August 23, 2013 – Hattiesburg American – Staff Writer Ellen Ciurczak eciurczak@hattiesburgamerican.com
Hattiesburg American Article – Link
It looks and sounds like chaos upon first entering the 4-year-old classroom at Playschool preschool in Petal — as 35 children talk, laugh and move about.
But lead teacher Debbie Wilson says it’s organized chaos. She and the two other teachers in the room are constantly working to prepare these children for kindergarten.
“They stay very active and very busy,” she said. “They’re learning. We try to build their social skills and help them to be independent.
“We help them grow in the academic area, with vocabulary and communication being very important.”
Playschool’s teachers work with all 105 children at the school — infants to age 5 — to get them ready for kindergarten. They learn about what the children need and how to help them through workshops and interaction with kindergarten teachers at Petal Primary School — all facilitated by the city’s Excel By 5 coalition.
Excel by 5 is a certification process focusing on a community’s young children. It emphasizes the important roles parents and early childhood educators play in the lives of children during their most formative years — birth to 5 years.
Petal’s Excel By 5 coalition works with all five of the city’s licensed child care centers and P.A.C.E. Head Start.
Nadine Coleman, director of Petal’s Center for Families and Children, and a member of the Excel By 5 coalition, says Petal was the first community in the state to achieve certification in 2006. It has since been recertified twice — in 2009 and 2012.
To achieve certification, Petal had to meet a number of requirements, including establishing a community coalition of parents, early childhood educators, health care providers and other community representatives. Coalition members had to assist with three community-wide events per year with an early childhood focus.
Coleman said when Petal first was working on certification, Petal School District was heavily involved. The district is still a major player, but now businesses, government officials, the child care centers and parents all participate.
“It moved from being a school district project to being owned by the community,” she said. “We have for many years been looking at where is it do we need to be putting our focus to make sure kids succeed?”
The city of Petal has gotten involved with preparing children for kindergarten by paying the salary of Excel By 5’s school readiness coordinator Kelly Gunn.
Gunn works with the child care center teachers, helping them get their students ready for kindergarten.
“I do teacher workshops with our child care centers. I model techniques for the teachers,” she said.
Gunn has been emphasizing vocabulary development and social and emotional growth with the teachers, because a survey of Petal Primary teachers found those were the areas where children needed work.
“We’re working with the Primary School and we’re trying to set up some teacher training with the kindergarten teachers so they can show them best practices,” Gunn said.
Gunn also has held several workshops for the child care teachers on a behavior technique known as Conscious Discipline. It is a classroom management program that uses everyday life events to teach children self-control, conflict resolution, character development and social skills.
“We’ve talked to them enough about it that they see it’s worthwhile and that it works,” Gunn said.
Petal School District Superintendent John Buchanan said having Gunn work with the preschools has kept them closely allied with Petal Primary School.
“It helps keep the lines of communication open,” he said. “That relationship we have with our pre-Ks is strong.
“They have no problem calling Kelly. She’s there. It’s a wonderful relationship.”
Petal Primary Principal Kim Ralston says Excel By 5’s emphasis on preparing young children for kindergarten has helped at her school.
“We really value the Excel By 5 program,” she said. “Their purpose is about helping to provide services for our pre-K students so they are ready for kindergarten.
“We see a huge advantage for the students who take part.”
Ralston said Petal Primary is working more and more with the preschools.
“The partnership has grown and the Excel By 5 program is the reason,” she said.
Margie Nobles, executive director of Playschool, says working with Excel By 5 helps her teachers help their students.
“They let us know what the children need to know when they walk into the classroom so they’ll be successful the first week of school,” she said.
Nobles says Excel By 5 is working.
“I love when parents come over after the first few weeks of (kindergarten) and say ‘they really adjusted well. They’re doing well.’ ”