 Successful Kids
Our youth are the pride of the West Side. When we invest in them we ensure a bright future for our entire community. MC-SA is proud of the work being done by all of our partners to create successful kids.
Community-based organizations, agencies and school personnel regularly convene for the purpose of establishing the Children are Healthy and Prepared to Succeed in School (CHAPSS) initiative. Today, CHAPSS is a branded effort within San Antonio’s West side and is a recipient of grants, emerging partnerships, and building the foundation to make an impact in the lives of children and their families with the Edgewood Independent School District (EISD) and the broader West side.
One key strategy implements early reading interventions for children 3 to 5 years of age. Another seeks to improve the quality of informal childcare services. A third strategy seeks to align families and schools through the Family and Schools Together (FAST) program.
Family Services Association and Edgewood Independent School District are the lead organizations in this effort.
CHAPSS strategies for 2010 include:
- Increase the number of children participating in Head Start programming.
- Increase the number of informal providers who utilize a learning curriculum that promotes reading development for children ages 0 to 3.
- Increase the number of classrooms in Kindergarten feeder sites that co-implement FAST and TEEM
- Increase the number of parents with children in Kindergarten participating in PACT to better support their child’s learning.
- Implementing an integrated array of health services that contribute to healthier children.
- CHAPSS partners, including EISD, established a target of 100% of children at Loma Park be screened for medical insurance, medical home, and developmental disabilities.
- Provides intensive one-on-one mentoring for children in grades 1 and 2 who have been identified with developmental difficulty.
- Provides after-school programming with enhanced literacy components
- Implement Parents and Children Together (PACT), with technical assistance
- Increase FFN activity – FFN reaches children not in formal child care settings utilizing Play-N-Learn programs.
Loma Park Book Room Opens
 "Everybody has a different developmental pace of learning,” said Liz Martinez, CHAPSS Specialist. In order to meet a child’s individual needs, a different approach to advancing a child’s reading level was taken at Loma Park Elementary. If you walk into a third grade class, typically all reading materials and or learning tools will be of the third grade level, so when a child is still lacking the skills to succeed in reading materials of his/her grade, action needs to be taken. Just this past February 5, 2010 Loma Park opened up “The Book Room.”
This book room is filled with shelves of leveled reader’s books for all students ranging from kinder-5th grade. The Academic Leadership Team brought on the proposal of guided reading, believing it is the best practice for a child. The idea to teach children through small group instruction and through books of high interest, of their level, leads to acquiring the necessary skills they may be passing up by reading books they are not ready for.
Through the Making Connections-San Antonio funds for reading enhancement, the school bought several books through the Scholastic book company, and received leveled readers kinder-5th grade in English and kinder-2nd grade in Spanish. The objective to increase the reading performance of third graders was key in the making of this book room. It allows teachers to meet with students on their personal instructional level. “You start to work with them in their small reading groups and you break down some of those reading skills,” explained Liz. The book room is set up in a very systematical way and only available for teacher check-out. Right now staff development and training teachers to support guided reading is on the move. The Casey Foundation is pushing for high performing and proficient third grade readers, as well as an advancement/progression in the TAKS testing, which is the measuring application. Through this book room and reading blocks occurring in the classrooms at Loma Park, the goal of accelerating a child’s developmental process is in play. “It’s a big task,” said Mrs. Martinez. |
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Successful Kids Partners
For more information please contact :
Ron Morales Liz Martinez
CHAPSS Coordinator CHAPSS Strategy Specialist
 elizabeth.martinez@eisd.net
(210) 431-7500 (210) 444-8125 |
