HEAD START & EARLY HEAD START
Education and Early Childhood Development
Higher Horizons provides both Head Start and Early
Head Start program options. All educational services
are customized to the individual child's developmental
level (including children with disabilities) and considers
each child's temperament, interests, and learning
style. Higher Horizons Head Start & Early Head
Start also respects the culture, language, and family
of each child.
Head Start provides children with a variety of learning
experiences. Children are offered a vast amount of
opportunities to express themselves through art, music,
movement, and storytelling. They participate in indoor
and outdoor play, and learn about books, words, numbers,
and the world around them. They are encouraged to
communicate their ideas and feelings, and to develop
self-confidence and social-emotional skills. The Head
Start program also works with the children and parents
to help them make a successful transition to Kindergarten.
Infants, toddlers, and pregnant women receive specialized
care in Early Head Start. Higher Horizons Early Head
Start program includes both center-based and home-based
options, and provides services developed specifically
for infants and toddlers from birth to age three and
pregnant women. Early Head Start staff have special
training to enable them to create an environment where
infants and toddlers can flourish and develop important
skills such as self-awareness, independence, and self-expression.
The Early Head Start program helps foster secure relationships
between children and well-trained staff. Our policy
of having one trained teacher for each group of four
children helps create secure relationships between
children and staff. This gives children the sense
of trust and emotional security they need to explore
their environment and develop new skills. Early Head
Start extends services to children and parents in
the home. Staff make home visits, especially to the
homes of parents with newborns and older infants,
to help strengthen parenting skills and to hear and
respond to parental concerns.
Higher Horizons Head Start & Early Head Start
responds to children with disabilities. Special training
is provided to staff to help them work with disabled
children. More than 10% of Head Start and Early Head
Start children have special needs, and these children
are included in all program activities. Higher Horizons
staff also work closely with community agencies and
other programs for young children with disabilities
to ensure that children with special needs obtain
the care they need.
The educational program consists of several integrated
curriculum pieces:
The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos (Early Head Start)
The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (Head Start)
Portage (Home Based)
Al’s Pals
Let Me Play Head Start
I Am Moving, I Am Learning
Wolf Trap Theater Residency Program
The Creative Curriculum is a curriculum that helps
teachers implement developmentally appropriate practice
in the classroom. Teachers use a variety of approaches
and take an active role in children’s learning
by integrating content learning into everyday experiences.
Children are observed purposefully and teachers use
those observations to plan for each child and the
whole group. Higher Horizons is now in year two of
The Creative Curriculum implementation and results
from the first year were very encouraging.
Portage is a curriculum that stresses the importance
of parent/primary caretaker involvement. Home visitors
work with parents to help them understand that the
home is a natural and significant learning environment.
They work together on individualizing objectives and
strategies for each child and family based on their
concerns, priorities and resources.
Teachers supplement all of the above with Al’s
Pals, Nike Go, and I Am Moving, I Am Learning; educational
programs that promote health, safety and self-esteem,
and that promote a positive self-image and attitude
toward others.