♪[ UPBEAT MUSIC ]♪ Hello and welcome to Carolina Classrooms.

I am your host Bre Wilson, the Early Learning and Literacy Coordinator here S.C.E.T.V.

With me I have a panel of very dedicated early learning professionals that can tell you what you need to do to get the little ones in your life kindergarten ready.

Joining us today, we have Dr. Quincie Moore, Director of the State Department of Education Office of Early Learning and Literacy; Dr. Kari-Claudia Allen, Family Medicine Physician at PRISMA Health; Georgia Mjartan, Executive Director of South Carolina First Steps and Dr. Arthur Brewton, President of the South Carolina State Head Start Association.

Thank you all for joining us.

We'll start by giving you the opportunity to share some of your experience and expertise with our viewers today.

Quincie, I'll ask you to go first.

Can you start by helping us define Kindergarten readiness and also letting us know how the State Department of Education assesses Kindergarten readiness?

Absolutely.

All children that are five years old by September first of that school year are kindergarten ready, but readiness is so much more than just a matter of age.

From birth all the way up to five years old, parents, care givers, community members all should be nurturing the children, providing great learning environments for them and establishing positive relationships so that they already, but every child develops differently.

So that means every child is ready differently.

And so, as educators we've got to be prepared to meet children where they are.

Some have had formalized learning experiences and in 4K or daycares where they've, you know, had literacy and numeracy skills practice.

Some have had no formalized education prior to being in kindergarten, so readiness is, is a broad, broad word.

At the State Department, we use something called the K.R.A.

which is, stands for Kindergarten Readiness Assessment but please know it's not a test.

It is measures in four domains: language and literacy skills; mathematical thinking; social emotional; and physical activity.

So in those four domains what a parent may hear about, a child may be observed out on the playground.

A child may be observed and taught with a teacher in a small group.

A child may answer some questions on a computer or tablet or an iPad.

And so, the teacher's assessing these four domains and then what happens is the teacher's then able to use that information to gauge how their instruction ought to be.

And, some of the activities even feel like games to the children, so that's a little bit about how we define readiness and what we use to assess it, but it's not a test, it's an assessment.

<Bre Wilson> I absolutely love it and I love the learning through play and also you hit a very good point, that children hit milestones at different times in their lives so that is very important.

Georgia, I would like to give you the opportunity to define Kindergarten readiness as well.

Thank you.

We are so pleased to have the opportunity to share with parents that Kindergarten readiness and the journey toward kindergarten and school success begins at birth.

It doesn't begin in 4K, it doesn't begin the summer before kindergarten.

It starts really prenatally with a healthy pregnancy and in those early interactions that parents have with their young children.

And so when that child is walking into kindergarten, we think about five different domains and we identify these and share them with families on the Profile of the Ready Kindergartner, which sort of mirrors the language of the Profile of the Ready Graduate which many people in South Carolina are familar with.

So those five domains that we look at, is we want our kindergartners to walk into school with both the cognitive in the non cognitive skills.

So those cognitive skills are language and literacy skills, the pre reading skills that we think about, and mathematical thinking, mathematical skills, but then also, and in fact, even more important are those social emotional skills.

The approaches to learning.

So, a lot of times people say, what does that mean, Georgia, approaches to learning?

So think about the child who can ask good questions, who's engaged with the book or frankly is even able just to sit still long enough to complete a project, a craft project, with their mom or dad.

So those are approaches to learning.

And then finally the motor skills, the physical development is also key.

So, we work with families all across the state to make sure that they know what Kindergarten readiness looks like but equally important that they know that that begins at birth and even prenatally so that moms and dads grandparents and community members can really pour into their children and all those different domains so that when they walk into school they have that positive and successful first experience.

<Bre Wilson> I certainly agree that everything does start at birth and that does bring me to a question for you, Dr. Kari.

So based on the definitions we've heard so far, Kindergarten readiness will begin well before the child will into the classroom.

So it means that families and caregivers their major players when it comes to getting the children kindergarten ready and so from your vantage point what can caregivers and families do to give the children they love the very best start from birth?

Absolutely.

So I totally agree with my fellow panelists that it starts the moment a woman or pregnant person finds out they're pregnant.

Getting really good prenatal care is important.

In my practice, I'd give prenatal care, deliver babies and then take care of them with pediatric care all the way through adolescence into adulthood.

So we know that being in contact with your primary doctor, obstetrician, following their guidelines recommendations for pregnancy are really important.

