Starfish Family Services

Starfish blog: Small Tool to Face Big Feelings

May 5, 2021 by Starfish Family Services

Childhood is one big roller coaster of emotions. Beginning with toddler tantrums, kids experience highs, lows, and myriad confusing feelings in between. As adults, we are able to at least identify our emotions. For a child, it’s bewildering especially when they don’t have the words to express how they’re feeling. That bewilderment can lead to frustration, making it hard for children to listen, pay attention, and learn. What can we do to help them navigate challenging big feelings? (Feeling Faces information adapted from National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI)

Express yourself: Feeling Faces

Important tip! The best time to talk about feelings with your children is when they are not in the midst of an emotionally-charged moment. Create a calm space and try this activity where you and your little ones can explore and practice the language and skills to express emotions.

Use pictures (like the Feeling Faces here) to talk about, identify, and describe different emotions that children (and adults) experience.
This will help them identify those big feelings and give them a vocabulary to talk about their feelings.
Start with just a few emotions then gradually introduce additional and more complex emotions to expand their vocabulary. Teach a balance of “positive, comfortable” and “negative/uncomfortable” feelings.
The Feeling Faces are also great “emotion check-ins.” Children can draw their own faces (print out the below) to let you know, “This is how I’m feeling today.”

Starfish blog: #ThankATeacher A Year of Extraordinary Educators

May 4, 2021 by Starfish Family Services

***An awesome teacher is hard to find, difficult to part with, and impossible to forget.***

“Through all the challenges we’ve faced this year, educators and families have stuck together to show students a bright path forward. This Teacher Appreciation Week, communities across the country will come together to appreciate educators and the lengths they will go to ensure every student, no matter who they are or where they live, has the tools to learn, grow, and thrive.”—National Education Association President Becky Pringle

At Starfish, we have over 200 educators who each play a crucial role in the lives of the children we serve. They are rock stars! They strive to provide the highest of quality care to those they serve daily. Without a doubt, we have the most caring, generous, flexible, and creative teachers in our organization. Throughout the pandemic, they showed they were extraordinary!

Center Leaders, Coaches, and Preschool Behavioral Health Therapists (PBHTs) work together at a center level to support our teaching staff. This allows them to successfully teach and support our families emotionally.
Family Service Guides collaborate with our teachers to help educate the families we serve. They collaborate by providing resources for basic needs, parenting strategies, and stressing the importance of being a part of their child’s education journey.

With all this support and because of their selfless spirit, Starfish teachers have been able to create a nurturing, positive learning environment and instill a sense of normalcy and dependability—during unpredictable pandemic stress.

Teaching is a work of heart! And Starfish teachers are master artists!

Starfish Statement: Journey towards justice

April 23, 2021 by Starfish Family Services

Message from Starfish CEO Ann Kalass

As is true for so many of you, the anxiety and anticipation of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial has dominated my head, my heart, and my hands. Upon hearing ‘guilty’ for all three counts, there was a sense of relief. Yet, reprieve faded quickly before focusing again on the work ahead to seek a just society in which all children, families, and communities have equitable opportunities to grow, learn, and thrive. This verdict was not justice and will not return George Floyd to his family. It was, however, a step towards accountability.

For nearly 60 years, Starfish Family Services has been strengthening families to create brighter futures for children across metro Detroit. Our high-quality programs are focused on early childhood education, behavioral health services, and empowering families. We recognize that children are inherently connected to their families and communities, and that we must engage wholistically. Additionally, we know that every child and their family is further linked to society and our nation’s history.

There is an undeniable and historic link between institutional racism and experiences of family poverty, educational disparities, and trauma. Communities of color have been disenfranchised for generations, limiting economic viability and access to high quality health care and education. This is the landscape that encircled the life, and murder, of George Floyd. Every day, Starfish interacts with families who face these systemic barriers as they strive to maintain stable housing, build careers, provide nutritious food, navigate schooling and education goals for their children, connect to mental and physical health supports, and stay safe. Each family brings immense strength, intelligence, resilience, and commitment to their children.

This trial and verdict have made all too clear that 400 years of oppression and violence against Black and Brown communities can only be answered with radical courage and meaningful change. No parent or caregiver should worry about their child experiencing violence at the hands of an authority figure, or from those whose hatred has been further exposed and stoked over the last decade. As Starfish provides critical support services, we must also include in our priorities and actions the steps to eradicate broken systems and partner across the fabric of non-profits, government, and schools to pursue lasting change. We commit to learning, listening, discomfort, and inviting the voices and experiences of families and communities as we continue our journey towards justice.

I ask everyone to take a moment and pause. Reflect. Close your eyes and just be with your heartbeat. Take care of yourself so you are rested and stronger for tomorrow’s sunrise. At Starfish, we are providing unique spaces and supports for employees to process their feelings and experiences. When we help our incredible teams cope and build wellness strategies, we can be our best for families and children. Here is also a link to a Race & Self Care toolkit for parents.

