the Czech Republic, brought to North America, then traded across the continent with Native Americans. Before these tiny glass beads, porcupine quills were one popular material used by tribes to decorate clothing and other objects. Lots of Native artists today are still creating beautiful art using beads, quills, and lots of other materials!

Tipi Bag, Lakota, ca. 1905. Tanned deer hide, glass beads, feathers, metal. Gift of Mr. J.C. Kid Nichols

Necktie, Lakota Northern Plains, ca. 1900. Dyed porcupine quills and feathers, rawhide, glass beads, brass, and cotton. Paul Dyck Buffalo Culture Collection NA.203.1734

Navigating the many aspects of child support can often be confusing and frustrating - leaving you not knowing where to turn. At the Wyoming Child Support Program, we can help.

The Wyoming Child Support Program, a program of the Wyoming Department of Family Services, is dedicated to helping families maneuver the many aspects of child support. Our expert and caring staff can help you with many time and money saving services, from issues collecting and paying support, to accessing professional services, to establishing paternity. The Wyoming Child Support Program also promotes the safety, well-being, and self-sufficiency of families and we have offices throughout Wyoming to better assist you.

We hope you find our website informative and we look forward to helping you with your child support needs.

We are pleased to provide the OffenderWatch® service for the citizens of our community. OffenderWatch is the nation’s leading sex offender registry network, which enables us to manage registered sex offenders in our community. With the free OffenderWatch family safety app and this website, you get the most accurate and up-to-date information available about sex offenders in our area.

Using the free OffenderWatch App, parents can locate registered sex offenders nearby, track the location of their children, get email alerts, and contact this office. For better online safety, parents may choose to add monitoring of their child’s phone. Parents will be alerted should a sex offender contact their child or if the child lingers near an offender’s home.

Click HERE to search for offenders in your area.

Although it is technically spring, we're still battling the snow and cold outside! On those days when kiddos can't get outside to play, it can sometimes be difficult to find engaging indoor activities to do at home with young children. Each month, I will feature a different website to help provide ideas and boredom busters!

This month's website features fun recipes to try with your child, including many no-bake options, such as banana sushi, veggie sandwiches, strawberry bites, and cookie dough balls.

Brooke Sieg, PCSD 6 Early Childhood Community Liaison

Email: brookesieg@park6.org
Website: www.park6.org
Location: 919 Cody Avenue, Cody, WY, USA
Phone: (307) 272-0153
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057666729007