For many students Kindergarten can be an intimidating, if not scary time. There is so much that is new, it may feel for them like swimming through uncharted waters. Just think about how much is being asked of these new learners. They must:
Develop social and emotional skills
Develop new trusting adult and peer relationships
Gain a fundamental understanding of language, letters, numbers, and sounds
Not to mention - an extended separation from the caring adults who have centered their entire lives up until this point.
There are truly few equivalents for which an adult might ever face comparable challenges except maybe moving to a foreign culture. Imagine the mental and emotional exhaustion learning to navigate a new language, culture, and place all at once.
It is easy to take for granted how impressive a feat Kindergarten is for a five-year-old to accomplish, and a fair question parents might ask themselves is: how they can prepare their children for this transition?
Pre-kindergarten seeks to answer this question by providing young students with not only a life jacket when navigating the uncharted waters of kindergarten, but also a boat, a paddle, and a map to help them reach the desired destination.
PreK gives students a gentle transition into all the foundational skills which make up that first formative year of school. Besides helping with socialization, PreK also introduces students to the content that will make up Kindergarten. Students will learn to identify numbers, letters, and sounds, and develop a sense of routine, not to mention the speech and tactile skills that will be developed.
When students walk into kindergarten for the first time after having been prepared in PreK, they will have the confidence and abilities to maximize the fruitfulness of this time, ultimately getting their education started on the right foot.
