Camp gets kindergarteners ready for the school year

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Kaydric Tyson-Pankins is one of nearly 40 incoming kindergartners who are taking part in IU Health and the United Way's Kindergarten Countdown camp at Miller Elementary.

"I'm having fun at school camp because there are a lot of fun things to do," Kaydric said.

United Way officials said the nearly month-long camp gives kids who didn't have the opportunity to go to preschool a taste of what school is like.

"We give them an experience in a classroom setting with teachers in the school that they'll be in and we'll give them the skills they'll need to be ready to learn when they come to kindergarten," Education Association for the United Way Amy O'Shea said.

Kindergarten teacher Rhonda Fleury said spending three to four weeks in a classroom helps students get a head start on learning academics. It also helps teach them perhaps the most important lesson that will aid teachers when school starts.

"I think one of the most important things is just the discipline of school, just being in a structured environment, knowing when it's playtime, you can talk to your friends now, or now it's time to stop and we're going to do our work. Just learning that self control is important because they're only five years old and that's a difficult thing for them to learn," Fleury said.

Students are given a test before and after the camp. IU Health officials said 95 percent of students who participated in last year's camp improved their scores on the Get Ready to Read assessment after the camp.

Kaydric said he's excited to start kindergarten and said he even knows what he wants to be when he grows up.

"I want to be a policeman and take all the bad guys to jail," Kaydric said.

IU Health provided backpacks full of school supplies for all the students who attended the camp held at Miller Elementary and Klondike Elementary.