What are the skills that children need to be successful in kindergarten? It is this question that led dozens of educators to come together at Yavapai County’s first Early Childhood Education Consortium (ECEC) for a much-needed discussion about the transition from the preschool years to kindergarten.
The consortium was held on Saturday, November 2nd at the Mariposa building of Prescott College, and was attended by preschool directors, child care providers, kindergarten teachers, and other education professionals from across the Quad-city area. The event, sponsored in part by First Things First, was organized by Prescott College student Sheila Atwater and Prescott College Faculty member Wendy Watson with the help of several other local education experts: Gena Hahn, Micaela Janowski, Vickey LaMotte, and Dr. Vicky Young.
The stakes are high for today’s kindergarteners, and it is critical that early educators of young children- including parents, infant care providers, child care providers and preschool teachers- are on the same page. The focus of the consortium was to get pre-K professionals and kindergarten teachers talking about the skills and dispositions kids need to be ready for kindergarten, and to create a list of these things to share with the public.
“Pre-k and kindergarten teachers rarely have the opportunity to come together to meet and converse about bettering the education of the young children in our community,” said Prescott College student Sheila Atwater. “By holding this event, we wanted to do something meaningful for education.”
“School readiness is not just about the child, it’s about ready schools and a community ready to support them,” said Wendy Watson, speaking at the consortium. Watson also said that the definition of kindergarten readiness often differs from school to school. “The same child with the same strengths and needs can be considered ready for kindergarten at one school, but considered not ready at another,” said. “That’s why it’s important to get this conversation going.”
The discussion, which was facilitated by Lori Deutsch of FAST consulting, yielded some exciting results. Participants were able to create a broad list of cognitive, behavioral and social skills that all kindergarteners need to succeed, which include the ability to pay attention and focus, the ability to take turns and share with others, basic letter recognition, and confidence.
When more children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, everyone benefits, and the Early Childhood Education Consortium was the first part of a continuing discussion about school readiness. Consortium organizers hope that this project will expand and grow to other parts of the county and the state, ensuring that more kids in Arizona enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
For more information about the Early Childhood Consortium or to be put on the mailing list for future events, please contact Wendy Watson at wwatson@prescott.edu.
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