Mental Health Awareness Month

Are you aware that in 2016, 1 in 6 children in the United States aged 2-8 years old had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder? We are confident that the number has only increased due to most recent events in our country and the decline in access to mental health services. In 2021, over 57 million adults experienced mental illness. Mental health impacts individuals both young and old and we can not be silent about it!

BY5’s goal this month is to support the mental wellbeing of Early care professionals, children, and families! Here are some resources to do that:

For Early care professionals:

• SPARK has shared some phenomenal resources here through their Build Learn Grow wellness program including a Mental Health Awareness Month Toolkit (English & Spanish), GuidanceTalks videos, and more.

• The Building Wellness program is open to all who own, work or volunteer in ECE programs and their household family members and dependents

  • Offering free, short-term counseling with highly trained clinicians to listen and help individuals and their family members with issues including anxiety, depression, stress, grief, life adjustments and marital/relationship conflicts.

• Brightwheel has a blog promoting 50+ ways for EC educators to Prioritize Mental Health here

• Head Start shares resources here on how Early Educators can respond to crises and foster recovery in young children with trauma

For Children

• Mindfulness Exercises for children through GoNoodle here (English & Spanish)

• Feeling Games for Children through PBS kids here

• Preschool Inspirations provides a list of over 40 books about feelings for preschoolers here

• Zero-to-Three offers a list of social emotional books for Infants and Toddlers here

For Parents

• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) providers Positive Parenting Tips here (English & Spanish) with free materials here

• Mental Health America provides free online screenings here

• The Youth Mental Heath Project offers a free Parent Support Network here

  • Meetings are confidential, free and open to any parent or guardian who is concerned about their kids (ages 1 – 25) who struggle with anxiety, depression, mood dysregulation, or other emotional, behavioral or mental health problems.

The BY5 team is in action this month!

We're hitting the ground running this month! Take a look at some of our recent and upcoming efforts, including a couple back-to-school events where we'll be passing out books to children, promoting On My Way Pre-K registration, and sharing more about BY5 with families. 

Last Week: Rising Readers Book Donations

Last week, BY5 happily donated more than 45 books to the Rising Readers program. Rising Readers runs from June–July and offers daily one-on-one reading tutoring to upcoming first- and second-graders at Muncie Community Schools. The program is offered in partnership between Ball State and Southview Elementary. After completing a week of tutoring, the kids get a free book to take home with them! 

July 27-28: Muncie Housing Authority Back-to-School Events

We'll be at Muncie Housing Authority's Back-to-School events from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on July 27 (at Earthstone Terrace) and July 28 (at Southern Pines). Open Door will be onsite to provide physicals and immunizations, and Chameleon Beauty College will be providing free haircuts and color pops. There will also be a few temp agencies present to accept job applications. Families can enjoy a DJ, food, bounce houses, train rides, and more!

July 22: Ross Community Center Health Fair 

We'll be at Open Door's Health Fair at Ross Community Center from 2–5 p.m. on July 22, where families can bring their children for free back-to-school physicals and immunizations (no appointment necessary). The event will also feature cooking demos, A1C (pre-diabetes) screenings, diabetes education, school giveaways, face painting, outdoor games and sports, bounce houses, and more! The Healthy Lifestyle Center and Delaware County Tobacco Free Coalition will also be onsite. 

7 Ways to Incorporate Reading into Your Child's Summer Routine

With school being out, your child is not participating in classroom activities, which can cause a loss in their language skills like reading, spelling, and writing. That’s why summer reading is so important—it’s a simple way to prevent this “summer slide.”

Summer reading doesn’t have to be hard; it can be simple and fun! Check out our list of 7 ways to incorporate reading into your child’s summer routine—and help prevent summer learning loss:

1.     Take A Trip to Your Local Library 

This is a fabulous way to expand your child’s horizons. They can pick and choose from a variety of books, encouraging them to try new things. Make it a weekly or monthly way to spend quality time together while keeping your child engaged with reading. Be sure to check with your local library about summer reading programs and incentives, like Muncie Public Library’s Summer Reading Program (open to children and adult, no library required!).

2.   Enjoy Reading Outdoors

Speaking of quality time, step outside to enjoy some books together! You can even make a little picnic out of it. You and your child can bring along a few of your favorite reads while you enjoy the beautiful summer weather. You can lead the reading and have your child follow along, or they could take a shot at it, encouraging them to enhance their vocabulary by reading new, challenging words. If you don’t have a book of your own, check out Minnetrista’s many book walks, which feature stories placed along a walking path.

3.   Focus On Improving Reading Comprehension

Not only is reading important, but so is comprehension. To build your child’s reading comprehension skills, try starting your own mini summer book club! This is a great way to get the whole family or friends involved too. Meet regularly to discuss the latest book on your book club list. Ask questions and encourage the children to talk about what they’ve read. Your book club is up to your imagination!

4.   Make a Commitment to Summer Reading

Make reading an exciting adventure by creating a reading pathway that maps out the books you’ll read during the summer. Plus, having a pre-determined map will help keep you accountable. But remember: this map is a guide, so if your child wants to veer from that list, that’s okay!

5.   Remember You’re Not Alone

Online resources that can be utilized as a guide for your child’s summer reading are your best friend, especially if you’re feeling lost about where to start. There are plenty of sites that can inspire ideas of games and activities to make summer reading fun. Some resources we suggest looking at include:

• Home Reading Helper

• Scholastic: Reading Activities for Ages 3-5

• Rasmussen University: Literacy Activities for Preschoolers

6.   Turn on Subtitles

Books aren’t the only way for your child to improve their reading skills. Reading Rockets, a national public media initiative, suggests that turning on closed captions during your child’s TV shows can improve basic reading skills such as phonics, word recognition, and fluency. This is a great option to add a little versatility to your child’s summer reading routine, especially for very young children who are still developing their foundational reading skills. 

