Sasum House Preschool / (AHSOR) Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve

Sasum means “Children”

 I Yvonne Lawson, have been employed as the Sasum House/Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve as the manager, since October, 2015.  I have worked with children for the past 23 years, and enjoyed the various roles, which has provided me with a great understanding, knowledge and experience. I have always had a passion for babies and children, it has been quite a rewarding journey working alongside our staff and the many sasum who have gone through our programs. 

Over the past 5 years, we’ve had a little over 125 sasum that have gone through our Morning and Afterschool programs. Prior to the Covid we had, 15 afterschool sasum and 15 attending our Morning Program.

It has been an honour watching your sasum as they make friends, learn about sharing, build life long relationships, develop skills, playing together, and exposing them to our Heiltsuk Language at age 3

I’ve been running Sasum House, Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve Preschool since Oct. 2015, (6) six glorious years working with a fantastic staff and enjoying the precious time with our sasum as well.

Programs

After School Program

We have ten, 5 & 6 year olds that attend our After School Program

  • They do crafts, or staff do science projects with them, this group love to colour and/or play games. We have these Sasum for a little over an hour each day and they are all picked up from school at the end of the day on our Sasum House Van.
  • With the weather getting nicer, staff bring them to the beach, school playground and/ or berry picking.
  • These sasum will learn and help with our Fresh seaweed we get in May & June, as soon as its harvested
  • When weather is warm enough, we go on picnics and they go swimming.
  • We only provide the after school program from September, when school opens till the School closes in late June.

Summer Time Program (offered to our 3 & 4 year olds)

These sasum are with us for longer period of time, from 8:a.m. to 3:p.m., Monday to Friday’s during the summer months.

We do not register new sasum until the mid- August.

  • Child must be 36 months of age
  • Potty trained
  • Parents do call ahead and ask to put their child’s name on the waitlist prior to the month of September.

Program Components

We have been following through with the six components required by Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve;

Culture & Language

is the foundation of both individual and collective identity and its erosion can adversely affect mental health and well-being, leading to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and even suicide. The culture and language component allows First Nations sasum to experience their cultures and learn their languages. Activities give sasum a sense of belonging and an identity as a First Nations person.

Health Promotion Component

The health promotion component encourages children and families to have a healthy lifestyle Programming promotes physical activity, such as playground activities and traditional games. Staff promote self-care such as helping sasum to brush their teeth, and encourage appropriate assessments for sasum (for example, vision and hearing testing). Programming also includes visits with health professionals such as nurses (for immunizations), dental hygienists, speech therapists and physicians. Parent and families are also supported with access to health professionals.

Social Support

Social support is an important social determinant of health. Quite simply, the support of family and community is critical in determining an individual’s health. Many First Nation’s people experience strong social support, whether it’s communities helping members who are suffering from an illness or tragedy, or family members at a maternity ward to support a new mother and baby.
The social support component informs parent and guardians about the resources, services and health providers available to them to achieve a healthy and holistic lifestyle.

Education Component

The education component promotes life-long learning with activities that encourage a child’s readiness to learn. Activities also focus on the physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social development needs of children. Community members, including Elders, are involved in helping with early literacy activities, such as printing and recognizing sounds and words.

Nutrition

Nutrition is an important part of healthy living. Good food can improve an individual’s health and poor or inadequate food can undermine health. Good eating habits established early can lead to better health throughout life.
Programming offers nutritious snacks and meals and provides children with opportunities to participate in traditional food gathering activities. Nutritionists and other health professionals provide information on healthiest choices.

Parental & Family Involvement

This component recognizes and supports the role of parents and family as the primary teachers and caregivers of their children. Programming provides opportunities for participation in parent/guardian committees, monthly family dinners, children’s field trips and other after hour activities. Outreach services and home visits support parental and family involvement by bringing programming into the homes.

Head Start recognizes and affirms that culture is a fundamental part of a child’s development and encourages each Head Start project to reflect the uniqueness of its First Nations community as it takes into account the emotional, spiritual, physical and intellectual need of our sasum.

