When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world in 2020, schools were forced to grapple with how to effectively teach and ensure students had access to quality education. While schools shut down and turned to eLearning, many families with young children in preschool began to worry about how their children would receive the vital early childhood education preschoolers need to continue on to the next stage in life, along with where they can find accessible daycare. The La Porte County Family YMCA understood this predicament and, once it was safe to do so, responded to this issue with their new Kindergarten Readiness Program.
Since September of 2020, the YCMA has offered the Kindergarten Readiness Program to children ages three to five in order to prepare them for life as a kindergartener. Sandy Stefanko, the YMCA’s School Age Director, emphasized the importance of this program during a time when young children are not receiving the necessary early childhood education that establishes everything from emotional intelligence to social connections.
“The goal of this program is to prepare all children ages three, four, and five to be ready to attend kindergarten and to know the skills that are required to be successful,” Stefanko said. “There are a lot of things children need to know, so we want to make sure they have the right tools, and this program does just that.”
Funded by a grant from the Come Back Stronger Fund from Early Learning Indiana, supported by the Lilly Endowment Fund, the Kindergarten Readiness Program began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the grant, the YMCA was able to start the program and offer its services at a discounted rate. Currently, the program has 12 students, and it meets three days a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
The program emphasizes routine, structure, social skills, and emotional intelligence through a hands-on learning approach. Stefanko, an early childhood educator who has been with the YMCA for over 20 years, believes a hands-on approach yields the best results when teaching everything from math, language, reading, and more.
“This is how children learn best,” she said. “It’s also student-led, so even though I may have a plan or an idea of what I’m going to teach, it may not go that way because the kids may need something else that day. We’re able to stay quick on our feet, adapt to what the kids need, and engage with them.”
The focus on social skills sets the Kindergarten Readiness Program apart. Knowing the ABC’s and simple math is important to be successful in kindergarten, that knowledge can only go so far without the social and emotional skills to back them up.
“I really wanted to emphasize social skills in this program, especially now because of COVID-19,” Stefanko said. “We realized a lot of students didn’t have those tools because COVID-19 has made everyone so isolated. So, we focus on developing those social skills so that children are successful in making connections and communicating effectively when they get to kindergarten.”
Communication skills are key in this program, and Stefanko emphasizes the importance of expressing themselves and speaking up when they need to, creating confidence and trust within themselves.
“If there is something they don’t know, I always tell them it is okay that they don’t know and they can tell us that,” Stefanko said. “With that comes patience and compassion. We talk about the YMCA’s core values: honesty, caring, responsibility, and respect. Those core values are things I’ve always included in my teachings.”
Within social skills is emotional intelligence. The world is in a difficult place and has gone through a lot of changes in the past year, and for children, those changes are things they may not understand. Stefanko works closely with children to help them read and understand the emotions they feel in response to change, life, and everyday situations.
“Social and emotional skills are very important; just as important as our math and language skills,” she said.
In comparison to other programs and preschools like it, the Kindergarten Readiness Program is incredibly affordable for families. An exciting feature of the program is the free swim lessons every child can take every week - an important aspect that introduces physical education and an important life skill.
“It’s something we are so proud of because it opens up a whole new horizon,” Stefanko said. “They get to learn how to swim and gain confidence in the water that directly translates to confidence in the classroom. I can see it every day; it’s an important goal we have.”
For more information about the Kindergarten Readiness Program and how to register for the 2021-2022 session, visit the La Porte County Family YMCA’s website at https://www.lpymca.org/.