When the child is born, we start looking at development immediately.

So, we also assess things called milestones through an assessment called The Ages and Stages.

So every time you take your child to the pediatrician or a family doc, they should be asking you, what do their motor skills look like?

What do their communication skills look like?

How are they playing?

And these are things that you can observe and we have measurable goals for each age that they are.

So, even starting as early as twelve months old, fifteen months, eighteen months, twenty four months; What are they achieving?

What are they accomplishing and if there are any delays in expected behavior or expected performance or achievement, we can do early intervention at that point.

So that's really important to get that child into a pediatric care and make sure you're looking at how they are developing in this world.

But specifically for families and caregivers you know another thing we need to think about is interacting on a very intimate levels.

So nurturing that child, pouring in love and attention and being an active parent, an active adult in that child's life whatever your role is.

And then modeling behavior for them that you want them to see.

So I spend just as much time with the care givers talking about their own health as I do their child's health.

So making sure that you are getting exercise, that you're eating well, that you're going out and enjoying the sunshine, that you're playing and teaching them how to do all of those things to start early to take care of themselves because children, very much imitate what they see.

They absorb so quickly and so whatever behaviors were modeling for them is what they are going to pick up for themselves and will probably carry throughout their lifetime.

So just establishing healthy boundaries, healthy habits very early on, interactive play, creative play, being as active and participatory in your child's life as possible are going to be things that get them ready for kindergarten and for life.

<Bre Wilson> Absolutely and things of that nature, the interaction, the playing together, the reading together; I think all of that built on the social emotional that we all discussed so I certainly agree with that sentiment.

I do have a question for you, Arthur.

So as the President of the South Carolina Head Start Association, you serve children from birth to age three.

Can you share Head Start's approach to Kindergarten readiness with us?

The Head Start approach focuses on the whole child and the whole family.

We stress with our care givers, with our families the need for the provision of screenings for our children early on; Hearing screening, vision screenings, child wellness checkups.

And then we work with our families as well to help them manage budgets, to help them with their financial planning, to help them with perhaps trauma informed care.

Our approach is a total approach to the family and the child because we feel that if we serve one and not the other, then we can't be truly successful.

So we do work very closely with the families to make sure that our children have their screenings, their hearing screenings, their vision screenings, their child wellness check ups.

We do follow up them on their immunizations because as relates to personal health, all those things are important in the developing child.

And then we focus with the care givers on a group check, first thing every morning, a group health check with the children by asking them a simple question, "how are you feeling today?"

to get an idea of what's going on in their lives, how the kids might be feeling and then providing those activities.

And we stress in this whole family approach with the parents that words are important to children, before they're born, after they're born and we stress the use of as much language as possible in different places, in the grocery store, in the home, in the in the church when they're out and about pointing things out to the children, to help them develop the sense of language and help those brain cells begin to grow and develop so that they can have that foundation as well.

So, the Head Start philosophy, to sum it up, is a whole child, whole family approach to Kindergarten readiness.

Well we did ask a few questions on social media and so this is actually a question that came from a viewer for you, Quincie.

They wanted to know in South Carolina 4K is not necessarily a requirement.

Is there a reason why and what options do care givers and families have once their child turns four?

So currently there is no state that has compulsory 4K.

So our state, South Carolina, though, was one of the first ones to offer universal 4K for four year olds and so we're real proud about that.

And every district currently has some, some type of 4K.

offering for parents, through E.I.A.

funds, might be a half day program through CERDEP, might be a full day program and our governor, Governor McMaster is really pushing to expand the CERDEP offerings that we have in the state of South Carolina.

In our CERDEP classrooms full 4K offerings are six and a half hours a day and they're gonna get some good, good, good learning there in those classrooms.

If a parent wanted to know and I'm sure Georgia is gonna want to talk about this, is we've been working in collaboration with a lot of different issues but particularly this one and I'm not gonna steal her thunder, but, we have a website that parents can go to and see what the offerings are out there, whether it's Head Start, First Step, what is out there for them because it varies from district to district.

And so, I won't steal her thunder.

I'll let her have the ball on that.

<Bre Wilson> All right, Georgia, would you like to explain to our viewers how they can find what options are best for them once their child becomes of age?

What Dr. Moore said is right.

We have a wonderful collaboration between the State Department of Education, Head Start, Department of Social Services and South Carolina First Steps because collectively we have a solution for any family.

Whatever they're looking for, for their four year old, there's an answer in South Carolina and that's really unique in this state.

