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Incoming Kindergarteners Get Ready for School 

There was record attendance for last year’s Get Ready for School program in Alliance, Canton, and Minerva. Get Ready for School is a program that helps children get ready to enter kindergarten. Last year, Get Ready for School helped over 270 children transition into kindergarten.

From meeting the principal to eating in the cafeteria, the children get a feel for the routines of the school day, which helps to minimize first-day jitters. They learn school rules and teacher expectations, and they get to meet their classmates before school begins.

Sandi Zemrock is a kindergarten teacher at Alliance Early Learning School. More than 80% of all incoming Alliance kindergarteners participated in Get Ready for School last year. Having the children there, before school starts, means that Sandi is able to group those children who are working well together. So once school starts, they’ll be surrounded by friendly faces. As a teacher, Sandi feels the Get Ready for School activities helped her understand where her students stood academically and socially, so that once school began, she had a head start in being able to work with them.

The parents liked the program a lot, too. Lots of parents were raving about the program to Sandi. Since they had already met during Get Ready for School, both Sandi and her students’ parents were far more comfortable with each other during parent/teacher conferences. A lot of the parents’ questions had already been answered during Get Ready for School. Once school started, it helped things go more smoothly for all involved.

Sandi said, “I think most teachers would say it was one of the best things we’ve done, and we’re blessed to be able to do it.”

Sandi is a big fan of Get Ready for School and SPARK Ohio. According to Sandi, “A lot of the children are coming to me more prepared and ready because of SPARK. It’s a great program.”

This year’s Get Ready for School program will happen again before you know it. If you have a child who will be starting kindergarten this fall, make sure to sign up! Contact your SPARK parent partner for details, or call the number listed below for your community.