GULF COAST COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION
Head Start/Early Head Start Support Services Monthly Narrative March 2025
LEADERSHIPACTIVITIES
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) The February 2025 Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) claim was completed and submitted to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) for reimbursement. In February there were 19 food service days for the month. There were 17 eligible sites and 1,518 eligible children. The number of meals provided: 6,761 breakfasts; 6,898 lunches and 20,552 PM snacks served.
Expected reimbursement for the month is $73,519.03.
• Focus Area 1 (FA1) March was a busy month preparing for the FA1 federal Review. Staff were excited to share the wonderful work we do for our children and families.
• GCCSA March 2025 Story Time – Professor Jason Fletcher, HISD Collaboration Teacher at Lockhart Elementary. He is also himself an author. He read “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes to the children and staff in March The story Chrysanthemum is about a young mouse who loves her unique name, until she is teased about it by her classmates.
• Children’s Middle of the Year (MOY) Assessment meetings with Center Administrators coninued to review and analyze data to determine the needs of each individual child
• TANS – The Department ofAgriculture held its monthly update meeting on the new Texas Automated Nutrition System (TANS) to be implemented soon. In this update meeting it was reported that it will be a delay in its implementation timeline.
• HCC Early Childhood Advisory Board - the HS/EHS Assistant Director is a member of the advisory board and attended this month’s meeting.
• Spring Break wasthis month. Staff were given a weeklong spring break torest and regenerate in March!
• Summer Professional Development Planning – planning meetings are underway for Summer Professional Development for the entire agency!
• Community Services/Head Start/Early Head Start Assistant Director Meeting – the two Assistant Directors held their monthly standing meeting to collaborate and share information about their perspective departments. CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD)
• Dr. Seuss Week was held during the month of March! Early Head Start, led by the Center Administrator Ms. Katheleen Trousdale hosted a Dr. Seuss storytelling each day that week. She reported they had a great week with various Dr. Seuss activities. Each classroom came up with one Dr. Seuss activity for all of EHS to participate in while children rotated throughout the classes. CB01-created a Dr. Seuss Hat; CB02- Green Eggs and Ham collage; CB03-Dr. Seuss Bowling; CB04-Thing 1 & Thing 2 handprint painting; CB05-Created Thing 1 & Thing 2 Popsicle Sticks; CB06-Make Cat in the Hat Mask; CB07- A Person’s a Person no Matter How Small Handprint Art; CB08-The Cat in the Hat Bowtie coloring; CB09-Red Fish Blue Fish Dot Painting; CB10- One Fish Two Fish sponge painting. One teacher would escort their children to each class while the other teachers stayed in the classroom to facilitate the activity with the children. Shout out to CB03, CB05, & CB06 to modify their activities to ensure each age group was able to participate.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD)
(continued)
We created “The Cat in the Hat” with Oreos and gummies, had sensory play with the “red fish and blue fish” Jello, and make a “green eggs and ham” snack. We had several visitors come read to a variety of the classrooms. Please enjoy their photos throughout this monthly report!
• Early Head Start Themes taught this month were: Toddler/ Theme 7 Nursery Rhymes - Week 1- Eggs and Cats- Children will begin their study of nursery rhymes focusing on two favorites, “Humpy Dumpty” and “Hey Diddle, Diddle”. Week 2- Tuffets and HaystacksChildren will continue their study of nursery rhymes focusing on “Little Miss Muffet”, “Little Boy Blue”, and “Three Little Kittens”. Week 3- Hills and Hens- Children will continue their study of nursery rhymes focusing on “Jack and Jill” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”. Week 4- Silly Houses- Children will conclude their study of nursey rhymes focusing on
“There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” and “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater”. The children will be enhancing their vocabulary skills as they recite these rhymes.
Three/ Theme 7 On The Go - Week 2- Wheels- This week, children will continue learning about ways we move and turn their attention toward things with wheels. Children will discuss how wheels help us move and do work. Week 3-
Wings- This week children will explore traveling with wings. Children will learn about airplanes, helicopters, and flying animals. Week 4- This week children will learn about traveling on water. We will talk about boats and sea life. Theme 8 Amazing Critters- Week 1Crawling Critters- Children are fascinated by small critters- bugs, insects, and amphibians. Children are curious about how critters move (fly, hop, wiggle), how they look and what they eat. This week, we will focus on crawling critters, such as ants, spiders, caterpillars, and beetles.
