Preschool/Kindergarten Meeting Goal To Open Communication For Transition

By Tanjua Damon

The town’s preschools joined in a meeting with kindergarten teachers and administrators May 13 to see what could be done to help students and parents with the transition from preschool to kindergarten as well as help parents understand what happens in regard to curriculum at the four public schools.

Trinity Day School director Nancy Nathanson and TDS parent and Sandy Hook School kindergarten teacher Anne Annesley organized the meeting that approximately 40 people attended.

The group broke down into subgroups of preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, and administrators to try to come up with solutions to questions that many are asked by parents of preschoolers. The goals of the hour-long meeting were to build a working relationship with other early childhood professionals in town; share information and ideas about preschool and kindergarten programs; develop a plan for easing the transition from preschool to kindergarten that involves students, parents, teachers, and administrators; and form a core committee that will continue to work on goals.

The State of Connecticut State Board of Education created The Connecticut Framework: Preschool Curricular Goals and Benchmarks in 1999, which is a guide for preschools to use for child development socially and educationally. While public schools and private schools have standards and expectations for kindergartners, the hope of the meeting is to open up that communication of what the standards and expectations are so that students and parents can be better prepared and more comfortable when the bus arrives to pick up the kindergartner for school.

Kindergarten teachers encouraged preschool teachers to tell parents to go and observe kindergarten classrooms in the fall to see what children are capable of doing at that level. The groups also suggested sharing professional development workshops, looking into more parental education.

“We need to take parents along the journey and make them feel comfortable with kindergarten,” Ms Annesely said.

Preschool teachers wanted to know more about the public schools’ screening process and why some schools do it differently. Sharing progress reports was another suggestion so preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers can see how students are developing and where some students might need more help.

“The assessment piece is really interesting,” Ms Annesley said. “Again, this will help to inform parents of what is happening.”

The plan is to have more of these meeting periodically throughout the year and come up with strategies and methods to help parents be informed about the transition to kindergarten. For more information contact Ms Nathanson at 426-8429.