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Head Start

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The Nash- Rocky Mount Pre-K Program ...

• Accepts applications for all 4 year old children
• Selects children demonstrating the greatest need based on multi-criteria including screening results
• Provides opportunities for children with developmental delays to make continuous progress
• Limits class size up to 18 students or less with teacher and teacher assistant, according to licensure regulations
• Provides transition to school activities including parent focus groups, school visitations and special transition events

Pre-K is not a mandatory early childhood program in North Carolina.
Pre-K Classes are not available at every school.
Your child must be 4 years of age on or before August 31st.
PARENTS MUST PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION

Pre-Kindergarten ...

• Recognizes the developmental needs of all preschool-age children
• Implements appropriate child-centered activities and hands-on-experiences
• Encourages multicultural activities
• Promotes social skills and readiness skills necessary for success
• Encourages a partnership with the community and school
• Recognizes strengths of children and seeks to develop strategies to meet individual student's needs
• Uses quality curriculum resources and incorporates field trips
• Encourages parents and families to have an active role in the educational program and become partners in creating a successful school experience
  

What are the goals of a Pre-Kindergarten program?

Social-Emotional Development

• Develop and enhance self-esteem and a positive attitude to school peers and adults
• Encourage cooperative behavior
• Foster independence in self-help skills

Cognitive Development

• Develop ability to solve problems, make choices and acquire logical thinking skills
• Expand emerging literacy skills ( including reading and writing skills)
• Develop verbal communication skills
• Expand Knowledge of numbers, science and the arts

Physical Development

• Enhance gross and fine motor skills
• Encourage the use of all senses in learning

What happens during a typical Pre-K school day?

• Whole Group - Gathering of class for literacy activities, setting goals for the day, thematic unit presentations, communicating purposes of the learning centers
• Center Activities - Students select from a variety of child-centered interactive play areas including blocks, manipulatives, dramatic play, art, music, writing, reading, listening, science, computer, water/sand and others as developed through student interests and thematic units
• Outside Environment - Children select from a variety of activities to develop their bodies and their connection to nature
• Rest Time
• Breakfast, Lunch and Snack are served at each site

Individual classroom schedules are flexible to meet the needs of the children.

The Pre-K classroom uses both the indoor and outdoor environments for learning.

What do children learn through play?
Play is the work of a child. Children will grow and develop when given the opportunity to interact with others and to explore and manipulate materials through centers and group activities and the outside world.

What are centers?

They are areas of the indoors and outside, equipped with materials to be used by the children for learning through play and are organized around learning objectives.

What centers will be in a Pre-K classroom and what skills will be developed in the centers?

All centers offer many, varied and unusual opportunities. The following are examples of centers and only a few outcomes of each.
Blocks- provides opportunities for sharing, pretend play while participating in activities that will encourage learning about size, shapes, colors, Planning, problem solving, development of vocabulary ( a child compares tallest and shortest structures)

Dramatic Play- offers many choices for children to act out and pretend as they develop knowledge of themselves, home, and community (a group creates a restaurant and writes a menu and orders)

Manipulatives- includes sorting, matching objects, developing fine muscle control, and playing with puzzles (using a pegboard, a child lines pegs according to size and color)

Communication and Literacy- offers opportunities for children to express thoughts and feelings through reading books, pretend writing, listening toa taped story, and developing alphabet awareness. Books and writing materials will be found in all of the centers (a child holds a book and reads the pictures aloud to a friend)

Science- provides experiences for children to interact with their environment. This center is arranged to enhance the use of the five senses, and to stimulate curiosity and experimentation with materials (children sort seashells by shape and match the shell to a picture in a big booK)

Sand and Water- includes activities that encourage experimentation with measurement, develops creativity and investigation through pouring, sifting, and building (children pour colored water into tall and short containers using a measuring cup)

Computer- provides opportunities to learn and use appropriate computer skills and programs for preschool children (child uses a computer program to recognize colors)

Music- encourages children to use their voices and bodies to express themselves in different ways such as using instruments, singing, and dancing (a group of children form a band and share instruments)

Gross Motor- allows development of large muscle skills and cooperative play (a child learns to walk across a balance beam)

Where can I learn more?

• Ask your child's teacher or principal
• Visit the local library, book store or book mobile
• Call Down East Partnership for Children at 252.985.4300
• Visit the North Carolina Association for Young Children website at naeyc.org
• Contact the Edgecombe-Nash Mental Health Center at 252.823.6031

We Care About Kids!

PreK Sites

Pre-Kindergarten sites provide a qualified staff and safe environment to provide children the skills for school success..

Contact  PreK department