3. DESIGNING HEAD START FACILITIES

This chapter provides basic design information for Head Start facilities. Its major focus is on Head Start centers, but it also addresses home-based, shared, and co-located facilities.

Designing Head Start Centers
This section examines Head Start Center classrooms; play areas; office, staff, and parent areas; kitchens; bathrooms; and building and grounds. It discusses design requirements and provides guidance for assessing the adequacy of facilities..

Classrooms: Facilities can have a major and in some cases a determining, influence on what happens in the classroom. The layout of the classroom can shape child behaviors, child-to-child interaction, and adult-child interaction. The setting can channel movement in developmentally-appropriate ways or constrain activity, encourage curiosity, or stifle a child's natural inclination to explore.

Developmentally appropriate facilities support Head Start's goal of promoting the child's social competence. A developmentally appropriate program is:

• age-appropriate - that is, suitable for a child of a given age; and
• individually appropriate - that is, right for the individual child.

These program principles have profound implications for Head Start facilities:

• They mean that Head Start classrooms cannot resemble elementary school classrooms or classrooms in programs that are designed for older children;
• They mean that Head Start classrooms cannot resemble kindergarten or preschool settings in which all children are exposed to the same activities or to developmentally inappropriate activities; and
• They mean that infant and toddler classrooms, and classrooms for older Head Start children, must be fundamentally different.
  

This section discusses both infant-toddler rooms and preschool classrooms.
Extra emphasis has been given to infant-toddler issues, in response to re quests from Head Start programs that are considering expanding to serve this population.

Infant and Toddler Rooms

Creating an environment for infants and toddlers poses special challenges. Infants and toddlers require facilities tailored to their unique developmental needs, their vulnerabilities, and their capabilities. Children from birth to age three can be divided into three developmental stages:

• Young infants (birth through 8 months);
• Crawlers and Walkers (8 to 18 months); and
• Toddlers (18 months to3 years).
  

The milestones for each of these stages and their implications for infant-toddler room design are presented in Infant-Toddler Developmental Milestones: Implications for Classroom Design which follows.

Room Design: Five steps guide the design of a responsive classroom for infants and toddlers:

• STEP 1: Plan the environment around the developmental needs and capabilities of the children served.
• STEP 2: Arrange space for particular activities for children.
• STEP 3: Provide for the child's comfort.
• STEP 4: Promote the child's health.
• STEP 5: Protect the child's safety.

STEP 1. Plan the environment around the developmental needs and capabilities of the children served.

The plan for infant-toddler rooms should take into account both the functional layout of the space and developmental considerations affecting the children. At a functional level, the room should be arranged for such basic activities as arrival and departure, play, sleeping, feeding, and diapering. At a developmental level, the room should be responsive to the unique, and the shared, needs of infants and toddlers. The room should be designed to encourage mothers to take part in program activities.

Answers to the following questions will influence the planning of responsive environments for infants and toddlers:

• Will the program serve groups of about the same ages and developmental levels, or a mixed age grouping?
• If a mixed age grouping is the choice; how will different areas and strategies will be used to respond to the distinct developmental needs of each group?
• How will the setting or program be modified as children grow older during the operating year or as they remain in the program over several years?
• At what times during the day will parents be present with the children? What roles will the parents play in the program? Are there space needs related to the parents' participation in the program?
• What are the group sizes of children of various ages? What are the child/adult ratios for each group of infants and toddlers? How many paid caregivers will be responsible for each group of children? What other adults, such as parents, other relatives, volunteers, or substitutes, will assist with the children's care? Are there space needs associated with these adults?

STEP 2: Arrange space for particular activities for children.
The learning environment should reflect the program plan. Facilities designers should ask the following questions:

• What developmental goals and objectives are we trying to achieve with this group of infants or toddlers?
• What curricular tasks or activities contribute to these objectives?
• What arrangement of room and equipment will best support these activities?
• How does the environment appear from the child's point of view?
• Can the caregivers easily see and supervise the children at all times?

The infant-toddler room should include the following:

Learning and Development Centers should be:

• Organized so that learning materials (such as blocks and books) are on low shelves or in centers readily accessible to the children;
• Arranged so that it is easy to identify different activity areas (such as the block cornet, water play, and the dress-up or dramatic play area) and to move from one area to another; and
• Designed so that there is space for children to work individually and in small groups, and places for both active and quiet learning.
  

Play Areas should be:

• Designed so that children can play alone or with others;
• Arranged so that toys are on low shelves where infants and toddlers can reach and use them; and
• Furnished with child-sized furniture and equipment. A guide to appropriate infant-toddler furniture and equipment is included at the end of this chapter.

Small Muscle Activity and Sensory Perception Areas should be:

• Provided with space and manipulative toys that foster small muscle development and sensory perception;
• Furnished with child-sized tables, shelves, and centers; and
• Equipped with a variety of toys suitable for infants and toddlers, such as large cardboard blocks, large soft blocks, large snap beads, feelie bags, nesting cups, and stacking rings.

Large Muscle Activity Areas should be:

• Provided with a soft carpet and padded objects over which infants can crawl; and
• Designed with adequate space and equipment for toddlers to run, jump, climb and push.

