Edmonds
When the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation came last spring, inviting the Edmonds School District to apply for a grant, the district jumped on the opportunity.
The district applied for an early learning grant and turned out to be one of three districts to get $500,000 to be used over two years.
The grant will be used to help students make a smoother transition from preschool to kindergarten.
Cedar Valley Community School will host the program, and Beverly, College Place, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Spruce elementary schools also will participate. More than 700 kindergarten students are expected to enroll over the next two years.
About 36 preschools and more than 100 preschool teachers worked with kindergarten teachers this year to start the program.
The goal of the grant is “to build a stronger bridge with the community early learning educators in order to close the school readiness gap for its neediest children,” according to Sue Venable, student and family support administrator for the district.
“By the first day of school, because the children have participated in this program, they’re ready to go right away because they’ve got the system down,” said Venable. “We’ve invited preschool teachers to work alongside the kindergarten teachers. The kindergarten teachers and the preschool teachers learn together.”
“That connection makes a transition much smoother,” she said. “They get to kindergarten and its fairly familiar.”
Even after the two-year grant period is over, the district hopes to build on what it’s started.
“The relationship will continue,” said Ann Arnold, a kindergarten teacher who stepped down to help implement the program. “That’s our goal.”
The Gratia-Ainslie Foundation also is providing assistance to establish take-home libraries in the kindergarten classrooms at each of the six elementary schools helped by the program. Students will have the opportunity to take home high-quality picture books. Teachers will conduct sessions during the school year to teach parents strategies for reading to their children to promote literacy.
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