FAIRFAX FUTURES' TERRIFIC TRANSITIONS SYMPOSIUM HELPS EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS SUPPORT YOUNG CHILDREN'S SCHOOL READINESS

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Symposium attendees listen to Terrific Transitions panelists.

Child care providers, center directors and preschool teachers joined with kindergarten teachers and elementary school principals for Fairfax Futures’ second annual school readiness symposium, Terrific Transitions: Child Care to Kindergarten. The April 22 symposium provided an opportunity to network with colleagues and to share best practices with other early childhood education professionals in their neighborhoods.

Keynote speaker, Professor Robert Pianta, highlighted the importance of kindergarten teachers and school principals reaching out to families well before their children enter the kindergarten classroom.  Pianta stressed the effectiveness of more personal outreach to a child’s parents before the child enters the kindergarten classroom, rather than waiting until school has already started to hold an initial meeting with parents.

Keynote speaker, Professor Robert Pianta

Keynote speaker, Professor Robert Pianta (4th from the right), is joined by (from right to left): Fairfax County School Board Members Phil Niedzielski-Eichner and Janet Oleszek; FCPS Assistant Superintendent Ann Monday; FCPS School Board Member Cathy Belter; Fairfax Futures Executive Director Vera Steiner Blore; Fairfax County Office for Children Director Judith Rosen and; Fairfax Futures' Board member, Mary Anne Lecos.

The symposium also featured a panel presentation on successful transition strategies moderated by Ann Monday, Assistant Superintendent, Instructional Services Department, Fairfax County Public Schools. Panelists included: Theresa West (principal); Carol Bellamy (education coordinator/Head Start); Zelnita McIntosh (kindergarten teacher); Bernice Mayfield (family child care provider) and; Judy Falkenrath (child care center director).

FCPS Assistant Superintendent, Ann Monday, and panel members discuss strategies for young children's successful transition to kindergarten.

Panelists stressed the importance of:

• Helping parents to become partners in their children’s growth and development.
• Encouraging early childhood programs to play an active role in helping to prepare children and their families for a successful transition to kindergarten
• Ensuring that families’ and children’s initial contact with school and kindergarten is a positive experience.
• Providing opportunities in advance for children and families to visit kindergarten classrooms, experience the environment, meet teachers and receive needed information.
• Building relationships with parents and helping them connect with other parents of young children.
• Finding individuals who speak other languages and are familiar with other cultures to help new families and their children become accustomed to new surroundings.

Panel members suggested that children who participate in quality early childhood programs are usually better prepared to enter kindergarten. They tend to be:

• more independent
• more willing to try new things
• better able to follow routines
• ready to listen and attend
• more willing to interact with their peers
• able and willing to take turns with their peers.

The Terrific Transitions symposium was made possible through a generous grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation.

Check back soon for a summary of challenges and strategies that were explored at the Terrific Transitions symposium.

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