The children sat in a circle on a special mat, listening for letter sounds and rhyming words.
They focused on their teacher, Julie Welling, inside the Early Learning Community classroom at Westwood Elementary School in Greenwood. Welling helped lead them through a variety of word-related exercises, from identifying the sounds that certain words start with to practicing compound words.
The students were still a year or more away from entering kindergarten. But already, they were building the skills necessary to be successful when they started.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“The kids that are coming out of (Early Learning Community) are prepared for the rigor of what kindergarten is,” said David Ennis, principal at Westwood Elementary School. “Some of the things that we’re asking kids to do, parents are very surprised. The kids who have that preschool background are set up so much better for success. They know their letters, they know their numbers, they have those things that are foundational to move in and start to be successful.”
Since it was founded in 2010, Early Learning Community’s approach to early childhood learning has earned it accolades throughout the community and with state educators. Now, it has been recognized for its innovative approach to preparing children for kindergarten.
Early Learning Community was chosen as one of nine pre-K programs in the state to receive the Strong Start for Kindergarten Prize. The school received $5,000, funded from the state’s Preschool Development Grant.
With the money, officials plan to provide kindergarten-readiness camps for children over the summer, as well as offer sessions for parents to learn more about the process.
Early Learning Community is a nonprofit community preschool, which provides services to children ages 3 to 5. The preschool operates out of a pair of Greenwood Community elementary schools, Northeast and Westwood.
“Because preschool is not affordable, we want to do more in between the school years. These camps will let us share information with parents about what to expect when their kids go to kindergarten,” said Dawn Underwood, preschool director of Early Learning Communtiy. “We want to be a resource to families in our community who don’t understand the process and for children who have never been to preschool.”
When Greenwood resident Suzy Rowland was looking for a preschool program for her third child, Riley, she was looking for something different in terms of a preschool experience.
Her family found it at Early Learning Community. Riley thrived and has continued to do well in kindergarten this year at Westwood.
“She loved it. The program is just so intentional with everything they do, while providing such great education,” Rowland said. “She is loving kindergarten and succeeding so well, and I attribute that to the program here.”
Ensuring children are ready for kindergarten remains a huge challenge for schools, not just in Johnson County, but throughout Indiana, Underwood said.
“When kids enter kindergarten, they can have anywhere from a 3- to 8-year-old skill set. There are kids still entering kindergarten that have never even held a pencil, that have never even used scissors, just basic things,” Underwood said. “The teachers are working with kids with such a big gap in skills. The message for me has always been, education starts before kindergarten.”
In Johnson County, 2.1 percent of children were kept for a second year of kindergarten, according to the Indiana department of Education. That cost county schools more than $259,000.
Early Learning Community has a developed a curriculum to ensure that kids are ready in all aspects for kindergarten. The school focuses on kindergarten readiness using programs such as Handwriting Without Tears to teach writing letters and three different types of social-emotional learning.
That close relationship within the schools has been a boon for both sides. Early Learning Community teachers have been able to partner with kindergarten teachers, finding out directly the kinds of things that children need in order to be ready for that next educational step.
More kids are coming into classrooms ready, said Beth Muller, a kindergarten teacher at Westwood Elementary.
“As a kindergarten teacher, I see kids come in in a variety of different levels. These students come in prepared for school and ready to learn in kindergarten. Not only are they prepared academically, but we see the ways the (Early Learning Community) prepares them socially, behaviorally and routinely,” Muller said.
All of those successes contributed it the school being a winner for the kindergarten readiness prize.
The Strong Start for Kindergarten Prize was overseen by Early Learning Indiana, an organization focused statewide on early childhood education. The goal was uncover some of the most innovative and effective programs in Indiana, study those programs and help disseminate that information to improve early childhood education for all schools.
More than 50 programs applied for the competition this year. Winners were chosen based on how the programs correlated to national research on early learning, the ability to demonstrate measurable outcomes and the potential to be replicated in other communities.
“It is important that we recognize and reward local communities for working together to ensure that students have a successful transition into kindergarten,” said Nicole Norvell, director of Indiana’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning. “This allows us to learn about these examples of excellence so that they can be replicated to help create a roadmap for how all young learners can begin their K-12 experience with as much support as needed.”
For those with the Early Learning Community, being chosen for the award is validation that their approach is what’s going to make Johnson County students the most successful.
“What sets us apart is understanding kindergarten readiness and the importance of the social-emotional curriculum,” Underwood said. “Our program does that really well, understanding how to get kids ready socially and emotionally for school.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Early Learning Community
What: A nonprofit organization offering full and half-day preschool programs for children ages 3 to 5. The school provides a play-based learning environment in alignment with the Indiana state preschool standards.
Where: Splits time between Westwood and Northeast elementary schools in Greenwood
Information about tuition and registration: jclearningcenters.com or call 317-883-7099. Scholarships are available to Greenwood families that have a four year old child attending half-day preschool and that meet federal income requirements.
How to help: Early Learning Community is hoping to move into its own building in Whiteland. In order to renovate the classrooms, the school needs to raise $175,000 by Jan. 1. To donate, go to jclearningcenters.com/how-to-help
[sc:pullout-text-end]
