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Traveling west down Fourth Street in Snowflake, past the Snowflake Public Library, is the simple grey building with a brightly painted sign that houses the Snowflake Head Start program. Established in 1968, today the school works with 35 children and their families to create healthy, happy, confident children better equipped to meet the challenges of public education and find success.
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The Snowflake Head Start offers two half-day programs for children from three to five years old at their center as well as two home-based programs: Early Head Start, a program for infants to three years old and Preschool, a program for children three to five years old.
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Shannon Bell, family advocate, shared that the home-based program has a visitor come to the house once a week to teach the parents how to use their home as a learning environment. Twice a month there is a playgroup in Show Low for parents and kids to get together.
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“This program has to be one of my favorite programs,” said Bell. “When I worked on it, we would go into the homes and teach the parents to use what they had. We were never allowed to take additional toys, because it is critical that parents see the value in their home, no matter how much or how little they have.”
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At the Snowflake Head Start, the children walk into a large inviting room that is set up with a variety of learning centers. There is a little kitchen, a reading area with bookshelves, an art table as well as a large area with a brightly colored rug used for group activities.
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“We use the Creative Curriculum along with our philosophy that children learn best through play,” said Bell.
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From balance and gravity to studying geometry through building blocks as an example, Head Start encourages the children to explore topics and ideas while developing skills in language, literacy, math, technology and the arts.
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“We are preparing the children for school readiness through cognitive approaches to learning as well as physical, health, social and emotional development,” continued Bell. “What I love about Head Start after all my training in early childhood education, is that we take the best out of each teaching philosophy and put them together in one place to help these kids face the challenges of life and learning without frustration.”
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“Head Start is a comprehensive program. We want to address the whole child and the whole family so that the child is well fed and has the necessary checkups as well as dental visits,” said Bell. “The majority of our parents have insurance and if they don’t, we work with them. The Head Start grant has funding to help pay for medical and dental as a part of improving that child’s life.”
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Classes include a morning class from 8 to 11:30 a.m. and the afternoon class from 12:30 to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. With the morning class breakfast and lunch are provided, with lunch and a snack for the afternoon class.
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There are slots for 18 children in the morning class and 17 in the afternoon. Bell said that they maintain a waiting list as they have 30 days to fill a slot once it is vacated.
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While the program is free for income-eligible families, Bell encourages any parent interested to come and talk with them. “We do have some very limited over income slots, so no matter what the income level, come talk with us. We give special consideration to homeless children, children in foster care and special needs children.”
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For more information about the Head Start program, call (928) 536-7330 or email at snowflake@nacog.org.
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