Look What's New to Jumpstart!!

            This is my second year as a Jumpstart corps member at Wheelock College. This year I am on the Pilot Team at College Bound Dorchester. My team is the first team throughout Jumpstart to work with home childcare providers. My team includes Michaela (team leader), Ashley (a returnee), me, Brooke, and Stephanie. We also have a few corps members who volunteer to help us during session. So far, sessions have been going very well. In the beginning it was a challenge for us to create the space needed for session because we do session in the basement of a church. We had to create centers out of rugs, chairs, and tables. We became very successful at this and College Bound Dorchester even purchased us kid sized tables and chairs for session. We are extremely grateful for their cooperation and generosity. Every day for session we come an hour early to set up our centers. We created a secluded area for dramatic play, a table for puzzles and manipulatives, a table for the art center, a rug for reading, a table for the writing center, and a round rug for “Let’s find out about it.” Then we do circle time and sharing and goodbye on top of a stage on individual rug squares that have each of the children’s names on them. There are 17 children in our session that come from 6 different childcare providers. The providers are so helpful during session and interact very well with all of the children. We are all so thankful for their support and help. Sessions keep getting better as the weeks fly by. All of the children have come from non classroom settings and are adapting well with the run of session. Hilary, one of our site managers, has also been so helpful during sessions and we are very thankful for all that she has done for us. We all are so excited to see how the rest of the year turns out and so enthused to be a part of the very first home-child care team.

Lynndsay Holden