Kindergarten Readiness Camps

Posted by Carla Snuggs Jul 23, 2007

It’s nearly back to school time and some preschoolers heading to kindergarten may be riddled with anxiety. No doubt this is mostly due to the unknown.

Reading through the news today, I was surprised to see that some cities across America offer kindergarten readiness camps!

So what is kindergarten readiness camp? It sort of walks children and their parents through what the typical kindergarten experience entails.

For example, The Learning Train, a camp in Greensborough, North Carolina offers a week long day camp for 85 dollars which gives students practice in the classroom for about three hours each day. The former preschoolers get to experience kindergarten type activities such as circle time, and walk through practical things like how to go through the cafeteria line with their trays. The children are also screened in terms of emotional, physical, and academic kindergarten readiness before and after the camp. I find this perk to be most valuable as some school districts don’t screen children until they are already in kindergarten. Parents are also provided with practical information such as how to interpret their child’s report cards.

While I think it’s a clever idea, I don’t remember this being offered in my day and I don’t remember it being necessary. It would be interesting to see if these camps are truly beneficial in the long run. My thoughts are that if they reduce anxiety, make the transition from preschool to kindergarten smooth, and help parents understand more about the nature of education, then camps of this nature may be worth the money, especially if your child is particularly apprehensive about entering kindergarten.

Feel free to express your thoughts in discussions.