More pencils and young minds are being sharpened in Lake Travis ISD’s first year of pre-kindergarten classes, which began Monday morning at Lake Travis Elementary School.

 The district has partnered with Child Inc. to offer morning and afternoon sessions for 4-year-olds who are English as a Second Language students, foster children, children of military personnel or servicemen or servicewomen killed in action, or from low socio-economic backgrounds. Child Inc. is a federal Head Start program that has delivered education services in LTISD for several years.
In its inaugural year, the district’s pre-kindergarten program opened Monday with one English class and one bilingual class and an estimated enrollment of 36 students.
“I think it’s been an excellent start. We had a wonderful excitement from the community. It’s a way of partnering with the federal program to extend the day for our pre-K students,” said Becky Burnett, director of special services for LTISD.
Each school day, students attend a morning session and afternoon session of class split by a lunch period. If a student receives pre-kindergarten instruction in the morning, he walks across the hall and attends a Child Inc. class in the afternoon. If a student starts with Child Inc. lessons in the morning, she receives the district’s pre-kindergarten instruction in the afternoon, all at one campus.
Students are being introduced to pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, and motor development through such concepts as holding a pencil and learning how to write with it, the very beginnings of what a letter is and what it sounds like, and where they are in their community. They also will learn social skills such as getting along with their peers, walking in a line of students, and eating at the cafeteria.
“They are learning how to go to school,” Burnett said.
These concepts follow Texas Education Agency guidelines that feed into Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards for kindergarten and higher grade levels.
The district selected Lake Travis Elementary because Child Inc. has offered its services there for several years and the district’s PPCD special education support programs for students ages 3-5 with disabilities are at the same campus.
“It just made sense to consolidate all our programs for that age group. We could deliver training and the teachers would have each other to support if they were all on one campus,” Burnett explained.
Two parent nights and strong word of mouth helped generate interest from the community.
“We’ve had a steady stream of people who have been interested in the services and wanting to register and follow through (with enrollment),” Burnett said. “Once the door was open, people started coming through. So this showed me there was a definite need.”
Several parents who dropped their children off on the first day of school said they were thrilled their children had access to these classes.
“I feel lucky to have this program. My daughter came here at just the right time,” Hieu Ngo of Lakeway said after saying goodbye to his daughter Hanna in her classroom.
Ngo welcomed an environment that would be more conducive to his daughter learning English – at home Vietnamese is the predominant tongue.
“This is a good start for her future,” he said.
Michelle Zeller said her son, Grant, was a little shy on his first day of pre-K but during the summer he had been looking forward to starting school.
“I think having that extra year of building kindergarten skills will help his development,” Zeller said.
Before, pre-K students would attend half-day classes, which Zeller said featured more playtime.
“Now [they are learning] writing, reading. Maybe the expectations are higher,” she said.
Students who meet enrollment requirements may register at any point during the school year. For information, contact the LTISD Office of Special Services at 533-6467.
Pre-kindergarten students started the school year out alongside an estimated 6,300 other LTISD students for the 2009-10 school year.
As soon as families settle into the pace of the school day, they can look ahead to the upcoming Labor Day holiday Sept. 7.
View www.ltisd.com for information.