Eight local childcare centers have signed on to be part of the Excel By 5 effort to help Alcorn County’s children prepare for kindergarten.
“Birth to age five is the most valuable time to prepare our children to enter kindergarten and build a foundation for lifelong success,” said Susan O’Connell, Excel By 5 certification manager. “90 percent of the human brain develops between birth and age five, and a childcare center is a great environment to help better prepare your child for school.”
Eight out of 15 childcare centers in Alcorn County have agreed to participate in the Excel By 5 Program. This means they have agreed to complete five additional contact hours to better prepare their staff and to attend programs and presentations that will make their staff more aware of the organization’s early learning guidelines.
Excel By 5 is a community-based certification program that focuses on the important roles communities play in educating their children during the most formative years of birth to age five. It is a standard by which communities that choose to can be formally recognized for their effort to support young children and their families.
The project identifies gaps in community resources, promotes community collaboration, volunteerism and economic development.
“On the whole, we expect children in Excel By 5 communities will be healthier and better prepared for kindergarten and first grade,” O’Connell said.
In the area of early care and education, local childcare centers and head start locations play a key role in the certification process, O’Connell explained. With a large percentage of the children in Alcorn County currently enrolled in these facilities, childcare centers have the opportunity to significantly impact children during their early learning years.
This is accomplished in several ways. Childcare providers, head start centers and teachers from the local school systems are asked to meet three times a year to learn and share information concerning topics relative to children ages birth to five — such as the ages and stages of development, as well as the Excel By 5 early learning standards.
For a childcare center to be licensed in the state of Mississippi, its teaching staff are required to have a minimum of 15 training hours per year. During the Excel By 5 certification process, childcare centers are asked to have five additional hours of training.
“As Alcorn County continues to pursue becoming an Excel By 5 Early Childhood Community, childcare centers will continue to play a key role in the development of young children,” said O’Connell. “As we all know it takes special people to guide, direct and teach young children. We thank each of the childcare providers in Alcorn County who are actively involved with the Alcorn County Excel By 5 Coalition. Together we can make a difference.”
Alcorn County Excel By 5 childcare centers are:
— Circle Y Childcare Center, 665-7901
— Just Kids, 284-9555
— Kids Kountry, 462-8387
— Kidzville Learning Center, 286-5450
— Little Blessings, 287-8750
— Loving Hands, 665-0266
—Tattle Tales, 286-2729
— Wheeler Grove Learning Center, 287-8977