Developmental research indicates that preschool children learn best in carefully designed environments that tap their natural curiosity and support learning through play and active exploration of their surroundings. Strong standards outline the skills, knowledge and dispositions children need to ensure a successful transition into kindergarten.

All enrolled children receive a developmental screening within 45 days of enrollment. Individual plans are designed to foster intellectual, physical, social, emotional and language growth. Head Start classrooms focus on language, literacy, mathematics, science, creative arts, physical health, social and emotional development and approaches to learning. Child progress/outcomes are monitored through the Galileo child outcomes system. Galileo is a web-based assessment system that includes the most current research on how and what children learn. It allows teachers to use assessment information to plan learning opportunities appropriate to children’s developmental needs.

Galileo, Opening the World of Learning, Scaffolding Early Literacy, Creative Curriculum and Circle/Step Literacy Project are the research-based curriculums, which provide the foundation of child development services.

Information is shared with parents to ensure that learning objectives are continued at home. Parents are recognized as partners in their children’s education. Early Explorers provides opportunities to enhance parent knowledge of child development through parent meetings, educational handouts, parent teacher conferences, home visits and parent/child activities in the classroom.

In 2009, Early Explorers was awarded the Early Reading First grant as one of three Head Start programs working in partnership with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and McRel Institute. It is the largest Early Reading First grant in the nation and the only one in North Dakota. This grant is a multifaceted approach that is grounded in the science of reading and instructional best practices. The approach features eight strategies:

• Increase time for learning
• Research based literacy curriculum, Pearson’s Opening the World of Learning
• Print and language rich classrooms
• Research-based instructional practices that support individual learning needs
• Ongoing assessment and progress monitoring
• Scaffolding Early Literacy, which is research –based professional development led by Dr. Elena Bodrova and Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning
• Home-school linkages; and a comprehensive preschool to kindergarten transition program

Early Reading First is designed to transform existing early education programs into centers of excellence that provide high quality, early education to young children, especially those from low-income families. The overall purpose of the Early Reading First Program is to prepare young children to enter kindergarten with the necessary language, cognitive and early reading skills to prevent reading difficulties and ensure school success.

Powerpoints:
Head Start Curriculum and Environments

Early Reading First