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Starting this fall, Regional School Unit 1’s pre-kindergarten program will be expanding to welcome children five days week, replacing the previous three-day program.
The CHOICES program, which stands for Children Having Opportunities in Collaborative Early Settings, is a free pre-K program that provides developmentally appropriate preschool education for 4-year-olds in the RSU 1 district.
The program has been around since 2006 and all classes are certified and taught by accredited instructors who prepare a variety of curriculum for the young learners.
RSU 1 board members agreed to expand the program in early April after several community members expressed the need for a five-day program. RSU 1 voters also approved of the improved program through a budget vote in June.
The expansion has added about six hours to the program, which used to operate on 10.5 hours a week.
CHOICES is provided at a variety of locations, including the Children’s Schoolhouse, Bath YMCA, Family Focus, Head Start, Woolwich Central School, Dike Newell School and Phippsburg Elementary School.
“The opportunity of CHOICES truly can decide what’s best for your family,” said program coordinator Kate Brockett.
Brockett, who has been teaching pre-K for 18 years, stepped into the role of coordinator this year, following the retirement of Rosalie Perkins.
“I feel like I’m the connection between the teachers and the program and the community members. That’s how Rosalie started the program and that’s how I’d like to continue the program,” she said. “I’m proud to represent RSU 1 and I really feel like it’s a vital program that needs to expand and continue, and we’re a model program to other communities.”As far as changes go, Brockett said the five-day program will provide a more consistent routine for children by mirroring a normal school schedule, with children arriving at 8:30 a.m. and finishing by noon.
“There are more social structures and daily lessons, so our hope and goal is that there is more attention and readiness for kindergarten,” she said.
To do so, Brockett said the program will be bridging pre-K and kindergarten curriculum together this year.
This summer, she has also been working with kindergarten teachers to prepare writing and literacy-based activities that will expose children to the language.
CHOICES instructors will also be teaching Everyday Mathematics, the same curriculum used in most RSU 1 kindergarten classes.
As coordinator, Brockett’s new duties also include organizing state-mandated screenings for children, preparing enrollments, open houses and a lottery system for children on waiting lists. She said the program was already 95 percent full in June.
But even with her new role, Brockett will continue to teach at the CHOICES program at Phippsburg Elementary School.
“I enjoy a lot of things — spontaneity of children, their eagerness to learn. I truly love my job,” she said.
dkim@timesrecord.com
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