Podunk Below the Masthead (Friday, June 25, 2010)

Prince Rupert Grain receives its award, the RCMP seek a suspect in an east side assault and Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District goes on the defensive over its comments policy.

Daily News front page headline story
PRINCE RUPERT'S YOUNGEST TEACHER -- Kids are always good for circulation numbers and Friday's Daily News mines that vein of gold with a story on a project at Pineridge School called Roots of Empathy which tracks the various facets if life for a baby.

Prince Rupert Grain receives its award, as the Canadian Wheat Board acknowledged the local grain elevators success as Grain Handler of the year.

And Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District defends its controversial policy limiting questions from the public during the course of their meetings.

The Sports section features a look at the mid season tournament of the Kaien Island Slowptich League.

(Daily News Archives for Friday June 25, 2010)

Prince Rupert's Youngest teacher
PRG presented with award
NDP backing Liberals on tankers
Twenty-four MLAs on the HST hit list 
Kristoff defends SQCRD decision

The Northern View
Prince Rupert RCMP release sketch of man involved in assault of 17-year old girl -- Prince Rupert RCMP release details of an early morning assault of a girl on the city's east side, included in the story is a sketch of a possible suspect in the attack (see story here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Open Fire Restrictions Imposed in Northwest --Areas east of the North coast Forest District have new fire restrictions in place as of this weekend (see article here)

 CFTK TV 7 News
Prince Rupert Teenager shaken up but not harmed -- Some background on an assault on the city's east side early Wednesday morning. (see article here) Sahar Nassimdoost also filed this report for CFTK (see report here)

CBC News Northern BC, Daybreak North 
Daybreak North is only posting selected items on their website now. 

 The most recently posted items can be found on the archive page for Daybreak North click here

Daily News, front page, headline story
Prince Rupert's youngest teacher
By Monica Lamb-Yorski
Staff Writer
Prince Rupert Daily News
Friday June 25, 2010

He’s cuddly, cute and changing by the moment.

 Not usually the words to describe a teacher, but in this case it’s true. For the last ten months Baby Nicholas Cresswell has been a teacher to children in a kindergarten class at Pineridge Elementary School. He’s been leading them through a program called Roots of Empathy.

 Nicholas has visited once a month and around each visit the students have learned about safety, sleep patterns, growth and more.

 “Three times a month I come into the classroom and work with the students,” said Pineridge principal Kathy Dann, who is one of two facilitators trained to assist with the program in School District #52.

 “We prepare for the baby’s visit, he visits us, and then we follow up. His mom is prepared ahead of time, too, so she can answer the children’s questions,” explained Dann.

The program focuses on brain connections between babies and children. It was developed by educator Mary Gordon of Toronto in 1996 to help reduce levels of aggression among schoolchildren by raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy.

It is geared for children from kindergarten to Grade 8, but in the last few years there has only been the funding to deliver the program to kindergarten children in Prince Rupert.

Pineridge had two babies come into classrooms last year and Dann said she can’t wait to bring another one into the classroom next year.

“It’s a fabulous program. The babies don’t necessarily have to be from the school community, but we’ve found that the children see the baby more often when they are.

 “They see the baby when he comes to the school with his mom to the Strongstart Program or to pick up her son. They see him a lot and make wonderful connections,” said Dann.

Crystal and her husband Rob have enjoyed being part of the program. Rob always took his lunch hour early so that he could attend the sessions.

 “Nicholas is our third and final child and being part of the program gave us time to recognize his growth and changes, which we might not have done because he is our third. It’s been nice,” Crystal said.

On Thursday the students, representatives from the school district, teachers and staff attended the program’s final session at Pineridge.

Several of the students carefully helped Dann lay out a bright green fleece blanket to cover the floor. 

Lucas, who was sitting against the wall, realized for the first time that one of the boys in his class was Nicholas’s big brother.

 “Nice”, Lucas told Christopher.

 Going around the room, Dann asked the students what they’d enjoyed the most about the program. The majority of the students said they liked watching Nicholas develop.

 It took a few visits for Nicholas to notice.