Spring Screening Thursday, February 26, 2009 By Meghan Mulcahy Preschool students are enjoying a yummy lunch before they go to class. - Advertising The day will come when the weather is no longer cool and the mothers will be screening their kids for preschool. The children will be so excited for school, and so will the parents. The screening is always held in March. The kids can range from six monthes to four years. Preschool gives the kids chance to get to interact with other kids their age and learn the skills needed for Kindergarten. This year the screenings will be March 16-19 at the First Babtist Church 202 E Ford St. and appointments can be made now.     Coordinator Sherris Hane said, "Children who come from our preschool programs, who do not have a identified delay, are generally well prepared for a kindergarten experience.  Without a preschool experience, the chances are that they would have struggled in kindergarten. Children with identified delays sometimes outgrow the delay and sometimes continue with individual help at the Kindergarten level." Each student in preschool has different needs, and the screening is there to help the coordinators.   Sherris Hane said, "All the children will be screened for vision, hearing, language, height & weight, dental and general development.  Each child is screened for age appropriate skills.  For example, a 6-month-old child would be screened to see if he/she is doing things a 6-month-old should do like sitting alone, jabbering and grasping objects with their hands. A 4-year-old would be screened checking for preschool readiness skills, such as colors, counting and naming pictures." Most of the kids who are in preschool are one to two years from kindergarten, unless they are students attending Early Childhood Special Education [ECSE]. There are two types of classes, Title I and ECSE. Title I, can consist of kids classified as ECSE. These students will benefit from preschool before they got to kindergarten they do not have specific developmental delays. Title I meets five days a week for a half day, ECSE meet only for four days a week for only half a day. If a student is in the ECSE, they will stay in there until they attend Kindergarten, but if they are in Title I they can go one or two years. Whether the child is either a first time or a second time student. The committee asked every one to call the Elementary School at 632-7212 for the appointments. Each screening is about forty-five minutes. Sign up fast because not every child makes it. They only allow 75-80 students. Each student is unique   Preschool Teacher Jennifer Todd said, "Each child is unique and comes to our program with their own strengths and weaknesses.  We celebrate and build confidence with the skills they have mastered and work to improve the skills they have not yet acquired." Preschool is both fun for the student and for the teacher.   Preschool Teacher Ashley Stevenson said, "My favorite part about being a preschool teacher is watching the kids interact with one another and getting to see their imaginations come to life. It is amazing what creative ideas their young little minds can come up with sometimes. It is also very rewarding to be around such an excited and energetic group. It makes it easy to enjoy my day when the kids are so enthusiastic about what we do in our class."   Preschool is a great opportunity for kids. They learn and prepare themselves for kindergarten. Being in preschool kids get to interact with other kids and learn to communicate with them. The time to sign up is now so each and every kids get the chance to go to preschool.

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