Early Head Start (infant/toddlers 12 months – 36 months)

Preschool (36 months – year before Kindergarten)

Pre-K (year preceding Kindergarten, and/or Transitional Kindergarten, TK)

School Age (Kindergarten – 13th birthday)

In the Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership (EHS – CCP) infant/toddler programs, children receive specialized quality education and comprehensive social services that provide opportunities for our children to learn and succeed as they experience the daily environmental supports provided by our Hand-in-Hand team, Family Service Worker (FSW), Center Director, and all of the coaching, mentoring and support services provided within the programs. Family eligibility requirements will be determined at the time of enrollment.

12 months – 36 months are crucial years for your child. Children are learning to be independent and want to have more freedom in their exploration and ability to make choices. Children thrive when they form consistent and reliable, loving relationships with their parents and caregivers. We value the ongoing relationship with parents in order to best meet the needs of your children. We provide a safe, clean, and fun environment where toddlers are given the opportunity to actively explore and be a part of their world by touching, hearing, moving, seeing, and feeling what is around them, while being supported by teachers in the program.

We strive to partner with parents in order to provide a safe, warm and loving environment that fosters your toddler’s development in a positive way. We value the individuality of children and provide a variety of learning materials and activity options in order to allow children optimal development. Our competent staff members engage in an ongoing cycle of professional development activities in order to become more knowledgeable, competent and better prepared to recognize and be responsive to the needs of each child and family.

Our infant and toddler programs provide:

• Individualized teaching
• Low child/staff ratios
• Structured routines and schedules
• Pre-academic school readiness skills – through hands-on activities and play
• Culturally diverse and responsive programs
• Services for children with disabilities
• Screenings and ongoing assessments
• Individualized activities
• Inclusive classrooms
• High quality learning environments
• Caring, educated and trained teachers
• Parent advocacy and training

Health Support Services:

• Medical and dental case management
• Staff certified in first aid & CPR
• Clean and safe environments
• On site Dental Exams and Fluoride Varnish
• Hearing and Vision Screenings
• Whole child/family approaches to wellness and health
• Healthy, farm to table, and wholesome menus
• Indoor/Outdoor Physical Development in support of physical activity promotion (we spend a lot of time outdoors for all age groups)

Family Services:

• Parent engagement activities and leadership opportunities
• Supporting families to meet their need and achieve individual goals
• Community resources and services

The preschool and pre-K programs are designed to prepare children for success in learning and social experiences throughout their lives. The preschool day is a time for children to work and play. Play is an essential part of a child’s learning and development. Children learn about their world through intentional play experiences, with an adult’s careful guidance. Play is the most important learning that sets the foundation for future success, including academic and life achievements. Children are given the opportunity to work and engage in learning activities, social experiences, as well as given self-directed time to work in our various learning centers. We spend a large portion of our time outdoors in our outdoor classrooms and in nature. Our outdoor classrooms provide the same enriching environments as the indoor classroom settings, and often more! We provide extended outside time and all of our teachers, children and staff come prepared for the current weather conditions to provide comfor and support of the latest weather… “There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing!” Please dress your child accordingly – we encourage families to bring labeled jackets hats, rubber boots, gloves and layers for winter – and swimsuits, water shoes, shorts, hats, for summer – for example. If you have a concern, please take the time to express your feelings upon enrollment. We will work together to do our best to educate each other as we plan for your child’s early education and experiences here at our programs. It is important that you understand our Center Philosophy before determining if this is the right fit for your family! We respect that not all families will find this philosophy fits the needs of their family and child.

Our preschool programs offer a clean, safe and fun environment. Hand-in-Hand has a beautiful playground and outdoor classroom environment which allows children plenty of space to run, explore and socialize with their peers, and engage in hands-on experiences and discovery. We embrace the natural learning that occurs in the outdoors within our programs. Hand-in-Hand preschool and Pre-K offers learning experiences, with adult guidance, in building children’s self-esteem, social skills, cognitive abilities, large motor coordination, and overall foundations needed to succeed in school. We encourage family participation and communication. The value of a parents engagement with their children’s early education and involvement in school, leads to a life-long approach to academic importance for children. We are here to support the efforts of each family at the level of involvement that their lives allow.

