By Dave Arola

Pine City Elementary School Principal

Pine City Elementary School just finished up a week of Kinder Kamp, a program geared at orientation for students entering kindergarten in the fall of 2008. Ninety-seven students participated in this program sponsored by Early Childhood Family Education and Pine City schools.

Kinder Kamp is a time for children to practice basic skills needed for kindergarten success. All the children got a chance to meet and dialog with the teachers and meet the other children in their class. They also practice readiness skills in all academic areas with a different theme each day.

All students had the opportunity to practice going through the lunch line during snack time, got adjusted to their classroom and even had a chance to explore Dragon’s Den playground.

On Transportation Day, the children learned about safety on and around the bus. They also took a brief ride on the big school bus.

Kinder Kamp has been a success for parents, teachers and students for the past several years, and the benefits really help these kindergarten students get ready for the big first day of school on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Kinder Kamp has been a positive experience for hundreds of students and certainly was this past week.

Changes in Kindergarten over the years

Over the years the kindergarten curriculum has changed in dramatic fashion. A few years back, the kindergarten program was more of a social setting. Now the kindergarten curriculum is more academic based. In fact, students at Pine City Elementary the past four years have been attending kindergarten full days, every day compared to half days or every other day. This all-day kindergarten has given us the opportunity to have up to two hours or reading instruction per day and approximately a half hour of math curriculum per day. When students finish up their kindergarten year, they are all reading. It is an amazing sight to see, and when you listen to them read, they are so proud of themselves. Reading and math have been our points of emphasis the past several years.

What does being ready for Kindergarten mean?

It can be divided into two categories. The first one is being Safe and Healthy and Socially and Emotionally well:

- adequate, nutritious food

- exercise

- adequate sleep

- appropriate medical care

- encouragement and support

- social contacts with adults and peers

- opportunities to try and succeed at new things

- appropriate discipline for self-control

The other areas of being ready include:

- print awareness

- letter recognition

- vocabulary and knowledge

- awareness of sounds of language

A lot is involved in getting young students to learn how to read. We at Pine City Elementary are very proud of our programs and the successes that we have had.

I hope you all have a great remainder of the summer.