EICAP Head Start hosts open house for local parents and children

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Families are invited to attend Head Start's open house Wednesday, August 12th to learn more about the educational program offered for children.

The open house gives parents with younger children a chance to explore Head Start classrooms, meet the staff, and learn about the opportunities they offer.

The open house will be at the Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership building from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M., at 1465 Hoopes Ave, Idaho Falls, ID 83401.

Head Start provides meals, diagnostic hearing and vision screenings, and will help parents establish regular medical check-ups for their children.

"We want families to feel like they can have a voice in their child's education and in the decisions they make every day with their children," Sarah Taylor, the deputy director for EICAP Head Start & Early Head Start, said. "So whether it comes to like actual things dealing with their with their child's education, or health, nutrition, things like that, we just try to help empower the families to be able to make decisions and to be connected to places in the community.

The program is for children ages 3-5 to prepare them for Kindergarten. With inclusive classrooms, behavioral observations, curriculum focused on Kindergarten readiness, and early intervention screenings for social, emotional, and developmental skills.

"It really gives them that environment where they're learning how to work with classmates, they're learning how to be involved in the classroom," Katie Atterton, the Program director for EICAP Head Start & Early Head Start, said. "They're gaining a lot of those skills. And so when they go to kindergarten, it's not such a shock to the system. We have an evidence based curriculum that is really focused on giving them those skills so that they can be successful."

For some parents, it could be scary to drop off your child at such a young age. For a mother, who now works with EICAP, it was tough to drop her child off. But she found the program was worth it.

"My little boy started when he was four months old and he went through early head start and head start," Reagan Church, the operations manager for EICAP Head Start & Early Head Start, reflected. "As a single mom, that was very hard to trust somebody else with my child. But it was the most rewarding thing to watch him grow and develop the skills that he has today. The social emotional skills that he has are something that I don't think that he would have without Head Start."

Class times across the region offer different program options:

• Rexburg Head Start
  • Classes 3.5 hours a day, 4 days a week, Sept. through the end of May
• Idaho Falls & Blackfoot Head Start
  • Classes 6 hours a day, 4 days a week, Sept. through the end of July/early August.

Here is a link to Head Start's website for applications and more information about the program.

The open house will be from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. August 12th at 1465 Hoopes Ave, Idaho Falls, ID 83401