Path to success: A new research-based program primes kids for kindergarten

When 5-year-old Jose Ventura climbs on the bus for his first day of school at Fairfield Elementary School, it will be old hat.

So will many of the other sometimes intimidating conventions of that thing called kindergarten — that first precious and critical year of a child’s formal schooling, a year that emphasizes creative play, self-management, the rules of social engagement — and, increasingly, academics.

A new 12-week program at Fairfield is giving Jose and 12 of his soon-to-be classmates a primer on all that and more. Kids in Transition to School, which is also being held at Springfield’s Maple Elementary School, provides children a taste of what will be expected in kindergarten and a jump-start on literacy skills.

Funded primarily through a $33,000 United Way of Lane County grant, KITS launched in July and will continue through October. Children attend twice-weekly two-hour play groups; their parents come to concurrent sessions to learn how to help their children be successful.

Jose’s mother, Maria Sanchez, said she has found the class helpful; Jose is her only child, so the school routine is also new for her.

But she’s most pleased with what Jose himself is gaining from the experience — especially the social skills.

“He knew some of that before but now he knows a lot,” said Sanchez, one of several parents who are native Spanish speakers and communicate mostly through an interpreter. Jose, who beamed his way through most of Monday’s play group session, gets to ride the bus to KITS, and already refers to the experience as “kindergarten,” his mother said.

The program is a partnership between the Bethel and Springfield school districts and the Oregon Social Learning Center, which has seen promising results from KITS in a four-year research project involving children in foster care. Katherine Pears, that project’s principal investigator, said 192 children were enrolled in the study, which concluded last year — 102 of them in KITS, the rest part of a control group.

At the end of the summer, children in KITS had better literacy and self-regulating skills, Pears said — a substantive finding, she said, given the comparatively short duration of the program.

“This is a really nice example of research moving out into the real world,” said Pears, now program director for the school-based KITS.

Playgroup sessions consist of opening and closing activities, such as a simple craft or puzzles; a circle time lesson centered on social-emotional goals, such as sharing, problem-solving, making friends and being a good sport; a snack time; and a literacy session that revolves around a letter of the day.

On Monday, the children took turns modeling appropriate responses to head off conflicts — including what to do when you’ve sat down in someone else’s chair. They quickly caught on that politely moving to another chair is the best choice — and got a thumbs-up from teachers and classmates.

The day’s highlight: drizzling colored water into bowls of cornstarch to produce a substance the teachers called “gunk.”

“It’s not a science experiment — nothing’s happening to it!” David Peterson said with an air of disappointment, his hands encrusted in a lumpy yellow slurry. But a bit more cornstarch did the trick, showing off the peculiar tendency of “gunk” to act like both a liquid and a solid.

Teachers asked the children to squeeze five drops of water in the bowl before passing it along to the next child — another lesson in taking turns.

David’s dad, Rob Peterson, said the boy already knew most of his letters before starting KITS, but is learning a lot about getting on with other children — including his big brother, Matthew, an incoming third-grader.

“Things like sharing, taking turns, being happy for the other kid winning, that’s gotten better,” said Peterson, who also teaches at Fairfield.

Fairfield and Maple were selected because of their high poverty rates; most of the children at both qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. Next year, Pears said, KITS will be offered also at Springfield’s Brattain Elementary and Bethel’s Malabon.

There’s no funding yet beyond next year, but officials in both districts said they hope they’ll be able to continue and even expand it.

“This is a research-based program that we know works already,” said Bethel Superintendent Colt Gill, who knocked on doors in the Fairfield neighborhood with other volunteers recruiting for the program last spring.

With Pears’ help, the schools will track the success of participants in hopes of using the data to leverage grants.