Education
Our Philosophy
At Head Start of Laramie, we embrace a whole-child philosophy that nurtures each child’s growth in a warm, inclusive environment. Our mixed-age classrooms for 3 to 5 year olds foster peer learning, collaboration, and leadership, allowing children to thrive at their own pace. Grounded in research-based curriculum, our program emphasizes hands-on, play-based experiences that support cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development. We partner with families to celebrate each child’s unique strengths, ensuring a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success.
School Readiness Goals
1
Children will use their senses and physical abilities to gather knowledge and explore their environment.
2
Children will learn how to express and interpret a broad range of emotions and engage in positive interactions with adults and other children.
3
Children will use executive functioning skills to regulate their actions and behaviors, and construct their understanding of the world around them, with increasing independence.
4
Children will use increasingly more complex reasoning and problem-solving skills, to organize information into foundations for complex mathematical and scientific thinking.
5
Children will comprehend, use, and respond to increasingly complex communication and vocabulary, in both English and their home language.
What Guides Us?
Conscious Discipline
Conscious Discipline is a brain and research-based philosophy that guides behavior management and social-emotional education. Through an understanding of brain function and development, Conscious Discipline teaches us that all behavior is a form of communication and gives us the tools and powers it takes to make intentional, helpful decisions that guide children in understanding their emotions and learning positive ways to handle any situation.
At Head Start, our staff use the techniques and philosophies of Conscious Discipline to build connections with each other, families, and children; and create a safe and positive environment for all!
Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF)
ELOF presents five broad areas of early learning, referred to as central domains. These domains reflect research-based expectations for learning and development. The ELOF emphasizes the key skills, behaviors, and knowledge that programs must foster in children ages birth to five to help them be successful in school and life. The ELOF identifies what young children should know and be able to do. It is used as a guide for programs to plan and implement a comprehensive, yet focused, learning program.
Wyoming Early Learning Standards
The Wyoming Early Learning Standards provide a framework to assist anyone who touches the life of a young child as they make important decisions to support their learning and development. Grounded in the science of early learning and inspired by nationally recognized standards and developmental milestones the Wyoming Early Learning Standards are an evidence-based tool with application that makes sense for Wyoming.
The Wyoming Early Learning Standards frame children’s development from birth through the kindergarten year across four developmental domains, Relationships and Interactions, Communication, Cognition, and Physical Health and Development. Each domain includes subdomains, standards, and benchmarks to help adults identify and celebrate children’s learning and support their individual learning needs.
Creative Curriculum
The Creative Curriculum builds children's confidence, creativity, and critical thinking skills through hands-on, project-based investigations. Our curriculum respects and nurtures individual skill progression for the whole child; harnesses the power of play through studies that engages learners as young as two; seamlessly connects families to their children's learning; and provides intentional support for teachers every day.