Educator Highlights: Julia Contizano, Director of Gladden Community House Preschool, Columbus, OH
Nestled in Columbus' Franklinton area, Gladden Community House is a vital resource dedicated to fostering a thriving, equitable community. It offers a breadth of free, place-based services — from youth sports and parenting classes to senior activities and a food pantry. Its team cares deeply for its community members, so we are grateful that the center also includes a preschool — one that was the first in Franklin County to earn a top-ranked Three Star Award from Ohio’s "Step Up To Quality" program.
Under the skilled leadership from Preschool Director Julia Contizano, and with a team of experienced and enthusiastic teachers, the preschool embraces play-based, developmentally appropriate learning. Given our shared philosophy and our respect for Gladden Community House Preschool, we’re thrilled and honored that its educators use Kindness Connections. A big thanks to them, their students, and Julia for sharing their experiences with our enrichment kit!
What makes you most excited to go to work every day?
Julia: I love seeing the smiling faces of our staff, students, and families every day. I get excited observing children truly progressing throughout the school year. It brings me joy to see preschool children share a toy for the first time, identify a new number, write a letter in their name, and engage in school and community events with their families. These milestones are critical for kindergarten success and beyond! Many children in our program come from families with incomes below the poverty line and have experienced different forms of trauma. It’s so meaningful for me to come to work each day and provide a safe space for them to eat, learn, play and feel loved.
What is something your teachers are enjoying most about Kindness Connections?
Julia: We recognize that teachers are some of the busiest, hardworking, and oftentimes overwhelmed individuals in America’s workforce. Our staff really enjoy how easy Kindness Connections activities are to implement into their existing lesson plans and classroom routines. They find the tasks to be engaging, active, and encouraging for learning and classroom collaboration. The lessons are easy to incorporate into circle time, small group areas and reading areas without adding more to their workload. The themes are relevant to what is going on in their classrooms and explain abstract social-emotional concepts in a way the children can truly understand.
What is something your students are enjoying most about Kindness Connections?
Julia: Our students love the “classic” Highlights for Children activities in the Kindness Connections kits! The Hidden Pictures puzzles and finding differences between two pictures are their favorite pastimes when the teachers are doing circle time or transitioning between activities. The children love to show their creative, fun ideas and drawings in their Kindness Journals as well.
During a recent journal prompt, the students were asked, “Can you draw a picture of a time you helped a person or animal feel better?” The children drew pictures of them “fighting bad guys to help Batman” or “helping an old lady across the street” and also drew really thoughtful pictures of them “helping my mommy carry in groceries” or “giving my brother a tissue to help him calm down.”
What is something you, as director of your preschool, appreciate about Kindness Connections?
Julia: I am appreciative and excited to use the family engagement resources in our Kindness Connections kits. Parents are busier than ever and don’t always have the capacity to engage with their children in homework or create activities to extend learning into the home. We are always looking for simple, tech-friendly ways to include parents in their child’s learning! It’s so convenient that the Family Newsletters are already created for each unit with simple activities and QR codes for the parents to follow. The “Tell-Me-More” wristbands that children can wear home are an easy, visual way for children to tell their parents about what they learned from the Kindness Connections unit each day.
Are your teachers using Kindness Connections as is, putting their own spin on it, or something in between, and why?
Julia: Our teachers are putting their own spin on Kindness Connections! Our staff has autonomy within the state guidelines and learning standards to create their own themes, classroom routines, and activities, making the pacing guide somewhat difficult to follow. They may not complete an entire Kindness Connections unit but often pull one or two activities out. The teachers also draw from children’s experiences and classroom events. For example, one of our classrooms was struggling with children breaking or throwing toys and then not being honest about doing so. Although the teacher intended to incorporate the “Responsibility and Accountability” unit later in the school year, she felt that pulling an activity from the unit for her class at that time was valuable to her students.
Do you use any Highlights Early Learning materials and want to share how? We’d love to feature you on our blog! Email earlylearning@highlights.com or message us on Instagram @highlightsearlylearning.