The organizations focus is advocacy for children locally, nationally, and internationally. They are associated with the United Nations, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Health Organization. The goal of OMEP is to “ensure the wellbeing, rights, and education of children (0-8) and their families in the U.S.A. and around the world – today and in the future.” They are working for healthy, peaceful, equitable, sustainable, and just environments for the children today and in the future.
Website: http://omep-usnc.org/In the newsletter one of the issues that caught my attention is the initiative to adapt UNICEF’s WASH hands in Schools. OMEP has 4-6 pilot projects called WASH from the Start. It will teach early childhood educators and the children about water safety, sanitation and hygiene so fewer children will miss school. It will promote access to healthy water supplies. This caught my attention because when I was in Honduras I watched teachers check every child’s hands to make sure they were clean, if they were not clean the teacher sent them back to the bathroom. Below is a picture I took during my visit.
Wow, what a great program to adopt! We often overlook certain life skills that we should be teaching our students. I talked about brushing teeth as part my first grade classroom. Many of my students had never been to a dentist, some had never brushed their teeth, and others didn't own a toothbrush. This was something I discovered that my first year teaching, and realized what an important skills this was, and that I should be teaching it in my classroom. Hand washing definitely falls into that category too!
ReplyDeleteChris –
ReplyDeleteWow, this sounds like a wonderful organization. The basic things such as washing our hands are so important in a school setting. It is wonderful that this organization has made hand washing an initiative. Also, what a great picture! I love that, thank you for sharing.
Schlee ☺
This sounds like such a great organization! I like the fact that they are working on the issue of washing hands and staying healthy. I think that this is the first step to helping our children live a healthy life. I really love the picture you shared with us and find it great that they check each child's hands!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great and simple initiative for this program to take. Thank you for sharing the picture with all of us. It's great to see what taking the time to do something so small can do in schools.
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