School Readiness Begins at Birth

When people talk about children preparing for kindergarten, reading, writing and reciting the ABC’s are among the first things that come to mind. While the development of these skills plays an important role in kindergarten readiness, there are additional things we can do to help our children succeed.

This includes helping them develop the skills necessary to plan, focus their attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. While we aren’t born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice.

Berkshire United Way, in collaboration with our partners at Childcare of the Berkshires, South Berkshire Kids and Kidzone Child Care Educational Centers, has created a “school readiness” Growth Chart. The chart is designed to help families support their child in developing these skills from birth right up to age five. Our goal…to help our children arrive at school ready to learn!

Easton and his parents love using their Growth Chart to measure his growth, both physically and developmentally!

Our Growth Chart includes multiple activities you can do with your children to develop fine and gross motor skills, language and literacy, problem-solving, and social-emotional skills. It also highlights the importance of community building skills, which include visiting our local library, museum, and attending playgroups and early childhood preschool programs.

The colors and photos in the growth chart design were carefully selected to engage children and their caregivers. One local grandmother recently shared the following story with us.

Imagine my delight as my 5-year old granddaughter, Anna exclaimed, "Thanks for the growth chart Mimi!” Anna is 46" tall and her younger brother, Maverick, is 29" (it was a challenge getting his height because he likes to be on his tippy toes).

Anna can do most of the things she should be able to in year 5 (she can't quite take care of her own hair), however, Maverick can do the 1st year things and a few 2nd year things. Anna and I had a great time talking about it!   -  A local grandmother, aka Mimi

Anna measures her younger brother, Maverick, using the Growth Chart.

To obtain your FREE growth chart, please email me at sadornetto@berkshireunitedway.org.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Stephanie
Coordinator of Early Childhood Development

How are the children?

Come away with me, if you will, across these Berkshire mountains and streams.  Come with me across oceans and borders, to the heart of Africa to the lands of Kenya and Tanzania, to the Maasai tribe, renowned as one of the world’s last warrior cultures.  I imagine you’d appreciate learning a greeting to use upon meeting our hosts so that you can make a connection with this fabled tribe.  Are you ready?  The greeting for “Hello, how are you,” is “Kesserian Ingera,” which loosely translated, means “And how are the children?”  Not hello, what’s up. Not I’m fine, thanks, and you?  Not your children, or mine, but the children.

The Chapter One early childhood development coalition has been asking this question, how are the children?  We come together out of a shared concern that 56% of children in the southern Berkshires are not reading proficiently by 3^rd grade.  Seventy-four percent of students who struggle to succeed in reaching this marker are far more likely to continue to struggle in school and in life.  We are a community who is prepared to implement strategies to improve literacy.  In fact, the first strategy developed by the Chapter One coalition was to improve the well-being and access to early learning for our kids, with the goal of ensuring each and every one of our children arrives at school ready for success.

How will we know if we are making a difference?  How will we know we are improving our children’s readiness for school?  How will we know what strategies are working?  In effect, we are now asking together, “How are the children?” To hold these goals and strategies in place, the Chapter One coalition has worked with all six south county school districts.  On April 30^th, eighteen teachers from five school districts spent the first of three evenings together to learn how to measure kindergarten readiness.  

Educators from Morris, Lee, Muddy Brook, New Marlborough, Richmond and Undermountain Elementary Schools gather to learn about the Brigance screening tool. Educators will use the screening tool to collectively measure kindergarten readiness in southern Berkshire County. 

In the weeks and months to come, we will learn important information about our children.  So, friends and neighbors, please join us, in greeting one another, in this ongoing dialogue of this most important question, “How are the children?”  Our futures, yours and mine, are dependent on us having this conversation, whether on Main Street, at the doctor’s office, in our parks, houses of worship, and places of learning. 

Amy Taylor

South County Community Liaison

Community rallies to prepare children for kindergarten

Do you remember how you felt the first time a school bus rolled to a stop and you bid farewell to your backpack-bearing child?  Perhaps you were biting your lip to stop your tears from spilling over as butterflies flitted about inside.

Every parent wants their child to have a great experience at school – to learn new things, make new friends, and remain excited about going every single day. After all, you’ve prepared for this day for quite some time. But did you know school success begins long before that first day? Pittsfield Promise, a Berkshire United Way-led coalition made up of community members from various community sectors, is committed to helping every child get the skills they need to succeed.

On April 6^th, eighteen tables staffed by 20 volunteers from local agencies that work with young children, gathered in the community room at the Berkshire Athenaeum for the sixth annual School Readiness Fair. When the doors opened at 10:30 in the morning, over 15 families were lined up, ready to engage in fun, educational activities designed to foster kindergarten readiness skills.

Activities—all of which can be replicated at home—included making puppets and retelling stories, creating buildings and animals with household items and tape, using bingo markers to trace letters, and rolling dice to identify numbers. Highlights of the event included using Ozobots (tiny robots) used to learn simple coding, riding a school bus for the first time and participating in a free developmental screening called Ages and Stages.

Kelly Bevan McIlquham of Berkshires Macaroni kids helps a young child trace letters with a bingo marker. This was just one of several activities offered at the recent School Readiness Fair held at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

Completing the Ages and Stages screening helps children, aged birth to five, get the best start in life. This simple developmental questionnaire asks you about skills most kids have at that age, to help determine if your child is on track. If s/he needs a little extra practice in a specific area, a Child and Family Community Engagement Coordinator will identify activities you can do to help set your child up for success. 

To schedule a free screening, call Jenn Faulconer at 413.441.0974. After the screening is completed, activities will be suggested to support your child’s growth at home and in the community, creating a path to school readiness.

Stephanie Adornetto

Coordinator of Early Childhood Development

Kindergarten readiness – it takes a community

I am very excited to be a part of Berkshire United Way’s efforts to ensure that every Berkshire County child arrives at kindergarten ready to learn.  

Kindergarten readiness involves many things, including social and emotional development, language and communication development, health and wellbeing, readiness to learn, as well as cognitive and general knowledge.

According to the National Association for the Education on Young Children, “School readiness must be broadly defined and flexible.”  Young children develop at very individual rates. Some may be strong in language, cognitive, and general knowledge and weaker in social development, due to shyness or lack of peer relationships.

Other children may excel in social, emotional, and communication skills, but show less interest in or received less exposure to cognitive skills such as writing, identifying letters, counting and classifying objects, or understanding book concepts. 

What is most important is for children to have a positive attitude toward learning and a community that supports them by providing opportunities for positive, healthy interactions with the adults in their lives. 

Our community partners at Wee Read Pittsfield offer suggestions on ways we can do that – I invite you to visit their Facebook page for inspiration.

Stephanie Adornetto

Coordinator of Early Childhood Development