Infant Classrooms/ The teachers implement Tracking Activity Cards to individually
• HS Stand-Alone Centers uses the Frog Street Curriculum: This month children studied Pre-K Theme 7, “Things that Move” Week 1: I Move/Yo Me Muevo, Week 2: Travel/Viajar, Week 3: Transportation/Transporte, Week 4: Mysterious Movers/Movimientos Misteriosos
• HISD Collaboration uses the Three Cheers Curriculum Theme 6: “From Farm to Table” Week 1“How Food Goes From Farm to Store Shelves” Week 2 – “Baby Goes to Market” Week 3 “We Eat Food That’s Fresh” Week 4: “The Empanadas that Abuela Made”
• Raul Yzaguirre HS Teaching Strategies March Theme: “Gardening”. Sub- Themes: How can we plan and care for our garden? What grows in gardens? Who helps gardens grow? How do gardens help people and the environment? How can we harvest our garden?
• The Child Development team has supported teaching staff at all campuses to complete CLI Engage MOY assessment.
• The Child Development team is preparing for the three upcoming events: Week of the Young Child, Teacher Appreciation Week and Spring Advisory Committee Meeting. Calendars, activities, and purchase options have been discussed and submitted for approval.
• Child Development is supporting teachers in individual and Group Coaching Action Plans for those that the CLASS Score need improvement.
HEALTH & NUTRITION (H/N):
• Head Start program requires within 30 calendar days after the child first attends the program, the parent must be consulted to determine whether each child has ongoing sources of continuous, accessible health care and health insurance coverage. Currently the Head Start enrollment is at 1290 and EHS is at full enrollment of 80. Within 45 calendar days after the child first attends the program a program must either obtain or perform evidence-based vision and hearing screenings.
• Within 90 days HS must obtain determinations from health care and oral health care professionals to establish if the child is up to date on a schedule of age-appropriate preventive and primary medical and oral health care. This is based on the well-child visits and dental periodicity schedules as prescribed by the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program. EPSDT is a part of the Medicaid agency. Texas Health Steps is our state’s EPSDT program Immunization recommendations are issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and additional recommendationsfromthelocalhealthagenciesandtheGCCSAHealthServicesAdvisoryCommitteebasedonprevalent community health problems.
• Nutrition Team continue to host monthly meetings with The Healthy Lunch Box Provider. This gives the Center Administrators an opportunity to provide feedback on the quality of the meals served to our stand-alone centers.
• Health Specialist monitor and complete vision and hearing screenings needed for new and returning students.Spring parent notices are sent home for required documentation needed.
• The Nutrition team hosted their annual virtual civil rights training for all centers.
of Program Health Requirements Met:
SPECIALSERVICES (SS):
• Head Start and Early Head Start requires that 10% of the Funded Enrollment includes children with disabilities. Head Start only recognizes children with a disability that are eligible for services under Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).At the end of March 2025, it was determined 78 Head Start children and 6 Early Head Start children are enrolled in the program that are identified with disabilities. Sixty-five (65) children are identified with a speech impairment, 10 withAutism, 7 with Non-Categorical Early Childhood and 2 with Orthopedic Impairment. IDEAis a law that makes available free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children who are identified with a disability. The Local EducationAgency (LEA) holds the authority to identify children with disabilities. Please see the “Identified Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with disabilities indicated above.
As of the end of March 2025, the Special Services Department has 157 suspected children enrolled in our Head Start program and 9 suspected children enrolled in our Early Head Start program. 103 children have suspected speech concerns, 17 children have suspectedAutism, 9 children have suspected social emotional concerns, and 36 children with both disability and social emotional concerns. Please see the “Suspected Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with suspected disabilities as indicated to the right.
Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings: The department assists with monitoring Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings. MDT meetings are held to ensure that children who are enrolled or who have applied are given the opportunity to maximize the benefits of the program. For the month of March 2025, the Special Services Department obtained and attended 1 new MDT meeting reports from the agency’s content areas for a total of 29 meetings year to date.
GCCSA Disabilities and Mental Health Providers Services - (Advance Plus,Angels of Care, Personal Touch, Eaden Counseling, Providential Counseling,ANC-D Psychological Services and Marshall Counseling Services) Eaden Counseling and Consulting conducted a parent training at Woodson Elementary regarding common behavior concerns with children and how to manage the behaviors. Personal Touch Therapy conducted a parent training at Raul Yzaguirre Houston regarding Developmental Milestones and Red Flags.