7.   Opportunities are all Around You

Reading is essential to everyday life. Utilize opportunities to read street signs, storefronts, menu items at restaurants, and other sights in everyday life to improve your child’s reading skills. Pointing these examples out to your child is a fast, fun, and simple way for your child to pick up on the reading skills they’ll need during their day-to-day life. If you’re planning to go on a family trip this summer, you can even have your child do some “research” by looking up fun facts or the history of the destination you are traveling to. They can also collect items like postcards, ticket stubs, or take photos during the vacation to start a summer scrapbook where they can write captions about the items and places they saw. 

As Jill Grifehagen, Ph.D, literacy education professor at North Carolina State University, emphasizes, “Reading together supports children’s language and literacy development and is effective at promoting oral language and comprehension skills throughout elementary school.” Get involved in your child’s learning and help prevent the summer slide!

Start your engines: It's the race to registration!

Racing season is here! If you think about it, a child's journey is similar to a race: they need a strong pit crew (teachers, parents, counselors, community resources, etc.) to get to that checkered flag (graduation) at the end of the road. But before they even begin, they have to get to the starting line first: pre-school and kindergarten.

Be sure to register your children now so they're set up for a strong race through their education! 

For those enrolling in Muncie Community Schools, check out their free Kickoff to Kindergarten event (9a–12p July 25–29), which teaches children the skills necessary to be a successful kindergartner by getting an early start on the school year. Learn more and register here.

And for those enrolling in pre-school, don't forget to check out On My Way Pre-K, a state-wide program that provides free pre-school to eligible 4-year-olds. As Delaware County’s lead agency for On My Way Pre-K, BY5 has provided over 95 Delaware County kids with free pre-school. Learn more here.

Muncie's 2022 Kindergarten Kick-Off

It's time to gear up for kindergarten!

Did you know that National Kindergarten Day is this month? There's no better time to make sure your child is fully prepared for kindergarten!

Join us at the Ross Community Center from 2:30–5:30 p.m. Friday, April 29 for our Kindergarten Kick-Off Event, co-hosted by Ross Community Center. Stop by to connect with local agencies that help kids make sure they have everything they need to be ready for kindergarten, and participate in a food drive, giveaways, games, and more! This kick-off is geared toward families with children ages 3-5 years old. We hope to see you there!

Stay up to date and let us know you're coming with our Kindergarten Kick-Off Facebook event.

Books that Teach Children about Diverse Families

The holiday season is an important time to teach and remind our children that not all families are the same. Some families might have one parent, or two dads, or different races, or two homes. Some families might celebrate Christmas, while others might not. No matter the case, it's important for children to understand that other families might be different from their own—and that's okay.

We've put together a short list of children's books that help teach about diversity of families. All of these books are available at Muncie Public Library.

1. The Family Book

Whether you have two moms or two dads, a big family or a small family, a clean family or a messy one, this book assures readers that no matter what kind of family you have, every family is special in its own unique way. The Family Book is designed to encourage early literacy, enhance emotional development, celebrate multiculturalism, promote character growth, and strengthen family relationships.

Find The Family Book at Muncie Public Library.

2. Kids around the World Celebrate!

Learn about the best feasts and festivals from around the world. From China to Saudi Arabia, from Venice to Nigeria—you'll find that while the celebrations vary, the reasons we celebrate are actually largely the same.

Find Kids around the World Celebrate! at Muncie Public Library.

3. The Great Big Book of Families

This book features all kinds of families and their lives together. From houses and holidays, to schools and pets, to feelings and family trees, this book celebrates the diverse fabric of families around the world.

Find The Great Big Book of Families at Muncie Public Library.

Teaching Thankfulness: 3 Fun Activities to Teach Children Gratitude

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, there's no better time to teach your children about thankfulness and how to express gratitude.

Of course, teaching these kinds of behaviors often starts with our own behaviors. Show your children how to be thankful by thanking those around you—your children, waiters, and even strangers holding the door open for you.

In addition to setting a good example with your own actions, try one of these fun activities to encourage your children to express gratitude:

1. Thankful Turkey Box

Muncie Sanitary District has a blog post for upcycled Thanksgiving crafts, including a fun "Thankful Turkey Box" that kids can help make and decorate. The idea is that everyone writes something for which they are thankful and places it in the box. The notes of gratitude can be read aloud around the dinner table or whenever you see fit! You can even encourage gratitude this whole month (instead of just on Thanksgiving Day) by asking everyone in the family to submit one note of thankfulness each week.

2. Gratitude Balloons

Have everyone in the family write notes of appreciation for each other. Then, roll up each note and stick them inside a balloon—one balloon for each person. Inflate the balloons, and write each person's name on them. Kids will have fun popping their balloon and reading all the notes inside!

3. Appreciation Placemats

This is a fun way to get your kids involved in setting the table—for Thanksgiving or for any dinner! Grab a few blank pieces of paper, and have your kids draw and/or write things for which they are thankful. You can even print out pictures of things they say and have them practice cutting and gluing. Get creative! Once complete, each decorated paper can serve as a placemat around the table. To take it a step further, you can ask each child at dinner to explain what they put on their placemat and why.