Harlem Gems^®

At Harlem Gems®, we are committed to ensuring every student leaves our preschools prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. We are committed to stoking in children a love of learning and the goal of attending and graduating from college. Harlem Gems® students as young as three are heard in our classrooms sharing their college hopes and dreams.

Across our two locations, we serve 140 children, ages 3.9 to 5. With a 5:1 child-to-staff ratio, all students receive the individualized instruction and one-on-one teacher attention that is vital for child development at this age. As an extended day and year program, we operate from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., five days a week, all year long.

We value and prioritize inclusivity in all senses. Students with special needs learn alongside all classmates. In a Gems classroom, all children have unlimited potential.

Our curriculum is centered on literacy, math, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Our students gain the foundational knowledge they need in order to begin their K-12 education prepared to thrive. Throughout all learning, teachers formally and informally weave in SEL to affirm healthy interpersonal skills and help students develop resilience, tenacity, grit, and productive stress coping mechanisms. Additionally, students participate in fun fitness activities and learn the basics of health and nutrition. All of the curricula we use are research-based and make learning engaging and fun.

We use the following screening and assessment tools to ascertain a students’ development and progress towards learning milestones and, as needed, provide tailored interventions:

• Brigance Early Childhood Developmental Screening and Assessment Tool, which provides a snapshot of a child’s development and assesses school readiness.
• Bracken Concept Scale-Revised, which is used to determine school readiness.

We know that when families are engaged in children’s education, children experience better learning outcomes. We offer families numerous opportunities and events to get involved, remain up-to-date on their child’s development in school, and become familiar with ways to create an environment of learning in their homes.

Opportunities and events include:

• Parent workshops that cover curriculum, discipline, and child development
• The Challenging Parenting Practices series, which reminds parents they are their child’s first teacher and instills skills to strengthen parenting
• Parent-teacher conferences
• Home visits
• Book-a-Night to encourage literacy experiences at home
• Connections to other HCZ programs and community resources

We have two Harlem Gems® locations.