Learning the ropes Crafts and games hold school-life lessons for kindergartners

If you bump into someone on the playground, it's polite to say "I'm sorry."

If you want to borrow a classmate's red crayon, you should say "please" and "thank you."

If a friend upsets you, tell him why you're hurt -- don't kick or bite him.

These are some of the lessons children are learning in the Pre-K Summer Program at Riverbank's California Avenue Elementary School.

For many of the 4- and 5-year-olds, the six-week summer class is their first school experience.

A variety of programs to prepare children for kindergarten are happening throughout the region this summer.

This program's goal is to teach children to socialize, to work together and share, to foster independence, and to learn classroom routines and rules, said Jill Hodge, a kindergarten teacher who leads one of the three summer classes.

Hodge said most of this summer's 78 participants have not been to preschool.

Preschool in Stanislaus County can be costly and spots are limited.

The average cost for a year of preschool for one child in a licensed center is $5,866, according to the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network.

Also, there are about 22,000 children ages 2 to 4 in the county, and 5,000 preschool spots, the child care network reports.

California voters rejected Proposition 82, an initiative on the June ballot that would have granted a year of free preschool for all 4-year-olds.

With less than a quarter of children participating in preschool, kids start kindergarten at different levels -- some can spell and write their names, while others don't know the letters in the alphabet.

In Riverbank, there is just one privately owned child care center.

The city's lack of preschools qualified Riverbank Unified School District for a $150,000 annual grant to run the pre-kindergarten summer program. In its fourth year, the program is part of a school readiness initiative funded by the Stanislaus County Children and Families Commission.

The program is free, and all children enrolled for fall kindergarten at California Avenue Elementary can attend. Season Stenson, Riverbank Unified's school readiness coordinator, hopes to expand the program to the district's other elementary school, Rio Altura, next school year.

In the summer program, which is Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon, children do arts and crafts, play music and take field trips.

"The hope is for them to be joyful about school," Hodge said. "We try to make it really fun so they are excited about coming back in the fall."

Hodge and fellow kindergarten teacher Charlyn Piper agreed that the summer program reduces stress for children -- and parents -- on the first day of school.

"It really makes our lives so much easier in the fall," Piper said.

Both teachers suggested that parents start talking to their children now about going to school and what it will be like.

"But sometimes the kids get here and they are fine -- it's the parents who have a hard time leaving," Piper said.

Another part of the summer program is parent education.

Throughout the six weeks, parents can participate in workshops on dental hygiene, car seat and bicycle safety, and a trip to Riverbank's Casa del Rio Family Resource Center.

"The point of the whole program is for parents to find out about the services available to them and to feel connected with school," Piper said. "We want families to see us as a resource."

This week, Merryhill School on Roseburg Avenue in Modesto will start its Kindergarten Kick-Off, a program designed to give kids "a jump-start" before kindergarten, said the preschool's principal, Sheila Yarbrough.

The program is $102 per week for five morning sessions, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Parents can enroll their child for up to eight weeks.

In addition to socializing with other children, participants will learn reading and math skills, such as identifying words and retelling stories, and measuring objects and identifying patterns.

Most important, Yarbrough said, it's a chance for children to spend time with an adult other than a parent.

"For them, it's knowing that this teacher is another adult who can meet my needs during the day," she said. "If they build self-esteem at this level, it helps them transition into kindergarten."

Merryhill teacher Courtney Hollaway said she talks to kindergarten teachers about what skills children should acquire in preschool, and she gained more insight in the last year when her son, Ethan, attended kindergarten.

Hollaway now gives her preschoolers a few pages of homework because Ethan, she said, got up to 10 pages a week at Enslen Elementary.

She thought Ethan would be off to a good start in kindergarten because he could write his name. In retrospect, Hollaway said, she could have read to him more and worked on basic addition and subtraction skills -- what kindergartners now are expected to know.

"Kindergarten used to be play time and snacks," Hollaway said, "but it's not anymore."