The Friends of Children of Mississippi, Inc. Manuel-Goff Head Start/Early Head Start Center had a fun, busy week last week as they celebrated the students and teachers at the school during Week of the Young Child.
“One of our accreditation programs is the National Association of Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Every year, the do a Week of the Young Child,” explained FOC Director Lisa McCarty. “This year was the 50th anniversary because it was established in 1971. We were doing something to celebrate.”
Throughout the week, the children enjoyed celebrating through a variety of activities. One of the biggest activities they held was a parade on Thursday, April 22. The kids enjoyed watching as a parade designed just for them came past the school building.
“We had great parent participation. The majority of the parents had signs on their cars and everything with the children’s names on them and came through blowing horns. Mrs. Lacia Donald and Mrs. Hope Roberts with the Sped Department at Quitman came over. The Sheriff’s Department came over to lead the parade. The police department participated,” described McCarty. “The mayor sent a representative since he was out of town, and we are working on a proclamation about Week of the Young Child for him to sign. Mr. Tobey Bartee came through with the fire truck. Supervisor Derek Marshal was part of the parade and came through with his supervisor sign in the window. Shubuta Outreach participated. They sent little packets with a toothbrush and a small pack of crayons for each kid.”
The children were also able to enjoy other activities with art and dance. Since FOC and Quitman School District work together, Quitman contributed to the festivities to celebrate the children.
“We have collaboration with the public school. Our four-year-old children and their pre-k are on the same lesson plans, and we make sure to work together and collaborate with them. They were part of the parade,” explained McCarty. “The Athletic Director for Quitman, Coach Coleman, came over and played music for the children. Of course, it was Kidz Bop, and they enjoyed it. They had a really good time listening and dancing. That’s one of the things Week of the Young Child tries to focus on. They do healthy and nutritious stuff and try to have activities with the families to do and send stuff in. They look at dances and cultural dances and everything. They really enjoyed doing the dancing and art. They had an artsy Thursday where they did art outside, and they colored their own face masks on Friday.”
The parade was also for the community. The school is proud of what its students are accomplishing and want to make sure that the community is aware of everything that is happening there.
“It’s really about the community knowing that we’re here and recognizing the teachers, the children, and their families. We just want to help make the public aware of education, especially the education for young children,” expressed McCarty. “Our four-year-olds also take part in the MKAS assessment when the students at the lower elementary do to check for kindergarten readiness. The teachers were concerned about how our children would do on the assessment and how we would get them here to do it when we hadn’t been meeting in person,” declared McCarty. “The directors made the decision for the children to come back on March 8 and get as much as we could in person before the MKAS. While the students were virtual, the teachers would do ZOOM meetings with the parents to be able to do observations and let the children see how things were done. We sent out distance learning packages every Friday that had lesson plans and everything for what they would be working on and a weekly newsletter.”
Week of the Young Child offered the school the perfect opportunity to allow the community to know that they have been working hard and that the students are still learning and demonstrate the importance of early education for children.
Lisa McCarty was very pleased with the participation and support that the school received in their celebration.
“I want to thank Deputy Smith, the police department, Supervisor Darrick Marshall, Quitman School District, Tobey Bartee, former teachers who participated, all the parents who participated, and generally everyone who participated to make the parade possible and celebrated Week of the Young Child 2021 with us,” said McCarty. “Thank you for sharing and caring #WOYC2021.”
Although Week of the Young Child has ended, the community can continue to support the schools and show how thankful they are for the children and staff who are part of the school system.
