Denies Louie Education Center serves 181 children and families enrolled in Head Start, a federal program for children three to five years of age from low-income families. Children who attend Head Start participate in a variety of educational activities. We use the Creative Curriculum, a play-based curriculum, the Anti-Bias Curriculum and the Second Step anti-violence curriculum that teaches children problem solving and social and emotional skills. Each day, children have family style, well-balanced meals and snacks. Children practice brushing their teeth after meals and participate in at least one nutrition activity per month. Outdoor play is an important aspect of our curriculum. Children develop coordination and motor skills while developing social skills and learning how to play cooperatively.
The program is individualized to the unique strengths, interests and needs of the child based on information gathered from child observations, parent/teacher conferences, home visits, and health and developmental screenings.
Each child has an individualized plan developed jointly with the parent that lists outcomes in socio-emotional development, literacy, language development, mathematics, physical health and development, science, creative arts and approaches to learning. Our classrooms have ratios of between 1:5 and 1:9 teacher to child ratio and teachers have several hours of planning time each week to develop lesson plans, individualized plans, and complete related training.