FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Jan. 29, 2015) -- For parents and children alike, the days a child learns to write his or her name, count, read and build social skills are milestones. Fort Jackson Child, Youth and School Services is helping children achieve those milestones before kindergarten with the Strong Beginnings pre-kindergarten program.
The program is designed to help prepare 4-year-old children to learn skills ranging from math concepts to social interactions.
"We are stressing educational readiness," said Jamillah Manigo, director of the Imboden Child Development Center. "We place (the children) in a structured learning environment now so that they will see that on their first day of kindergarten they are ready for that curriculum and learning environment."
Manigo said what makes the program stand out is its comprehensiveness.
"The curriculum we teach our children is above state standards, so no matter where (the) parents get stationed or live, whether it's South Carolina, Hawaii or wherever, our children will be prepared for kindergarten," she said.
Strong Beginnings uses The Creative Curriculum.
"The curriculum provides our teachers with different ways to meet every child's learning need. Some students may need a little more or less assistance than others, and so I think this program helps us achieve our goals and the parents' goals for the class," Manigo said.
Each CDC here follows the same curriculum.
"We focus on literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts and social skills," said Belva Jones, program associate with the Imboden CDC. "We also teach the children Spanish and sign language during our Junior (Schools of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills Unlimited) program."
Jones said instructors keep the class interesting and upbeat for the energetic 4-year-olds.
"We call ourselves the 'well-oiled machine.' If the students are feeling bad one day or need a little help, we tell them the machine is broken and it needs to be fixed. We then help them (to) get them back involved in the lesson plan, and the class tells us the machine is running well," Jones said.
Debra Asberry, an educational technician with Scales Avenue CDC, said learning occurs all day, even though the program only takes up three hours of the children's day at the CDC.
"I like to tell (the) parents that Strong Beginnings doesn't stop until I leave at 5 p.m.," Asberry said. "Our students are learning educational concepts throughout the day. For those students who need a little extra help or just want to learn more, after the three hours we work on all sorts of things -- reading, math, writing."
Jones and Asberry both said that the parents' involvement is important to a child's growth.
"The students have a journal that they write in every day. This is not only a learning tool, but it's also a keepsake for the parents and the children that will show progress over time," Asberry said. "I use this journal to help show parents how much their child has grown since they first began the program."
Jones emphasized that parents also have a say in the program's direction.
"When we have our parent-teacher conferences we ask our parents where they would like to see more growth in their child's learning, and they will recommend a few areas," Jones said. "We typically will take those recommendations and work on them for the entire class so that the whole class can improve."
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