Smoky River Family and Community Support Services – In Focus
Georgia Dubois
FCSS Director
In October of 2016 Crystal Marschner, SmokyRiver FCSS Roots of Empathy facilitator, introduced the program to two classes at Ecole Routhier.
Marie Anne Jones, another Roots of Empathy instructor introduced the program to one class at the Ecole Providence and they will continue to go into the class three times a month for each class until the school year ends in 2017.
The Roots of Empathy baby’s mom will bring her baby into the classroom during the second unit of each of the nine themes and allow the children to observe the babies actions and how she communicates with them. The nine themes:
MEETING THE BABY – first is a celebration of the baby, which involves an introduction to the program as well as baby.
CRYING – this is to teach the students that babies cry when there is a problemand it is up to us to do the problem solving.
CARING/PLANNING FOR BABY – is used to teach the students the demands and responsibility that comes with having a baby.
EMOTIONS- is critical in the Roots of Empathy programas its focus is on teaching emotional literacy.
SLEEP – we look at the sleep cycles that babies go through and how important sleep is.
SAFETY – we celebrate baby’s milestones but we also look at the safety concerns that come with that.
COMMUNICATING – this teaches the different ways in which babies communicate to us and how we communicate with them.
WHOAM I? – a self-reflection for the students on who they are.
GOODBYE AND GOOD WISHES – finally, we wrap up the year having a celebration for the baby and all of the milestones it has accomplished throughout the program. The students will also write down wishes they have for the baby and create a special gift for baby.
Please check out the Roots of Empathy website, which is at www.rootsofempathy.org.
Making a difference one child at a time.
Please note that the FCSS office in Falher will be closed Dec. 16, 2016 to Jan. 3, 2017.