Preparing for kindergarten
BVSD’S Kinder Bridge program teaches classroom skills
Soon-to-be Boulder Valley kindergartners danced to a movement video before settling on a rug to listen to teacher Ina Rochelle read a book that’s a constructiontheme take on the classic “Three Little Pigs.”
Along with asking her students questions about the story, Rochelle worked with them on some of the classroom skills they will need in the fall — sitting flat on their bottoms, using quiet voices and saving some of their own stories until the book was finished.
Rochelle’s classroom is one of three at Boulder’s Mapleton Early Childhood Center that are part of a new Kinder Bridge program.
“We’re just thrilled to see kids progressing to be able to do what they need to in kindergarten,” Boulder Valley Assistant Superintendent Robbyn Fernandez said.
Kinder Bridge expands a previous Impact on Education early education program called Summer Shuffle, which was held at three Boulder Housing Partners sites. Kinder Bridge is an opportunity to offer the program to more students, including those outside Boulder and to give incoming kindergartners an introduction to the classroom, organizers said.
About 160 incoming kindergarten students enrolled in the free summer program, which is taught by 10 teachers at three sites: Mapleton, Boulder’s Columbine Elementary — with bilingual classes — and Lafayette’s Sanchez Elementary. The program runs half days, Monday through Thursday, for six weeks.
Impact on Education raised about $150,000 through grants and individual donations to cover the cost of the program. Free
transpor tation is provided to those who don’t live close enough to walk, with Sanchez serving students from Broomfield and East County. There’s also free breakfast and lunch.
“Our goal is to prevent whatever barriers there are to students participating,” said Allison Billings, executive director of Impact on Education. “They’ll feel so much more confident when they start kindergarten.”
She said the plan is to evaluate the program based on student growth and feedback from kindergarten teachers before deciding whether to offer the same version next summer or make changes.
Boulder Valley invited preschool students who needed a little extra help with kindergarten readiness skills to attend this summer, while community partners suggested incoming kindergartners who didn’t attend a formal preschool. Others attended online preschool last school year, missing the classroom experience.
Nichole Villa, the site coordinator at Mapleton, said the curriculum is an amped up version of what students learn in preschool.
There’s a daily read aloud, fine motor skills practice, play, movement and recess. For literacy, teachers use the district’s Fundations reading curriculum. At the end of the day, there’s also 20 minutes of social emotional time, when students participate in activities that could include coloring to music, trying yoga or breathing deeply.
“We’re really helping them work on their transitions (to different activities),” Villa said. “They have more independence than in preschool. We do lots of movement and music to help them transition.”
To access the academic skills they’re expected to learn in kindergarten, Fernandez added, kindergartners need school readiness skills that include following directions, interacting with teachers and classmates and self regulation.
“We’re doing anything we can to help prepare kids,” she said.
In teacher Kim Roberts’ classroom, one boy plays a card game with a classroom aide while another glues cut out paper shapes into a house. Others build with blocks, paint, play with dinosaurs or drive tiny trucks through a tub filled with a bark-like material.
“To keep them in the rhythm and routine of school is really, really helpful,” Roberts said. “Summer is a long time.”
She added they’re learning all sorts of skills while they play, including social skills like how to share, take turns and interact with friends.
“They learn so much through play,” she said.