How Are YOU Smart?

Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor of neuroscience from Harvard University, developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences, which challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. Unlike the established understanding of intelligence -- people are born with a uniform cognitive capacity that can be easily measured by short-answer tests -- MI reconsiders our educational practice of the last century and provides an alternative. This approach resonates highly with Heart House and has been adopted as one of our core beliefs about how we will work with children.

“Intelligence is the capacity to do something useful in the society in which we live. Intelligence is the ability to respond successfully to new situations and the capacity to learn from one’s past experiences.”—Dr. Howard Gardner

According to Howard Gardner, human beings have nine different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile. Although we each have all nine intelligences, no two individuals have them in the same exact configuration -- similar to our fingerprints. (For an overview of these nine intelligences, see our previous blog posting, The Many Kinds of Smart.)

For Gardner, intelligence is:

• the ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture;
• a set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life;
• the potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.

Your turn: How are YOU smart?

There's a great online assessment we found which can help you determine your strongest intelligences. We found that it took an average of five minutes to complete, and was very fun to see the results. Find this assessment at http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

Student Spotlight: Lanny and Anthony

These are just some of the wonderful children you help support with your gifts of time and funding. THANK YOU for making a difference for these future citizens!

Lanny has made great progress toward improving his attitude and behavior this month. He is quiet and working hard during homework hour everyday and is setting a great example for others who want to make better choices.

Anthony has been attending Heart House for almost 3 years! Anthony is well known for his intellectual vocabulary, funny anecdotes on life, and his eagerness to take on leadership roles. In fact, he was just currently elected in charge of the Heart House reading center. He has impressed us all by taking the lead and working hard to make the reading center creative, quiet, and special. He has informed us that he has “hired” some other students on to help him make sure the reading center is working effectively whenever he is absent. Also, he created some outstanding journalism work during our newspaper project and even though we have already completed the project, he continues to take an interest in reading the newspaper and creating his own newsletters.

Read more Student Spotlight posts on the Heart House blog.

This Month's Photo Scrapbook

Bulletin board decorators

Homework support with volunteer Mr. Denné




James in the Reading Center

Below: “Titanic Challenge", a teambuilding game this month—2
pictures

Symone updates the Word Wall

Rosa and Michelle

Heart House South students plan a special “Kits for Kids”
project in anticipation of Earth Day 2009

Desire, Terran and Thomas plan for Earth Day

Armando practices spelling using the Word Wall

Angel, Zach and Marissa use the Word Wall to plan their Earth
Day project

Older girls hanging out

School-Year Scrapbook

We asked the children to vote on their favorite thematic units from this school year. Here’s what they said:


#1 Forces of Nature
This was one of the coolest themes EVER, according to the kids. We studied extreme weather, which included making tornadoes in a bottle, watching home videos of tsunamis in Asia, learning hurricane safety, making seismographs to measure earthquakes and creating PSAs to educate others on extreme weather safety.
Sponsor for Forces of Nature: SpawMaxwell


#2 Super Citizens
We studied the characteristics that make good citizens: honesty, responsibility, respect, compassion and courage. The unit culminated with elections (on real voting machines!) of student council members from each Heart House who embody these characteristics.
Sponsor for Super Citizens: Hart InterCivic


#3 Inventors and Inventions
Students got the chance to study famous inventors, like Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, and create their own inventions to help others solve problems. Sponsor for Inventors and Inventions: SourcePulse



#4 Read, Write, Rock On
Heart House kids sharpened their reading and writing skills by creating word-bingo games, discussing banned books, writing each other’s biographies, making tongue twisters and even creating a Heart House newspaper! Sponsor for Super Citizens: Michael and Susan Dell Foundation


#5 Create a Holiday
Each grade group was able to create its very own holiday---naming the day and why and how it is celebrated. Some of the holidays included Kids vs. Teachers Day and Snowflake Day. Sponsor for Create a Holiday: Foundation Communities

Thank you to our sponsors who made these great learning months possible. For more information on sponsoring a month of learning at Heart House, contact Diane Cannon, Executive Director, at (512) 929-8187 or dcannon@hearthouse.org.

Just as Green, Maybe a Little Smaller

Green thumbs abounded at the spring planting on April 15th at Heart House North. The Heart House Garden Club, with the help of our partners, Green Corn Project, planted cherry tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans, basil, cilantro, and oregano. Special thanks to the ever cheerful, ever patient Mitch Mills, who has nurtured our garden club and is the current President of Green Corn Project. Produce from the Heart House garden club will be featured at our upcoming BBQ on June 13th (see Events.) Be sure to stop by!

See more pictures at: www.hearthouse.org/photos.htm

Matching Donation Drive for Camp Heart House

It’s time again this spring to look ahead to the summer!

We are currently planning our exciting summer program called Camp Heart House. During our 8 week summer camp we are able to offer youth so many fun and interesting choices in activities and programs. Camp Heart House boasts engaging programs like Mad Science, Rad Readers, Heart House Idol, foreign languages, summer service learning, and fitness. We are also enthused to announce that this summer we are able to offer some new programs such as comedy and improv, cooking, counseling groups and leadership. We are also planning some enriching field trips to explore Austin’s rich culture and history and of course will be going swimming on a regular basis!

Each spring we begin planning our summer program, reaching out to organizations and individuals to collaborate and support our program. So far, these are the awesome organizations that have teamed up with us to provide cool programs for this summer:

• LifeWorks
• Texas AgriLife Extension
• 4-H Capital Area
• Youth Interactive
• Notre Dame Summer Service Learning Program
• Computer Corps & American Youthworks (an extension of AmeriCorps)
  

Summer is an exceptionally challenging time for the Heart House families. Most school-year programs close for the summer, and summer child-care costs average $700/month per child. The working-class families in the Heart House neighborhoods simply cannot afford quality care for their school-age children during the summer. Without Heart House, parents would likely have to choose between safe child care and their employment.

Camp Heart House operates Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm, June 15-August 8. The camp helps to bridge a wide gap: supporting both the child’s social and academic growth and the family’s financial security. We need to raise an additional $25,000 to fully fund Camp Heart House.

It only takes $75 to send a child to Camp Heart House for a week. For every $75 you donate in May, an anonymous donor has agreed to match it, dollar for dollar. This donor invites you to financially support Heart House because she believes so strongly in our programs and purposes. Together, we can make a big difference in the lives of Austin's deserving children.

Games and Sportsmanship

We've just wrapped up April’s theme of “Games and Sportsmanship” which focused on what different games and sports can teach us about ourselves and each other. We spent the first few weeks focused on learning about good sportsmanship, teamwork, and games that can teach us about cultures around the world. We wrapped up our theme by experiencing some athletic games and creating our very own unique Heart House Olympics!

Special Guest Highlight:

Journalist Nick Boeglin visited Heart House North recently to help facilitate a Fun Friday called “In the Newsroom”. Both he and our Program Leader, Ms. Emily, dressed up to get the kids excited about feeling like real journalists, working on various news stories.

Join Our Learning Community
We love special guests at Heart House! In the past, we've had everyone from ballerinas to slam poets to Scuba Steve visit us. You're invited to join us one day after school to share your talent and passion with the children. If you would like to be a special guest or organize a special project with your friends, please let us know. You can call our Volunteer Coordinator at (512) 929-8187 or email us at volunteer@hearthouse.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Read Along with Heart House! Books About Games and Sportsmanship

Let the Games Begin! by Maya Ajmera, Michael Regan, and Global Fund for Children

Following an introduction by former senator Bill Bradley, Ajmera and Regan elaborate on the philosophy of sport, addressing one aspect (practice, sportsmanship, teamwork, competition, rules) on each two-page spread. The text, which assumes a budding interest in sport participation, directly addresses the reader, in a tone that is friendly, reassuring, and encouraging. Each spread is illustrated by five photographs of children from around the world who are involved in a sport. Each also features a highlighted quote from a child, which offers insightful advice to the reader on navigating the ups and downs of participation. The title and the picture of a gymnast on the cover are a bit misleading in suggesting that the book concerns the Olympics, but, in fact, the authors have accessibly depicted sport as a fundamental, unifying human endeavor that reflects the ideals the Olympic games embody.



Eco-Fun: Great Projects, Experiments, and Games for a Greener Earth by David Suzuki and Kathy Vanderlinden

These 48 activities are designed to stimulate understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of our ecosystem. They are organized into five chapters: "A Breath of Fresh Air," "Waterworks," "Earthborn," "All Fired Up," and "Our Fine Feathered (and Leafy) Friends." A two-page explanatory overview precedes each section. Activities include making a solar water heater, paper, a composting can, and natural cleansers. Each project has a list of supplies needed, step-by-step instructions, an explanation of what's going on, and "More ideas-" that offers additional things to do. Safety tips are included and the more dangerous procedures recommend adult assistance. Illustrations enhance the lively text, which can be used in the classroom or at home.

