BAMBERG, Germany -- Last year, U.S. Army Garrison Bamberg's Child Development Center director Michael Hagan received news that the installation had been selected for an overseas pilot program entitled Strong Beginnings.
Strong Beginnings is an instructional program meant to ease children's transition from pre-school to kindergarten. Taught by highly-qualified personnel, the program implements the structure of a kindergarten classroom and introduces children to the social and disciplinary atmosphere of an elementary-school system.
From January to May, Bamberg's CDC was used to test the course's success. Participants met weekdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Due to the positive responses from pilot sites, the program is set to run globally in the next school year.
"I really think of this as the half-step between pre-school and kindergarten. The program is structured and academic-based," Hagan said. "Students call their teacher by her last name, they write their names when they enter the classroom in the morning and are taught to adapt to new social behaviors. We are really helping them with that transition."
The classroom reflects the more mature goals of the program. Instead of a focusing on toys and a learn through play approach, letters, numbers and colors line the walls. There are computers for the children to navigate learning programs, and an hour every day is dedicated to focused-learning activities.
Teacher Adriana Bonilla was joined by Julia Arguello halfway through the program's first semester. Bonilla will teach both semester sessions this coming year.
"Adriana was the person who really made this happen; she was the pivotal point in the program taking off," said Hagan.
Bonilla described her take on the program's goals.
"The Army set up Strong Beginnings so children could learn kindergarten etiquette," she said. "We had science, social studies, literacy and physical development. For literacy, we did letter recognition, sounds, writing letters and names. For math, we did sequencing, patterns and one- to-one correspondence, and in science, the kids learned about things like blood and the location of organs in the body."
Another important aspect of the program is the social studies curriculum.
"For social studies, we have the kids talking about their feelings," Bonilla said. "If they are upset about something or something's going on, we teach them to be able to communicate about it instead of keeping quiet."
This is particularly important in an Army child's constant fluctuating environment, Bonilla said.
Twelve Strong Beginnings graduates stood on the Stable Theater stage May 11. To showcase their learning, students performed a colors poem, alphabet chant, and a Spanish song called 'Dulce, Dulce.' The ceremony closed with a diploma handout and slide show of photos from the children's daily activities.
"According to the children's and parent's feedback, it was a successful program," Bonilla said. "The kids came in shocked, but by the end, they were ready to attend kindergarten."
In the coming school year, there are 18 slots for children who wish to take part in the Strong Beginnings program.
"The target children are those who will be entering kindergarten the following year," Hagan said.
This summer Strong Beginnings will hold a one-week kindergarten boot camp to introduce the children to Bamberg Elementary School's layout, riding the bus and other aspects of their new surroundings.
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