A little girl named Emili held up a star wand and began -- with a smile of confidence -- counting her preschool classmates who sat in an open circle.

Her teacher, Mara Martinez, tells a group of young children: "She's going to count the children, and we're going to count them together. Ready? En Espanol!"

"Uno! Dos! Tres! Quatro! Cinco! ... Trece! Catorce!" everybody went.

"Muy bien," said Martinez. "En Engles!" she continued.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five!  ..." the children resumed.

The wide-eyed children took a moment to congratulate one another by clapping their hands. Then they moved onto their favorite part: dancing to the tune. They giggled, jumped, shook around their hands, and  twirled around, as Martinez alternated her instructions for movements between English and Spanish.

This is a typical Friday morning at a pre-K class for farmworkers' children at the Preston Green Learning Center in Hanford.

At Kings Community Action Organization Migrant Head Start class, everything is taught in both English and Spanish. And many of the children switch back and forth easily between the two languages.

"Some children don't speak English, so she's instructing in both languages. That way, the children could learn English while retaining their home language," said Glenda Stephens, Head Start director at Kings Community Action Organization.

The children all come from Spanish-speaking, indigent migrant worker families.

They are taking part in the federally funded school readiness program in Kings County, which aims at ensuring healthy development of children of migrant farmworkers while preparing them for kindergarten.

In any given year, some 170 children between ages 3-5  are helped through the program, which has served the farmworker families for the past 29 years.

"We have a large farmworker population in our community. Without this service, these families won't be able to go to work, especially with the hours that they are working," Stephens said. "They often move from one place to another, so they need to know that there is a place when they get to the next location where they can bring their children."

There are three Migrant Head Start locations between Hanford and Avenal. During the peak season in summer, the program opens up locations in Stratford and Corcoran as well. The program also contracts out service to some 12 family childcare home sites throughout the county.

According to federal regulators, the anti-poverty organization's child development program is doing a good job helping migrant children as well as their families through strong community partnerships.

The local program has recently earned glowing marks on its triennial evaluation, prompting officials with the U.S. Administration for Children and Families to conclude the program is virtually flawless.

Officials are energized about the evaluation.

"I feel great, and it helps motivate staff who have been working so hard. They take their jobs very seriously and really step up to share their commitment with this program," Stephens said.

She said the positive results was achieved through rigorous monitoring and disciplined record keeping.

"It took a team that is committed. It took dedication and strength in our record-keeping system," Stephens said. "It took lots of monitoring and technical assistance in the classroom."

Among the areas of strength identified by the evaluation:

-- A partnership with the Family HealthCare Network helped address the children's dental needs through free dental exams, transportation and oral hygiene education.

-- The Linkages to Learning Project, an initiative by First 5 Kings County, provided a community approach to ensuring smooth transition for children entering kindergarten.

-- The program also participated in the Next Stop Kindergarten, a one-stop registration event hosted by First 5. As a result, the children also received physicals, eye and dental exams and immunizations.

-- A partnership with Proteus addressed the parents' needs by providing high school equivalency education and English as a second language programs at one of the community centers.

-- KCAO also used the Healthy Marriages grant to help parents acquire skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain healthy marriages through free courses held both in English and Spanish.

-- Families also received support through the organization's crisis support services for domestic violence victims.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Oct. 10, 2009)