Do you want to make a contribution to the Heart House library and reading program?
We would be proud for you to be a reading buddy by donating funds or a gift certificate to Heart House so we can expand our reading program. For more information, please contact Diane Cannon, our Executive Director, at dcannon@hearthouse.org or (512) 929-8187.

Sense Without Cents

In a Tightening Economy, Relationships and Non-Monetary Resources Guide Successful Social Innovation Among Nonprofit Partners

Heart House is preparing to expand its two Austin and three Dallas fully-operational neighborhood centers to 25 dotting Texas by 2020 through its participation in the Growth Learning Collaborative.

The Growth Learning Collaborative is a social innovation project, organic in nature, pooling together various Austin-based nonprofit partners to seek solutions to growth challenges in a stiffening economy. The initial objective for Growth Learning collaborators was to secure space — physical and time — to talk with and learn from experts and peers regarding options for growing organizations. Project members have met monthly at various locations since June 2008.

“The idea of the Growth Learning Collaborative has been more than simply expanding our organizations,” Anna Land, originator of the collaborative plus Heart House USA CEO and founder, said. “I wanted us to meet to discuss and plan implementation of best-practice techniques to help grow and — more fundamentally — replicate our organizations. In our case, children across Texas need a resource like Heart House. To that end, we focus on how we can
naturally nurture and maintain our sense of organizational culture, our enactment of our missions and values, through cycles of leadership and volunteers across Heart House USA hubs.”

The Growth Learning Collaborative develops at a crucial moment in Central Texas. Opportunities for nonprofits to receive contributions of time, money and other resources dwindle. The need to maximize what resources nonprofits have to survive, let alone envision expansion or long-term existence, escalates.

“The current financial crisis could actually be seen as an opportunity,” Nell Edgington, president of Social Velocity, said. “Because of the recent failings of the financial markets, investors are beginning to look for social return in addition to, or even in place of, financial return. Venture philanthropy or growth capital for nonprofits, the funding that will help organizations like Heart House USA grow, is becoming increasingly needed and valued. With the number and complexity of social problems — like those Heart House is attempting to resolve — on the rise, nonprofits that have found solutions should be encouraged to grow to meet more needs. And they need growth capital to do so.”

Growth capital is an idea coming of age in the nonprofit world. One of several nonprofit partners currently participating in Austin’s leading-edge social innovation project is KDK-Harman Foundation, Central Texas’ 13th largest family philanthropy.

“One of our chief objectives is to promote a culture of giving excellence, an environment in which nonprofit supporters can help contribute best-practice solutions to turn challenges into opportunities,” Janet Harman, KDK-Harman president and founder, said. “Funding to help organizations is not our only focus. Rather, we aim to learn, adopt and promulgate proven solutions to empower nonprofit organizations to maximize their capacities to provide educational opportunities to low-income Central Texans. It’s our high-engagement philanthropic approach.”

Austin Partners in Education, a nonprofit that connects Austin community and classrooms to promote academic excellence and personal success for all students in the Austin Independent School District, is a current Growth Learning Collaborative member.

“We are honored to have been invited to participate in the collaborative because of our deep respect for the participants, for their talent and what they’ve achieved,” Kathrin Brewer, Austin Partners in Education executive director, said. “Through the Growth Learning Collaborative, we aim to have an opportunity to ask questions and share our challenges. We enjoy learning from participants’ experience and ideas, sharing practices and to getting their feedback on our strategies.”

Badgerdog Literary Publishing, a nonprofit that puts writers in the schools, providing access to best-in-class literary arts programming for young low-income and minority Central Texans, also participates in the social innovation project.

“As a fast-growing social enterprise, Badgerdog has moved out of the start-up phase with a healthy blend of earned and contributed revenue,” said Melanie Moore, founder and president. “Faced with the next phase of growth at a time when the financial and the publishing landscapes are in dramatic flux, Anna’s idea to establish the Growth Learning Collaborative has provided the participants a valuable opportunity to pool our experience and our inquiries in a real-time, generative knowledgebase that informs our decisions — and visions — for our respective organizations.”

The Growth Learning Collaborative meets on a monthly basis. For more information about Heart House's growth plans in Texas generally and Austin specifically, please email anna@hearthouse.org.

Marco Luna is our May Volunteer Spotlight!

Mr. Marco's favorite Heart House moment (so far): “I taught a group of boys the magic trick where you pretend to take your thumb off. All of them had the most shocked face I have ever seen!”

You can usually find Mr. Marco in the 2nd and 3rd grade classroom at Heart House South. If you don’t see him around, look under the pile of children to the side and there he’ll be! The kids there have taken to him in such a way, that we hope he stays with us well after his college years.

Not much older than the children are, Mr. Marco was quite a surprise as volunteer. He came to Heart House in December of 2008 through the school program American Youth Works. As a student, Marco had the opportunity to commit his service learning project hours to a non-profit organization. He luckily chose us.

At first notice, he seems a cool cat, reserved and non-drama like. But he blossoms into smiles and laughter when he’s with the kids, teaching them silly magic tricks, letting them jump around him (and on him sometimes) and helping them with homework. He sincerely enjoys being with the children and it’s apparent the children love him too. When asked if he might consider teaching as a career, he smiles and says “Oh, yeah, this might be something I’ll want to keep on doing.” We are very lucky to have him with us almost five days a week through, at least, the summer- although he has hinted about staying on past his service learning obligation. Our fingers are crossed!

It is obvious the children very much look forward to him coming in and benefit from his affirming attention. His encouraging, playful nature lies at the core of what Heart House looks for in fruitful mentorship. His work with the children, with out a doubt, will encourage good choices that will bring beneficial change to our society. Many cheers, to you, Mr. Marco. We know you’ll remain a positive force for children around you, always.

More about Mr. Marco:

• What are some of your hobbies? I've been a DJ for almost five years and enjoy teaching others who are interested about it or giving lessons.
• What is your favorite food? Burgers (fast food)
• What is your favorite color? Black
• If you had a favorite superhero power what would it be and why? I would be super fast so I could trick people, and no need for a car.
• What made you volunteer with Heart House? I wanted to work with kids and I jumped at the opportunity of helping them here.
• What keeps you coming back to Heart House? The kids, the stories they tell me, the things they do, the fact they look up to me in some way.

Five Minds for the Future

At Heart House, one of our core beliefs is that children are "smart" in different ways. We honor the multiple intelligences of our Heart House children and design our program accordingly.
We base this belief on the work of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, first published in his book, Frames of Mind. For a great summary of the theory of multiple intelligences, you might enjoy our blog posting, The Many Kinds of Smart. (http://hhaustin.blogspot.com/2008/03/many-kinds-of-smart.html)

Our book recommendation >> The staff at Heart House has been reading Gardner's newest book, Five Minds for the Future, which outlines the specific cognitive abilities that will be sought and cultivated by leaders in the years ahead. One of the reasons for our excitement is that we passionately believe we are supporting the cultivation and development of each of these indentified mindsets needed for the future in our Heart House children. For example:

• The Disciplinary Mind, the mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft. Our job at Heart House is to RECONNECT children with the joy of learning. Heart House aligns its "disguised learning" with AISD's emphasis on a solid education in the fundamentals of these core subjects. Additionally, 100% of our curriculum aligns with TEKS.
  
• The Synthesizing Mind, the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others. Heart House integrates multiple disciplines into our monthly themes, allowing students to see how ideas are connected. Teaching in such a contextual manner promotes collaboration, critical thinking, and knowledge retention.
  
• The Creating Mind: the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomena. As part of Heart House's dedication to producing critical thinkers, we see creativity as the highest level of critical thinking, when expressed by synthesizing information gathered from the monthly theme to create a new idea, product, or point of view.
  
• The Respectful Mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups. Cultivating emotional and interpersonal intelligence among children, staff members, volunteers, and the greater community is modeled and rewarded at Heart House.
  
• The Ethical Mind: fulfillment of one's responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen. We rigorously ask our students what they need to do for their work to be excellent in quality and ethical in conduct, and then how they might follow through with those responsibilities.

Find out more about our program by clicking here.

