COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
Emerald Valley Violin Studio
3A
Sunday dinner: feeding a community
is now enrolling new students!
Charitable organizations and food pantries compete for Cottage
Grove's hungry and manage to fill stomachs but they run things a
little differently at Soup's On.
And its working.
Elyse M. Walters
Suzuki Method
541-539-1546
chloesma6@gmail.com
www.emeraldvalleyviolinstudio.weebly.com
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Trick or Treat on Main Street
Stan approaches the
counter, a limp in his step
and a smile on his face.
He's gotten his four-year
chip and he wants to show
it off.
Noah, no more than eight,
drags the back of his
hand across his mouth
and dumps his plate into
the trash, just like he was
taught the fi rst time he
came here.
Tuesday, October 31, 2016
If you are a business and want to set
up a booth downtown and be a part
of the festivities, contact Travis at the
chamber offi ce (541) 942-2411.
There's Michelle and Do-
ris, the younger crew that
sits by the front doors and
the club of older ladies--a
Rosie the Riveter among
them--that requests the
same table every Sunday.
These are the people of
Soup's On, a Sunday night
community dinner held in
the Shepherd room of the
Cottage Grove Commu-
nity Center. "I'm the mom
and they're comfortable
Kindergarten
here. They know we don't
have an agenda," Sharon
Jean, founder of Soup's
On, said.
The program is in its
seventh year and Jean
still stands guard over her
fl ock from her spot in the
kitchen. She's the boss.
And they know it.
When talk of starting a
soup kitchen for any and
cessful home visit.
“I was just telling family and
friends from Indiana and Utah
[about home visits]. They’ve
never heard of home visits ever.
And I love it. I love it,” said
Hirschi. “Everyone kept saying,
‘Why doesn’t everyone else
do this?’ And I was like yeah,
spread the word.”
The goal of each home vis-
its is to get to each home but if
home does not work, or if there
is a level of discomfort, then the
group can meet on the porch, at
a park or if necessary, at school.
But the goal, for the third year
in a row, is to meet at the future
student’s home. The home visits
at Harrison started three years
ago when the shift was made
from half-day kindergarten to
full-day kindergarten.
“When we were moving into
full day we said we want to do
this,” said Parsons. “We real-
ly just looked at what can we
do to set the families up… to
be successful. We thought that
there would be a lot of question
or anxiety around kids being in
school all day and this would be
one way that we would be able
to combat that.”
The relationships jumped out
to a good start but the full-day
was too much for these excited
and anxious fi ve-year old kin-
dergarteners.
“Three years ago when we
started the full day kids were
melting in the afternoon. They
were tired, they were hungry.
They couldn’t make it,” said
Black.
Since then, Harrison has
changed their approach and
now utilizes half-days at the be-
ginning of the year to ease these
fi ve-year-olds into a full day of
school. Last year they had three
weeks of half-days and this year
they will have two. The kin-
dergarten teachers express that
in a perfect world they would
like this half-day period until
the fi rst set of conferences in
mid-October, the teachers are,
for the moment, hanging on
tightly to what they have.
“Last year was very success-
ful; it was a smooth transition,”
said Parsons. “It’s not the most
convenient for families, it isn’t
and we recognize that. But we
are so passionate about the ben-
efi t that we are going to be in-
convenienced for two weeks but
we really feel like this is going
to set your student up for suc-
cess.”
The kindergarten classes also
start the year a week after the
rest of the school in order to
give the teachers time to go on
these home visits so that they
can, like they did this year,
meet with every one of the 67
families one-on-one before the
school year begins.
“We’re really proud of our
team for being committed to the
home visit model,” said Harri-
son Elementary School princi-
pal Heidi Brown. “It’s a lot of
energy, it’s a lot of time, it takes
you away from classroom prep
a lot; so it’s a commitment that
they really believe in and we
totally support. Home visits are
just by and large are just fan-
tastic. All research would show
that it builds that relationship
and builds community and trust
early on. And for kindergarten
it’s a great place to have that
foundation.”
Please see SUNDAY PG. A8
Continued from A1
ask you when there are ten other
families around.”
Back on the living room fl oor,
Parsons is sitting on the carpet
with her shoes off. Lydia and
Lydia’s mom, Danielle Hirschi,
are now comfortable next to her
on the ground. Parsons hands
Lydia a book of the alphabet
that included how to sign it in
sign language and the two begin
to talk. They go over favorite
colors, how many letters are
in Lydia’s name and Parsons
has Lydia sign her “autograph
book” that has the name of all
the kids from her home visits
it in it. Through the entire time
Parsons is in the home, her focus
is locked in on her new student
and the family of that student.
“I will not look around [the
house],” says Parsons. “I keep
my eyes in eye contact with the
people the entire time. Very in-
tentional.”
This visit is packed with
information for everyone in-
volved. Lydia gets to see her
new teacher in a comfortable
environment while receiving
LOW COST
Local & Metro Weekday Trips
Professional Caring Staff
Your Regional Public Transportation Service
No elgibility requirements.
541-942-0456
southlanewheels.org
HELP
PREVENT
CHILD
ABUSE
Rotary
Club of
Cottage
Grove
Look for the Raffl e logo at participating businesses.
Recipient Agencies:
Family Relief Nursery – Cottage Grove, Bridgeway House,
The Child Center, CASA and Parenting Now
Celebration
and winners
announcement
Friday, October 13, 2017
Sheppard Motors 4pm
BUY
YOUR
RAFFLE
TICKETS
NOW THRU
OCT. 6
undivided attention; Hirschi
gets to meet her daughter’s
teacher and is encouraged to ask
any and all questions (“no sil-
ly questions” Parsons reminds
her); Parsons gets to learn about
the family while doing some
slightly subtle sleuthing of the
student’s current abilities.
“We do some very covert as-
sessments on the kids… Can
you read your name, do you
know what it looks like? Do you
know the letters in your name?
Can you count those letters in
your name? Can you write your
name?” Parsons explains to me
before the visit.
The visit continues and Lyd-
ia expresses her excitement for
homework, explains how a scar
on her left hand can be used to
remind her which hand to hold
a pencil with, and more excite-
ment at the prospect of hav-
ing three recesses in one day
(“Three recesses?” she cheers.
“So one time when recess is
over we get another turn and an-
other and another one?”).
Parsons then shifts the con-
versations to Hirschi about lo-
gistics of getting to and from
school, how to best educate her
daughter and any concerns that
she may have. With that the
meeting concludes; another suc-
TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH
YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES?
Call Paul to
help simplify
the complicated.
541-517-7362
Paul Henrichs ~ Independent Agent
coverage4oregon@gmail.com
Prize and ticket purchase info: greatrotaryraffl e.com
