For the first year, Mansfield City Schools tried a Kindergarten Readiness Camp, held from Aug. 11-15 in the Springmill Learning Center to help mitigate anxieties of children new to school.
Moving on from preschool and day care to all day kindergarten in a large building filled with unknowns can be daunting to a five-year-old. Some of them never attend preschool. Some cry and some act out as a result of this change in environments.
“This camp has helped the kids already know what to anticipate when they come to school. Also, the parents can see they’re going to be okay,” said Director Jean Vipperman.
Vipperman is a kindergarten teacher at Woodland Elementary in Mansfield. The upcoming school year will be her thirty-fifth year as a teacher for the Mansfield School District. She said that the first week of school for some kindergartners can be tough because they are being separated from their parents for the first time.
“I hope it continues. We’ve all enjoyed it and we’ve seen a difference in the kids. It’s a nice little boost before school starts,” said Vipperman.
The camp was designed to familiarize incoming local kindergartners to school etiquette and skills. The event featured are six different stations for the youth to start learning certain skills: fine motor, math, writing names center, dramatic play, shared reading, and read aloud. Executive Director of State & Federal Programs Betsy Alexander, who works with Mansfield City Schools, came up with the idea to have the Kindergarten Readiness Camp.
“It’s kind of like a booster shot of what kindergarten will be like. There are certain expectations from the state that kindergartners have to meet by the end of September, so this will give them a fresh start. We want the kiddos to succeed,” shared Alexander.
The camp is funded by Title 1 funds through the U.S. Department of Education.
This year, 78 kindergartners registered for the week long camp. Alexander hopes to extend the camp by another week next year and have a parent component. According to Alexander, educating parents is just as important as educating youth.
“The first five years of a child’s life is crucial to success in school,” stated Alexander.
For more information on the Kindergarten Readiness Camp, individuals can call 419-525-6400.