Hudson and Sophia: Student Spotlights

Sophia helps her program leader and volunteers set up activities with a smile. Whether it is returning items that belong to her class, or explaining (very nicely, of course) to some of her fellow Heart Housers why they should behave, Sophia is always willing to help. (Nominated by Ms. Jenny)

Hudson is always helping others and doing what is expected of him without being asked. He has great manners and really stands out among his peers. Hudson is a superstar! (Nominated by Mr. Paul)

SourcePulse: Donor Spotlight

Dr. Prabhakar Malireddy is founder and President of SourcePulse, a company of 30+ headquartered in Austin that provides a full range of services including management consulting, solutions delivery and managed services to fulfill its mission to improve the operational performance of its clients. On behalf of SourcePulse, Dr. Malireddy reached out to Heart House after discovering our website. The company was looking to make a meaningful financial investment in the community and did its due diligence by visiting Heart House and exploring our program and its benefits to children and working families.

When asked why he and SourcePulse chose Heart House, Dr. Malireddy said, “We believe strongly in equal chances for all children to succeed despite their economic inequalities. We know it’s difficult for some families to provide after-school care for their children as they need to work long hours to make both ends meet. Heart House is striving to keep kids safe after school hours and also to keep them on academic track so that they can grow up into responsible citizens.”

Dr. Malireddy values education and takes pride in the fact that he and his siblings, despite a modest upbringing in India, have all achieved extremely high levels of educational attainment. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and is part of several strategic projects at MIT as part of his post doctoral research. Prior to founding SourcePulse, Dr. Malireddy was the Director of Engineering at CommerceOne and made leading contributions at other software companies prior to that.

SourcePulse is an IBM business partner and provides services to many State of Texas Agencies, such as the Texas Health & Human Services Commission and the Texas Education Agency. The company provides its valuable services in a manner such that its clients may remain flexible to meet changing business needs and easily reconfigure their technology in the future.

Dr. Malireddy is truly a visionary business leader; therefore, Heart House is honored to receive such a generous donation from him and SourcePulse, which will fund program activities at both Heart House sites for two months and allow us to continue to support working families.

Body Power Means Brain Power

According to the most recent Fitnessgram, an annual study of the fitness of Texas children, students who are physically fit are more likely to pass state tests and attend school regularly. The Fitnessgram, which was created by The Cooper Institute in 1982, measured the fitness levels of over 2.4 million Texas students during the 2007-2008 school year. In addition to the link between physical health and academic success, last year’s Fitnessgram also indicated that students who are fit may also be less likely to exhibit behavior issues in school.

Additionally, having a positive attitude toward fitness is especially important for certain populations. Citing recent statistics, the Austin-American Statesman reports, “Research has shown that children who are Hispanic or African American, or who come from low-income families tend to have higher levels of physical inactivity and obesity, putting them at higher risk of developing such health problems as diabetes and heart, joint and bone diseases. Low-income students in Austin tend to be less fit than students from wealthier families. And Austin s Hispanic students tend to be less fit than students of other races, according to state data. State figures also show that the scores of low-income, African American and Hispanic students lag behind those of students overall on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.”

At Heart House, we support health and fitness through our partnerships with Meals on Wheels and More, the Capital Area Food Bank, Active Life, Shoes for Austin and many others. While these collaborations support fitness in a variety of ways, there is one underlying theme that connects them all: supporting positive attitudes toward fitness. Whether students are trying new, healthy foods during their daily snack at Heart House or learning a fun game to play outdoors, Heart House works to develop excitement and curiosity around physical health. Heart House students even get regular outdoor free time to play football, jump rope, hula hoop and participate in many more active games with our great volunteers.

Although some populations may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of inactivity, becoming physically fit can help all students become more successful in school and in life and that’s what Heart House is all about!

SOURCES: Bloom, Molly (2009, March 10) Fit Student, Fit Mind? The Austin-American Statesman. www.statesman.com. Cooper Institute, The (2009) Fitnessgram Program Overview. Retrieved March 10, 2009 from www.fitnessgram.net.

Looking at Literacy

As a program that focuses on academic support and enrichment, Heart House has very meaningful opportunities to enhance the confidence, skills, and progress of so many children. One of the major challenges facing youth today is literacy. Reading and writing is essential to success in school and life. Did you know that as early as age 6, kids have already decided whether or not they like or want to read? Can you imagine the impact this can have on youth throughout the rest of their lives?

While illiteracy is an unseen problem, it profoundly impacts our society. U.S. Department of Education statistics reveal that 60% of prison inmates are illiterate, and 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems. Illiteracy leads to low self-esteem, unemployment, poverty, and crime. Literacy empowers people to better their lives and the lives of their families, and our communities.At Heart House, we recognize the significant value of kids developing positive relationships with reading and writing. That is why we strive to improve our children’s reading and writing skills each year through the materials and programs we offer.Specifically, programs like “Reading Buddies” which partner struggling readers with adult volunteers for fun literacy activities, have highly impacted our kids’ success in reading and writing. In fact, “Reading Buddies” is a program we have offered for the past 4 years, one that is incredibly popular among our kids. Everyone wants a Reading Buddy!

During the 2008-2009 school year, we are proud to say that 90% of Heart House children improved their reading level by at least one level or improved their TAKS reading scores. (Read about even more of our success at Heart House.)

We know that our afterschool program has the unique opportunity to motivate and encourage children to believe in themselves and their abilities. At Heart House, “disguised learning” happens all the time! (Those little moments when kids are having fun and smiling without even realizing that they are learning new skills.)Also, our site directors continue to pursue and nourish relationships with reading specialists in schools and the community to provide tools and strategies for our volunteers and staff that will truly encourage and enrich literacy at our centers—whether its phonics, fluency, or comprehension.

We are incredibly excited to start a new theme for the next two months focused on reading and writing. Our theme titled “Read, Write, Rock On!” will emphasize that reading and writing can be a truly positive and enjoyable experience in our daily lives. Kids will learn that reading and writing are essential tools for almost any hobby, skill, or career they wish to have! Current youth and adult literacy rates across the state and country are staggering. But as educators, volunteers, family and community members, we CAN make a difference by making reading and writing fun, relevant, and meaningful for everyone!

Facts about Illiteracy:

• In 1998, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tested children nationwide for reading skills.1 The results for reading tests for 4th graders revealed that 38% read below the most basic level, while only 7% could be considered above-average readers.
• In 1998 there were ten million children between seven and eleven years of age who performed below the most basic level of reading achievement.
• The average reader spent about 6 minutes per day reading connected text. Children with reading problems spent about one minute per day. The amount of time students spent on worksheets did not relate to gains in reading achievement. What appeared to be most relevant was time spent reading connected print.
• Children who struggle in vain with reading in the first grade soon decide that they neither like nor want to read.
• In 2000, fourth grade students who reported reading more pages daily in school and for homework had higher average scale scores than students who reported reading fewer pages daily.

How you can help>> Volunteer to be a Reading Buddy! For more information, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Shelly-Marie Rios, at (512) 929-8187 or volunteer@hearthouse.org.


Sources for Statistics:

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. The Executive Summary of the 1998
National Assessment for Educational Progress Reading Report Card for the Nation, NCES 1999-50 (Washington, D.C.: March 1999).

Population Estimates Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau Washington, D.C. 20233
Stahl, Steven A., Ann Duffy-Hester, et al. "Everything You Wanted to Know About Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask.)" Reading Research Quarterly 33, no. 3 (July-September 1998):338-356.

National Research Council. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Catherine Snow

Susan Burns, Peg Griffin, eds. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1998).Education Statistics

Quarterly. Vol 3, Issue 2. “The Nation’s Report Card: Fourth Grade Reading 2000”

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: Kay Alderman

“Ms. Kay, you’re a saint!” This quote comes straight from a Heart House program leader at our north site. Ms. Kay is awesome, indeed. Like clockwork, she comes in at 2:40 almost every Tuesday and Thursday. Before we know it, she sets up the second and third grade classroom and is ready to go. This reliable preparation help alone is enough to put Ms. Kay in the spotlight. It frees up important time for the program leader to prep other materials for the day. However, it is her consistency in coming in that makes her an outstanding volunteer. Ms. Kay has created a foundation for successful mentor relationships. All the kids know her and are more than comfortable around her. She exemplifies what Heart House children benefit from most: consistent relationships.



