[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=49803.93

Eastport Early Learning Center Grows

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

On their first days in schools, the little ones walked up and down the hallways with one hand on a rope. "Most 3- and 4-year-old children don't understand the concept of standing in line," said Kent Davis, principal of the Eastport Early Learning Center. The rope, with their teacher in the lead, served as their guide. Now they walk in a line with their arms crossed. Left hand on right shoulder and right hand on left shoulder, they resemble a line of monks walking the cloisters while meditating. Some tend to meditate out loud, but they stay in line and the crossed arms cut down on the usual little-kid pushing, shoving and poking. Now that they have mastered line walking, what's next? Physics, of course. Yes, says Deb Langley. Nodding at a little girl and boy playing with blocks, she notes, "They're learning the principle of balance." Physics. In another corner, one child is reading to a couple of others. For the most part, Langley said, the youngsters "read" the pictures. "But some of them have memorized the book," she adds. Back in February 2006, when the Early Learning Center was just a concept, Michigan City Area Schools Superintendent Michael Harding and Jan Radford, director of curriculum and instruction, insisted on a "literacy rich" program. Most children will not learn to read in preschool, but they will learn how to handle books, how to recognize letters and even how to read some individual words. In addition, someone will read at least five books a day to the children. While the school day does include instruction, Langley said children are learning all the time. Even during the free-choice session, when some youngsters played with blocks while others "read" books and still others played with a doll house, they were learning, said Langley, who has taught preschool at Joy, Niemann, Knapp and Park schools. "They internalize concepts without really being taught," she said. Langley encourages creative thinking as children play in various areas of the room. Children also spend time honing large motor skills on a variety of three-wheel bikes in the gymnasium. In addition, whenever weather permits, they play outside. Davis, who says he has a dream job as principal of the preschool, said seeing the enormous growth in skills among such young children is a powerful reminder of the joy of teaching. On Sept. 1, when the school opened, the enrollment was 235. Now, it's 385. He also said it's thrilling to see how parents are becoming involved in their children's education. "Everyone makes parents welcome here," Davis said. Abby Vittatoe, mother of Jada Vittatoe, who is in the 3-year-old class, agrees. "I saw stories about the Eastport school in the neighborhood, but at first I wasn't sure about it." A 2001 graduate of Michigan City High School, Vittatoe believes she received a good education and felt prepared for college, but she still had some doubts about a public preschool. "To be honest, I had enrolled my daughter in another preschool just in case I didn't like this one," she said. Although Vittatoe is active at the school, serving on the Strategic Plan tactic team, Davis only recently heard the story about registering her daughter at a "just-in-case" preschool. "I can understand your apprehension," he said. "This is a new program." Vittatoe now is a complete convert. "I always feel welcome," she said. "It's easy to talk with the teachers, and my daughter is learning so much. "Here's an example. One day we were in the bathroom at home and all of a sudden she began to count by 10s. When I asked where she learned to do that, she said, 'Oh, mama, we do that at school all the time." Assessment data show Davis that most children are making progress. Teachers look at skills such as recognizing letters, counting objects, attention span and even book handling to see whether the child knows how to hold the book right-side-up, for example. By the end of the first semester, 79 percent of 4-year-old boys and 81 percent of girls recognized their names, an improvement of 19 percentage points for boys and 17 for girls over the first quarter. The improvement in number recognition is even more dramatic. Second quarter improvement was 29 percentage points for boys and 26 for girls. Girls started with a 15 percentage point advantage over boys, with 21 percent of boys and 36 percent of girls recognizing numbers in the first quarter. Eastport has services for parents as well in a parent resource center operated by social worker Michelle Webb. Parents can find information and referral for issues such as health care, job training, housing and other essentials. Next fall, when Jada Vittatoe advances to the 4-year-old class, her younger sister, Tessa, will join her on the school bus (she really wants to ride that bus, mom says of Tessa) and in school with the 3-year-olds. Their little brother Gavin, 7 months, will have to wait a few years. Perhaps his sisters can tutor him in physics. Contact reporter Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Roger Kaputnik]

21% of boys do not recognize their own names?! That is outrageous. I can't even imagine one child not knowing his own name. How can this be?

[Southsider2k12]

I haven't seen stats for name recognition before, but I know the stats for many other entry level things that just blew my mind. The one that stuck with me was that something like 1 in 4 kids didn't know how a book worked when the got to kindergarden in MC (how to read left to right, front to back, and how to flip pages).

[Ang]

When my son started kindergarden, he could read Dr. Suess books cover to cover with no help from me. He could tie his own shoes and he could use a computer and mouse proficiently. I taught him how to do those things. I felt it was important for him to know those things before he started school so he could be on the same level as the rest of his class. Turns out he was the ONLY kid in his class that could read, tie his shoes and work a computer and mouse. At the first parent/teacher meeting, his teacher asked me what pre-school he attended. I told her he never attended pre-school, why? She said that he was the most advanced kindergardener she ever had. She had considered skipping him ahead to first grade. I said no because I didn't think he was emotionally ready, but academically he has always been ahead of his peers. It's because I spent time with him teaching the simple things kids need to know. The problem today is too many parents rely on outsiders to teach their kids life skills. They don't do the job themselves. I believe that is why the kids are the way they are today, why you see more and more juveniles in the police reports, why teacher's have to resort to physical tactics to get these kids to behave.

Concerning the student who was attacked by the teacher, while I totally think what the teacher did was wrong, I'm sure the student pushed to teacher to the breaking point.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Ang is right!!!

about both things, of course.

[Ang]

Thanks Rog!