Little Early Childhood Education Center

Little Early Childhood Education Center provides developmentally appropriate education to prekindergarten students that is aligned with the district goals in reading, writing and math. Parental involvement is important at Little, which includes parents and the community in all areas of the school. The programs at Little include Early Childhood Special Education for children ages three and four, two all-day prekindergarten classrooms, two half-day prekindergarten classrooms, and Parents as Teachers.

Prekindergarten programs are offered at two separate sites that operate under the umbrella of programs at Little Early Childhood Center. Little is located at 1613 N. Piatt. Three prekindergarten classrooms are also housed at Midtown Community Center, 1150 N. Broadway.

Little and Midtown Early Childhood Centers are the only Wichita Public Schools chosen to offer the all day prekindergarten program, which is made possible through a grant.

Exit east Kellogg at Grove. Go north on Grove to 13^th St. Go west on 13^th St. four blocks to Piatt. Go north on Piatt to Little Early Childhood Center. See Maps for all USD 259 locations.

The Little Early Childhood Education community will provide all students with a positive, safe environment and a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate for early childhood, where students will succeed socially, emotionally, physically and academically.

1. Students will develop age-appropriate pre-math skills.
   - Students will count rationally, recognize and name numerals 0-10, recognize and name shapes, and create and match sets.
   - Students will demonstrate problem-solving strategies in developmentally appropriate ways.
2. Students will develop age-appropriate pre-reading skills.
   - Students will recognize letters in his/her first name.
   - Students will recognize shapes and use positional words such as under, in front of, around, beside, behind and between.
   - Students will retell a simple story in complete sentences.
   - Students will engage in daily shared reading experiences.
3. Students will develop age-appropriate pre-writing skills.
   - Students will hold a pencil correctly.
   - Students will record ideas using emergent writing.
   - Students will copy pre-writing strokes using a model.

Little and Midtown have a site council, which is a group of parents, community members, business representatives, teachers and other school staff. Site councils identify, consider and discuss educational problems and issues at the school. Councils provide advice and counsel for evaluating state, school district and school site performance goals and objectives. Councils may also recommend methods that may be employed at the school site to meet these goals and objectives.

Meeting Day: Third Monday of each month
Time: 4 - 5 p.m.
Location: Conference Room, Room 20
Chairperson: Carrie McConville, 316-973-5300

• Prekindergarten
• Early Childhood Special Education 3-4  (in an inclusion setting)
• Transition Classroom 
• Parents as Teachers
• Half-day sessions - five days per week
  - Morning Session, 7:50 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.
  - Afternoon Session, 12:10 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
• All day sessions - five days per week, 7:50 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
• Home visits in the fall for prekindergarten
• Additional Parent/Teacher conferences twice a year
• Special classroom parent activities
• Inclusion DD programs

• Fall Carnival 
• Book Fairs
• Library Program
• Reading Is Fundamental
• Trike-a-Thon
• Red Ribbon Week
• Fall Feast
• Technology/Computer Lab

Little Elementary School opened in the fall of 1954, named for William Cutter Little. A former Illinois school teacher, Mr. Little became Sedgwick County Superintendent of Public Instruction the year after he came to Wichita in 1870. He was one of the founders of Fairmount College, now Wichita State University. In addition to his many contributions as an educator, Mr. Little also was a lawyer and a banker. He was an influential person in bringing industry to Wichita and in determining city government. He is remembered as the man who introduced alfalfa as a farm crop to this portion of the Arkansas River Valley.

The William C. Little Elementary School was built in 1953 and opened in September 1954. In the first year of operation, about 360 pupils from kindergarten through sixth grade were enrolled. Since enrollment consisted of about 75 percent black and 25 percent white, pupils and the faculty were integrated. Little was called Wichita's completely integrated school.

As a shift in residential patterns continued, the percentage of white children enrolled dropped rather quickly. In 1954-55, less than 10 percent of the pupils were white, and by the next year the enrollment was nearly 100 percent black.

As the community changed, the school population increased, making the size of the school plant inadequate. Portable classrooms were added when additional classroom space was needed. The highest official enrollment was 681 on September 15, 1964. By 1969, there were 12 classrooms inside the main building and 12 portable classrooms on the school site.

There have been few additions and alterations to the original building. However, in September 1964, a teacher's lounge was built onto the northeast corner of the building; and in September 1967, a wall was removed to expand the library.

The staff of Little School changed from 50 percent black and 50 percent white when the school opened, to an all black staff when the enrollment consisted of essentially all black pupils. For the 1967-68 school year, an effort was made to integrate the staff with about 15 percent white teachers assigned. In 1968-69, the ratio was again 50 percent black and 50 percent white.

In 1971, in accordance with the integration plan adopted by the Board of Education, the school was discontinued as an elementary attendance center. Since that time the school has been utilized as the Head Start center for the north central area of the city and is known as the Little Early Childhood Education Center. Beginning in 1989, Little also housed Even Start.

Beginning the 1995-96 school year, Little housed BOE prekindergarten, Title I prekindergarten, Early Childhood Special Education for three- and four-year-old children, and Even Start.

From A History of Wichita Public School Buildings, c 1997