Ms. Kay has been with Heart House for one year. She is retired from the College of Education at the University of Akron in Ohio and brings with her a treasure chest of education knowledge. Extremely trustworthy, you will find her escorting children around and helping where ever she is needed. She’s excellent at asking the children to keep to their cleaning duties- yes, Ms. Kay stays until the end of the program! Kay is passionate about education and dedicates even her retired life to its mission. She is extremely active in the community and shares her volunteer time with the AISD Partners in Education College Readiness program and one hour a week at Austin High School and Lanier High School. When you speak with her, she always seems to have a story and is quite the adventurer. Last month, Kay was jumping around Costa Rican beaches and rainforests. We are lucky she came back! Ms. Kay, we are so honored you give Heart House your valuable time. We are privilege to have someone one with such a big heart and valuable experience be a part of our volunteer family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

Interesting facts about Ms. Kay:

What keeps you coming back to Heart House?
My interest in the education and development of children and seeing this happen.
Free Time?
Reading, book club, walking, hiking
Favorite food?
Shrimp
Favorite color?
Blue
What made you volunteer with HH?
My lifelong commitment to education.
What is you favorite HH moment?
The moments when I see a HH child "getting" the math problem.

Student Spotlight: Adrian and Mitchell

These are just some of the wonderful children you help support with your gifts of time and funding. THANK YOU for making a difference for these future citizens!

Adrian received the “Most Improved” student award in his group in January for all of the hard work he has put into improving his effort and attitude at Heart House! (He is on the right in the above picture.) His program leader is so proud of the progress he has made and commented that she notices how he tries to keep other students on task now! He is a super helper during clean-up time and loves to take on any leadership role he can at Heart House. We are very excited about all of the great ways he is modeling positive behavior for other Heart House kids since returning from the holiday break. Way to go, Adrian!

Mitchell wows us in all kinds of ways! Whether he is working on activities in the classroom or scoring touchdowns during outside time, Mitchell is a prime example of how perseverance, enthusiasm and heart lead to success. Plus, his quick wit and kind thoughtfulness make him a joy to be around. We can’t wait to see all of the great things that Mitchell is sure to accomplish in the future.

EnviroKids!

Thank you to Keep Austin Beautiful for providing us with several activity kits to supplement and enhance our “EnviroKids” activities! EnvironKids

Creating their own landfills

"Compost Critters"

Exploring the worm bin

For more great pictures of our children, visit our online photo scrapbook at http://www.hearthouse.org/photo.htm.

Heart House Board Member and Austin realtor gives 25% of her commission to charity - every time

Austin realtor gives 25% of her commission to charity - every time
Written by http://givingcityaustin.wordpress.com/

So let me get this straight: Give Realty gives 25% of its commission to charity? In my name?

Yeah, I think that’s how it works. I get this realtor, Laurie Loew of Give Realty, to help me find a house. She makes a commission when I buy it - from what I remember commission is 6% of the house’s selling price. So if I buy the house for $200,000, for example, Laurie and the other realtor who worked with the seller split a commission of $12,000 total or $6000 each.
But then… while the other realtor pockets all most of the $6000 (their broker/office usually gets a portion), Laurie pockets $4500 and gives the remaining $1500 to the charity of my choice. I get to make the donation. I write the check. I get the tax deduction.

So what’s the catch?

I met Laurie at Jo’s yesterday to ask her about that. The thing is, there isn’t a catch. She just wants to do this. She just wants to help the community. What makes this so odd, mostly, is that no one else is doing this. She’s done the research and cannot find a realtor anywhere in the country who is giving away so much of their commission - and in their clients’ names. I mean, I think about moving once in a while, but this makes me want to go house hunting immediately. It’s kind of unbelievable.

Lots of people want to help the community, but how many can take 25% of their income and give it away, and not even in their own name?

But still you’re wondering… what’s the catch? Let me break this down for you:

…she’s independently wealthy? Laurie used to be wealthy-ish, but she got a divorce, gave up on the stuff aquisition, and started to feel good about her life. So now she’s trading wealth for health and happiness. Go figure.

….she’s taking a cut somewhere else? Nope. She’s met with accountants, lawyers, entrepreneurs, lots of people to make sure she’s doing this in a straight-up, totally kosher way.

…she’s doing this as a marketing gimmick? She’s not, actually. But think about it… even if she is… so what? She gives 25% of her commission to charity. Nice gimmick.

….she’s a little nuts? I know why you’re thinking this. You’re thinking this because you think realtors in general are greedy or lazy or a little bit of both, so she must be a kinda crazy. But a.) realtors can be cool people and b.) Laurie’s not crazy. She’s extremely sane, in fact. And she’s definitely not greedy or lazy. She worked her butt off for years to become one of the best realtors in Austin before starting Give Realty on her own.

The thing is, there is no catch. She’s just a super-nice lady, and in fact, she has two other super-nice people working with her, Robin LeTourneau and Joe Menefe. I hope you’ll hire them or refer them to someone you know who’s looking to buy or sell their home. Because it might be fun writing a big old check to the nonprofit of your choice.

Learn more about Give Realty here: http://www.giverealtyaustin.com/

(Since August 2008, Give Realty Austin has already given away $7,400 to local nonprofits. And within the next month, Laurie thinks they’ll be at $10,000. What an incredible impact one realtor can have!)

Abe Arevalo, Super Volunteer

If Abe Arevalo could bottle up and sell his energy and charisma, he would be a millionaire in a month. He has been an inspiring volunteer with Heart House for more than a year. As a behind the scenes volunteer, Abe has consulted us on several software projects that have strengthened the infrastructure of Heart House. He is also a member of HHVAC (Heart House Volunteer Advisory Committee) and has contributed such well thought out proposals for improvement that he was recently voted in as our newest member of the Heart House Board of Directors.

And, Abe doesn’t stop there. You will also find him working directly with the children on homework and activities. When asked what his favorite volunteer memory was, he didn’t talk about helping the staff with our computer projects, instead he mentioned the kids, “It would have to be just coming in and getting an enthusiastic hi from the kids, sometimes it's literal and other times you can tell by their reaction when you walk in the door.”

Born in Brownville, Texas, Abe moved north to attend school at the University of Minnesota where he majored in Electrical Engineering. He currently works at IBM as a Software Engineer for the Linux Technology Center, working on finding solutions to Linux defects found on IBM hardware.

Other interesting facts about Abe Arevalo:

Favorite hobbies?
I love to play basketball, I like to work out in general. I'm a big movie watcher, whether it’s TV, Netflix, Blockbuster, Theater, if it's on a screen, I'll watch it! Outside of that, spending time with family and going out with friends.

Favorite food
Donuts, I never get sick of them.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?
To fly, because I'd save so much on gas and wouldn't have to worry about speeding tickets (which I've gotten here and there).

Student Spotlight: Emily and Gabriel

Besides ALWAYS being on task, Emily goes out of her way to help her classmates. She has a great sense of humor and is constantly smiling and laughing. She also has quite a curious streak. Emily is full of questions about the world around her, which we love to see at Heart House!

Gabriel has come a long way over this course of this semester. He has a wonderful attitude and carries himself with great decorum. Gabriel continues to impress us more and more everyday as his thoughtful behavior grows.

Student Spotlight: Juana and Adrian

These are just some of the wonderful children you help support with your gifts of time and funding. THANK YOU for making a difference for these future citizens!

This is Juana’s first year at Heart House, but it feels like she has been a part of our group forever! Her program leader describes her as incredibly helpful, cheerful, and hard-working. She takes great care of her two younger brothers who also attend Heart House and also watches over kids in the program. We look forward to spending even more time with her in the Spring!

Adrian is one of the most respectful students we have come across. He shows great personal discipline and is always one of the first students to offer a helping hand.

Read Along with Heart House

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

This latest whimsical work from Scieszka and Smith (The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; The Stinky Cheese Man) is bound to stretch out the old thinking cap. The day after her teacher announces, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem," the narrator is afflicted with a "math curse" that affects how she views every facet of her day ("Everything seems to be a problem"). A minimum of the questions she asks herself are entirely logical ("How many quarts are in a gallon?"); some are far-fetched extrapolations (if an M&M is about one centimeter long and the Mississippi River is about 4000 kilometers long, how many M&Ms would it take to measure the length of this river?); and a happily hefty number are sheer nonsense: "I undo 8 buttons plus 2 shoelaces. I subtract 2 shoes. I multiply times 2 socks and divide by 3 pillows to get 5 sheep, remainder 1, which is all I need to count before I fall asleep." Like the text, Smith's wonderfully wacky collage-like art will give readers ample food for thought-even if it's part junk food. Here's a morsel: "Does tunafish + tunafish = fournafish?" Kids will want seconds-count on it.

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

When Judy and Peter find a board game in the park, they take it home, hoping to alleviate their boredom. One live lion, an erupting volcano, and a dozen destructive monkeys later, the children are no longer bored. Their jungle adventure game has come to life! Chris Van Allsburg is a master at walking the line between fantasy and reality. His unusually sculptured drawings (familiar to the many devoted fans of the Caldecott-winning The Polar Express and The Garden of Abdul Gasazi) convey the magical transition of a normal house to an exotic jungle. Readers will tremble along with Judy and Peter, urging them to roll the dice that will plunge them from one perilous predicament into another. Jumanji, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and winner of the 1982 Caldecott Medal, is sure to amaze and thrill even the most jaded young reader.

