Gallery: Transitional kindergarten at PUSD McKlinley Elementary school
Each year when school starts up after summer break, there are new faces, new clothes, new haircuts, and maybe some new teachers.
This year, there's also a new grade.
Transitional kindergarten, a steppingstone between preschool and kindergarten, has been rolled out at school districts across the state as the result of a 2010 state law.
The Kindergarten Readiness Act requires districts to set up transitional kindergarten classrooms for students who might not be quite ready to head into kindergarten, especially those born in the last few months of the year.
This year, children born between Nov. 2 and Dec. 2 are eligible to enter transitional kindergarten. Next year, the cutoff will move to Oct. 2. The following year, it will be Sept. 2.
Under the previous system, those kids would have started kindergarten as 4 year olds, said Beth Hodges, who oversees the transitional kindergarten program at Rowland Unified.
"It gives them more time to grow and develop," she said.
Margot Herter, a transitional kindergarten teacher at Cullen Elementary in Glendora, said 4-year-old students often struggle to keep up in a kindergarten class containing children as old as
six."We really felt that so many of those 4year olds were really misplaced in a kindergarten classroom," Herter said.
Those students might have gotten by in the kindergarten of years past, where finger painting and blocks were the norm, but kindergarten curriculum has advanced in recent years.
Herter said the state's desire to offer a more competitive educational system has pushed grade standards down the ladder.
"What was typically first grade now became kindergarten," Herter said.
That means kindergartners spend more time reading and writing and sitting at a desk.
Transitional kindergarten focuses on hands-on learning, Hodges said.
"It's much like what we remember kindergarten to be," Hodges said. "Kids will get to learn by doing, not as much paper-pencil tasks."
Though it only became a mandatory offering this year, some school districts, such as Glendora Unified, began their transitional kindergarten last year.
Herter said the number of students enrolled in Glendora Unified's program tripled this year.
Erin Lunde enrolled her daughter, Macy, in Glendora Unified's transitional kindergarten program last year.
She said Macy, 5, had outgrown preschool, but wasn't prepared to enter a traditional kindergarten classroom. She's excelling this year.
"It was a godsend. It was a blessing," Lunde said. "She's so confident."
Because the state is not providing any extra funding to assist school districts in setting up transitional kindergarten programs, it has provided them some flexibility in how they do so. For now, they only need to set up one transitional kindergarten class per district. They also have the option to create a combination kindergarten/transitional kindergarten class, as is the case with Little Lake City School District in Santa Fe Springs. Many districts are opting for more.
Glendora Unified has three classes serving the district. Rowland Unified has set up classes at all of its elementary schools other than the specialized academies. Pasadena Unified has four classes located at schools covering different geographic areas of the district.
"We broke the district down into four quadrants," Pasadena Unified spokesman Adam Wolfson said.
Bassett Unified, too, has opened classes at all of its elementary schools, said Superintendent Marty Galindo.
Though his district has struggled with finances in recent years, Galindo said officials there found a way to pay for transitional kindergarten.
"We cut 25 percent from the district office," Galindo said. "We've taken the hits where we've needed to. This is good for kids, so we have to find the money to do it."
justin.velasco@sgvn.com
626-962-8811, ext. 2718
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