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| Character Critters
For Educators |
Children involved in the program are enrolled in Head Start centers, in public and private preschools and kindergarten classes, child care facilities, and many other sites where groups of young children are found. Extension home economists are conducting a massive volunteer recruitment campaign to a number of diverse community education and service groups in each of the 64 parishes throughout the state to achieve the vision of reaching all three, four and five year olds in Louisiana with the Character Critters Program. Interested Louisiana community members interested in volunteering should contact their local parish Extension office. Ideal program volunteers could include Family and Community Education Association members, Head Start teachers and parents, preschool and kindergarten teachers, retired teachers, child care center staff , youth
leaders, and other interested men and women in the community.As of October 1999, the program is being implemented in 32 of the 64 Louisiana parishes. It is projected that by January 2001, the program will be implemented in all 64 parishes and many of the 264,000 three, four and five year olds in Louisiana will have received the Character Critters Program from over 1000 volunteers.
The Stories:
Each story centers around one character. The character is depicted in a home or school situation dealing with issues related to the particular character trait. Roy tries to be responsible, Fran acts fairly, Carrie is caring, Tommy is trustworthy, Cindy is a citizen and Rusty is respectful. The stories are accompanied by illustrated poster boards that volunteers use to enhance the story. After reading the story, the volunteer will talk to the children about character and conduct a short activity related to the lesson. The volunteer may use the activity suggestion provided with the program or may develop her own activities.
The Parent-Child Interaction Take-home Sheets:
Take-home sheets are designed to be fun, short activities for parents and children to do together. The take-home sheets are also full of tips for parents to consider in developing character in their children. One idea to promote the sheets being completed at home is to ask the parents to send them back to school completed by the child for display. Displaying the sheets in the classroom or hallway will provide recognition to the children and create interest in the program. This activity will also provide a useful measure of program involvement and impact. Three- and four-year-old children will want to bring the sheets back so they can display them on the wall at their school. The parish Character Critters program coordinator will want to track the number of activity sheets returned to the school for a measure of parent involvement. The teachers may choose to include the activity sheets in the children's portfolios or return the sheets to the parents.
Educational Presentations for Parents:
Because children learn so much at home, it is important,
if not essential, to involve parents in teaching character to their children.
Through the take-home letters and through the parent meetings, parents
will learn how they can reinforce and demonstrate positive character practices
with their children. Showing parents what the children are learning will
also help get the parents more interested in their children's education.
Character development is a lifelong process and
not a single event or series of events. It is a challenge to measure educational
program impacts, particularly on young children. One method is to ask children's
teachers and caregivers their views of the program's impact. A second
method that is appropriate is to ask the parents of the children what impacts
they think they have seen. By asking specific questions, teachers, caregivers
and parents may provide insight into the benefits this program is
providing for their children. The one-page survey is also a preferred method
of evaluating a busy audience like teachers, caregivers and parents, because
it does not take long to fill out.
The parent surveys are ideally administered at
parent group meetings. If not, the surveys could be mailed or sent
home with the preschoolers. Additionally, tally sheets of the number of
children reached, completed take-home sheets brought back to the school
by the children and the number of parents reached are included in this
program and are also important as we seek to understand how this program
is affecting participants.
