Sign-up starts soon for this new class that gets kids ready for kindergarten
The Peninsula School District launched the first session of its Transitional Kindergarten program in January. This program brings an opportunity for children to get a head start on learning before going to traditional kindergarten in the fall.
“It is not a preschool, it is not a kindergarten … it is sort of that in between type of opportunity for students who have not had the chance to attend a preschool program,” said Lisa Reaugh, director of special programs for the Peninsula School District. “It gives them the opportunity to spend some time in the classroom and help them get prepared for kindergarten next year.”
According to Reaugh, Transitional Kindergarten helps students answer questions such as:
- How do you do school?
- How do you navigate the classroom?
- Where’s the bathroom?
- Who’s somebody that looks familiar?
- Where do I eat my lunch?
“My daughter had a little bit of social and emotional issues that we originally tried to solve at daycare, but it wasn’t quite enough,” Ashley Paulson, a Transitional Kindergarten program parent said at an April school board meeting. “They don’t have as much support as we are now getting with the Transitional Kindergarten program. The opportunity to take advantage of that and have that for her when she really absolutely needed it was great. I am so thankful that there is a program like this.”
Students get a head start on tackling the fear of starting school in a place they’ve never been before.
‘’Transitional Kindergarten gives us one more opportunity to provide early learning for children,” said Peninsula School District Superintendent Krestin Bahr. “One thing that we find is that especially with this ongoing pandemic, is that children have not been in organized structures such as churches or preschools. We want to give every opportunity for our children to be able to work together and have a systematic way to connect with school structures. But also really encouraging families to allow their children to wonder, explore and create.”
“I just got to see her classroom for conferences and it was amazing,” Paulson said. “We walked in and she took it over. She’s really working through all these struggles she had. It has only been two months and I already see differences in her. Before we were really concerned about her behavior and it’s already leaps and bounds in the short time she has been in Transitional Kindergarten.”
“Those students could go to kindergarten today they are so ready,” said Allison Shepard, principal of Harbor Heights Elementary School.
‘These things are not offered in the preschool programs’
The Transitional Kindergarten program is currently at three elementary schools: Evergreen, Harbor Heights and Discovery. There is one class with one Transitional Kindergarten teacher at each school. The district has 45 students total in the program.
The program is very similar to the traditional school form. Students have full school days, Monday-Friday, and they go to P.E. class, music class, the library, lunch and recess.
“All of these things are not offered in the preschool programs, so Transitional Kindergarten is really designed to provide that layer of traditional school to kids who haven’t had that experience and it helps them be successful in kindergarten the following year,” Reaugh said.
One of the Peninsula School District’s goals is to expand the program to all 10 elementary schools in the district, but at this time there are no plans in place to start Transitional Kindergarten at the other schools.
“I will continue to seek out opportunities to bring families into the school system as early as possible,” Bahr said.
“Going into a new school can be terrifying for kids. Often parents’ concerns live around that transition, less about will their child be successful academically. We hope to eliminate parents’ concerns with providing a way to help students transition,” Reaugh said.
To be considered for Transitional Kindergarten, a student needs to be 4 or 5, starting kindergarten the following school year, and must show a need. For example, that they haven’t spent time in a classroom before, speak a language other than English at home, or are having social challenges. A screening process is completed to evaluate whether or not Transitional Kindergarten is the right fit for that student.
“We take a variety of needs, but we take the ones that need it the most. If Transitional Kindergarten isn’t the right fit, we try and find other accommodations such as another early learning program with different qualifications,” Reaugh said.
Before an official screening process is done, families fill out an interest survey. An interest survey will be posted in May for families interested in Transitional Kindergarten for the 2023 session, which begins in January.
Additional information can be found online at: https://www.psd401.net/departments/student-services/kindergarten-readiness/transitional-kindergarten
This story was originally published May 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
