Jumping Into Kindergarten Hayden Program Helps Kids, Parents Get Ready Even Before School Begins By Erica Curless Staff Writer

When 5-yearold Craig Johnson steps into Mrs. Herman’s kindergarten class today he should feel no fear and shed no tears.

Same goes for his 20 or so classmates. For them, kindergarten is nothing new.

That’s because they spent last week preparing themselves - and their parents - for the big day.

It’s part of Hayden Meadows Elementary’s Jump Start program. Kindergarten teachers Judy Herman and Mary Haskins give up two weeks of their summer vacation, without pay, to ensure their students don’t get overwhelmed on the first day. After all, leaving Mom for a playground full of 500 older children isn’t easy.

“If you get them started off feeling successful and happy, what a great present,” Haskins said. “One of the downsides is we give up a couple weeks out of summer vacation, but to us the rewards are so great it’s worth it.”

Craig Johnson’s mom, Becky, is especially grateful for Jump Start. Craig is the first of her two children to start school.

“I think he would really melt down and be very scared,” said Johnson. “This helps him focus and be calm about things.”

Last Wednesday afternoon, the Johnsons walked into Herman’s classroom. Craig held his mom’s hand and peeked out from behind her legs at the five other students and their parents.

For that day, this was class. The small group learned how to line up for recess, got familiar with their room and the proper way to wash their hands before snack time.

Their parents even got a lesson from literacy teacher JoAnn House, who also gave up part of her summer along with the school secretaries and janitors.

On Friday, the kindergartners came back and met their entire class, students who already went through Jump Start.

The bonus is they had the school to themselves and could focus on making friends and getting comfortable with their teachers.

That way, Tuesday won’t be so scary.

“We just found it to be so gentle for them,” said Haskins, who brought the Jump Start idea to Hayden Meadows three years ago when she moved from Oregon.

Currently, Jump Start is offered only at Hayden Meadows, but these teachers want to see the program district-wide. They believe it helps them get to know the students better, which enhances their teaching ability. It also gets parents involved from the start.

After a short introduction Wednesday, Herman took a photo of each child with their parent and sent them out the back door to the playground.

“Oh, I love that bridge thing,” Craig said, jumping around pointing to a red playground toy. He quickly grabbed his mom’s arm and dragged her to the tire swing.

An hour later, after a pep talk about fire drills, lockdown procedures and how to sit quietly in a circle, the parents left their children for House’s class.

The children hugged their moms and frantically waved good-bye, yet none seemed too upset. In fact, the parents looked more worried.

House emphasized the best ways to get children interested in reading at home. She made the six mothers spell their first names using a funky alphabet with fake symbols to show the difficulty students have learning letters and forming sentences.

“If a child is not familiar automatically then there’s confusion,” she told the class. “How would you approach it? That’s the same thing a little one is going through.”

Andi Henderson, mother of five, loves Jump Start. She was there Wednesday with her son, Caleb. Her daughter went through the program two years ago.

“I think it makes the difference,” Henderson said.

And she would know. Her two oldest children didn’t have Jump Start.

“It’s so overwhelming on the first day for little bitty kids in so many ways,” she said. “They can get used to the area so when they start it’s not a big scary place.”

The night before Jump Start, Henderson said Caleb was quiet - not normal behavior for the boy who has a cast on his left arm resulting from a bed-jumping accident. The thoughts of kindergarten had him scared, until Henderson reassured him she would be there for his first day.

“He jumped up and started getting his clothes ready,” Henderson said.

For Caleb, his favorite part of Jump Start wasn’t meeting his classmates.

“We got to see that big room, what’s it called, oh yeah, the gym,” Caleb said before bolting out the door for recess.