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Effective Program Strategies
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| Culturally-Based Literacy Program for Toddlers and Preschoolers Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation |
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Demographic Information:
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation of North Central Washington includes twelve Bands (commonly known by their English and French names): the Colville, the Nespelem, the San Poil, the Lake, the Palus, the Wenatchi (Wenatchee), the Chelan, the Entiat, the Methow, the Southern Okanogan, the Moses Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph’s Band. Over 9,000 descendants of these tribes are enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Their land base covers 1.4 million acres or 2,100 square miles just north of the Grand Coulee Dam. The Tribe has three Native languages that they are aggressively seeking to preserve: Nselxcin, Nxaamxcin and Ninipu.
Type of Program:
The Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992 (P.L.102-477) permits tribal governments to consolidate a number of federal programs to integrate their federally funded employment, training, and related services into a single, coordinated comprehensive program. CCDF is one of the programs that may be consolidated under P.L. 102-477. Under their comprehensive P.L. 102-477 program, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation offer direct child care services through three tribal child care centers, as well as certificates for parents to purchase care from other centers, family child care homes, and relative care providers. Since training and education is a real priority for their CCDF subsidy dollars, Colville pays for services to a number of families who attend colleges and universities away from the reservation. Like all Indian children, Colville children are dually eligible for both tribal and state CCDF assistance; therefore, many Colville families access State of Washington CCDF subsides.
Effective Program Strategy:In late 2003, the Child Care Bureau offered a series of cluster trainings on professional development to support school readiness and retention, in support of the President’s Good Start, Grow Smart early learning initiative. This series featured a track on early literacy strategies and incorporating cultural activities into child care curricula. As a result of learning many new ideas about literacy at one of these trainings, Colville’s Child Care Manager developed a plan for using the stories and legends of the Confederated Tribes as a springboard for increased literacy experiences for the toddlers and preschoolers enrolled in Colville’s three child care centers.
The Child Care Manager took some of the books written by a Tribal member and simplified them using one of Colville’s three Native languages. On her home computer, the Child Care Manager rewrote the legends using native words and adding pictures of the various animal characters. She then set up a training session for all of the child care center teaching staff on how to use the stories during circle time, story time, and with children on a one-to-one basis.
This culturally-based literacy effort has been a hit with the children, the parents, and the staff. The Child Care Manager eventually plans to expand the effort to include the other two Colville languages and to introduce the materials to family child care providers and relative caregivers.
Resources:
Tribal CCDF dollars pay for the staff time and materials necessary to make the storybooks, which are used in the literacy activities.
Results:
The literacy activities have strengthened the connection between the center teaching staff and the children because both enjoy the activities so much. The literacy activities give the staff a chance to spend real quality time with the children. The Child Care Manager reports that the children are learning their native language as evidenced by their use of the new words in play and other daily activities.
Lessons Learned:
The Child Care Manager has learned that it’s important to provide ongoing training on how to use literacy materials and activities in the classroom, especially when there is staff turnover. She also suggests that it’s important to change the materials and activities frequently so they are always new and fresh for the children as well as the staff.
Contact Information:
Luana Gendron
Child Care Program Manager
Address:
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
P.O. Box 150
Nespelem, WA 99155
Phone: 509-634-2744
Fax: 509-634-2734
E-mail: luana.gendron@colvilletribes.com
| NOTE: If you have information about an Effective Program Strategy in your Tribal community that you would like to share, please contact the Tribal Child Care Technical Assistance Center (TriTAC) at TriTAC@namsinc.org |
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