Riley County Health Department and USD 383 are partnering together to kick off the ninth year of Camp Kindergarten.
The program is designed to be a way to introduce young children to the kindergarten experience.
“It is a kindergarten emersion program,” says Raising Riley Community Outreach Coordinator Chelsea Manwarren. “We are really working on getting those kiddos used to what kindergarten is.”
Program activities include working through transitions, some learning, and snack times. Campers will not receive a full meal, as the camp is based around a morning and afternoon half-day split.
The camp will be held at Lee Elementary School in Manhattan, and involves local kindergarten teachers in kindergarten classrooms to help simulate the education experience.
“The kiddos get to dip their toe into the kindergarten experience.” says Manwarren.
Of note, local teachers and education researchers have found that children who attend a pre-kindergarten camp are more prepared for the kindergarten and elementary school experience than those who do not attend.
“They definitely talk about that those skills that they’ll build in Camp Kindergarten or early exposure programs carry through the rest of their early childhood and into their elementary school,” explains Manwarren. “They’re such little sponges, they absorb information so quickly and so readily that they’re able to build those understandings of what’s going to happen when they step into the kindergarten program and then through elementary school.”
Camp Kindergarten is free to children who will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and registration is open until May 15. Interested parents can explore applications online at www.raisingriley.com or call the health department at (785) 776-4779 ext. 7663. Applications are available in English or Spanish, and class size is limited to 12 students per session, for a total of 48 participants.
