Summer school readies children for kindergarten

Slide Show When you're 5 years old, basic school rules like raising your hand to ask a question or walking single file in the hallway can be a challenge.

But for 59 children entering kindergarten in the Cape Girardeau School District this fall, the start of classes will be a lot easier thanks to a prekindergarten program this month at Franklin Elementary School.

"It really benefits the kids," said Franklin principal Rhonda Dunham, who is supervising the summer session for prekindergarten through fourth-grade students.

The children are learning some of the skills needed for kindergarten during the three-week summer session at Franklin School that began Monday and runs through June 22. Classes run from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. About 180 students are enrolled in the summer school, including those in the pre-K program.

This is the fourth summer for the prekindergarten program, Dunham said. The children learn not only how to act in class but also out on the playground and in the cafeteria. For 5-year-olds, just going through the lunch line is a new experience, Dunham said. The children also learn to socialize with other children, including those from different cultures.

Prekindergarten students climbed the Franklin Elementary School jungle gym during summer school classes Wednesday. Kindergarten teacher Mary Ann Lewis said incoming students who have attended the classes make the transition to regular school days better than those who have not. (Kit Doyle)

Mary Ann Lewis, a kindergarten teacher at Blanchard Elementary School, is teaching one of the prekindergarten classes.

Lewis said she has seen "a huge difference" in recent years in incoming kindergarten students who have been through the summer program. They are more comfortable from the first day of class and there's less crying, she said.

Student Braden Dement was proud of how he handled his first days in class this summer. "My mom left me, and I wasn't scared," he said.

Dement said he also learned how to walk in single file in the hallway.

Lewis spent part of Wednesday singing alphabet songs with her class of four prekindergarten students. They also worked on writing their names and counting.

Mary Ann Lewis helped her prekindergarten summer school class get a cheeseburger lunch Wednesday at Franklin Elementary School.

"Let's kiss our brain," she advised the children when they answered properly and followed instructions.

Lewis moved quickly from one activity to another to keep the children's attention. "It has to be short and sweet and to the point," she said.

In another classroom, Blanchard Elementary School first-grade teacher Susan Riehl helped students work with a numbers puzzle Wednesday.

"We are working with numbers one through five, and basic shapes and colors," she said. A major focus of the prekindergarten classes is to make sure that the students can write their names.

"I am so excited. The little ones are fun," said Riehl, who grew up in Cape Girardeau and attended Franklin School.

In another area of the school, students in Scarlet Arnold's class played with sand in a plastic box, floated plastic boats in a container of water and stamped out letters of Play-Doh. Earlier, her students had participated in tricycle relays.

Arnold and other teachers said the summer program is more than just fun activities. It helps teach students the letters of the alphabet and basic colors.

The prekindergarten students come to the summer program with varying academic backgrounds, said Arnold, a first-grade teacher at Blanchard School. "Some kids know their letters, some kids don't know how to write their names," she said.

But all of them benefit from the added schooling, she said. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the playground.

On Monday, the students in her class had to learn playground etiquette. "The number one rule on the playground is no throwing rocks," she reminded her students before recess Wednesday morning.

Standing on the playground behind the school, Arnold was pleased that the rock-throwing antics of the first day had disappeared.

Kailey Haynes' mother, Tina, is thrilled with the pre-K program. "I wanted my daughter to get a jump start on kindergarten," she said, adding that her daughter had never attended a day-care or preschool program.

Kailey will attend Clippard Elementary School this fall.

The summer program, she said, has excited Kailey.

"She can't wait to get up and go to school," Haynes said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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