Getting a head start on education
By GAYLE WEBER
PLAINVILLE -- Xander Glisson and Jaden Belles passed out trays, silverware and cartons of milk for their classmates one afternoon last month, preparing for lunch at Plainville Elementary School.
They'd had only a few weeks of practice, just starting their lunch routine at the first of February, but they knew exactly what to do.
"We're setting up for dinner," Glisson said matter-of-factly as he continued around the table, passing out napkins and juice cups.
Soon, the rest of his class joined him at the table to eat ham and cheese pockets. The 4- and 5-year olds passed dishes of food just as well as their adult teacher and assistants.
And when Glisson spilled some of his milk onto the cafeteria floor, he jumped down with a handful of napkins to clean it up.
"It's a learning process, and let me tell you, they've got it all down," said Sharri Coffey, program coordinator for Rooks County Head Start.
The lunch program at Plainville Elementary School -- as well as a breakfast program for the morning session of preschool -- was implemented as part of a requirement when Head Start was expanded to Rooks County earlier this year.
"Everyone has to take a little bit of everything," Coffey said. "And we encourage them to try everything."
The meals are served family-style, requiring students to learn quantities and food groups while developing motor skills, Coffey said.
A grant received by Hays Head Start allowed the program to be taken into Plainville and Stockton schools.
"We're very excited to be able to expand into another county," said Donna Hudson-Hamilton, director of Hays Head Start. "An opportunity like this has not come along for a long time."
The grant, worth $97,580 and funded with federal stimulus money, will allow for 12 Head Start openings next fall -- six in Plainville and six in Stockton. A few children who were eligible already have been enrolled for this school year.
Classroom changes
Routines and curriculum have changed, some for the better, for Erica Bammes in her early childhood development preschool classes in Plainville and for Beth Hazen in her similar afternoon class in Stockton.
Both teachers were able to implement Zoo-phonics, a language arts program, as part of the Head Start curriculum.
"Already, the Zoo-phonics that they brought in, it's helped kids that have been in preschool for two years," Hazen said.
The program teaches children reading, spelling and writing by using animals such as Queenie Quail to teach the letter Q.
The classrooms also will be adding Creative Curriculum, which targets the educational goals of 3- to 5-year-olds.
Beyond that, the school day was altered and instructional time shortened in order to meet the requirement that Head Start students be served one-third of their daily nutritional requirements during school.
But Hazen is happy with the social aspect that eating lunch together brings to her afternoon early childhood special education class.
"It's a very relaxed time for the teachers to sit down and talk with the children," Coffey said, noting the rest of the day is structured around learning stations.
Reaching families
Along with the work in the classroom, Head Start also involves families. Coffey, who also serves as a social worker for the program, visits families of students in their home.
"We really want to know what the families feel they need, what are their goals, and we try to support those," Coffey said.
Hazen said she believes families will benefit just from having Coffey as a resource to talk to and get knowledge from about the opportunities available for their children.
The program could prove especially beneficial in Plainville, where private preschools cost nearly $80 per month, and Bammes is the only preschool teacher in the public school district.
"If you think about where the need is in your community, it really is students that come from families that are lower income," Bammes said. "We service those families who can't pay $80 a month."
Head Start also has a health component that insures students have up-to-date dental exams, physicals and immunizations before starting school, much the same as any school's requirements. However, Coffey said she will be making sure students follow up on referrals, and that they have a means of transportation to get to those likely out-of-town appointments.
"It all goes back to getting them ready for school," Coffey said. "And healthy kids, safe kids, they learn better."
Enrollment
Coffey already is facilitating enrollment in Head Start for next year. She anticipates the 12 spots will be filled quickly.
The openings are available to any student in Rooks County, but transportation other than what's offered by the Plainville and Stockton districts is not provided.
Stockton Superintendent Allaire Homburg never has worked in a district that has offered Head Start, but he hopes it's a good venture for Rooks County.
"We're hoping to, of course, serve children better and more of them," he said. "We've picked up students doing Head Start that weren't doing the other preschool we have."
Because of space available this year in Hazen's afternoon class, two students who were not attending a preschool and met Head Start guidelines were enrolled.
However, Bammes already had a full classroom with 12 students each in the morning and afternoon sessions of her early childhood development preschool classes. So in order to kick off the Head Start program, the district enrolled a couple of Bammes' existing students who qualified for Head Start.
"Every day, we change and grow and learn and do something different just because the things that they (Head Start) require we're slowly learning," Bammes said. "I think a lot of our things are similar, but they do have some very specific requirements or indicators that we have to meet."
For more information on Rooks County Head Start, contact Coffey at (785) 415-2039 or the Hays Head Start office at (785) 623-2430.