If you visited Applebees for breakfast on April 15th, you would have seen Morris Street School Readiness Teachers carrying stacks of pancakes, assistant teachers pouring coffee, and our high school volunteers bussing the tables behind them. It wasn’t just any pancake breakfast, it was a fundraising event to ensure The Morris Street Summer Reading Program would be up and running for kindergarteners this July!
The Morris Street Family Resource Center offers a kindergarten Summer Reading Program for children who will be entering kindergarten at Morris Street School in September. This program includes a variety of activities and lessons to enhance important reading skills and instill a love of reading for students. This is especially valuable to students who are transitioning to kindergarten without any prior preschool experience. Children are provided with the opportunity to meet their kindergarten teacher, experience a morning of academics and learn basic rules and expectations of kindergarten. Having attended the program, children are better prepared and adjusted to the kindergarten experience.
Securing funding for this program, however, is no easy task. The Morris Street Family Resource Center Staff have been working tirelessly since February to raise the needed amount. There are many great School Readiness Programs in Danbury, but for our new Morris Street kindergarten friends who have not had preschool, we are determined to offer them a jump start.
There are many ways parents can help prepare their children for kindergarten.
- Read to your child every day
- Establish a routine within your home that your child follows (set time for meals, bed, activities etc).
- Encourage and answer questions from your child.
- Talk about the world around you (count the number of cars that go by, talk about the color of the flowers in your yard).
- Encourage play that helps develop problem-solving skills, creativity, and imagination.
- Familiarize your child with the alphabet and with numbers. (Sing the alphabet song, count).
- Provide opportunities for your child to socialize: Playgroups (weekly playgroups are offered at Morris Street and Mill Ridge).
- Encourage behaviors that demonstrate respect and manners (please and thank you, respecting differences)
- Teach responsibility to your child through simple chores such as putting toys away and picking up clothes.