SS Department Highlights:
The Special Services Manager leads the collaboration with ChildBuilders to train content area specialists in how to present their safety lessons to the children in all classrooms. In preparation for the Spring implementation of our ChildBuilders Program, Center Administrator Jennifer George of Reveille Head Start Center shared valuable feedback highlighting the positive impact the program is having on our Head Start children.
Ms George said “I would like to thank you all for implementing the Stand Strong, Stay Safe program. One of Reveille’s parents showed me a video of her speaking with her child about danger, bullying, and personal safety. She said it brought her to tears as he described what he would do if someone were bullying him, touching him inappropriately, or approaching him as a stranger and how he would help other children in those situations. When she asked where he had learned all of this, he replied, ‘At school, from my teachers and the people who come to my school.’”
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS:
New Hire Orientation: New Hire Orientation was held the week of March 24 – 28, 2025. There were four (4) new hires that came on board. Please welcome Acacia Bonner, EHS Teacher II; Amy Church, EHS Teacher III; Nadia Quiroz – Colby, BL Teacher III and Henry Gonzalez, BL Teacher III. We welcome all our new staff.
CPR/First Aid:
We had a total of (6) six staff members attend CPR/First Aid in March 2025, they consisted of (2) two Family Service Specialists; (1) one Teacher II and (3) three Teacher Aides.
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS:
(continued)
Site Observation March 2025 Report: The Site Observation Summary Chart indicates the center visits made by the Support ServicesAssociate, Child Development, Family Empowerment, Health, Nutrition and Special Services Specialists for the month of March 2025.All GCCSASite visits are required to provide support and meet the needs of children and staff at GCCSAHead Start and Early Head Start Centers.
HS/EHS Professional Development:
• The Support ServicesAssociate provided CACFP training to the Patterson Head Start staff.
• The Operations Support Team and Human Resources provided the Welcome/Presentation of the Training Schedule/ and how to upload their certificates of completion inADP.
• Nutrition department provided Civil Rights Training
• The OSM Team provided Mandatory Reporting: Acommunity response guide for Reporting and Supporting Youth and Families Training
• Pro Solutions virtual trainings were also held this month on the following topics:
1. Emergency preparedness and Response Planning
2. FoodAllergies: RecognizingAllergic Reactions and Meal Planning in the Child Care Setting
3. Administering Medication in Child Care Settings
4. Bloodborne Pathogens
5. Responding to Medical Emergencies
UPCOMINGACTIVITIES/EVENTS/TRAINING HOSTED BY DEPARTMENT:
April 1 Annual ERSEATraining
April 9 Week of the Young Child Corporate HS & CS Center Visits to Read a Book April 7 – 17 Specialists’Outcomes Meetings MDT 1, 2 & 3
April 21 Measles Education Presentation (Pasadena & Richey only)
April 21-25 New Hire Orientation
April 22 GCCSABoard Meeting
May 2 Measles Education Presentation (StandAlone & HISD Collaboration)
UPCOMING CONFERENCES TRAININGS HOSTED OUTSIDE OF GCCSA:
April 7 – 9 FocusArea 1 (FA1) Monitoring Review
April 7 - 11 Week of the Young Child
April 8 HoustonArea Urban League – Texas School Ready Program
April 18 HISD & PISD Spring Holiday
April 21 PISD Student Holiday
April 23 Administrative Professional Day
April 24 HLB Check-In
ESC Meal Observation Pasadena Head Start
May 2 HISD Professional Development Day
REQUIRED TRAININGS:
• CDA Training
• Civil Rights Training (annual)
• CLASS and Teacher Success Rubric
• Training for new and returning staff.
• Child Abuse and Neglect Training annually
• CPR & First Aid Training
• Coaching and Mentoring Strategies CD Specialists & Teachers
• ERSEA Training - required annually.
• Food Handlers Certification
• Medication Administration Training
• Orientation for New Employees, Parents & Providers
• Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Health and Safety, Teaching and Learning Environment, Curriculum & Assessment
• Pedestrian Safety at First Parent Upcoming REQUIRED TRAININGS: (continued)
• Technology in the Classroom Training
• HS/EHS Policies and Procedures Training: Practice-Based Coaching, Effective Classroom Management.
• CACFP Required Training & Bi- Weekly CACFP & Cook Training Conscience Discipline Training (overview)
• Disability & Mental Health Training & Social Emotional Development for Children
• SIDS/ Shaken Baby training.
