The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees voted to approve a new kindergarten concept aiming to help kindergarten students who have difficulties transitioning into their new environment.
Specifically, the junior kindergarten concept targets students whose birthdays are celebrated during the summer months, as well as those turning five years old in September, prior to the kindergarten cutoff date. According to Lu Kasper and Greg Figenser, the principals of Harrison and Truman Elementary Schools respectively, many of the children entering kindergarten after recently celebrating a birthday experience difficulties in adjusting to school because they haven’t developed enough academically or emotionally. Not all students have those difficulties, but students experiencing developmental drawbacks don’t have the joy of attending school their peers have and, as a result, struggle throughout the year.
“Some kids are not ready,” Kasper said.
What the junior kindergarten concept does is help students who might not be able to handle a full kindergarten class, easing them into school. While many residents may remember their kindergarten days playing, making crafts and napping during a half-day period, expectations for current kindergartners are much more strict, with their classes engaged in basic, academic lessons.
For students in the junior kindergarten, teachers will focus on social skills, some math and reading lessons, gross and fine motor skills as well as speaking and listening during the first semester. In the second semester, social skills will remain the primary focus, but branch out into working with others, sharing and being a good friend. Speaking and listening will continue to a key focus as well, while teachers will seek to incorporate more science and social studies into the students’ lessons, as well as opportunities to be a part of building activities.
“The greatest gift we can give those little guys is time,” Figenser said.
During their time in the junior kindergarten, students will be monitored and may be moved to regular kindergarten if the parents and teachers believe the child is ready. Students with developmental delays will also be monitored to determine if additional support is needed when the student enters regular kindergarten.
“I think it’s important we look at each child,” Kasper said.
Board member and former teacher Sherie Smith said she was able to accurately guess which kindergarten students had summer birthdays from how well they performed in class. Smith said other ideas have been introduced in regards to younger kindergarten students, specifically mentioning a statewide mandate to make the cutoff date in May, not September. She believes that mandate would have been a good idea, but told the school board the initiative was defeated.
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