U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
ACF
Administration for Children and Families
Information Memorandum
To: Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies
Subject: A Head Start on Picturing America
In February 2008, the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start (OHS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) agreed to partner in order to distribute Picturing America artworks to 20,000 Head Start centers. Picturing America, an NEH initiative, is designed to provide kindergarten through twelfth grade students and teachers with opportunities to learn about history, social studies, literature, and civics through 40 American masterpiece artworks. To bring these large format, 2’ x 3’, high quality reproductions of American artworks to life for Head Start staff, parents and children, the Office of Head Start developed A Head Start on Picturing America Resource Guide. This Resource Guide offers suggestions and strategies for using each artwork poster with children and families.
The Resource Guide includes:
- background information for each artwork highlighting the art, the artist, and historical perspective;
- conversations and teaching activities to prompt children’s discussion, understanding, and exploration of the artworks;
- suggested age-appropriate educational experiences including vocabulary and books;
- detailed plans for creating a Family Fun Night at the Museum, an event that fosters parent-child conversations and incorporates multisensory exploration of art and history in a fun, family-oriented way; and
- an annotated bibliography connecting children’s books and reference books to each artwork.
Additional resources related to the creative arts and ways to use A Head Start on Picturing America program-wide will be available on the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc.
Information on the National Endowment for the Humanities' Picturing America program and the 40 images are available at http://picturingamerica.neh.gov. The Media Resources section includes instructions for downloading the artwork and provides the appropriate citation to be used with each image.
Head Start centers should NOT complete an NEH grant application for Picturing America materials. That process is for K-12 schools and public libraries only. However, you may encourage your local public library to apply.
/ Patricia E. Brown /
Patricia E. Brown
Acting Director
Office of Head Start