Creative Expression Areas should be:

• Provided with space for dress up or fantasy-play; and
• Designed for art, music and sand play.

Multi-level Areas should be:

• Designed with raised platforms, playpits, movable risers, stairs and steps;
• Organized to permit a variety of developmentally appropriate activities; and
• Arranged to provide space for both private and small group activities.

Rest and Sleeping Areas should be:

• Designed with quiet space for each infant or toddler to nap or to rest, away from active areas, passageways, and places where people congregate;
• Furnished with cribs, cots, and mats that meet health and safety regulations and are at least 1-2 feet apart;
• Arranged so that staff can observe the children at all times;
• Provided with adjustable lighting; preferably a dimmer switch;
• Organized so that infants in cribs have attractive and interesting views; and
• Provided with storage for bedding that is handy for caregivers and out of children's reach.

Diapering, Toileting, and Washing Up Areas should be:

• Provided with a changing table about 36 inches high, a sink, storage for diapers, clean clothes, and supplies and space for a diaper pail;
• Designed with toilets and hand washing facilities in or near the toddlers' area to encourage toilet training; and
• Provided with a water temperature control on the hot water heater or the pipes leading to the sink to prevent scalding.

Food Preparation and Feeding Areas should be:

• Separated from the diapering and toileting area:
• Provided with storage space out of the children's reach, a refrigerator, and a dishwasher or other means of sterilizing bottles and utensils;
• Designed with uncarpeted, non-skid, and easy to maintain floors; and
• Designed with easy to clean surfaces.

STEP 3: Provide for the child's comfort.

Virtually everything in the very young child's life takes place no more than three feet from the floor. Especially at that level, the infant-toddler room should be comfortable and visually appealing, with an inviting, homelike feel. The room should include:

• Soft objects for the child to lie or play on, sit in, or crawl over;
• A rocking chair or other area where children can be held and comforted;
• A smooth floor surface for block play and for toddler's wheeled toys; and
• Acoustic tiles, rugs, or carpets with pads; indoor-outdoor carpeting; or other material on some wall sections to absorb sound.

STEP 4: Promote the child's health

Infant-toddler rooms should provide a healthy environment and promote wellness. The rooms should be easy to keep clean and sanitary and include exposure to natural light and fresh air. Air conditioning and heating, humidity, and ventilation should be well regulated, particularly near the floor and in other areas where infants and toddlers spend their time. Lighting systems should be adequate and adjustable.

STEP 5: Protect the child's safety

Infants and toddlers learn and develop by exploring their environment. Infant-toddler rooms should protect children as they explore. Planners should be alert to overcrowding, which can pose a major safety problem in the infant-toddler room. Children under age three lack an awareness of the space needs of other children. Adequate space will keep children from bunching up and bumping into or injuring each other.

There will always. be a certain degree of risk of falls, bruises, scrapes, and cut, especially when children do something for the first time. Head Start programs should take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the children without compromising their freedom of movement. It is impossible and undesirable to achieve a risk-free program-setting. But it is both feasible and essential to achieve a setting that is safe for infants and toddlers.

Worksheet #4 - INFANT-TODDLER DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CLASSROOM DESIGN

Worksheet #5 - GUIDE TO INFANT-TODDLER FURNITURE

Worksheet #6 - INFANT-TODDLER SAFETY: DO'S AND DON'TS

 

Preschool Classrooms

Quality Head Start preschool classrooms are age- and developmentally- appropriate. They differ from Head Start infant-toddler rooms, and from kindergarten and elementary school classrooms. Head Start preschoolers have a great deal in common with other preschoolers in terms of their educa tional and developmental needs, but relatively little in common with younger or older children.

A chart that identifies the major features and quality indicators of a developmentally appropriate preschool classroom appears at the end of this section.

Head Start sets limits on preschool class size. If State or local licensing requirements are more stringent than the Head Start requirements, the program must meet those licensing requirements. Following are the Head Start class size requirements from 1306.32 of the Head Start regulations on Head Start Staffing Requirements and Program Options:

Predominant Age of Children in the Class	Class Size
4 and 5 year olds	Average of 17-20 children. No more than 20 children in any class.
4 and 5 year olds in double session classes	Average of 15-17 children. No more than 17 children in any class.
3 year olds	Average of 15-17 children. No more than 17 children in any class.
3 year olds in double session classes	Average of 13-15 children. No more than 15 children in any class.

The preschool classroom environment should foster the child's social competence by providing:

• Social and emotional development, including promoting the child's sense of identity and self-concept, and socialization with other children and adults;
  
• Gross and fine motor development;
  
• Language development;
  
• Cognitive development, including curiosity, problem solving and pre literacy learning; and
  
• Art, music, dance/creative movement, fantasy, and dramatic play.
  

Facilities design can have a major impact on how the preschool classroom functions. When problems appear, they can sometimes be solved by modifying the room arrangement. Modifying the Preschool Classroom at the end of this section presents some typical classroom problems and ways to solve them by changing the classroom.

Worksheet #7 - DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPIATE PRESCHOOL CLASSROOM

Worksheet #8 - MODIFYING THE CLASSROOM

Chapter 3 Continued



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