Language Teachers

Our (2) Language teachers work, four days a week, four hours a day. Our children have this program scheduled into their daily routines.

sasum house peschool 1
sasum house peschool 2

They teach them about the weather, numbers, colour, harvesting of seasonal foods and have them playing games and only speaking our language, the sasum love going in Language time.

Unfortunately, Gloria retired in January 2021, it was a sad day for all of us, everyone was shedding tears and giving hugs. Our sasum called her GG, it was such a pleasure working alongside such a beautiful woman. She is definitely missed by all of us, it was an honour working with her for the past (4) four years.

Audrae White, was hired on the same time as Gloria and “Cha” is another positive asset to our program, the sasum love her and she loves them. She is doing an amazing job with our sasum, and they adore her. When it’s time for Aundrae to leave, our sasum sing our “good bye song in Heiltsuk,” this is so touching.

At the moment, we are still working on hiring an elder to work along side her, its been two whole months and we still haven’t found anyone to replace Gloria. If anyone is interested, feel free to call Yvonne Lawson @ 250-957-7106 or send by text. Our phone at the sasum house does not work half the time.

Staff

Sasum House staff are:

Yvonne Lawson

Supervisor

Jennifer Reandy​

who has received her Early Childhood Educator Assistant certificate, and is working on her ECE Curriculum 2

Full-time

Allie Speck

Assistant soon to start her ECE course

Philip Blaney

Sasumhouse Janitor

We are very fortunate to have a Behaviour Consultant, Carly McDiarmid that works with our Sasum, 2 weeks a month, and our children look forward to her coming everyday when she arrives in Bella Bella.

Monthly Themes

Themes for the month of April:

Sasum and staff will return to work on April 19th, 2021, the same day the school re-opens after Spring Break.

Week 3 Theme is Spring Week

  • Letter “W”
  • Colour Blue
  • Shape is Diamond
  • Circle Time – Is when children and ECE teacher come together to learn and to share with one another. They sing, play games, and hear a story or two.
  • Crafts related to Spring week, storybooks on topic, science project, one a week

Week 4 Theme is Community Workers

  • Lesson plans
  • Colour Blue, Shape, Diamond
  • Review letters and Number 10

May Themes:

Week 1 Theme; Caterpillars & Butterflies

  • Letter Y and Number 11
  • Colour Yellow and Shape Oval

Week 2 Theme: Mother’s Day Week

  • Letter Z and Number 11
  • Colour Yellow Shape is Oval

Week 3 Theme : Bug Week

  • Review Number 11
  • Colour Yellow Shape Oval

Covid-19 Protocols

Since Covid 19, we’ve cut our numbers down considerably, following the Covid protocols, with 10 in the morning program and 10 in the afterschool program, and this is the way it will be probably, and “fingers crossed”, by September 2021.

  • Drop-off/Pick-ups Our parents and/or guardians have been requested to only bring child to the bottom of the stairs of our patio, and a staff member will meet n greet them upon arrival and departure at the end of the day.
  • All families know to keep their sasum at home if they are sick, had close contact to a person with Covid-19, awaiting results, or tested positive for Covid-19.
  • Meal times; Eat meals in well ventilated area while keeping physically with 4 per table.
  • Physical Distancing; modify learning stations and in-classroom activities, use available space, and stagger schedules to have fewer sasum in each area.
  • Cleaning & Disinfecting : Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces such as toys, door handles, tables,
  • Outdoor Play spaces; being outdoors reduces the risk of spreading COVID-19, but preventative measurements are still needed. Keep hand hygiene and cleaning supplies readily available.
  • Cohorting : Identify small groups and keep them together. If possible, child care groups should include the same children and the same child care providers every day.
  • Ventilation: Reduce concentration of virus particles indoors by increasing airflow. Consider maximizing the existing air circulation system, using child safe fans, opening doors or windows.
  • Shared Objects; Keep each child’s belongings separated and avoid shared objects when possible.
  • Hand Hygiene: Wash hands using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Thoroughly dry hands after washing. Use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol (over age2) if soap and water are not available.
  • Tables are washed down and disinfected after every use, about 5 to 6 times a day.