More time to learn and play

Parents at Trentwood Elementary have a new option this year to put their children in a tuition-based extended day kindergarten program.

The program is not the all-day kindergarten funded by the state, but a special combination of preschool and kindergarten that requires the school to become a licensed day care. That way, low-income parents who can’t afford the $290 monthly tuition can use their DSHS day care vouchers to pay for it.

“It’s been a learning experience for me,” said Principal Sigrid Brannan.

The extended day program is considered a day care in the morning, which requires a full-time aide. In the afternoon it is considered a kindergarten. The tuition was set to be competitive to day care options that many parents of kindergartners would need anyway, but also high enough to pay for program expenses in a tight budget year. No scholarships are available. “It needs to pay for itself,” she said.

The school is offering the program in one classroom and also has two sessions of regular half-day kindergarten. After looking at the all-day kindergarten offered at Trent Elementary, Brannan thought it would be wonderful to have a program like that at her school. Last spring parents were asked if they were interested in a tuition-based program. “We had more interest than we did people who paid the tuition,” she said.

While getting the school licensed as a day are is complicated, Brannan said she thinks the program is worth it. “It’s the right thing for kids,” she said. “I’m foolish enough not to know what I’m getting into. I just jump in and do it.”

Shaunda Paske has taught kindergarten at Trentwood for 14 years and is excited to be teaching the new program. “I like it,” she said. “It’s a very long day at first, but they’re getting there.”

Half-day kindergarten only lasts for 2 1/2 hours. After recess and time spent on P.E., library and computer training a teacher is hard-pressed to fit in academic work. “You basically have an hour of quality teaching time,” she said.

Now her students have more time to learn academics as well as social skills. “It is giving the kids more time for hands on experience,” she said. “It allows them more play time.”

Paske covers academic subjects in the morning when kids are fresh and energized. But there’s also time for it in the afternoons if she needs extra emphasis on a tricky subject. “If they’re not quite getting it, we can revisit it in the afternoon,” she said. “They are expected to know quite a bit.”

Paske has 23 students, two of whom choiced into the program from Otis Orchards Elementary. Brannan is confident that the program will expand in future years, particularly when the economy improves and more parents can afford the tuition. “I think it’s an ‘if you build it they will come’ situation,” she said. “I’m excited about it.”