Do you want to make a contribution to the Heart House library and reading program?
We would be proud for you to be a reading buddy by donating funds or a gift certificate to Heart House so we can expand our reading program. For more information, please contact Megan Heredia, our Development Director, by email or phone, (512) 751-6942.

The ACTIVE Life Challenge

This month, Heart House is excited to announce a new collaboration with ACTIVE Life! As part of the ACTIVE Life Challenge, students will participate in a free, 8-week, fun, incentive-based health and fitness program for our sites, students, staff and their families. Heart House students will form teams with their families and complete weekly health and fitness challenges, which bring the team members together as they explore new physical activities and nutrition topics.

The ACTIVE Life Rewards Card gives our children VIP access at the ACTIVE Life Tour event which will be coming to our area in Spring 2009. We look forward to a challenging spring full of exciting, healthy activities for our students and families!

In addition to receiving the rewards that come from a healthy, ACTIVE lifestyle, teams who complete the challenge will receive an ACTIVE Life Rewards Card at the completion of the ACTIVE Life Challenge Program. The ACTIVE Life Rewards Card gives our children special discounts on healthy, fun products and services at local businesses, including a loyal Heart House donor, 1379 Athletic Wear.

“Read, Write, Rock On!”

The goal of this month's theme is to allow the Heart House students to experience all of the fun and unique ways reading and writing is used in self-discovery, hobbies and entertainment, careers, and life in general. Inside and outside of the classroom are both equally challenging places to help kids improve their literacy skills. With this curriculum, we hope to reconnect the Heart House children with the wide world of literacy in all its forms.

Some special project topics and activities include:

• Phonics & Phonemic Awareness for Early Elementary
• Reader’s Theatre Activities for Lower & Upper Elementary
• Poetry Activities
• Host Your Own Poetry Slam
• Lyrics & Music
• Create Your Own Cookbook
• Reading & Writing in a Digital World
• Pen Pals & Mailboxes
• Book Buddy: a special reading and writing project pairing older students with younger ones
• Banned Books: a look into why certain writing is challenged and whether books should be banned

And here's what we studied recently:
Recently we have been busy bees investigating fact versus fiction for our “Myth Busters” theme. These activities were focused on scientific investigation in order to create well-informed hypotheses, observations, and conclusions. Some of the topics we explored were common misconceptions about insects and animals, fruits and plants, and life beyond Earth! We wrapped up our unit with our own spin on a popular kids’ game show, which we renamed “Are You Smarter Than a Heart House Kid?: Myth Busters edition”. The kids beat the socks off of the Heart House staff!

Special Guests

• Kelly and Alex Freeman brought in worm bin to explore the benefits of worms in our environment.
• Katie Kizziar and Kate Monzo conducted a scientific investigation of how to build flying objects other than airplanes.
• Bat Conservation International discussed common misconceptions about bats and brought in several types of real live bats for kids to see!
  

Join Our Learning Community
We love special guests at Heart House! In the past, we've had everyone from ballerinas to slam poets to Scuba Steve visit us. You're invited to join us one day after school to share your talent and passion with the children. If you would like to be a special guest or organize a special project with your friends, please let us know. You can call our Volunteer Coordinator at (512) 929-8187 or email us at volunteer@hearthouse.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Heart House Needs Community Volunteers

Volunteers are the key to ongoing well-being of Heart House. Their time and life experiences bring vital energy into the lives of Heart House kids. Volunteering at Heart House is a fun and uplifting experience, and all it takes is a few hours a month.

For current opportunities working with children, serving on a committee, or assisting the hard-working staff of Heart House, please click here! We currently have these opportunities available:
Buzz Committee Members
Activity Time Volunteers
Behind the Scenes Volunteers
Presentation Volunteers
Project Manager, Expansion to Heart House Houston
Project Manager, Texas Expansion
Earned Income Intern
Special Projects Intern: Staff Training System
Communications Intern
Technology Intern

Be sure to check out our website at www.hearthouse.org/volunteering for upcoming orientations at Heart House. You may attend either location for an orientation, regardless of which Heart House you will volunteer at. For more information on volunteering at Heart House Austin, contact Shelly-Marie Rios, our Volunteer Coordinator, at 512-929-8187 / volunteer@hearthouse.org.

Student Spotlight: Scarlet and Victoria

Scarlet has been coming to Heart House for two years and we have enjoyed watching her grow into the thoughtful, intelligent, and helpful little lady that she is! She is always bringing the staff holiday cards and gifts (which we love of course!), but more than that, she is always giving her best, whether it is homework, reading, or participating in activities. Even though she can be shy at times, she is such a caring and kind Heart House kid. We always look forward to her smile when she walks in each day. This is what out Program Director has to say about her: “Scarlet brought me a birthday dinner and cake on HER birthday! I couldn’t believe it! She is always doing nice things for kids and staff at Heart House. I am so glad she is here!”

Victoria is a great helper in the classroom. She is also imaginative, energetic and kind. Victoria is a joy to have in the program and we are very proud of her!

This Month's Program Sponsor: The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation

This month's sponsor is The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, one of Heart House's first funders. They took a leap of faith with us, granting us significant funds before Heart House had even opened! Fast forward six years, and the foundation remains one of Heart House's biggest supporters. While MSDF continues to support Heart House's day-to-day operations and the afterschool program itself, the foundation has made some legacy gifts to Heart House that will help us to build capacity and better serve our children for years to come.

A recent example of MSDF's generous, engaged philanthropy was when our wonderful Program Officer, Nichole Aston, approached Heart House and asked us where we could best use new funds and what our challenges were. We told the foundation that Heart House needed a more efficient, web-based database for tracking data on children, volunteers and our program. Additionally, we wanted to grow our pool of loyal private donors. MSDF issued a grant allowing Heart House to develop an efficient new database and challenging us to raise more private donor funds, rewarding us with a matching grant to maximize the impact of the donations from other Heart House supporters.

Heart House was honored to nominate MSDF for the Central Texas Afterschool Network's 2008 "Donor of the Year" award. Nichole Aston accepted this award at the recent Breakfast of Champions, celebrating achievement and support of out-of-school-time programs in Central Texas.

CTAN Master of Ceremonies, Herman Whitney, CTAN President, Tameka Thomas, and Nichole Aston from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Heart House values its partnership with MSDF, and we consider ourselves so lucky to be funded by a foundation with such integrity and high standards. Thank you, MSDF, for making such an amazing impact at Heart House over the past six years, and for all that you do everywhere to "transform the lives of children living in urban poverty through better health and education."

My favorite little moment with the HH kids keeps happening over and over.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Kate Monzo, Heart House North

There is a glow about Kate Monzo that tells so much about her. She’s a combination of warmth and practicality that is an amazing asset to the Heart House Volunteer family and to the children we serve. Kate started with HH just this fall, but has been a superstar the entire time, putting together projects, pitching ideas for improvement (with a smile), and always willing to do a little extra and stay a little longer.

“My favorite little moment with the HH kids keeps happening over and over. I love it when I see the kids go through a problem rationally and solve the problem together. Another moment that was pretty cool was on the first day I volunteered. I was really excited but also a bit nervous. As I waited for the kids to arrive from school with the group leaders, I was getting really anxious. I wasn't sure if the kids would like me or want my help. Well, as soon as they came through the door, I was greeted with lots of smiles and questions and stories. My nervousness instantly went away. That was definitely a favorite moment.”

Kate was recently invited to join the newly formed Volunteer Advisory Committee where, as a member, she took the initiative to contact her local neighborhood association to set up a Heart House volunteer presentation. Another interesting project she is working on is a marker drive for Heart House kids.

Kate is currently a graduate research assistant and teaching assistant and a graduate student in the Molecular Cell and Developmental program at the University of Texas. She’s studying a gene that causes Fragile X Syndrome, a common form of mental retardation in humans, and plans to graduate with a PhD in August of this year. Other interesting facts about Kate:

What is your favorite color?
I'm from Chicago and miss it dearly. I think my favorite color is the steel blue of Lake Michigan in the winter.

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be and why?
Probably a dog or a wolf. I love being part of a pack and knowing I can depend on others.

What is your favorite food?
I love simple food, especially Hungarian food. My fiancé’s mother is Hungarian and cooks for us whenever she can.

