News & Notes

4C Family Newsletter | October 2025

Posted on by Scott Gunnerson

Community Coordinated Care for Children is dedicated to building stronger communities and families. We believe every child deserves a bright and successful future. This newsletter is part of our mission to lead the community by providing high-quality services that improve the lives of children and families.

Head Start Works

Investing in Families, Fueling Florida’s Future

Head Start focuses on a young child’s growth and development, dedicating itself to strengthening the future of families, children, and their communities. Children thrive through participation in Community Coordinated Care for Children’s Head Start programs, families are empowered to pursue their dreams, and communities benefit from a stronger foundation that creates more opportunities for success. Head Start promotes long-term self-sufficiency, improves employment and education prospects, supports educational achievement, and helps reduce reliance on public assistance.

To learn more about our Head Start programs, click here.

Literacy, Language & Family Involvement

Reading routines: building language daily
To build language in preschoolers through reading, create a consistent daily read-aloud routine in a comfortable, focused space, allowing children to choose books and repeat favorites. Engage them by discussing the story, asking questions, and connecting to their lives. Incorporate word games, songs, and rhymes into your routine to build vocabulary and expose children to the rhythms and sounds of language.  For resources, click here.

Every day, talk to build vocabulary
To build preschoolers’ vocabulary, engage them in everyday conversations by describing activities, using descriptive words like “enormous” instead of “big,” and expanding on their simple sentences with more details. Read aloud with them, sing songs, and play word games such as “I Spy” or word hunts to make learning fun. Create a rich language environment by labeling objects, incorporating new words into daily routines, and offering positive reinforcement to encourage them to express themselves and use new vocabulary.  To learn more, click here.

Supporting bilingualism and home languages
To support bilingualism in preschoolers, create an immersive environment by incorporating their home language into daily activities through reading, songs, and games. Encourage community engagement by connecting with other families and programs that use the heritage language. For educators, use visuals, greet children in their home language, and invite families to share stories and objects from their culture. The goal is to foster positive interactions and build confidence in the child’s ability to use and learn both languages. For more information, click here.

Family storytelling and traditions
Family storytelling and traditions create a strong sense of identity, improve communication, and boost confidence in preschoolers by sharing history, family values, and personal experiences. You can start by making time for regular story-swapping, documenting family history through photos or stories about your day, and incorporating simple, meaningful traditions such as special handshakes or a “pizza and movie night” to foster connection and create lasting memories. To learn more, click here.

Language through songs, art, and movement
Integrating songs, art, and movement significantly boosts language skills for preschoolers because these activities enhance vocabulary, phonological awareness, listening skills, and comprehension through rhymes, rhythms, and physical actions that reinforce word meanings and sequencing. These methods create a multi-sensory, engaging, and memorable learning experience, improving language and social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development. For more information, click here.

POLICY COUNCIL

4C Head Start Policy Council meetings are held at 10 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the 4C Early Head Start Ferguson Child Development Center, located at 644 Ferguson Drive in Orlando, Florida. For more information about the 4C Head Start Policy Council, click here.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Find upcoming free, family-friendly events in Central Florida on the Community Calendar:

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Local public libraries offer a variety of ongoing events like story times. Use these links to learn more about the programs available to your family at a nearby library.

LOCAL PROGRAMS

Head Start
The 4C Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start programs promote school readiness and child development for eligible low-income families with children from birth to 5 years old, click here.

Neighborhood Centers for Families
NCF is made up of nonprofits, agencies, churches, and groups that work together to provide family-friendly, accessible services and activities to Orange County families, click here.

Sign up for the monthly 4C Family Newsletter alerts and other timely information about resources and services. To subscribe, click here.