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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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Preschool program benefits Delaware Co.
by Ken Boesenberg |
The preschool scene is an ever changing one, services provided and educational benefits received are light years ahead of where they were 10 to 15 years ago.
There are numerous government programs that have been developed for the sole purpose of raising the bar in the early childhood development industry.
One local provider has been involved in such a bar raising experience.
Renee Tibbott, owner of TLC Preschool in Manchester has just recently completed a three-year program on Quality Preschool Program Standards.
This program was offered as a trial program in conjunction with Childcare Resource and Referral, and Area One AEA.
These agencies wanted to have at least one participant from each county in the program. Renee was the participant from Delaware County.
“The program was very intense and required a lot of time. There was a 50 page report that needed to be filled out during a 30-day period in each of the three years as an evaluation of what you were learning,” said Tibbott.
“We learned how to better use various learning centers at our facility. Through better use we are able to provide high quality early learning experiences that prepare children to successfully achieve the social and academic challenges of school-age programs.”
The QPPS (Quality Preschool Program Standards) provides valuable information about the quality of the early childhood programs to administrators, providers, families and community members by:
* serves to validate program strengths as well as provide information to support continuous improvement in areas that enhance children’s health, safety and learning experiences;
* program administrators and directors will be able to use QPPS to promote the strengths of the program with staff, families and community members as well as develop quality improvement plans to improve the learning environment;
* staff will gain a perspective of research-based, developmentally appropriate practices that enhances their professional growth and promotes lifelong learning;
* families have an assurance that they are a key component of the programming and that their children are in quality programs that support learning; and
* programs have valid information that communicates their effectiveness in promoting a high quality service for children and families.
When one thinks of playtime, one may not think that it is used to develop cooperation, the ability to count, small muscle skills, creativity and responsibility. However, those are just the things that each child learns during a particular playtime at TLC.
Tibbott explains. “We have numerous play centers, each with its own unique format and goal for development. For instance, in our sand pile center we bury play dinosaurs in the sand. The kids have to find a certain number of dinosaur while working together to do so. They also have various measuring devices that they have to use to fill containers. In our playdough section we use Mr. Potatoheads as a base for their project which teaches them creativity, small muscle skills and again cooperation.”
The week of April 23 is “Week of the Young Child Week”. It is an opportunity for you to thank your childcare provider for the job they are doing. |
One of the best kept secrets in town
by Ken Boesenberg |
How many times have you heard someone say...that is one of the best kept secrets around?
Recently I had the opportunity to visit just such a place, right here on Main Street, in Manchester.
Above what is now Jude’s Cafe is one of Manchester’s best kept secrets, Al’s Gym.
It is literally a box mecca. There are more than 800 signed pictures of boxers from Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali to local talents like Doug Moyle and Randy Rempt.
There are at least a hundred pairs of signed boxing gloves and every training device you would find in the finest boxing training clubs.
The person responsible for this shrine to the sport of boxing is Al Seibert.
Al started his collection with his first trip to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY in 1995.
His first trip, according to Al, was so-so with some autographs secured. He wasn’t sure of where he was going or how to meet many of the boxers that were around for the induction ceremonies.
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KEN BOESENBERG / Press
Pictured above are just a small sampling of the pictures and workout equipment that are contained in the rooms above what is now Jude’s Cafe in Manchester. On the left are a signed picture, boxing trunks and gloves from Muhammad Ali while, in the top photo, there is just a sampling of the some 800 autographed pictures and boxing gloves that Al Seibert has collected. Al matted and framed each picture himself and spent countless hours arranging the once empty space in to an incredible boxing museum. |
During his second trip he met the professional photographer in charge of taking the boxer’s pictures which led to unbelievable contacts.
“I got to be around so many of the boxers for so long during my trips to Canastota that when some of the boxers would see me they would say....its you again,” commented Seibert.
He would make stops at the Everlast Company to buy boxing gloves so he could get them autographed. On one trip he had so many signed gloves in the car there was hardly room for anything else.
There have been several highlights during Al’s trips to Canastota.
He and his wife, Joyce, were married in Canastota with world famous boxer, Carmen Basilio being their bestman.
“No one really wanted to believe that until I showed them the pictures,” said Al.
That wedding was of such interest it was the subject of an article in “Ring Magazine”, which Al says gave them their five minutes of fame.
Al freely talks about sparing with Randy Rempt during Rempts boxing hay-days. “Randy was really nice to me when we would spar, he’d hold back on his punches so he wouldn’t hurt me.”
Al’s stories about his visits to the International Boxing Hall of Fame are extremely interesting and entertaining. He has been in the company of that sports largest stars and has many fond memories from his travels and conversations.
He admits that he is not quite as enthused as he used to be about boxing as it is an ever changing sport that is hard to keep on top of.
Currently he is looking for a place to relocate this boxing mecca as the area it now occupies will soon become a home.
While looking for that relocation place Al has embarked upon a new shrine of sorts. He recently purchased the old City Office in Hopkinton and is planning on turning it into a giant laboratory with rocks, exotic fossels and sea shells.
Should this mecca be successfully relocated, it would be worth your while to take a walk down memory lane in one of the areas best kept secrets
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Two alumni perform locally written play
by Latisha Sand |
Two West Delaware graduates recently came back home to perform with the Old Creamery Theatre. And one of the plays they performed was a story written by Kaitlyn Reth, a third grader at Lambert Elementary School.
Ryan Gaffney and Dan Glaza were among six performers with the Old Creamery Theatre Company’s 2007 Young People’s Tour called “TeRRiFiCC Tales.” This year’s tour helped celebrate the 10th anniversary of Character Counts. Character Counts is a program that introduces students to six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
The professional actors, which included Gaffney and Glaza, performed at West Delaware on Wednesday, April 4. The performance included original stories, poems and plays from several students around Iowa and was high-energy with non-stop action and music.
Each story, poem or play written included at least one of the pillars of character and Reth’s story, “The Candy Who Couldn’t Be Trusted,” was one story that the actors narrowed down and picked to be performed statewide. |
West Delaware graduates Ryan Gaffney (left) and Dan Glaza (right) perform with Sean McCall (middle). The story they were acting out was third grader Kaitlyn Reth’s “The Candy Who Couldn’t Be Trusted.” The story is being performed statewide in the theatre’s tour, which is called “TeRRiFiCC Tales.”
West Delaware students listen intently as members from the Old Creamery Theatre Company’s 2007 Young People’s Tour acted out skits, stories, plays and poems. The theatre gets their material from students across the state. LATISHA SAND / Press |
This year the theatre received more than 650 stories from 40 schools across Iowa and 850 student writers.
Reth’s story was about a candy named Reas who, according to the story, “would never finish his chores for the town or at home so the townspeople never trusted Reas anymore.” And until two new ‘candies’ moved to town, Reas wasn’t trusted. Those two friends, named Emma and Eman, who were also M and M’s, taught Reas how to be responsible. And Reas, by the end of the story, saves the town from dogs who threatened to take over the town. |
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