1. The Wonderful World of Transitioning: Home to Center
Virginia Head Start Annual Conference
The Wonderful World of Transitioning: Home to Center

2. Introduction and Warm-up
INTRODUCTION &AGENDA
LaNeen Sample Education Services Specialist
Stephanie Turner
Classroom Support Coordinator
Introduction and Warm-up
Stephanie pass out the agenda.

3. What does transitioning really mean?
Linking schools, families, child care providers, early childhood educators and community based partners in support successful transitions of children into Early Head Start, Early Head Start and public schools.

4. Assessing the Needs
Very few schools/Head Starts have transition plans linking home to Head Start/school
Many families don’t feel connected to the school or program prior to the child’s entry.
Any ideas on how we as educators and advocates of young children can further bridge this gap? What tools and strategies might we use? Think about how these tools and strategies could be linguistically and culturally relevant? What would your transition assessment and introduction system and process look like?

5. Outcomes from Assessing Parental School Readiness Needs
Parents didn’t know what will be expected of their children
Child care providers varied widely in their understanding of Head Start/School expectations
Schools were not in contact with child care/Head Start providers or parents prior to kindergarten registration
Head Start and Early Head Start Programs offered limited information about Head Start Programming that they provided
What happened. Were we “stuffing papers down parent’s throats as a focus to obtain information for recordkeeping and enrollment or were we asking question for the purposes of recordkeeping and enrollment?

7. Critical Action Attention to community needs
Parent involvement with the Head Start/school; improves academic success
Building relationships with parents and teachers is key to smooth home to school transitions
Nurturing and first years of life shape school readiness at birth
A child’s pre-literacy level can indicate school success

8. Key Goals & Objectives
Goal: To improve school readiness and support successful transition of children and their families is to:
Objectives:
Fostering communication, building relationships among families, caregivers Head Start and schools that promote successful transitions
What does this mean? This means taking a more global approach. How’s this done? We have very little effective and affect community and parent involvement.

9. Key Goals & Objectives
2. Working to align-or match up-children’s learning and development experiences among home, early education and child care and school to boost children’s confidence and learning
3. Implementing strategies to enhance early literacy and reduce nonacademic barriers to early learning (e.g. language and interpretation/translation for families most at risk

10. School Transition Team Structure
Neighborhood representation: the one school leader representative (principal or assistant principal) in addition to a kindergarten teacher (stipend provided) from one of the elementary schools
Two early care/education teachers/providers from Head Start or Early Head Start

11. School Transition Team Structure
Two parent “community ambassadors’ representing communities whose children are getting left behind, who will both participate in the Team and serve as a liaison to their community
Four representatives from community organizations (public library, family support services, faith-based groups, etc.) and/or informal community leaders

12. Getting School Ready Neighborhood School Transition Team Results
GSR Teams developed a “Getting School Ready Connections” is an outreach model that documents effective ways to reach and communicate with the community’s families, licensed and informal caregivers, community agencies and teachers.
We adopted this model for our program as it is research based and a best practice from home to school transitions.

14. Children with Special Needs Home-School Transition Case Study
How might we plan for home to school transitions for children with unique and special needs?
How would you partner with parents?
What would you learn from parents?
Who needs to be involved?
Who Needs to be informed?
You learn that a child is coming to your center with Spina Bifida. Offer copies of special needs recruitment plan and talk through steps taken and processes.

15. What We Can Do!
Acknowledge the information gap between schools, families, and childcare providers.
Increased outreach to families of young children
Provide early learning activities for families and childcare providers before services begin
Receive insight into incoming student demographics and skill level.
Immerse ourselves in each culture of each child served and analyze how to integrate cross cultural awareness into curricula and classroom environment. When parents have the chance to volunteer, use this time to learn more, offer gift certificates and prizes as incentives, this will catch like wildfire with other parents.

17. What We Can Do!
Increased parent’s understanding of early learning and school readiness.
Provide a parent/ family friendly connection with school and teachers.
Support parents obtaining simple, everyday ways to promote early childhood literacy and help prepare their child for Head Start/school.

19. How Do We Do This? Training and technical assistance.
Collaboration and joint training with schools and Head Starts
Collaboration local Interagency Coordinating Councils
Anyone interested in early learning and development
Partnership even make this a goal for the family partnership plan for family services
Staffing for effective and affective coordination by have weekly team meetings with center management staff in each service area.
Use home-school transition and enrollment as a standing agenda item for weekly center team meetings
Communication
Consider what you would do to establish rapport and a relationship with parents before their child begins services, how you would work with the child on these activities, and how you would include the parent. What skills are the children learning and how would you extend or modify these activities for children with special needs?

20. INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES
Infants Activities
Activity: Where is the Sound?
Materials: Toys/objects that make different sounds
Objective: This activity will help baby develop auditory tracking skills and develop head and neck control.
Activity: Handy Clap
Materials: Baby in sitting or lying position
Objective: This activity will help the baby develop eye/hand coordination while increasing a sense of trust and attachment.
These activities are also helpful for the special needs children. These are good learning skilled activities that will help develop eye/hand coordination, motor control and social interaction.

21. Activity: Color Sorting Materials: Colored Blocks/Cubes, Large Legos
Toddlers Activities
Activity: Color Sorting
Materials: Colored Blocks/Cubes, Large Legos
Objective: This activity will help children learn about matching and sorting colors while engaging in positive social interaction.
Activity: Building It
Materials: Building Blocks, Large Lego Blocks
Objective: This activity will help young children learn cooperative play and help them develop compassion, or understanding of how others feel.
These activities are also helpful for the special needs children. These activities help with creativity, thinking/classification skills, self-esteem, pre-math skills, gross and fine motor skills.

22. Activity: Color, Sizes and Shapes Activities and Games
Preschool Activities
Activity: Color, Sizes and Shapes Activities and Games
Materials: Assorted Shapes and Games
Objective: This activity will help young children with recognition of color, shape, size and Language Development.
Activity: Number and Counting Activity
Materials: Assorted Items
Objective: This activity will help the young children with creative number usage.
These activities are also helpful for the special needs children with developing some math skills in recognition, counting, sorting, and cognitive skills.

23. Thank You!
LaNeen Sample Education Services Specialist
Stephanie Turner
Classroom Support Coordinator