Mrs Farrell's Head Start Program

Mrs Farrell's Head Start Program - PDF on CD

A School Readiness Program for Parents and Early Childhood Educators

All these resources you need come on PDF files for you to save and print. Your CD comes with a smart cover and envelope.

Below are some preview images of just some of the files included in your Head Start CD.

Mrs Farrell’s Head Start Program was developed to help your child get ready for school next year. I have taught both Kindergarten and 2-5 year-olds and from my experience, I know how to construct an appropriate head start for children aged 4-5 years.

You have taught your child most of what they know and you will continue to throughout their lives. You should acknowledge what a great job you’ve done so far. You’ve probably prepared them for school in many ways. The Head Start Program along with your help aims to give your child a structured preparation for next year. I know it is extremely important to get a good start at school as it can set up a pattern for the years to come.

Head Start with your help, aims to assist your child enter and finish Kindy/Prep near the top of the class. As a teacher, I know how to do this hence, the rationale for this parent and early childhood educator’s pack.

The Head Start Program aims for your child to develop and then master a range of skills, strategies and knowledge appropriate for their first year of formal schooling.

Activities will be centred on reading, writing, spelling, numeracy, space and measurement activities too.

How to use Mrs Farrell’s Head Start Program

• This program is appropriate for children the year prior to beginning formal schooling. Ideally, the Head Start Program should be started 3-6 months prior to beginning school.
• The files in the Head Start folder have been numbered 1-14.
• Begin at the first folder; 1 Mrs Farrell’s Head Start Introduction. Continue in order from 1-14 and print out what you need for each session. Please read the printing tips as you can print 2 slides (pages) on one page to save ink. Do not skip a session, the folders are organised in the order in which they should be implemented.

• Your starting point is an assessment book (Kindergarten Basic Skills Book), which assesses your child’s academic readiness. Please note, school readiness should primarily be based on social skills, including language and self-help as well as, general social skills and emotional skills or as they call it now, emotional intelligence (EI) and academic readiness.
• After this initial assessment you will need to access the first activity folder entitled; 3 Session 1 Activities. Please refer to the Head Start Overview file for the schedule of activities.
• Read all instructions in each folder before beginning your teaching session.
• Allocate 15 minutes, 2-4 times weekly. If your child can concentrate for longer attempt to gradually extend their sitting time.
• Always end on a positive note. You may like to do this by praising something that you asked them to do or set out to achieve or by reflecting on what they discovered. You can ask them what made them happy, what they found exciting, what they found interesting, what they can remember and what the liked the best or what they added to their brain today.
• Be very clear and keep your instructions simple and to the point. You will find that you will need to repeat things as children at this age need to hear things a few times to understand them.
• Organise a space in your house or centre that is quiet and comfortable and can store all the resources for this program.
• Make the sessions their special learning time or school time so you build their enthusiasm and confidence. They will also love the one on one time with you too. You can extend this learning habit into next year as their homework time.
• You will need to allow 1-2 weeks for each folder in the Head Start Program. If you don’t think you will implement the program prior to commencing their first formal year of school, just begin when you can and move through each folder in order. It is desirable that you try to have the program finished prior to beginning school as you will find that your child will be very tired from adjusting to the first term.
• If you have any questions, please email emma@cleverclassroom.com.au