After experiencing many ups and downs during the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hannah Turk said her job has “finally regained a sense of normalcy.”

Turk is a preschool teacher at Little Lambs Preschool of Immanuel Lutheran Church in DeKalb.

After being closed the last two months of last school year and during summer vacation, the preschool has been offering in-person classes since Labor Day for students ages 3 to 5. During March and April last year, the preschool’s teachers offered virtual classes, house visits and prepared packets of learning activities for their students.

“It was really hard for the kids, they missed their friends and their class,” Turk said. “Preschool is more than academics, it’s a foundation to base all of their learning. It also includes social and emotional aspects, feelings and friendships. Interacting with other children their age and forming social connections are so important at their age.”

Turk said that even during a pandemic, “kids still need an education.”

“Early childhood is when we set the foundation for a lifetime of learning,” she said. “In those early years, it’s critical that we set them up for success academically, socially and emotionally. As teachers, it’s our job to adapt and find ways to foster their learning and development even during challenging times.”

Preschool in a pandemic

Turk said that her students refer to the pandemic as “the corona” or “the sickness.”

“They don’t really understand what’s happening, just that they have to keep their distance, wash and sanitize their hands and wear a mask,” she said. “I was really unsure and worried about how the kids would react, but we underestimate them and how resilient and adaptive they are.”

“We normally have 47 students total, but we started with only nine in the fall,” said Darlene Hillman, the church and preschool’s office manager. “Now we’re up to 20 students. Next school year, we’ll add back staff and have three classrooms with six class options.”

Hillman said although the number of students has decreased during the pandemic, cleaning and sanitation has increased.

“We removed soft items such as plushes and doll clothes, added a washer and drier and eliminated field trips,” she said. “However, we have been doing more special event parties and hope to have graduation in May and an end-of-the-year picnic.”

Lisa Gorchels, director of DeKalb School District 428′s Early Learning and Development Center, said early education “has changed since the start of the pandemic.”

The center offers 10 classrooms: four English pre-kindergarten classrooms, one bilingual pre-kindergarten classroom, two blended inclusion classrooms that include special education students and three special education classrooms. The center offers a preschool with a modified hybrid schedule, with students in class in-person two days a week and asynchronous, or remote, learning at home the other days.

“Technology has been the biggest change for us,” Gorchels said. “One of our major changes was that all students’ families were provided with a Chromebook so they can participate in remote classes and access slides on asynchronous learning days.”

Gorchels said that even though the students have been given Chromebooks and materials to enhance their learning at home, “there is no substitute for in-person learning.”

“Now, more than ever, we understand the importance of in-person learning and social interaction,” she said. “Isolation is happening. Kindergarten readiness is more than knowing their letters and numbers, it’s being able to play and have social interactions with others. The socialization aspect is so important for the well-being of the whole child. It impacts all aspects of a child’s development and is fundamental to their success.”

Hillman said the impacts on someone so young go beyond the classroom.

“Preschool is not just about A, B, Cs and 1, 2, 3s,” Hillman said. “It’s about the social environment as well: exploration, play and learning with order and structure alone and in a group. It’s about the education and development of a child as a whole so they are ready for school.”

Pre-K preparations

The kindergarten readiness initiative for DeKalb County is overseen by the Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative (KBC). The KBC includes representatives from the DeKalb County Community Foundation, the Trauma-Informed Committee, Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C), DeKalb County Regional Office of Education (ROE), DeKalb County Health Department, DeKalb County Community Mental Health Board and local educators.

Teri Spartz, community foundation community engagement director with DCCF, said that the foundation is involved with the collaborative because “early childhood care and education is one of our community initiatives.”

“When the community, the people in DeKalb County, help our children be better prepared for kindergarten and make sure they’re kindergarten ready, we’re better preparing young people for their future,” Spartz said. “Taking a community-based approach is like the old adage, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ It’s all about fostering a child’s early education and lifelong desire to learn.”

To help with early childhood educational success, DCCF, School Tool Box and the DeKalb Farm Bureau will distribute 1,130 tool kits to local school districts this spring to incoming kindergarten students. The kits include school supplies and items for activities, including books, a whiteboard, marker and sidewalk chalk. The kits are available in both English and Spanish languages.

“We hope the children use the items in the boxes to get excited for school,” Spartz said. “The kits include tools and components to help children and their families get ready for kindergarten before their first day of school.”

The Five Basics

Illinois schools participate in the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) initiative, which has kindergarten teachers conduct observational assessments throughout the school year. KIDS addresses 14 state readiness measures in four domains: approaches to learning and self-regulation, social and emotional development, language and literacy and math cognition.

“It’s important to understand what ‘kindergarten readiness’ means, because it does not mean having your child sit for long periods of time focusing on one topic,” said Amanda Christensen, DeKalb County regional superintendent of education. “It’s so much more than that. They need to get along well, ‘play nicely’ with others, self-regulate themselves, respond appropriately with emotions and be able to move on to the activity at hand. We look for developmentally appropriate play and learning and a curiosity to learn.”

The DeKalb ROE has created a kindergarten readiness collaborative, Basics DeKalb County, which focuses on five ways to interact with children that promote optimal brain development. The DeKalb County ROE adopted the program in 2018 because of its alignment with the KIDS initiative.

The Five Basics are:

1. Maximize love, manage stress

2. Talk, point and sing

3. Count, group and compare

4. Explore through movement and play

5. Read and discuss stories

Christensen stressed that the Five Basics can be completed by any adult in the community, not only parents, guardians and family members.

“The Five Basics can be done in daily interactions with children: going to the grocery store, doing laundry, preparing dinner, taking a walk,” she said. “It’s not about expensive toys or intense curriculum, it’s about positive interactions that are necessary between an adult and a child.”

Ready or not?

Christensen said that she is often asked the question, “What if my child is not kindergarten ready?”

“KIDS is not an entrance exam for kindergarten,” she said. “If your child is not ready, it does not necessarily qualify them for special education. Children develop differently, and that’s why we have the tools and measures in place. Teachers make observations in the classroom and can focus on developing the skills that need to be built up.”

To help children prepare for kindergarten, Christensen recommends parents using the Five Basics and the school tool kits.

“We hope to raise awareness of what those skills are, so parents can be intentionally building them up,” she said. “That way, when their child gets to kindergarten, they will be confident, more comfortable and ready to learn. All of the skills in the Five Basics can be built in daily life. … Utilizing the Five Basics has been important before, during and after the pandemic, and they will continue to be necessary for our children’s early childhood education.”

Christensen also said that parents have choices if they feel their child is not developmentally ready for kindergarten because the pandemic has impacted in-person learning this past year.

“Pandemic or not, parents need to intentionally support their child with things like activities and the school tool kits,” she said. “We made sure this year’s tool kit is fit for use during the pandemic. We hope parents use them and take advantage of them. We also made videos of kindergarten teachers demonstrating the best ways to use the tool kits. ... Parents do have choices, but I would recommend registering their child for kindergarten. Every child has a different developmental level, and kindergarten classroom teachers help their students learn what they need to. There is a degree of readiness needed, yes, but we don’t use a screener to exclude children from kindergarten.”

Christensen recommends talking to your child’s future school and asking questions.

“It’s April now, and children’s brains develop very quickly,” she said. “If you are concerned about your child’s level of readiness, you have the opportunity between now and August to prepare for school.”