Calaveras Early Head Start Child Development Curriculum

Our most important goal is to develop and nurture a child's emerging sense of self. HRC Calaveras Head Start/State Preschool believes the future success of your child depends on a healthy self-image and pride in his family. With this ultimate goal in mind, Early Head Start staff along with input from parents plan a curriculum that encourages a sense of security, promote exploration and provide successful experiences for children as they develop their own sense of identity and independence. Together these promote the development of social skills necessary to prepare children for success in later school experiences. The curriculum for Early Head Start covers the following areas.

Self-Help Skills
Play-based activities for infants and toddlers will abound, encouraging safe exploration and allowing children to develop a sense of curiosity. Infants and toddlers will learn to trust the emerging skills they are developing; skills that will support them in their future learning. Self-help skills such as dressing, feeding and expressing opinions, likes and dislikes will be encouraged within appropriate settings. Toilet learning will be approached based on a plan established with the parents, "on-demand," and in context with the child's development and abilities.

Language and Communication
Babies are born with a variety of ways to communicate their needs. In order to recognize and immediately reinforce an infant or toddler's emerging efforts to communicate, Early Head Start Teachers will practice a "Primary Caregiver" model of care. This will provide a consistent, sensitively responsive level of care for each child.

Opportunities for communication occur from birth, long before spoken language develops. Infants and toddlers will be in a language rich environment where considerate, respectful conversation among children and adults is encouraged. To foster emerging language skills and develop an appreciation for literacy, infants and toddlers will have consistent opportunities to express opinions and choices, experience conversation, singing, reading and being read to. The relationships of sounds and words that support future development of reading skills (phonemic awareness) is promoted by hearing and reciting rhymes, word games and repetitive "silly" songs and sounds.

Nutrition
Meal periods and food are integrated into the total education program for infants and toddlers to support development of positive, healthful eating habits. Early Head Start staff will respond "on-demand" to the feeding needs of enrolled children, and will establish meal and snack routines that are pleasant, promote communication, feeding skills and reinforce trusting relationships. Infants unable to sit unassisted will be held during feeding. Mothers breastfeeding their infants and toddlers will be supported and encouraged.

Health
Basic health routines are followed daily in order to model and develop routines supporting appropriate personal hygiene and health practices. These routines include washing hands before meals and after diapering or toileting, appropriate use of Kleenex, and brushing teeth after meals.

Safety
Infants and toddlers need to have opportunities for exploration and play in safe environs and using safe, developmentally appropriate materials. Introduction to safe environments and practices occur within the routines and activities of the program. Primary Caregivers begin to introduce concepts of safety to infants and toddlers in a variety of situations including field trips, nature walks, use of equipment, and car seats. Children will experience practice fire and earthquake drills at the center.

Gross Motor Skills
Infants and toddlers will have a variety of developmentally appropriate opportunities for crawling, creeping, climbing, jumping, running, hopping, sliding, and throwing in order to strengthen emerging gross motor skills. Logico-mathematical learning is promoted through rhythmic patterns such as clapping and marching, and through repetitive games, song and dance, large body movements and exploration of objects and relationships.

Fine Motor Skills
Infants and toddlers will have age appropriate daily opportunities to develop small muscle, finger and hand-eye coordination skills through play activities such as through use of puzzles, toys, picking up finger-foods and feeding and dressing one's self, sorting and block-building.

Social Development
Infants and toddlers develop a sense of trust and security, and learn about themselves and the world around them through observation, respectful and responsive interactions with people, and opportunities to experience play and problem solving in a safe, nurturing, developmentally and age appropriate environment. Infants and toddlers will have the opportunity to select many of their own play-based activities, and to engage in play and conversation with adults and other children. Routines are followed to support infants and toddlers as they develop self-regulatory (self-comfort) skills that will support their growing up healthy and safe.

Cognitive
Learning activities and materials will be concrete, real and relevant to the lives of infants and toddlers. Primary caregivers observe each child's special interests and developmental progress and combine this with that child's natural curiosity about their world in order to motivate the child to continue exploring and learning. Since most learning for infants and toddlers is trial and error, opportunities are provided for safe, positive reinforcements to their efforts.

Self-Image
Every experience is an opportunity for an infant or toddler to learn how they fit in their world, and how they affect their environment. Foundations for trust and positive relationships in the future are established within the first three years of a child's life. Adults in Early Head Start will facilitate the development of a child's temperament and identity by expressing and modeling respect, acceptance and responsive comfort for the children. Early Head Start staff will respond "on-demand" to the needs of infants and toddlers, and will adapt their response to children's differing cues, styles and abilities.

Sensory
Within the Early Head Start program, activities are planned that support infants and toddlers as they use their senses to explore and learn from their world. Introduction to age and developmentally appropriate activities with a variety of textures, sounds, smells, tastes, movement and color will be provided throughout the day. Primary Caregivers will be alert to signs of undue stress exhibited in children's behavior and will be aware of appropriate stress reducing activities and techniques. Infants and toddlers be provided child-led opportunities for play, rest and retreat.

Science
Brain research shows that infants and toddlers are learning all the time, wherever they are, whatever they are doing. Opportunities exist in Early Head Start to introduce young children to concepts that will enhance emerging understanding of their environment, and cause and effect. Infants and toddlers will experience outside explorations, weather observations, field trips, nature walks introduction to animals in the program, care and growing of plants, experimenting with water, light and gravity and the joy of discovery.

Creativity
Infants and toddlers will have daily activities to experience and develop an aesthetic sense of expression and appreciation of art and music. Early Head Start staff will introduce infants and toddlers to art based activities using a variety of media such as finger painting and play-dough. A variety of music and song will be provided for entertainment and cultural enrichment and children will have opportunities to experience making noise and music of their own.

Multi-Cultural Activities
Culture is not a specific topic to be taught, rather it is a part of a child's total everyday experience. Infants develop a sense of culture in the context of routines, rituals and expectations of their families. Activities and routines within the program will recognize and respect the uniqueness of each child's family, community and culture and will be used as opportunities to enhance the cultural experiences of infants and toddlers.

Parent Involvement Activities
Parents are encouraged to contribute their expectations for their child's care, ideas for activities and events, and to volunteer in program activities. Parents and family are welcome to share their special skills and talents with the children and staff. Primary Caregivers will meet routinely with parents and will support them as they participate in the development and growth of their child.