{"id":3096,"date":"2015-02-05T18:05:46","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T22:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2017-04-05T09:14:28","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T13:14:28","slug":"kindergarten-readiness-fundamental-thoroughgood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/kindergarten-readiness-fundamental-thoroughgood\/","title":{"rendered":"Kindergarten readiness is FUNdamental at Thoroughgood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooperate. Always Try. Do Your Best!<\/em><\/p>\n

Thoroughgood. Where Seagulls\u2026Learn to Fly!<\/em><\/p>\n

Encouraging words on hallway signs hang high above the heads of preschoolers walking hand-in-hand with their parents to room 33.\u00a0The future Seagulls are greeted by smiling Thoroughgood Elementary teachers and invited to find a seat on a colorful rug adorned with animals and other objects from A to Z.<\/p>\n

\"Speech-language<\/a>
Speech-language pathologist Kathy Scott leads families to kindergarten classrooms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you sit on the square with the zebra, Joey,\u201d a teacher encourages, reading the nametag on the child\u2019s paper headband.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see. We have Henry and Macayla and Gavin,\u201d says another teacher scanning the crowd as children find places to sit. \u201cOh, and Annabelle and Owen and Audrey. There\u2019s Trevor and Zack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Wesley,\u201d exclaims a voice from the floor.<\/p>\n

Parents chuckle from the back of the room, and the teacher acknowledges, \u201cYes, of course,\u00a0and Wesley is with us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wesley smiles broadly and adjusts his Pete the Cat crown.<\/p>\n

Kathy Scott, Thoroughgood\u2019s speech-language pathologist, welcomes the group to the school’s kindergarten readiness program. It is designed to engage children and their parents in interactive learning activities focused on math, reading and technology in order to prepare children for the transition to kindergarten. To support this program, Scott was awarded an innovative learning grant from the Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF).<\/p>\n

\"Reading<\/a>
Reading specialist Annette Conley shows children the book they get to take home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is well documented in the literature that students who come to kindergarten with a solid foundation in oral language,\u00a0phonemic awareness, early literacy, math, motor and social skills are likely to achieve success in school,\u201d wrote Scott in her grant application. Scott added that the program helps \u201cfoster a belief that school is a safe, comfortable place to come to and to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

As two dozen children made themselves comfortable on the classroom rug, Scott highlighted for parents various pamphlets and resources in a readiness packet they all received. \u201cPhonemic awareness is important for early readers,\u201d she stressed when referencing a document with early reading and writing tips. Scott then shared that each child would receive a free copy of the book, “Pete the Cat,” that they were about to read together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has stickers and a poster,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can read it tonight?\u201d an excited child asked loud enough for all to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes you can,\u201d assured Scott, \u201cand why don\u2019t we get started with our book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attention turned to the classroom whiteboard as a cheerful recorded voice told the story of how Pete the Cat convinced a friend that Valentine\u2019s Day \u201cis cool.\u201d\u00a0Large, colorful pages flipped on the screen featuring Pete and his homemade cards for friends.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
Children used glue, stickers and crayons to make their own valentines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The whole group reading session was followed by small group activities in three kindergarten classrooms. In room 35, children counted and sorted candy hearts by color. Table 34 featured iPads for the pre-schoolers to try assorted apps. Children staying in room 33 worked with parents to make Valentine\u2019s Day cards like Pete the Cat did for his special friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I get your picture?\u201d asked one parent.<\/p>\n

Without hesitation her son looked up, smiled and said, \u201cCheeeeeeese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how to glue,\u201d encouraged a parent at another table.\u00a0\u201cYes, just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

No encouragement or direction is needed in room 34 as children whiz through iPad apps like digital natives.<\/p>\n

Thoroughgood principal Cheryl Zigrang talked to children and parents as the groups switched classrooms for new activities. \u201cThere are so many parents here,\u201d she observed, \u201cand that makes me very happy.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A math activity involved counting and sorting a bag of candy conversation hearts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zigrang is especially looking forward to the final readiness session this spring because it will be a community outreach event held at the Bayville Park shelter.\u00a0Engaging parents and children outside of the school setting is another opportunity to try to reach every preschool child in her school\u2019s attendance zone.<\/p>\n

Scott and her Thoroughgood colleagues hope the skills the children practice in the one-hour session are extended to home and that the materials children receive will be used in future family interactions. She knows that school readiness is a partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to provide information to parents about the resources and interventions available to their children during these critical years of early development,\u201d she said. \u201cBy being proactive during the preschool years, students will come to school ready to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit <\/em>vbef.org<\/em><\/a> to learn more about the Virginia Beach Education Foundation and the grants it awards to support innovative and creative learning programs.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooperate. Always Try. Do Your Best! Thoroughgood. Where Seagulls\u2026Learn to Fly! Encouraging words on hallway signs hang high above the heads of preschoolers walking hand-in-hand with their parents to room […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31,49],"class_list":["post-3096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-connections","tag-literacy","tag-thoroughgood-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6378,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions\/6378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}