Research has overwhelmingly shown that Pre-Kindergarten establishes the foundation for a positive school experience and has many long-term benefits for the students who are enrolled and attend school on a regular basis. Armed with similar research findings and support from both administration and pre-kindergarten teachers, our Rockdale ISD school board unanimously voted to open Pre-Kindergarten enrollment for all students within our district for the 20222023 school year.
Our school board’s pledge to provide funding for this important cause was fueled by the desire to positively affect the social-emotional, physical and academic foundation of our youngest learners within our district. As a direct result, the fall semester of this school year has seen massive growth and brought many exciting changes to our current Pre-Kindergarten program at R.E.S.
As teachers, we have seen our program grow from three classrooms of students to now include five classrooms of students engaged in multiple learning experiences and opportunities through purposeful play, rather than sitting quietly in their chairs doing monotonous worksheets. If you visited any of our classrooms at R.E.S., you would see 4- and 5-year-old children engrossed in learning and engaged in opportunities to play, explore and create in a way that is developmentally appropriate and meets the unique needs of each individual. Through open-ended exploration and purposeful play, students build language and communication skills, vocabulary and mathematical concepts that will benefi t them for years to come.
Likewise, at Rockdale Elementary, our teachers, administrators and support staff n urture a ll a reas o f a young child’s personal development and learning, from social-emotional skills and cognitive abilities to literacy, math, science and social studies. We teach more than academics and more than what can be learned inside the four walls of our classrooms. In Pre-K, we make sure children are safe, valued, challenged and engaged in learning, while being valued and loved as individuals. There is a delicate balance between these factors, and we take great pride in ensuring that academics and social-emotional skills are of equal importance as we educate and foster the love of learning in all of our students.
We readily welcome you to come see our youngest learners in action. They amaze us daily with their capability and success when expectations for their learning are set high and academic standards reach beyond the state guidelines. Pre-Kindergarten at R.E.S rocks!
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