Every child deserves more than surviving.

Every child deserves a great start in school and in life.

Every child deserves joy.

I am humbled by the opportunity to lead Starfish through this complex time and thank you for your trust as we are called to build a powerful future for the children of greater Detroit.

How this Michigan preschool teacher builds strong parent connections in her hometown

March 31, 2021 by Starfish Family Services

Koby Levin, Chalkbeat Detroit | Published online March 31, 2021

How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs.

In the early months of pandemic learning, Carmen Price was having trouble getting her preschool students to pay attention to virtual lessons. So she began experimenting.

After some trial and error, she came across a few techniques that kept her students interested. PowerPoint, for instance, made it easy to include videos and photos in her lessons, which her students seemed to like.

Her success made her wonder: Were other teachers thinking about the same things?

Price consulted with the leaders of her preschool, Starfish Family Services, then invited other educators in her program to talk about their techniques for teaching young students online.

“It just was awesome. The first meeting, I was surprised. All the teachers came. My heart was just so full because I realized that really was a need. And I even noticed our morale around here improve.”

Price grew up near Starfish Family Services in Inkster, where students and teachers recently returned to face-to-face instruction.

“When I came here, almost every week someone would come through the doors of the building that I knew from either growing up or just knowing people in the community, and having that connection, it’s just made my job here so much more fulfilling,” she said.

Chalkbeat spoke with Price about her strategies for connecting with parents, engaging students online, and keeping her role in perspective.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What do you do when you find students aren’t engaged?

It has been a challenge. Because I work with preschoolers, I’m used to using lots of different strategies to keep them engaged. A lot of the strategies I used in person, I just try to use in a virtual setting but in a shorter period of time.

One thing I find very helpful is PowerPoint. The children having the visual effect of the games and books directly on their screen is really visually appealing for them.

I have them always bring something tangible with them to class. We’ll have silly hat day, or I’ll say, “bring your favorite thing that starts with your favorite letter.” One day we had everyone bring something to make a sandwich. By giving them something to bring to class, it gives them a personal connection to what they’re doing.

They love to talk, so whenever they get the format to be able to tell us something, they’re good.

What are some ways you have connected with parents during the pandemic?

Parents are struggling. They have a lot of challenges right now, and I just wanted to do everything I could to help them. Aside from our regular Zoom classes, I gave them the opportunity to schedule time with me and my co-teacher on Zoom and we would go over individual goals that the children may be working on.

It was also a time to connect with the parents. We talk about the challenges they have, the things they may need, as far as support. Another thing I do is every Friday is distribute food and materials. Some parents don’t have transportation, so I would always coordinate a time with them and do porch drop-offs for parents that needed it. Just doing that helps the parents be more comfortable with us and be more open and honest about their needs.

Why are these connections so important to you?

When I was growing up, I remember having a connection with my first grade teacher, and that’s one of the things that drove me to want to be a teacher. I was very shy as a child, and she just could see things in me that as a kid I didn’t see — things I didn’t know I could do. She just gave me love and comfort and a feeling that I could do anything.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about teaching & how have you put it into practice?

One thing my mentor told me: Remember, you’re building the foundation; you’re not building the whole building. That’s my job: to build the foundation, and hopefully every teacher after will build upon that and children will be successful.

What gives you hope at this moment?

One of the things that inspires me and gives me hope is realizing that everything I do with the children each day makes some sort of impact on their life. I may not see it in the classroom with them right now, but something that I’ve done is going to make a difference in their lives. I’m really confident in that.

Starfish Blog: African Heritage and Health Week

February 3, 2021 by Starfish Family Services

“**The African Heritage Diet is a healthy traditional eating model based on the common threads and foodways of African American ancestors.**” [Source: Oldways]

The first week of February is African Heritage and Health Week. It’s an integral part of launching the February observance of Black History Month.

What is the week all about? African Heritage and Health Week celebrates the healthy foods, distinct flavors, and cooking techniques/traditions of four regions of the African Diaspora—West and Central Africa, the American South, the Caribbean, and South America.

How did it start? It’s an observance held by Oldways, a nonprofit organization that “develops resources and initiatives to promote the healthy foods and delicious eating traditions of African Heritage for good health and community.”

What can we learn? According to Oldways, “This is more than just about food. This is about shaping people’s identity and how they see themselves . . . how they see their culture as a part of their health solution.” The movement helps people rediscover and embrace healthy, sustainable joys from the “old ways” of shared cultural traditions.

Did you know?

The African Heritage Diet is based on vegetables, fruits, tubers and grains, nuts, healthy oils, and seafood.
The African Heritage Diet food pyramid was created in 2011 by a committed composed of nutrition scientists and scholars of culinary history and African American foodways.
The African Heritage Diet’s scientific research suggest that eating like our ancestors can help lower the risk of chronic disease, achieve a healthy weight, and promote overall well-being.