My experience with the Pre-K counts program has been extremely positive. I currently have two children attending the program this year. My oldest, Taylor, will be continuing on to Kindergarten next school year.When Taylor first started Pre-K, I was not concerned about him academically, what concerned me was his social interaction with the other children. He tends to play by himself or his brother and usually hesitates in group work projects. I am happy to report that at the end of this school year he has become more interactive than I could have ever imagined. Watching him at school he is comfortable working in groups and will often help other children! I no longer worry about the big adjustment that is going to be Kindergarten, because he will be able to walk in to the classroom with confidence and make friends. I have the Pre-K staff to thank for that.
Taylor has also improved academically, he prints beautifully and has been able to read/spell more and more words as the weeks pass. My child is going to enter Kindergarten being able to read and spell, this makes me happy!
My younger so Conner will continue with Pre-K next school year. Conner can be difficult to teach (well at least for me). Prior to him starting Pre-K I would try to work with him at home recognizing letters/numbers, writing his letters/numbers, and even his name. This proved to be an impossible task. I was worried about him at school because I figured he would react the same, his short attention span would get the best of him and he would not learn anything. That was certainly not the case. I remember after a few weeks of school opening his backpack and finding the paper with his name printed on it, I was floored.
I still find it so amazing that Mrs. Quarture can teach a child of any personality/learning structure. Watching the children in this class they are so comfortable and confident in themselves and their surroundings. Mrs. Quarture is so patient with the children, there are times where every single one of them has their hand up for a question and she will answer every single question, you can tell how important it is to them.
This program is so beneficial on so many different levels. I only wish that more children will get to experience the benefits of this program.