So, in South Carolina families can go to www.palmettoprek.org and within less than two minutes they can find all of the available programs that their child is eligible for for free in their community based on their child's age, their child's home address, they can also use a work address to locate what's most convenient for their family and one of the things that's really wonderful < clears throat > excuse me, one of the things that's really wonderful for families in South Carolina with palmettoprek.org is that parents can decide if it's important to them for their child to be in a 4K program, maybe they have older siblings so they want to be at a local public school so they can bring their children by school bus every morning to one location or maybe they say, you know what, we're really interested in a child care based program where our four year old can have that experience of being a senior; of being you know, very confident coming into that 4K year.

They've been going to this child care center.

Through First Steps 4K, we have over two hundred and twenty different child care centers across the state that offer the curriculum driven program.

Or maybe they say, you know what, I have a three year old and I want to make sure that my three year old gets all of those wraparound supports that Dr. Brewton was talking about and I want my child to be in a program 3K, 4K, all the way into kindergarten until maybe they select Head Start.

So all of those different opportunities along with childcare vouchers through D.S.S.

they're all available on this one single portal which is an initiative of the state's early childhood advisory council which is a place where we all come together and think about how we can support families navigating what can be a kind of complex and confusing system without resources like this.

<Bre Wilson> That is amazing!

I should have been taking notes.

As a parent, you know, it's so much information out there that we don't know about so thank you for sharing that with our viewers.

Now the school year, 2020 to 2021 school year is coming to a close.

So what about the summer?

So summer slide, you know, that is a big concern especially given the last year we had in this year with a lot of virtual learning going on.

So, what, Dr. Brewton, what does Head Start offer regarding the summer and just making sure that learning is constant over the summer so that when the children are in school in the fall they haven't lost anything?

Well last year, we had the opportunity through some grant extensions through the office of Head Start to actually provide a summer learning program for four year old children who would be transitioning and for children with disabilities because we do have a focus on children with disabilities as well.

As a matter of fact, ten percent of our enrollment has to be children with an identified disability that we serve.

So we do summer programs, last year.

But right now, we're looking to partner, we've been partnering for the last several years with A.B.C.

Voucher Program where we provided extended activities for our four year olds during the summer, with the Department of Social Services providing that funding and in addition to that, we love to collaborate with our local school districts to find out what kinds of things children need to know upon transitioning.

And then we find those things out and we work with the children on that and if there's not a formal summer program in place because you probably don't know but the offices of Head Start, when Head Start began, it began as a summer program and then it developed into the wide ranging whole child, whole family program that it is today.

So we do have many grantees who are providing some enrichment activities for children so that they won't lose any of that learning during the summer months.

< Bre Wilson> That is amazing!

And Georgia, what about First Steps?

Do they offer any summer programs as well?

First Steps 4K has available right now enrollment for rising 4K students ahead of their 4K year, as well as rising kindergartner.

So, I'll share with you.

I just had a conversation with my kids' elementary school principal this morning and she said that the local public school where my kids go is not able to offer a summer program, so she's going to send the kids who were in the public school 4K program over to the First Steps 4K program this summer.

So it's district by district and school by school but we really see First Steps 4K as part of this network of support, whether it's a year long program that starts with the summer before a child turns four, or whether it's just a summer intervention.

We operate year round.

We also have extended hours so that families can keep their child in this evidence based, rigorous curriculum driven program all the way until 5:30 when they pick them up after work.

Our programs are available at free4ksc.org including the summer enrollment happening right now.

<Bre Wilson> Oh, that is amazing!

That is amazing!

Yeah, keeping them busy during the summer; that's so important and of course, you know, we've been using technology a lot, social media, we're in an age of social media where the children are on TikTok, there on Instagram, they're swiping on YouTube and finding videos.

So Dr. Kari, this question is actually specifically for you.

In an age of social media, how we're in now, what do you suggest parents and caregivers and families do to limit screen time but also be able to use screen time to provide that learning that, you know, it can provide for their children?

Yes.

So screen time is not all bad depending on the child and their age.

Social media is not all bad but with anything that you do you have to do it in moderation, there has to be discipline and structure in the home around everything and again getting back to those healthy habits.

So, there was a study about thirty years ago that showed that children who have delayed gratification do better in life.

So, this study, they basically offered the child one piece of candy if you take it now, two pieces if you wait five minutes; I'll leave the room and come back later, you can have two pieces.

And the children who waited and got the bigger reward at the end, showed levels of discipline that carried them throughout their lives.

