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9486 in the collection
Mountain View program gives kids a chance to practice for kindergarten
Ohanian Comment: I hate to sound like one of those cranky "In the good old days" people, but my goodness. I didn't get "prepared" for kindergarten because my town offered no kindergarten. At age 5 I went to straight to first grade, where the old battle axe of a teacher insisted on Cursive.
I was good at first grade, and I attribute this to my hours of practice playing store from our back porch. In those post-depression days my parents bought food in bulk, so I had LOTS of canned goods to arrange in my store and then sell to my folks. I built my store out of orange crates and furnished it with a pretend cash register, play money, and so on. Much of this play was solitary, but ever-so-often my mom or dad would walk out onto the porch and buy something. When I closed up shop, I put everything away--to be taken out again the next day. Somehow, this got me ready for first grade. Looking back, I can see that putting all the canned beans together, and all the canned corn, and so on would qualify as a school-like activity. Truth be known, I could use that 4-year-old right now to straighten up my pantry.
When I wasn't playing store, I was playing kitchen outside in my sandbox, which my dad had equipped with a real stove. I spent hours making wonderful mud pies and muffins in real tins. And my dad would stop by for tea out of real cups. At the end of the sandbox session I'd turn on the hose and make things really muddy: I can still feel that wonderful gooey feeling in my bare toes.
AND if the weather was bad, there was always my dollhouse i my bedroom, where I made up wonderful stories for my family of little dolls in their two-story house.
My mother always said the typical punishment of "Go to your room" didn't work with me because I liked going to my room and playing by myself.
I liked school too. Even when the teacher insisted I write with my right hand instead of my preferred left. I just figured that's what they did to you in school and didn't complain. My mother didn't notice until months later.
Even though I knew how to read before I went to school, I liked Dick, Jane, and Spot. I just figured that, like having to write with your right hand, they were what school was supposed to be. They were all so very neat and orderly and cheerful. What's not to like? I knew that real reading was my dad reading a chapter from Uncle Wiggly every night, from the same book his mother had read to him. And choosing a story from the Saturday Evening Post every week to read aloud.
Funny thing: I have no memory of "walking in line like ducks" in school. And I admit that when I taught third grade I found this concept so foreign that I was very poor at transmitting it to my students.
By Patty Fisher
The wiggly 4- and 5-year-olds are doing their best, but this whole "school" thing is new to them. Sitting quietly and paying attention to the teacher are skills that take practice. And that's what the day's activities are all about: practice.
This summer, 42 children are participating in Stretch to Kindergarten, a pilot program at Theuerkauf Elementary School in Mountain View designed to prepare children who have never been to preschool for the rigors of kindergarten.
And I do mean rigors.
In my day, kindergarten was pretty much organized play time, without much emphasis on academics. But these days, kindergarten is serious school. Children have to get through a curriculum of basic math, reading
and writing to be ready for first grade. So those who walk in the first day of kindergarten without knowing the alphabet or how to share the blocks are at an immediate disadvantage.
"I see such a difference between kids who have had preschool and those who haven't," said Jennifer Cummings, a veteran kindergarten teacher working with the seven-week program this summer. "That's not to say that those without preschool experience can't catch up, but it's a bigger jump for them."
The value of preschool, especially for children with limited English skills or from low-income families, is well documented. But preschool can cost up to $2,000 a month, and many families who don't qualify for government subsidies can't afford it. Stretch to Kindergarten targets those children.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation modeled the program after a successful one in San Mateo County that serves over 1,000 children every year.
Free to families
Stretch to Kindergarten is free to the families, who have incomes under $60,000 a year. The program's cost, roughly $350,000, is being picked up by Mark Heising and Liz Simons, a Palo Alto couple, through their family foundation.
Wednesday morning, kids and their parents began showing up at 7:30 for a breakfast of corn dogs, bananas and milk. I walked in behind Malia, who was wearing a Sleeping Beauty backpack nearly as big as she was.
"She has been begging me to put her in school, but I just couldn't afford it," said Malia's mom, who works two jobs, as a as a nurse and a pharmacy technician. "Malia is so eager to get here every day."
Cynthia Cuellar, who runs the program, was showing me around when Angelica came up and insisted we look at a book she made at home from paper and ribbon. Parents are encouraged to read and do projects with their kids.
"See? It's about Christmas," Angelica said proudly, turning the pages that contained no words but plenty of crayon drawings. "Here's Santa, and here's the tree, with a star."
Circle time
In Cummings' classroom, decorated with colorful artwork, the children recited the alphabet, punctuating each letter with a few jumps on the carpet. Then they practiced sitting cross-legged and raising their hands.
"I'm looking for quiet hands," Cummings said as the children strained to be called on. Andreas preferred to sit under the table and two other little boys had to be separated, but for the most part it was a successful circle time.
"You wouldn't believe the improvement in just two weeks," Cuellar told me. "The first couple of days were pretty chaotic."
Each day, the kids get better at settling disputes without whacking each other and walking in a line "like ducks" to the lunch room.
And they no longer lock themselves in the bathroom stalls. (During the first week, plaintive cries of "Help! Somebody!" could be heard from the bathroom.)
As the morning wore on, there were a few yawns around the room. Some aren't used to getting up early. And a few are still getting over a flu bug that kept 11 of the 42 children home last week.
After all, building up immunity to the germ pool is just another prerequisite for kindergarten.
— Patty Fisher
Palo Alto Daily News
2009-07-10
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