If you ask any child, most of them will tell you, that school isn't easy.
Ask a 5-year-old going into kindergarten, and they may event tell you it is scary as students enter a year of firsts.
But a new grant. awarded to Dolores School District is aimed at making the big transition into kindergarten smoother. The grant is being called the Best Foot Forward Grant and nearly 30 people attended the organizational meeting late last month.
"We really have a separation between the preschool and elementary world," Dolores Elementary School Principal Sherri Maxwell said to a large group of parents, educators and early childhood experts last month.
The meeting was the first in a series aimed at bridging the gap between preschool and kindergarten and making the transition easier. The goal is to connect families to the elementary school during the preschool years.
"We know transitions are very important," said Vangi McCoy, Montelores Early Childhood Council coordinator.
Maxwell told the group that the Dolores School District was the only rural school in Colorado to receive the $30,000 grant.
"So our work will be looked at very closely," she said.
The money will go toward hiring a part-time coordinator that will help develop a program, with the help of a steering committee.
"A lot of families don't know us until they come in on that registration day," Maxwell said. "We want to change that."
Maxwell told the group gathered that if they join the committee that they had their work cut out for them.
"We need to work on more continuity between preschool and kindergarten," she said.
That would mean better aligning curricula and expectations with the preschool and elementary school.
Maxwell also suggested a parent and teacher survey and coordinating family nights for young children.
"We are the only rural school dong this, so in a way, we become the representatives for all rural schools in the state," Maxwell said. "It's not often we get the chance and money to do our own thing."
McCoy hopes the program developed will ultimately give students a leg up in school.
"Research shows if you are engaging parents, students are more engaged," she said.
Others worried that even though we can develop a better program with the preschool, it is often difficult to reach parents of students that transfer out of the district or never attended preschool.
That, Maxwell said, will be something the committee will have to work on.
For more information on the program or if you would like to be on the committee, contact Maxwell at 882-4688, Valiena Rosenkrance at 882-7277 or Vangi McCoy at 564-3211.