What hobbies do you have?
I love hanging out with my two dogs, Nellie and Junco. We love to go camping and hiking. I have been knitting since I was little and love to do it when I can find the time. I am also an avid reader, lately I have been reading mostly science fiction.

Thank you Ms. Kate! We are lucky to have you. It is an absolute pleasure to have Kate on our team. She infuses Heart House with a pragmatic sensibility; a quality that is so beneficial to the development of Heart House children. We hope she stays with our “pack” for years to come.

Heart House HALOS 2009 Kick-Off Party!

If you're interested in learning more about the leadership & social networking group that supports Heart House, stop by for our first happy hour of the year! On January 27th, 2009 join us between 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Roux Restaurant! Bring your friends!



The kick-off party will be a casual happy hour so folks can meet and greet, with light appetizers. Please RSVP.

About the HALOS:
If you would like to invest in the children of Heart House and engage with similarly-passionate supporters in a dynamic collaboration, please consider joining our leadership circle, HALOS, as a member of the inaugural Class of 2008-2009!We ask each HALOS member to commit to the following:

• Pay annual donation of $1,000
• Introduce two friends to the HALOS and Heart House family
• Spread the Heart House story throughout the Austin community
• Encourage others to contribute their time and talents to Heart House

To learn more about HALOS or discuss membership, please contact:Megan Heredia, Heart House Development Coordinator mheredia@hearthouse.org 512-929-8187

Join Us on December 10th at the Driskill Hotel

Join the Heart House board and staff for lunch at the Driskill Hotel on Wednesday, December 10th!

In the spirit of the holiday season, the Driskill Hotel is inviting the community to share in a series of events and celebrations during its "12 Days of Driskill" festivities. Every day, from December 5-16, a Victorian Holiday Tea will be held in our Grand Lobby from 3-5 pm. Each evening, carolers from local schools will perform in front of the tree, with special food and desserts available from the 1886 Café and Bakery.

Heart House was selected as one of 12 local charities to be honored by the Driskill and the community during this celebration. A portion of the proceeds from meals and tea will be given directly to Heart House.

So if you're planning to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee or tea downtown on Wednesday, December 10th, please make the Driskill Hotel your choice for the day, and help the children of Heart House this holiday season!

Many of the Heart House board and staff members will be at the Driskill for lunch at noon. Please feel free to join our festive table!

Driskill Hotel: http://www.driskillhotel.com/austin-restaurants.php

What's New? Cool Community Collaborations!

Heart House’s program is enriched by the valuable community partnerships we have made in Austin. Without these meaningful relationships, our children would lack wonderful opportunities to experience the arts, learn life skills, explore and tap into talents, and interact with positive adult role models. This month, we’d like to highlight some of our special community collaborations for the 2008-2009 school year:

Green Corn Project is working with Heart House to maintain our community garden. They have already planted fruits and veggies with our kids and now we wait impatiently for harvest time! Green Corn’s volunteers are dedicated and enthusiastic about teaching kids about healthier living and how to have great green thumbs! For more info about Green Corn Project please visit: http://www.greencornproject.org/gc

Paramount Theatre’s outreach program called “Skinny’s Gallery” provides Heart House families with ongoing opportunities to attend performances for free on the weekends! Some of the shows we have already checked out include “Jungle Jack Hannah” and “Seussical the Musical”. We look forward to the next 5 shows offered to us from now through May! For more info about Paramount Theatre & the “Skinny’s Gallery” program please visit: http://www.austintheatre.org.

Our partnership with Meals on Wheels and More is incredibly significant for our kids and program. They provide free daily meals for our kids which serve as healthy snacks in our program. They also provide ongoing programming and support to help after school programs instill healthier eating and nutrition in their learning communities. For more info on Meals on Wheels and More please visit: http://www.mealsonwheelsandmore.org.

Youth InterACTIVE is a NEW partnership this year which we are looking forward to! We will be featuring their ACTIVE Life Challenge in the spring as a family and community health component in our program. The challenge will encourage Heart House families to participate in fun health activities together, while earning a chance for rewards once the program is complete! For more info on Youth Interactive please visit: http://www.youthinteractive.org.

Mr. Thomas is just “one cool dude”

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT:
Thomas Hill, Heart House South

“Mr. Thomas is here! Mr. Thomas is here!” was what our Volunteer Coordinator, Shelly-Marie, heard from across the room the second Mr. Thomas Hill walked through the door that first week of our fall program. His very calm, confident presence with the children is like classic jazz flowing through Coca Cola. Ahh! And wow, do the kids south just love him. It might also be because he comes in, on average twice a week (sometimes more) or that Mr. Thomas is, in the words of a Heart House child, just “one cool dude” that everyone genuinely likes being around.

“Volunteering at HH has been a very rewarding experience, says Mr. Thomas. "The kids are phenomenal and the staff is great. There is a sense of community that you don't find in most after school programs. The kids are funny, and it's great to just listen to their stories and adventures. I really like helping them with their homework, and at the end of the day, I love to just kick back and toss the football with the older kids. I cannot think of a better place to volunteer my time.”

During the day Mr. Thomas is an accountant at TMF Health Quality Institute and has been with Heart House since the spring of 2008. He is also part of a new Volunteer Advisory Board that met for the first time this month to contribute valuable views to staff from the volunteer perspective.

In September Heart House nominated Mr. Thomas for a Breakfast of Champions volunteer award through the Central Texas Aftershool Network (CTAN). His nomination statement written by South Site Director Meredith Meisetschlaeger read:

“Since March of 2008, Thomas has shown outstanding dedication to the students of Heart House South. His natural warmth, sense of humor and genuine interest in the lives of our students make him quite a popular guy. Yet despite a few arguments over who “gets to play with Mr. Thomas,” he manages to sincerely give his attention and energy to all who seek it. Thomas’ heartfelt commitment has made an indelible difference in the lives of our students and we appreciate him greatly.”




You may occasionally catch Mr. Thomas running races with the Heart House kids out back. It is no surprise that he likes playing football and basketball and bowls in a league on Monday nights. “I like playing dominoes, and I love to cook. I also try to go fishing at least once a month.” It is rumored that Mr. Thomas makes some of the best ribs in Texas- which course, to any Texan, means he makes the best ribs in the world! Thank you, Mr. Thomas, for being such a key player on our Heart House team!

What We're Reading (Staff and Friends)

Heart House is a learning community for everyone -- children, staff and volunteers -- and as such, it attracts life-long learners and readers to our tribe. Heart House staff members share what they're reading these days. Volunteers, friends, supporters: Add your comment below and share with the Heart House community what is on your bedside table.


Meredith Meisetschlaeger, Site Director, Heart House South
Milan Kundera’s Immortality. Although to be honest, I probably read The Berenstain Bears more than anything (haha).

Brittany Neighbors, Program Leader, Heart House South
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Next up: Soon I Will be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Diane Cannon, Executive Director
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant (THANK YOU TO KDK-HARMAN FOUNDATION FOR THIS GIFT!

Shelly-Marie Rios, Volunteer Coordinator
The World as a Total System by Kenneth E. Boulding
Foundation's Edge, Isaac Asimov
Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism, Harm de Blij
Insects of the World, Walter Linsenmaier
Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter
Latest edition of Elle Décor Italia magazine
Latest edition of Dwell magazine
And always my I Ching

Monica Armendariz, Program Director
Unfortunately, I am not reading anything right now. But when I travel to Ireland, I plan to start reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Either that or I’ll pick back up on Book 13 of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.

Megan Heredia, Development Coordinator
Just finished "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (easy, guilty pleasure read....plus, I had to know what all the fuss was about!) and also "Year of Wonders" (amazing!) by Geraldine Brooks.Am currently reading "Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent"by Fred Burton (I love all of the conspiracy theory stuff...) and "How They Achieved: Stories of Personal Achievement and Business Success" by Lucinda Watson (very inspiring!)

Anna Land, Founder
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands
Some Assembly Required by Thom Singer (HH Board member)
Magazines: The Sun, Mental Floss, Lucky, Economist, Ode, Wired
The owner's manual to a yet-unused digital camera
What's next: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Curiosity: The Fuel of Development

Heart House has three beliefs upon which we build our program:

• Critical thinking skills are a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one’s personal and civic life. We should and can teach children to be critical thinkers.
• Children are “smart” in different ways. We will honor the multiple intelligences of our Heart House children.
• Curiosity is one of the most fundamental tools children can bring to their early learning experiences. We will model and foster curiosity as a highly esteemed value at Heart House.

In this blog post, the Heart House tribe would like to share a bit more about this third bulleted belief that revolves around our love of CURIOSITY.

