home Next year's Kindergarten students and parents prepare for future learning

Next year's Kindergarten students and parents prepare for future learning

For many, Kindergarten represents the formal start of a child’s lifelong journey of learning. Children who have positive experiences at the outset of this journey are in a better position to experience success at school into the future. The Welcome to Kindergarten (WTK) Program ensures these positive beginnings.

In the spring of each year, The Welcome to Kindergarten Program, offered collaboratively by the CBE and The Learning Partnership (sponsored by Alberta Education, Upstart, BMO, and the Bowness/Montgomery Literacy Initiative) provides families of upcoming Kindergarten children with materials and activities that will help prepare their child for school. This program involves the magic triad of the child, parent and teacher.

During May and June many CBE schools host Welcome to Kindergarten events such as the one held on May 27 at Penbrooke Meadows School. The May 27 session included approximately 25 families whose children will attend Kindergarten at the school in the fall. Parents and children attended this session together and moved from centre to centre, experiencing some of the literacy related activities they can use at home over the summer, using the materials in the Welcome to Kindergarten bag. After experiencing the centres, children joined the teachers for some singing, dancing and a story.

At the conclusion of the event, the children were given the Welcome to Kindergarten bag to take home with them. Contents of the bag include magnetic letters and numbers, three books by Canadian authors, crayons, a pencil, glue stick, round ended scissors, a scribbler, colored construction paper, templates of upper and lower case letters, numbers 1 to 10, play dough and information about how to order a CD of music that they will hear when they begin Kindergarten. Some schools also include a Welcome to Kindergarten scrapbook in which children can record pictures and drawings during the summer.  The children will bring their completed scrapbooks to school on their first day to share with their teacher.

At the orientation, parents also had the opportunity to speak with school administration, Kindergarten teachers, and representatives from Alberta Health Services, the Calgary Public Library, In-School Settlement Program Team, and community agencies that provide programming for children and their families.   

The smiles on the faces of the children who attended the session at Penbrooke Meadows School, combined with their enthusiasm and excitement, are a clear indication that participation in the program leaves them feeling eager to start school.

The CBE currently has more than 35 schools and 1,600 families participating in this program.

Research is clear- the early years are a critical time for brain development.  The experiences children have at home and in the community directly impact healthy life outcomes. The Welcome to Kindergarten Program is a wonderful opportunity to impact on a child’s potential for success. 

More information about the program is available on our website: www.thelearningpartnership.ca 

The Calgary Board of Education, Calgary's public school system
"Educating Tomorrow's Citizens Today"