Early Childhood Education
Our Goals
The Role of Play
What you can expect to see in a classroom
Classroom Structure and Teacher
Credentials
Discipline
Clothing
Classroom Daily Schedule
Early
Childhood Education in
the HHWP CAC Head Start Program
Teachers
meet 2
times a year in the family’s home, and 2
times a year there is a conference held in the center to discuss the
child’s
progress and set goals for the child’s development at school
and at home. Each
plan is individualized for the child’s development needs
using the parent’s
input. The teachers work with the parent to assist them in their
knowledge of
child development and understanding the Creative Curriculum framework.
Through the combination of the program areas of Health, Family/Community Partnerships, Child Development, Nutrition, Mental Health, Transportation, and Disabilities, the needs of every child are addressed and met.
-
Our Goals
- Provide developmentally appropriate and individualized services to children and families.
- Establish individualized goals for children using parent input, teacher observations, screenings, assessments and portfolios.
- Establish a developmentally appropriate environment conducive to learning.
- Provide a variety of developmentally appropriate activities that support classroom and individual goals.
- Support and value children’s first language and their cultural heritage.
- Recognize and support the parent’s role as their child’s first teacher by strengthening and enhancing classroom experiences at home.
- Promote life-long learners.
Children learn
as they play. In play, children are free to master new knowledge at
their own
rate and in their own way.
Research shows us that play contributes to children’s development in a number of ways.
- Play provides the opportunity for children to practice new cognitive, social-emotional, and physical skills. As they master these skills they can use them in other situations.
- Play offers numerous opportunities for children to act on objects and experience events. Each field trip and each block-building results in new understanding about the world.
- Play provides an active form of learning that unites the mind, body and spirit. Watch how absorbed children are when they paint at an easel or work on a puzzle.
- Play enables children to use their real experiences to organize concepts of how the world operates. Children count the blocks, or name the letters as they “read” a book.
- Children can see how new experiences are related to previous learning.
- As they play, children develop a playful attitude toward the inventiveness that contributes to being able to think up ideas, new ways to do things, and ways to solve problems.
- Play enables children to learn about learning-through curiosity, invention, staying with the task and through exploring. Children pay attention for longer periods of time when they are interested in tasks. They are spellbound as they watch ants in an anthill; they are delighted when they recognize their own names for the first time.
- Play reduces the tension that comes with having to achieve. In play, children relax. Play challenges, but does not punish for mistakes.
- Children develop the skill for seeing something from another person’s point of view, cooperating, helping, and sharing as they play. They learn to be both leaders and followers.
- Children express and work out the emotional aspects of everyday experiences as well as frightening events as they play.
What you can expect to see in a classroom:
A classroom for young children has clearly defined, well-equipped interest centers that are arranged to promote independence, foster decision-making, and encourage involvement. Through learning centers children are offered clear choices. An area is set aside for books, art, manipulatives (table toys), blocks, dramatic play, sensory table, writing/listening, science, math, large motor, music, and outdoors.
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HHWP CAC Head Start offers two types of classroom structures at this time. Single-session sites are offered in Carey, Forest, Ada, McGuffey, and Leipsic. These classes have one Lead Teacher and one Assistant Teacher with up to 20 children enrolled, and runs 4 hours in length.
AM and PM Classroom Sessions are held in Findlay, Ottawa, Upper Sandusky and Kenton sites. These classrooms enroll 20 children each and have separate Lead and Assistant Teacher for each classroom. The classes are held 2 to a site and run one class right after the other.
Currently 100% of our Lead Teachers hold an associate degree or higher in Early Childhood Education. 30% of our Assistant Teachers hold an associate degree or higher. We have both Lead and Assistant Teachers attending college courses to obtain additional credentials.
Discipline
Both Head Start
Performance Standards and Department of Job and Family Services Daycare
Licensing Rule 22 give us specific guidelines for how we may and may
not guide
and manage children. For this reason, staff are responsible
for the
discipline and guidance of the children while at the center and
on the
bus, using the following:
Developmentally appropriate child guidance and behavior management techniques that are suitable to the children's ages and the circumstances are used in the classroom. These include such measures as positive reinforcement, redirection, setting clear limits, showing children positive alternatives, removal from problem situations, problem-solving, and specific praise for appropriate behavior, encouraging children to control their own behavior, cooperating with others, and solving problems by talking things out.
When a child's behavior is unacceptable, the staff may not: use cruel, harsh, unusual, or extreme techniques; use any form of corporal punishment (hitting, etc.); use physical restraints or otherwise restrain a child by any means other than holding the child for a short period of time, such as in a protective hug, so that the child may regain control; place children in a locked room or confine children in any confined area or equipment; humiliate, threaten, or otherwise frighten children; subject children to profane language, raised voices, or other verbal abuse; make derogatory or sarcastic remarks about children or their families; punish children for failure to eat or sleep, or for toileting accidents; force a child to eat or withhold any food (including snacks and treats); withhold or force rest or toilet use; punish the entire group of children due to the unacceptable behavior of one or a few; isolate or restrict children from any or all activities for an extended period of time.
Parents are expected to help promote the staff's positive guidance techniques while at the center, and will receive staff support in doing so.
Clothing
Play clothes are recommended. The children are encouraged to explore their environment. That means they could be crawling around on the floor or outside on the playground. There will be painting taking place and the discovery center could contain something wet, dusty, or just plain fun to experiment with. For some of these same reasons non-slip shoes (like tennis shoes) are best. It’s very difficult to walk a balance beam or climb with dress shoes or slip-on shoes. Children need to be comfortable and able to participate in classroom activities.
Classroom Daily
Schedule
The following chart indicates the approximate amount of time classroom children will participate in specific activities. Each classroom has a posted daily schedule with more specific information.
| Time | Activities | Benefit to child |
| 1 – 1 ½ hours on Self Help Skills | This includes hand washing, eating, brushing teeth, clean up from meals, toileting, and dressing for outdoor play. | Good hygiene is modeled. Children develop thinking, problem solving, fine motor, socializing skills, and good eating habits. |
| 1 – 1 ½ hours for Activity Center Choices | The children are given opportunities to choose the activities they would like to do. Choices include: blocks, music, discovery/science, books, art, math/counting, manipulatives, writing, and dramatic play. | Skills such as hand-eye coordination, language, creativity, social skills and letter/number recognition and math skills are developed. |
| ½ hour for Language & Math Skills | Large and small groups of children listen to books, tell stories, do finger plays, and sing songs. They also listen to music, have conversations, and play games. | Math, speech, and language skills are developed. Self-esteem and confidence rise through mastering tasks and participating in activities. |
| ½ hour for Large Muscle Activities | Large muscle play includes moving to music, marching, outdoor play, running, swinging, and jumping. | Coordination is improved by using large muscle movement. Children also build their social skills. |