Volunteers Connect Parent Engagement and Kindergarten Readiness
by Angie Matthiessen, Executive Director – United Way of Charlotte County
What would have happened if Big Bird had never met Mr. Hooper?
To the average person, Sesame Street is a playful children’s television show that includes what author Malcolm Gladwell has referred to as, " the artful blend of fluffy monsters and earnest adults". But those who are in the know realize that Sesame Street is the product of two years of educational and child psychology research and an $8 million combined grant from the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. federal government. (That would look closer to $56 million in today’s dollars.)
The overall intent of the show is to help young children prepare for school.
In its original production model, the adults and the Muppets did not interact. Child psychologists that helped develop the show were concerned that young children would find this type of interaction confusing. Further testing, however, showed that children paid more attention when the Muppets interacted with the adults. Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were created based on this new information.
It’s possible that if Big Bird had never met Mr. Hooper, the owner of Hooper’s Store, the show might have fizzled in its first season, and you and I might never have even heard of it.
Children’s attention spans are greater than we give them credit for. The trick to tapping into those attention spans, however, is to find activities that are engaging to them. The materials in each year’s Kindergarten Readiness Bags are a great starting point for engaging young learners. But the key, much like with Sesame Street, is to get those fluffy monsters interacting with the adults.
Annually, The Patterson Foundation generously provides funding to purchase materials for Kindergarten Readiness Bags for all incoming Kindergarten students across the Suncoast region, including Charlotte County. The bags are stuffed with flashcards, literacy charts, magnetic letters, drawing paper, jumbo crayons, a Josh the Baby Otter book, and Magic Postcards (I will tell you about those another time).
Placing these bags in the hands of children is a step in the right direction, but the ultimate goal is to have parents/caregivers get down on the floor with our young learners and test how long they can stretch those attention spans with some literacy-based fun.
Each bag needs to be stuffed with the individual educational materials provided by The Patterson Foundation and delivered to local preschool (VPK) providers. United Way of Charlotte County supports this effort through the coordination of annual bag-stuffing and distribution. Your help is needed on Feb. 22 at the Baker Center in Punta Gorda to stuff and/or deliver the Kindergarten Readiness Bags.
Different stations and shifts are available from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
I know the expression, “It takes a village,” is extremely overused, but Charlotte County is our village. If we want to see long-term impacts on poverty, employment, high school graduation rates, and third-grade reading achievement, we must start at the beginning. Our children deserve to have every opportunity to start school ready to learn.
Kindergarten Readiness Bags are part of a bigger movement called the Charlotte County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. United Way of Charlotte County is the Lead Agency for this campaign because we know the impact that early childhood education has on our community. Will you join us at the Baker Center to put these engaging materials in the hands of our young learners? Your efforts will help us bridge the gap between preschool students and the future of Charlotte County.
We are grateful for The Patterson Foundation for continuing to prioritize school readiness in our community. For more information on United Way of Charlotte County’s work as Lead Agency for the Charlotte County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading or to sign up to volunteer to stuff or deliver Kindergarten Readiness Bags, please visit www.unitedwayccfl.org/suncoast-campaign-grade-level-reading.
For more information about United Way of Charlotte County’s mission: Mobilizing the power of our community to break the cycle of poverty, please contact Angie Matthiessen, Executive Director. She can be reached at director@unitedwayccfl.org.