So, they follow them for 10, 20 years and actually found that they had higher levels of education, income, etcetera.

And so even with social media, that can be a thing where you say, Hey you know, we're going to do our play, we're going to do our Legos, we'll do our art, our creative exercises and then when we're done with that, you can have 30 minutes of social media or you can have your tablet for an hour or something like.

Now, be very clear from zero, so birth to 18 months, the Academy of American Pediatrics says absolutely no screen time.

So, we recommend that there is no screen time at all in children that are less than 18 months.

Maybe an exception could be because we're in a pandemic.

People are separated from families, you know, saying hi to papa or something on facetime or Skype, that's acceptable, but even that should be limited.

Between ages 18 months to 24 months, we see that you can start introducing high quality educational programming but that it should definitely be limited to less than one hour per day, it should be co-watched, so you are watching with your children, explaining and it should be learning and educational.

The thing to avoid is sticking a tablet in front of a baby's face, sticking a phone in front of a baby's face and letting that babysit them.

We know that not only can that cause delay as far as language and speech development, but it can also cause what is looking to be like addiction, even in children.

You can see children now, I've even seen in my office where you try to take the tablet away and they go into meltdowns and have emotional tantrums and struggle with the emotional liability that comes with that.

And so, you want to make sure that they're not using that as a crutch and that there are definitely guidelines in the home around when we use social media.

So, I would say everything in moderation.

TikTok can be fun.

You can make those educational as well.

You know, kids can have some level of involvement and engagement on social media, but it should be monitored, you should talk to your children about online safety and in our babies, absolutely, those brains are developing too quickly and they're not getting those language skills they need.

Absolutely no screen times in our babies.

<Bre Wilson> Thank you, thank you.

That is so interesting and I know a lot of us parents we may have been guilty of the zero to eighteen months showing screen time so it does make you re-think certain things, so thank you for that.

As we're closing out, I do have another question for you all.

So, first time care givers, they may be wondering what their children's kindergarten experience may look like.

So that everyone can give me a sentence or a word that would sum up the kindergarten experience, what would it be?

And Quincie, I'll start with you.

<Dr.

Quincie Moore> Thank you for let me go first.

So, I will say in a sentence that they can expect a high quality learning environment where individual students needs are met in a literacy rich environment that is oozing with purposeful play, opportunities that nurture the curious mind of the whole child.

<Bre Wilson> Thank you.

And what about you, Dr. Kari?

A word or sentence.

<Dr.

Kari-Claudia Allen> Yes.

So stimulation, stimulation, stimulation.

Lots of interaction, lots of play.

Growing brains very rapidly but, it will be a time where they are going to be socially interacting, having lots of fun and their brains are going to be expanding with knowledge and lots of stimulation.

<Bre Wilson> Great word.

What about you, Georgia?

<Georgia Mjartan> Exploration.

Kindergarten is a time of learning and growth that self directed by the child and in South Carolina families have so many choices.

Districts provide Magnet programs, they provide a multi age classrooms, they provide traditional kindergarten classrooms.

And so, whatever the exploration modality that works for a child is, we really encourage parents to look for the program that's right for them.

South Carolina is so lucky to be able to offer that to families and frankly to their children.

<Bre Wilson> Absolutely.

And what about you, Arthur, one word sentence?

< Dr. Arthur Brewton> Yeah, I would say that parents should expect more structured learning activities and with emotional supports for the children.

They won't be the same as it is in pre K. So they need to keep that in mind that the learning experience will be a little bit different because the kindergarten teachers will be expecting a little bit more self empowerment from the kids and self control from the children so they should expect that going in.

But, there will be and I agree with Dr Moore, there will be a lot of high quality learning activities and interactions among the children and there will be additional opportunities for the children to develop and improve upon their language skills.

<Bre Wilson> Thank you!

This is been such an insightful and inspirational conversation.

Thank you again to our in studio panel.

Thank you Quincie, Dr. Kari, thank you Georgia, thank you Dr. Brewton.

We appreciate each of you for sharing your advise and your expertise.

We hope that the information you've shared will help our viewers access your programs for their little ones and will also help them get their kids kindergarten ready.

Thank you also to our viewers for joining us!

You're invited to access this program online at carolinaclassrooms.org There, we will continue the conversation and dive into questions we didn't get to unpack in this episode.

We appreciate your viewership!

For South Carolina E.T.V.

and S.C.E.T.V.

Education, I'm Bre Wilson.

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