Our preschool and pre-K programs offer a variety of learning opportunities, as example: 

Social/Emotional: Opportunity for self-guided play, imagination, communication, cooperation, dramatic play, conversation with children and adults, problem solving, self-regulation, following a routine and directions, and other areas within this learning domain. This area is one of the most important aspects of preschool and pre-K. Children statistically do better in school when they are able to master social/emotional skills in a group setting. We implement the Second Step curriculum as a tool to help our teaching staff teach and support social/emotional skills for preschool and pre-K children. www.cfchildren.org/second-step.aspx

Language and Literacy: Large and small group time activities, music and movement, story time, flannel board stories, finger plays, group times, fostering rich conversations, beginning letter and letter sound recognition (as developmentally appropriate), a growing library of books, and daily opportunities for language and literacy development.

Cognitive Experiences: Supporting cognitive development through opportunities to problem solve, imitation, memory, number sense, manipulatives, patterning, sequencing, classifying, cause and effect, and more.

Science Experiences: Hands-on approach to learning about the world we live in. Sensory tables, gardening, nature walks, learning about life-cycles of plants and animals, manipulating objects, working with solids, liquids, nutrition themes and more.

Large Motor Activities: We have a spacious play yard with plenty of room to run, explore, move and play. We offer extensions of play activities with nature walks, tumbling mats, active games, music and movement and opportunities to move our bodies and large muscles throughout the day. We embrace the objectives and goals of Let’s Move! Child Care: www.letsmove.gov

School Age Program (TK/Kindergarten – 12 years)

Our extended day program offers a safe environment for children kindergarten and up. We provide the time to work on homework, eat a healthy snack, enjoy projects and activities, and build friendships. (Drop-in care is limited to space available. A complete enrollment packet must be on file before drop-in is provided; priority is given to families currently enrolled in our programs. Drop-in must be pre-approved the day before – at a minimum – to the day that services and care are requested).

Our school age program includes transportation from the public schools in Colusa, as currently available and may change due to circumstances beyond our control; Burchfield and Egling schools only.We are working in partnership with Colusa Transit to provide transportation. When Colusa transit is closed, we will not be providing transportation. Parents will be responsible for picking up their children from school on these days (there are only a few per year).

We have extended care during minimum days (most days) and the summer. Our summer program is open from 7:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. during the summer break. Children enjoy field trips to the bowling alley, swimming pool, movie theater, and other day trips as we can. The children participate in fundraising in order to help raise the funds for their outings, which helps them to learn responsibility, being a part of a team and community, as well as building self-esteem.

Children are given the opportunity to work and engage in learning activities, social experiences, as well as given self-directed time to work in our various learning centers. We spend a large portion of our time outdoors in our outdoor classrooms and in nature.  Our outdoor classrooms provide the same enriching environments as the indoor classroom settings, and often more! We provide extended outside time and all of our teachers, children and staff come prepared for the current weather conditions to provide comfort and support of the latest weather…”There is no bad weather, just wrong clothing!”  Please dress your child accordingly – we encourage families to bring labeled jackets, hats, rubber boots, gloves, and layers for winter – and swimsuits, water shoes, shorts, hats, for summer – for example.  If you have a concern, please take the time to express your feelings upon enrollment.  We will work together to do our best to educate each other as we plan for your child’s early education and experiences here at our programs.  It is important that you understand our Center philosophy before determining if this is the right fit for your family!  We respect that not all families will find this philosophy fits the needs of their family and child.  

Examples of activities and extensions within the School Age Program:

• Arts & Craft activities
• Theatrical Arts
• Science Explorations
• Sports and Games
• Wellness and Health
• Second Step Curriculum (Social/Emotional Supports) www.cfchildren.org/second-step.aspx