PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Early Childhood Education
Our children attend year round except for the month of August. Most children attend school for seven or ten hours daily. Our 11 bilingual Head Start classrooms provide a learning environment that encourages children to explore, experiment, communicate, express their feelings, and become eager and confident learners. The arts enrich the program, and each classroom offers activities that reflect and celebrate the diverse cultural heritages of our families.

Health and Nutrition
The program assures that all children receive regular medical exams and dental care. Nutritious meals and snacks and daily outdoor play contribute to the children's well being.

Supportive Services for Children
More than 25 percent of our children have special emotional or educational needs and are considered at risk of future school failure. For these children Bloomingdale provides a range of services to meet their individual needs while enabling them to remain in and benefit from their mainstream classroom. Special services include:

On-site one-to-one play therapy
Each site has a one-to-one room — a mini classroom with books, toys, and learning materials where special education teachers and therapists meet with individual children for a half hour twice weekly.

Bilingual speech therapy and occupational therapy
Children who have been evaluated on-site and identified to receive these services meet with their individual therapists for twice-weekly half-hour sessions.

Tutoring Program and Homework Help
Children receive our continuing support as they transition into elementary school. We offer afterschool tutoring and homework help for Bloomingdale children as they progress through the elementary grades. This support has helped them succeed and earn promotion to the next grade.

Liaison with teachers and schools
Bloomingdale maintains close contact with receiving schools, helps families choose the best possible setting for their children, and collaborates with receiving teachers in planning to meet the needs of our children after they leave us.

"Outcomes" Research
Bloomingdale maintains close contact with receiving schools, helps families choose the best possible setting for their children, and collaborates with receiving teachers in planning to meet the needs of our children after they leave us.

To monitor the effectiveness of our services for children who receive special services, we assess and track children's progress after they leave us. This research, which currently tracks their progress through the third grade, confirms the value of the Bloomingdale experience in the lives of our children, and provides valuable data and insights as we plan for the future.

Partnering With Parents
Every Bloomingdale parent is part of a team effort in support of the child, the family, and the program. Parents and teachers work together to address the needs and interests of the children. School and home are expected to be equal partners in their behalf. Parents are welcomed as volunteers in the classroom, and as members of program and policy committees. As parents move beyond Bloomingdale into the local elementary schools, their Bloomingdale experience is reflected in their active participation in school and community life; they in turn become resources to the program and its families.

Parents of all Bloomingdale children have access to our Family Services staff.

Social Services
Bilingual Family Workers relate to families and their concerns on an on-going basis. We assist and support parents with healthcare and welfare issues, and provide training opportunities and job counseling.

Parent Education
We offer educational opportunities and workshops that reflect the needs and concerns of our families. Many parents take advantage of our popular ESL classes. Under the guidance of the instructor, students from beginning to intermediate levels encourage and support each other as they become comfortable with the English language and develop conversational skills.

Parenting workshops are held throughout the year. Topics include health and nutrition, child development, intergenerational and relationship issues, and child abuse prevention. Our "Men Matter" program offers mutual support and leadership development to fathers and other significant men in the lives of our children. The "Marvelous Mothers" group provides an informal setting where mothers can share and grow in an atmosphere of trust as they learn strategies they can use to nurture themselves and their families.

Employment at Bloomingdale
We offer employment opportunities within the program, and make it possible for talented parents to further their education. Two-thirds of Bloomingdale's staff began their association with the program as parents of Bloomingdale children.

Leadership Training
We encourage parents to have a voice in developing all aspects of the program through their participation in the Parent Policy Committees.