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