"Being curious about the world around us is an important part of learning. When children show an interest in wanting to find out about how things work and when they ask why things happen, it shows that they are developing skills they will need for later learning. We can encourage this interest in learning by talking with children about the things they wonder about and explaining things that may seem quite familiar to us, but are a source of curiosity for children -- like what happens to water that goes down the drain." - Mr. (Fred) Rogers




Asking questions to promote learning and sharing is important to all disciplines. We believe:

• Questions are as powerful as answers (and opinions) in the creation of change.
• There is an art to asking refined & powerful questions.

Heart House employs a 4-part questioning strategy to stimulate maximum participlation during the activities. This method helps focus and direct the discussion. Best of all, it’s easy to learn and implement. The idea behind this strategy is that by structuring our questions in a certain way, we can guide the group of children on their journey through a stimulating and interesting dialogue.

1. Selective Perception Questions: Questions start here are with “no brainer” questions that have no right or wrong answer, that surface the facts of the discussion, that directly observable data. This part of the questioning also serves to put the group at ease and begin a common understanding of the facts.
   
2. Emotional Reaction Questions: The group leader next asks a reflective question, which elicits the participants’ feeling and associated ideas about the experience, activity or situation. We suggest you spend extra time here to more fully engage the group.
   
3. Sense-Making Questions: Everyone assigns meaning to data based on our unique filters (beliefs, drives and experiences). Through sense-making questions, children are encouraged to examine the meaning or value of the experience, activity, or
   situatio. Group members begin to synthesize the happenings of the experience and realize its effect upon the group.
4. Action Questions: We take actions based on our own inferences about data. Action questions encourage the group to synthesize the discussion or determine what the next step might be.

Here’s an example of a 4-part questioning strategy discussing an oil painting:

Selective Perception Questions
What colors do you see in this painting?
What shapes do you recognize?
How many objects in the room can you name?

Emotional Reaction Questions
What do you like best in this picture? Where are you drawn in or attracted to?
What aspect do you like least? Where do you feel repulsed, distrubed, or irritated?
What sounds might you hear if you were there?
Look at the painting. Now close your eyes. Which person/object in this painting do you remember the most? Why?

Sense-Making Questions
Is the scene inside or outside? How can you tell?
What do you think this shape is?
What are the people in the painting doing? Are they related?
Why do you think the mother looks so large?
What season of the year might this scene be taking place in?


Action Questions
What would you title this painting?
Where would you like to have seen more detail?
How could we use this painting at Heart House?

Open House Offers Preview Of Fall Fun, Recap of Camp Heart House

On Thursday, October 16th, hundreds of programs across the country celebrated "Lights on Afterschool" day, a nationally recognized holiday to promote awareness of after-school programs. On this day, we opened up our Heart House North center to community members, collaborators, funders, and families to show off the amazing things we've being doing with our kids and to provide others with an opportunity to learn more about the Heart House program and approach.



Staff and kids from both of our Heart House Austin locations gathered at the North site to prepare for their guests, and as over 53 people walked in throughout the night, they were greeted by the enthusiastic faces of our children! Our event featured an exhibit hall full of stories, photos, and samples of our programs and curriculum, a hands-on room where visitors could experience a day in the life of a Heart House kid through participating in a sample activity, and an interactive quiz show which allowed guests to learn more about Heart House!




There were many special moments which left an endearing mark on many of us that evening, such as having Heart House children give guests a tour of our learning center, listening to them read their published poems, and hearing their candid comments about their experiences and opinions.



We are thrilled that so many people stopped by! We look forward to planning future events to help promote awareness and engage visitors. Afterschool programs truly make a difference in the lives of children across the nation, and we are so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with our kids in our centers.

We encourage you to visit these links below to find out more about the importance of afterschool programs in our neighborhoods:

http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/

http://www.ctanweb.org/

http://www.hearthouse.org/

Heart House Elections

October’s theme is “Super Citizenship” and we have been focusing on major qualities of good citizens. As we explore these areas, we have been encouraging the children of Heart House to identify ways in which they can use these characteristics to better themselves and our communities.

We are thrilled that alongside our daily hands-on activities, we hosted a “Heart House Council Election” which allowed kids to campaign for a seat of their choosing within five major qualities of good citizenship: respect, responsibility, courage, compassion, and honesty. Candidates spoke with their peers at Heart House about how they represent each quality.




The project culminated with a mock election on Oct. 24th at both Heart House centers, allowing all clubhouse members to vote for their candidates of choice! We had the unique opportunity to provide them with hands-on learning about the voting process, and due to our gracious partnership with Hart InterCivic, who created our ballots and brought their voting machines to Heart House, children were able to use real voting machines to cast their votes.




Gregg Burt, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic, said the following about the experience, "It was extremely rewarding for Hart InterCivic and for me, personally, to see the children of Heart House get so excited about conducting their class elections on our voting machines. Everyone had a blast, and Hart was delighted to have been able to bring the children's classroom lessons on good citizenship to life in such a creative and timely manner. It was great to witness their participation in something as precious as the right to vote."


The council will serve a very valued and meaningful purpose this school year. As the council, they will meet regularly with our staff to make important decisions about programs, events, and issues at Heart House!


Congratulations on the newly elected councils!


Heart House South Council:

Kid of Honesty: Zed
Kid of Compassion: Ramon
Kids of Respect: (Tie between 3 students) Milee, Erique, Jonathan
Kids of Responsibility: (Tie between 2 students) Benjamin, Joey
Kid of Courage: Lanny

Heart House North Council:

Kid of Respect: Rosa
Kid of Courage: Kierra
Kid of Responsibility: Nene
Kid of Honesty: Jaela
Kid of Compassion: Alex

Foundation Communities and Heart House Partner for Family Success

Heart House continues to be grateful for and proud of its partnership with Foundation Communities. Foundation Communities is a nonprofit organization that creates high-quality affordable housing and empowers low-income families and individuals with programs that educate, support, and improve financial standing. Heart House operates its two afterschool centers from within Foundation Communities properties and serves the children of Foundation Communities residents. Foundation Communities provides Heart House with a monthly stipend, which greatly assists Heart House in its mission to offer high-quality afterschool programming. Additionally, Foundation Communities allows Heart House the use of its buildings at no charge and gifts all utility payments and other expenses, such as use of the computer lab, as in-kind, saving Heart House more than $100,000 annually! Additionally, we recently submitted our first joint grant proposal with Foundation Communities to a local foundation, which resulted in significant funding for both programs. We thank Foundation Communities (especially our friends Walter, Julian and Robin) from the bottom of our "heart!"

Studies Show Programs like Heart House Develop Deep Understanding of New Knowledge

Today's students will enter a job market that values skills and abilities far different from the traditional workplace talents that so ably served their parents and grandparents. They must be able to crisply collect, synthesize, and analyze information, then conduct targeted research and work with others to employ that newfound knowledge. In essence, students must learn how to learn, while responding to endlessly changing technologies and social, economic, and global conditions.

Programs like Heart House provide these activity-rich experiences. An excerpt and link from Brigid Barron's article in Edutopia is below:

"Traditional academic approaches -- those that employ narrow tasks to emphasize rote memorization or the application of simple procedures -- won't develop learners who are critical thinkers or effective writers and speakers. Rather, students need to take part in complex, meaningful projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration."

URL: http://www.edutopia.org/inquiry-project-learning-research

The takeaway from this article:

• Students learn more deeply when they can apply classroom-gathered knowledge to real-world problems, and when they take part in projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration.
• Active-learning practices have a more significant impact on student performance than any other variable, including student background and prior achievement.
• Students are most successful when they are taught how to learn as well as what to learn.

Read Along with Heart House!

Here's a few books we're reading as part of October's "My Community" theme. Read along with us!



In My Family/En mi familia by Carmen Lomas Garza Lomas Garza uses her narrative paintings to relate her memories of growing up in Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexican border, and to reflect her pride in her Mexican American heritage. The artist portrays everyday events as well as special moments of family history in crisply colorful, vibrantly peopled paintings and provides brief, bilingual background stories for each of the 13 paintings.

I Got Community by Melrose Cooper
Several young narrators deliver various rhyming stanzas ("I got a best friend, helps me loyal./ We got a thing no fight can spoil"; "I got a sitter, helps me safe,/ Pulls on my gloves so my hands don't chafe"). Illustrating these are Gottlieb's bright, simple paintings, rendered in gestural outlines and brushed-in areas of undiluted color, and depicting a multiracial crew.

Learn more about our programs!
www.hearthouse.org/

Watch the Heart House Video!

