Club prepares children for kindergarten
Butler children starting kindergarten this fall have the opportunity to get a taste of a classroom setting.
Erin Benedetti, kindergarten teacher at Center Avenue Elementary School, is leading the Kinderclub program at her school. There are also Kinderclub programs in place at Broad Street and Emily Brittain elementary schools. Those programs began last year.
Parents and children are invited this spring and summer to attend three one-hour sessions to get a preview of what kindergarten is like.
“We did a fine motor skills activity, a math activity and a language arts activity during each session,” Benedetti said.
Children are given learning kits filled with items such as letter and number flash cards, modeling clay, crayons, books and a journal. They're given more advanced kits after each lesson.
“We model to the parents how to use everything in the kit, and then at the session the children would be there with the parents, and then the parents would practice doing the things with their children,” she said.
“The parents were able to use these at home all summer, and (the students who used them) seem to really pick up on their letters and sounds a lot quicker because they were using them before the school year even started.”
Other activities they can get a head start on is how to properly hold a pencil. Benedetti said they do various exercises to strengthen their hand muscles and to ensure they are holding writing utensils properly. One of the kit items is a tennis ball with a face and a slit for a mouth. Children can then press the ball to open the mouth, making it a fun, easy exercise.
“Sometimes, people don't realize how difficult it is for a child to grasp a pencil and hold it correctly” because they're not used to it, she said.
While the Kinderclub program is specifically for children going into kindergarten this fall, she said there are fun and easy ways to prepare children for school, even if they're not going yet this fall.
“One of the biggest things you can do is read with your child every day,” Benedetti said. “Anything: the newspaper, a magazine, children's books. If you want to read chapter books with them. Just them listening to you reading, seeing how important it is to read and be read to, just really helps with their vocabulary development and their reading skills. They see how important it is to read and get excited about reading.
“I think reading and talking to your child are probably the most important things in helping them get ready for school. Like joining your local library in the summer, before school starts. That's something that's free and easy to do. There's always different activities they can do at the library.”
The Kinderclub program is a federally funded Title I parent involvement program.
Center Avenue Elementary Kinderclub sessions will take place in the morning and early afternoon hours on Friday, May 9 and Aug. 20. Broad Street Elementary had a session on March 5 and has its two subsequent sessions on May 9 and Aug. 20. At Emily Brittain Elementary, Kinderclub sessions are on May 9, the last June in-service day for teachers and on Aug. 20.
For more information or to sign up, call the respective elementary school office.
<b>Center Avenue</b>724-214-3960Leading teacher: Erin BenedettiSession I: Friday from 10 a.m. to noonSession II: May 9 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and 2 to 3 p.m.Session III: Aug. 20 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.<b>Broad Street</b>724-214-3560Leading teacher: Sarah EshbaughSession I was March 5 from 10 a.m. to noonSession II: May 9 from 1 to 3 p.m.Session III: Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.<b>Emily Brittain</b>724-214-4200Leading teacher: Debbie WellnerSession I: May 9 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and 2 to 3 p.m.Session II: Final June in-service day from 9 to 10 a.m. and 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.Session III: Aug. 20 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m.
