Preschool Programs Get Kudos

Doris Steele works with preschoolers in March at Hillcrest Elementary School. The preschool class is part of the state's More at Four program.

Brandee Hayhurst, Burlington Times-News

GRAHAM - Walking into Sherri Spraggins’ classroom at the Ray Street Center, it’s hard to know where to look first for all the shelves overflowing with toys, brightly colored pictures, and letters and numbers dancing across the walls.

But her preschoolers have had a few months of practice, learning where to find their favorite games and the all-important skill of putting everything back in its place.

“Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share,” Spraggins sings while clapping.

The children hang strips of freshly painted paper on a drying rack and put toys back in bins. They run over to the carpet, where they get a lesson on weather and counting the days on the calendar.

Whether they’re learning to share, to stand in line or to write the letters in their names, everything the children do here is a lesson that will prepare them for
kindergarten. But these teachers also make sure every lesson is chock full of fun and games.

“They’re so inquisitive,” said Spraggins, who has been teaching in schools and at child care centers for 12 years. “They want to touch everything and experience everything.”

In the past five years, North Carolina’s More at Four program has poured millions into pre-kindergarten classes like those offered in the Alamance-Burlington School System. This year, the state is spending $78.5 million on More at Four classrooms. Gov. Mike Easley is pushing to change how education lottery funds are distributed to give more money to the program.

More at Four gives priority to children from low-income families and considers whether children have developmental delays, health issues, or speak English as a second language. Many of the students have never attended a licensed child-care facility.

Other 4-year-olds in these classes receive a free education thanks to federal Title I funding or through public funds for preschoolers with disabilities. Title I funds are distributed to children who have the lowest results on developmental screening. Schools also survey the parents to see if their kids qualify.

The National Institute for Early Education Research recently gave North Carolina kudos for being one of just two states to meet all 10 of its quality standards for preschool. They look at things like class size and teachers’ level of education.

Research suggests a high-quality education before kindergarten makes a difference between at-risk kids lagging behind their peers or succeeding in school. All of the local school system’s teachers have a college degree and are licensed, and all but one of 11 preschool sites has a four- or five-star license from the state. The 11th class is a new addition in the process of getting a license.

A typical class has a teacher and teacher assistant working together with 15 students, according to Dru Blankenship, a lead teacher for pre-kindergarten.

There are 233 children in pre-kindergarten classes right now. About 525 applied, but not all children qualified.

“We go by children who have the most need for preschool experience,” Blankenship said.

There are six classes at the Ray Street Center because it has a lot of space available for the preschoolers. But nine schools also offer pre-kindergarten classes on-site, giving the students an opportunity to get used to school early.

“We feel like it’s a very vital part of the school program,” said Robin Woody, principal of Hillcrest Elementary School. “Everything we do here they participate in.

“It makes the transition for our kindergarten so easy too.”

In Doris Steele’s class down the hall, students wear signboards around their necks with letters spelling B-U-N-N-Y. They sing a version of the Bingo song: Bunny-was-his-name-oh. The song gives her students practice counting claps.

“When we started, it was very different,” said Steele, who has been teaching for 25 years, 15 of those in preschool. “Now we have a curriculum to go by. We do the same thing kindergarten does, but on a lower level.”

The curriculum is heavily focused on literacy. But that doesn’t mean preschoolers are pushed into a strict school day older than their years.

The kids spend a lot of time playing, but they’re learning social skills as well as numbers, colors and shapes while they do it. One boy sits at a computer, pushing a
mouse to color a tree. “That tree is green,” he announces to his teacher.

Steele said her students typically have a brief lesson or two in the morning. They have breaks for recess and lunch. They get at least a couple of hours of free play time. And yes, there’s still nap time in the afternoon.

Spraggins said she sees a significant difference in how her kids are doing at the beginning of the year, when some cry for their parents or are too shy to speak, and the end of the year, when they chatter constantly, can follow directions and recognize their names. Some kids barely know how to use a fork and spoon when they first come in, but Spraggins makes sure they do when they leave.

“You can see it’s like all of the sudden the light bulb goes on,” Spraggins said. “Some of ours didn’t want to leave their parents. Now they’re more confident in themselves that I can do these things.”

Kindergarten teachers tell her they can tell who’s been to preschool, because the students walk right into the classroom, sit down and go to work.

“I try to make it fun,” she said. “I want them to be able to get along in school.”