Wonderful Heart House friend Jay Rogers has shot a moving video of our program. We are so grateful for his immense talent and his dedication to Heart House. Thank you so much, Jay!

View the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J7zLZ706VM

Red Carpet Rollout

Both Heart Houses are pleased to report that the Red Carpet Rollout was a great success! Heart House North students traveled to our South center for day of fun and glamour to celebrate the end of our theme, “Lights, Camera, Action!”Students began the day by walking the red carpet which was manned with our very own paparazzi! Then, all students and staff were treated to the premiere of two filmed newscasts produced by our Mixed Media classes, a dance presentation choreographed by the North Music and Dance class, a performance of “How A Kid…” by the North On The Stage class, a performance of “Chicken Little” by the South On The Stage class and Heart House Idol Grand Finale! (Congratulations to both of our winners: Nene and The Soulja Boyz on a job well done!) Our Summer Awards Ceremony (our version of the “Oscars”) followed, as we honored the most outstanding students of the summer. Finally, students got to mix and mingle as they explored various activities together. Students chose from dress-up in the Costume Room, dance and photos in the Dance Party Room, “Making Musical Instruments” in the Art Room or Sports and Games outside.


Miss Monica can’t contain her urge to sing some Alicia Keys to the kids!

We are especially thankful for the time and hard work of all of the volunteers who made this event possible. We got to make some wonderful memories and meet lots of new friends!

We had such a spectacular group of special guests and would like to thank them for sharing their time and talents with us:

Heart House North Guests:

• Greg-Green Screen DemoDonise Hardy-Casting Audition Workshop
• Notre Dame Alumni Group-Creative Writing Workshop
• Rackspace Team-Heart House Idol Judges
• Travis County Health Services-Underage Drinking Prevention
• Lainie Frasier-Voice Acting
• Deddrick Porter from Teens in Action-Heart House Idol Judge
• Jeff Schans-Stunts!
• Meredith Johns-Costume Make-Up
• Bill and Chris - Gorilla Productions
  

Heart House South Guests:

• Paul Haygood & Co-Juggling demonstration & instruction
• LifeWorks presented “Tobacco and Minors” for older students and “Playful Parenting” workshop for families
• Austin Slam Poetry Team Member Tony Jackson- Mini-Poetry Slam
• Rehman Bhalesha taught salsa to all classes
• Master Eye Associates provided free eye exam pre-screenings to all students
• Angela Aja-Chefin’ with the Chef Marshmallow Cook-Out

And a HUGE thanks to those who made it out to both sites!

• A-Town Productions-Music Video Shoot & Production
• 4-H-Hula-hoop activities and donated free decorated ones for National Hula-Hoop Day
• Fermin Navar - Founder, Maison de Navar, Inc.
• Notre Dame Alumni Group –- creative writing workshop
• Luke McClory -- scriptwriting!Students of the Holy Cross High School

Share your talents with the Heart House kids this fall!

Ask any of the guests above, and they'll tell you that time spent at one of our Heart Houses was a highlight for their month. If you would like to learn more, please contact Shelly-Marie, our Volunteer Coordinator, at volunteer@hearthouse.org or at (512) 929-8187.

Risk-Free Way to Explore Volunteering at Heart House

Volunteer Orientations take place throughout the year at both Heart House Austin locations. Many of these orientations take place during the program hours so you can observe first-hand what volunteering with the wonderful Heart House children is all about.

For more dates and locations of orientations, please visit us online at www.hearthouse.org/volunteering

OPEN HOUSE AT HEART HOUSE!

The children are preparing a wonderful OPEN HOUSE at Heart House especially for our friends, supporters, former and current board members and volunteers on this occasion. Please feel free to bring friends, family, and supervised children with you.

Thursday, October 16, 2008
6:30 pm - 7:45 pm
Heart House North
Map: http://www.hearthouse.org/locations.htm

At this open house, you’ll:

• View artwork and other completed projects displayed
• Get a book autographed by recently published young authors
• See demonstrations of activities typical to a Heart House day
• Meet Heart House children, families, donors, volunteers and staff

Student docents will be your guides, and you'll be able to network with past and current Heart House friends. Those interested willl be able to learn more about our HALOS leadership circle.

For more information or to RSVP, please go to:

http://www.evite.com/r?iid=JLIYYPKLJLXOLNSCUJBF

Heart House Launches Leadership Circle

Come Fly With Us!

If you would like to invest in the children of Heart House and engage with similarly-passionate supporters in a dynamic collaboration, please consider joining our leadership circle, HALOS, as a member of the inaugural Class of 2008-2009!

We ask each HALOS member to commit to the following:

• Donate or raise $1,000 for Heart House annually


• Introduce two friends to the HALOS and Heart House family


• Spread the Heart House story throughout the Austin community


• Encourage others to contribute their time and talents to Heart House

JOIN NOW!

Upcoming HALOS Events:

• September 2008 - Membership drive begins


• October 16, 2008 – “Lights On Afterschool” celebration at Heart House


• February and May 2009 – HALOS gatherings


• August/September 2009 – 3rd Annual Heart House Charity Fashion Show!
  

To learn more about HALOS or discuss membership, please contact:
Megan Heredia
mheredia@hearthouse.org
512-929-8187

Volunteer Opportunities for Fall at Our Centers

In our center, EVERYONE has fun learning new things, especially the volunteers! Volunteer duties include mentoring, assisting with art and theater activities, preparing snacks, chaperoning field trips, and having fun with the kids. Here are just a few of our opportunities for fall:

Homework Time Volunteer
3-4pm, M-F
We love people who love homework! If you carry the special talent to make homework interesting and exciting to a child then Heart House is where you need to be. To most students homework time at the center is the only time they will have with an adult who can help out with homework problems and answer intriguing questions. You will have the power to make learning fun and challenge young students intellectually as well.

Activity Time Volunteer
4:30-5:30, M-F
Do you own a silly hat and tennis shoes? Great! Well, put them on and get ready for activity time at Heart House. Children sit in desks at school up to 9 hours a day. Activity time allows them to move their bodies, encouraging kinetic and social intelligence, muscle coordination and, well, just plain old fun! Activities can range from soccer outside to yoga inside. We bet you have exciting ideas for activities you can implement.

Behind the Scenes Volunteer
What’s going on back there? For those who are interested in seeing the other side of our program, we would love to have you work along side us in the office. There is always plenty to do and you may offer us different perspectives and keen eyes on detail. We can offer you a look into our inner workings, lunch and paper cuts. How exciting! This opportunity offers maximum flexibility.

Special Projects Volunteers
A few times a year we utilize volunteer talents on special projects that strengthen Heart House funding or public awareness. It may be that you can help us build our website or know how to coordinate fashion shows. We offer highly specific situations when you can contribute your skills and know how in your field to support our mission to the community.

Presentation Volunteers
Look what I do! It might be that you can only help out once a year. Presenting what you do for a living or a hobby is so exciting to children. It broadens the menu of careers available and brings in refreshing new people to the Heart House curriculum. Telling children how you arrived where you are is an invaluable part of teaching them how to put the foundations under their goals.

To volunteer, please call (512) 929-8187 or visit us online at www.hearthouse.org/volunteering

Fundraiser Only 2 Days Away!

To all of our Angels on the Runway guests,

On behalf of Heart House, I want to thank you for joining us for our annual fundraiser this Saturday at the Austin Music Hall. Your attendance at this glamourous and FUN event will help raise awareness and funds for the children we all care so much about --the children of Heart House. I look forward to celebrating with you!

NOTE: Although our VIP party sponsored by Austin Monthly Magazine is sold out, there ARE general admission tickets still available at www.hearthouse.org/angels up through Friday night -- and a ticket window will be open at Austin Music Hall Saturday. If you have friends you'd like to join you at the event, they can still buy tickets!

A reminder that the party at Austin Music Hall begins at 6 pm and the fashion starts promptly at 7 pm. So please be sure to join us early for food, drinks, and fun! Here's our schedule of events:

• 6pm: doors open at the Austin Music Hall; reception and silent auction underway
• 7pm: fashion show begins, so please plan to arrive in plenty of time to be seated at the Music Hall for the show; you won’t want to miss a minute of it!

By the way, if you're wondering what to wear to Saturday's event, be sure to check out our previous blog entry for tips from our lead designer, Joanna Ruley-Garza.

http://hhaustin.blogspot.com/2008/08/wondering-what-to-wear-to-heart-house.html

If you are a purchaser of tickets for others, please forward this important event information along to your guests. If you have any questions prior to the event, please call (512) 751-6942 or email mheredia@hearthouse.org.

See you at the runway!
Anna Land, Founder, Heart House