SELF-CARE & VOLUNTEERING Self-Care looks different to everyone. It could be spending time with family, spending time alone, playing with your cat or dog, watching your favorite movie, going to your favorite restaurant, hanging out with your friends, going window shopping or shopping, attending church services, going to the barber or hairdresser, etc. No matter what you do, taking time out for you is the most important thing to do for yourself. Refreshing and recharging can be hard to remember and even harder to do. Write your methods of self-care down and review them on a weekly basis. What have you done for yourself recently? When you think about yourself, it allows you to be better able to help others.
AT YOUR SERVICE Mayor’s Commission On Aging (215) 686 – 8450 BenePhilly (844) 848 – 4376 Mayor’s Commission On Literacy (215) 686 – 5250 Philadelphia Corporation for Aging Helpline (215) 765 – 9040 When in doubt…call 311
CONTACT US… Foster Grandparent Program 100 South Broad Street, Room 432 Philadelphia Pa 19110 Fax: (215) 685 – 3653 Linda Lane Program Coordinator (215) 685 – 3798 Linda.Lane@Phila.Gov Laura Grassia Program Director (215) 685 – 3799 Laura.Grassia@Phila.Gov
Winter 2018 Edition
Table of Contents: FGP Updates Mark Your Calendar Welcome to Philly 311 FGP Birthdays Friendly Reminders New Volunteers FGP Spotlight FGP Service Anniversaries Types of Learning Styles Self-Care & Volunteering At Your Service Contact Us
FGP Updates! Income Statements-If you have it, send it in! 2018 social security award letters and pension statements were sent out recently. Don’t wait until this summer to bring them in. We can hold it at the office for you!
Recruitment continues! If you refer an eligible volunteer to the program, your name will be entered into a drawing for a Visa gift card. Your referral must complete pre-service orientation and be placed at a school for your name to be placed in the drawing.
Welcome Izelliah Nelson! Izelliah was selected to be an intern with the FGP Mayor’s Day of Service Recognition office from the Mayor’s Internship Program. Tuesday, April 3, 2018 She started in mid-January and will be with us until Time and place to be determined mid-April. Let’s make her feel welcome!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Monthly MANDATORY In-Service* o Friday, February 23, 2018
Monthly MANDATORY In-Service* o Friday, March 23, 2018
Monthly MANDATORY In-Service* o Friday, April 27, 2018 *In-services are held at the Blue Cross Building at 1901 Market Street, 23rd Floor Rooms G, H & I from 10am to 2pm. There will be no in-service in July 2018. Annual Reenrollment will occur on August 24, 2018 at the Municipal Services Building, 1401 JFK Blvd, 16th Floor, Rooms X, Y, and Z. You will need your updated proof of ID, 2018 income statements (social security
FGP BIRTHDAYS January
February st
March rd
Joanne Brothers-1 Helene Gary-3 nd Juanita Brown-2 Janis L. Garrett-6th Katherine Dobson-16th Beverly Miller-6th Brenda Kellam-6th Debra White-Reed-8th Mary Green-8th Ervin Tolbert-10th Nettie Parks-10th Judith Wooten-14th Mary Ann Wilcox-Robinson-20th Gwendolyn Andrews-16th Helen Hood-25th Queenell Dixon-18th Donna Fountain-30th Patricia Smith-18th Jean Metz-30th Betty Baker-20th Rose Turrieta-30th Rose Lee Grant-Thomas-20th Ann Jennings-28th Brenda Thomas-29th
Cynthia Dickerson-1st Ethel Simmons-7th Rose Padmore-11th Barbara Clayton-14th Earlean Rivers-23rd Alberta Fortson-24th Jennie Pringle-24th Sidney Brown-25th
Wishing you all joyous birthday wishes and a beautiful year ahead!
award letters, pension statements, etc.). You will update your beneficiary information and emergency contact information. This is a must attend event if you are interested in serving another year with the Foster Grandparent Program. Assignment Plans and Teacher Contact Forms will be distributed. Stay tuned for more details.
FRIENDLY REMINDERS WELCOME TO PHILLY 311 Philly 311’s goal is to provide exceptional customer service to all service requests. What kind of issues can you report and how? Abandoned Automobiles Plowing, Salting, Pothole Repairs Building Construction (i.e. no permit) Recycling/Rubbish Collection Dangerous Buildings/ Fallen Trees Street Light Outage Graffiti Removal/ Illegal Dumping Vacant Lot/House Clean-up Maintenance Commercial/Residential Smoke Detector Request City Park Conditions Other You can submit a request by calling 311, signing on to www.phila.gov/311, walking into City Hall, Room 167 or downloading the free mobile app called Philly 311.
Foster Grandparent volunteers must volunteer a minimum of 15 hours a week and a maximum of 40 hours a week. If you volunteer less than 15 hours a week for 3 pay periods, you will receive a warning letter. If you continue to volunteer less than 15 hours a week after receiving the warning letter, you will be placed on probation. If you would like to increase your hours, please call the office for new timesheets. Timesheets can only be altered by FGP staff members. After 3 consecutive sick days off, please provide a note from your Doctor. This is for your and the children’s protection! In the event of a death in the family, please provide a note from the funeral director stating your relationship to your loved one. In-services are mandatory and monthly. Please attend on time! Late attendees will be docked. You are paid for this time and important program information is passed on at the meetings.
WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS FGP would like to wish a warm welcome to our new or returning volunteers:
Esstoria Blalock Geanethel Denard Earlean Rivers Patricia Smith Betty Wilkerson Barbara Casey Janis L Garrett Mary Green Claudette McCann Annie Proctor Mary Ann Wilcox-Robinson Donna Fountain Darnetta Green-Mason Maxine Johnson Brenda Thomas Darryl Thompson Marcia Swinson Mary Syres Bernadette Williams Gloria Dessus
FGP SPOTLIGHT Ms. Erma Resenly from Ethel Allen School Bright Futures writes: Ann Jennings, affectionately called Ms. Ann in our classroom, is a true asset to the team working in our classroom. Ms. Ann works one on one with children who need extra assistance in social/emotional growth and literacy skills. Ms. Ann joins the child in Interest Areas and models how to share. use kind words to friends and how to express feelings without uses hands for grabbing, pushing or hitting. Throughout the day Ms. Ann will give gentile reminders to the child to help the child with those skills. Ms. Ann also helps children with letter identification skills and letter/sound recognition. Ms. Ann not only uses the resources available in the classroom but has made various games of her own. Ms. Ann reads to small group of children to help develop listening skills and vocabulary. Ms. Ann also assists in helping the children with personal growth skills. She will give gentle reminders to children to remember to go to the bathroom, wash their hands, pick up things they dropped on the floor. Ms. Ann always praises them and a short discussion as to "why" we need to do this usually occurs! I have seen a growth in these areas of develop with the children Ms. Ann helps these children also become more confident in themselves and achieve success in the skills Ms. Ann working with them. Ms. Ann is a very positive influence with all the children in room 109.
If you would like to submit pictures or letters of praise and thanks from your classroom for the FGP Spotlight, please submit them to laura.grassia@phila.gov or text the picture to (215) 327-7700.
A drawing made for Ada Marrero
FGP SERVICE ANNIVERSARIES
The following Grandparents are celebrating their Service Anniversaries in the months of January, February and March:
20 Years of Service
10 Years of Service
2 Years of Service (cont.)
Gwendolyn Andrews Isabella Williams
Jeanette Williams
Barbara Clayton Cynthia Dickerson Gary Gaines, Sr. Dorothy Gibson Linda Hudson Rose Padmore Clarissa Tate Anna Vance
9 Years of Service Elsie Williams
Betty Baker Burnell Curry
16 Years of Service
5 Years of Service
Lillian Bundy
Katherine Dobson Eve Gamble Helene Gary JoAnn Guy Ann Jennings Dorothy Joint Brenda Kellam Jennie Pringle
19 Years of Service
15 Years of Service Ursula Cooper
14 Years of Service Loretta Bernard
13 Years of Service Nettie Parks
2 Years of Service
12 Years of Service
Juanita Brown Rosa Campbell
1 Year of Service Sylvia Hall Roxanne Horsey Margaret Hunter Loretta Jones Sheila Thomas Lorraine Thompson Ervin Tolbert Debra White-Reed
Yvonne Combs-Hogan *Please note: Service Anniversaries are generated by hours, not actual years of service. It’s easier to see in the year measurements, rather than hour measurements.
TYPES OF LEARNING STYLES For years teachers and students have had to struggle with how to teach and how to learn. Each teacher has their particular style but then so do most students. The problems develop when teachers and students don’t match. You may have noticed that even your own children learn differently than you do causing you to question why they’re not as interested or not “catching on” the same way you did at their age. You may also be wondering why some teachers were “better” teachers than others or why you liked a certain subject over another. These are actually very important observations. Educational science has studied these questions for years and has determined that when some individuals struggle with learning it may be entirely a question of how they are being taught
Teaching To Kids’ Learning Styles There are currently seven “Learning Styles“: Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding. Aural (auditorymusical): You prefer using sound and music. Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing. Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch. Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems. Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people. Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use selfstudy. The student will most likely not possess one style exclusively, but you may be able to see patterns in their learning preferences. For example, a student who is visual may also be a very social and verbal learner and prefers to learn especially difficult topics using their primary skills. Understanding how the student learns is perhaps one of the most important tasks a person in the classroom can discover. Another is learning how to provide opportunities for learning through the use of these identified learning preferences. Teachers often use their preferred learning style as their main mode of teaching and if students do not share those same preferences then learning can be very difficult and frustrating. Finding out what learning style of a student is the key to their success. Watch your children and students. Listen to what they want and their interests. Compare the differences between how they learn aurally and visually, as well as, the other styles outlined above. Compare how they interact with others while learning in a group or by themselves. Each observation will bring you closer to understanding their special gifts and will reveal to you more effective ways to teach them using their preferred learning styles.