The Petal School District is hosting two events at Petal Primary School designed to help parents and children with the transition to kindergarten.
The events – Kindergarten Round Up and Kindergarten Information Day – give parents and children a chance to get acquainted with the school system, as well as provide school officials the opportunity to assess children’s skill levels.
Kindergarten Roundup, which began April 19 at the primary school, offers incoming kindergartners a head start to the upcoming school year, while giving families the opportunity to get them pre-registered. Students will also participate in a basic screener to evaluate their knowledge of letters, sounds, numbers, and vocabulary, and to ensure there are no speech concerns.
“Kindergarten RoundUp is really important because it gives us an indication of how many students we’re going to have for the upcoming school year,” primary school principal Tessa Trimm said. “That’s critical for us for staffing; we need to know how many students we have so we know how many teacher units to have.
“(Kindergarten) is unique from any other grade – in first and second grade, you know how many kids are coming up. In kindergarten, you can predict or guess, but until we actually get those kiddos signed up, we really don’t know how many kids we’re having.”
On April 18, 19 and 20, primary school officials will conduct screenings at all preschools in Petal. On April 21, staff will screen any students not enrolled in preschool or those enrolled in preschool outside of Petal. Screenings will take place at the primary school, and current kindergarten students will not attend school that day.
Parents can sign up for the event online at www.petalschools.com by clicking on the Petal Primary School tab
“Any parent who has a child who will turn 5 by September 1, they need to sign up for Kindergarten Roundup,” Trimm said.
Kindergarten Information Day will be held April 30 at the primary school. The purpose of the come-and-go event is to give incoming kindergartners and their families the chance to visit campus before the new school year begins.
The tours will be self-guided with teachers and staff available to answer questions. Families may attend at any of the following times:
- 8 a.m.-10 a.m.
- 11 a.m.-1 p.m.m
- 2-4 p.m.
“It’s a self-guided tour; we will have administration and staff,” Trimm said. “Our kindergarten teachers will be there, and we actually have some Excel By 5 volunteers who are going to be there as well.
“We’ll give parents a map, and it’s their opportunity to tour the campus with their child, and we’ll be there to answer any questions. They’ll have a chance to see what a classroom looks like, go through the cafeteria, see the playground and all of our activity locations on campus.”
For more information, contact the school at (601) 554-7244.
