Early education fair

Franklin City Schools’ firstever early education fair Is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 14 at Gerke Elementary, 312 Sherman Dr. Children aged 0 to 5 who are future Franklin Wildcats are invited to the Little Cats, Big Minds event.

Any child who will be attending Franklin City Schools in the future is welcome to attend with their families to learn ways to be prepared for kindergarten.

Kim Irgens, assistant principal at Gerke Elementary and Hunter Elementary, who is organizing the event, was brainstorming ways to help parents prepare children for kindergarten and decided to create an interactive event.

“We will have different booths that have activities for families to participate in with their children,” Irgens said. “My hope is that families enjoy the quality time spent learning ways to help their children to be prepared for kindergarten. Also, most booths will provide free and easy activities to work on at home. We will also raffle educational toys during the event.”

Topics at the booths will include practicing letters and sounds, working with scissors, numbers, writing, music, speech and language, and more. The school district will be joined by other area organizations including the Franklin-Springboro Public Library, the Franklin Area Historical Society, Head Start, GTCO, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, Great Miami Valley YMCA, and more. The Police and Fire Departments will be on hand with touch-a-truck and touch-a-car activities. Kindergarten registration will also be available, and refreshments will be served.

“The event is free and families don’t need to pre-register,” Irgens said.