Early Childhood Development: Sioux Falls School District

Children are already learning at birth, but their future development and academic success begins with a strong foundation. The Sioux Falls School District (SFSD) provides a quality pre-kindergarten program for children at risk, but many times there is not enough funding or slots available and many students end up on the waiting list. To prevent more children being under prepared for kindergarten, the SFSD has partnered with the Sioux Empire United Way (SEUW) to provide additional opportunities for their students to give them the skill sets to be successful.

“Thanks to our partnership with SEUW, SFSD has two additional opportunities for families. Without this support, there would be fewer opportunities for children to participate in a pre-kindergarten education experience and they would lack exposure to school readiness skills,notes Elizabeth Jehangiri, SFSD Early Childhood Coordinator.

SEUW provides on-going funding for the Preschool Opportunity Program (POP).  POP, provides a high-quality pre-school experience for 68 additional Head Start eligible children.

“The POP curriculum and classroom routine provides our youngest learners to experience developmentally appropriate activities in pre-reading, pre-math, basic concepts related to fine and gross motor development with an emphasis in social emotional development.” Elizabeth continues, “Because of SEUW, our program provides these experiences to children. Our families are able to see positive results from this type of alternative preschool programming.”

Throughout the program, each child’s progress is collected and provided to parents during parent teacher conferences, one parent shared, “Because of what our child is learning at school, we are able to bring those lessons home to continue to help them develop new skills, things we were not as aware of before.” During the current school year, the POP program received an “exemplary” status on the Preschool Levels of Excellence from the School Administrators of South Dakota!

“The Preschool Opportunity Program has been a huge blessing to our family. Our son, Tobias, has learned and grown so much last semester. We are very thankful that he was chosen to participate! Since both of his parents are in school full time and work, we were not able to afford a traditional preschool. Since Tobias was selected to attend POP, we, as parents, have noticed drastic improvements with his speech and overall knowledge and for that we will always consider this program and Ms. Carda a huge blessing to our family,” remarked Tobias’ parents.  

In addition to POP, the SEUW has provided funding for SFSD’s Ready to Start summer program. Ready to Start provides a pre-kindergarten opportunity for 90 eligible kindergarten aged children. Children learn through specific lesson plans and have a structured daily routine. Classrooms are split 15 students per 1 teacher and the program runs 4 half days over a 5-week period, just before school begins. Children who qualify are identified with different factors, have not had a pre-school experience, and will enter kindergarten in the fall.

The curriculum focuses on 21 essential skills that have been identified by kindergarten teachers as being critical for children to have exposure to as they enter kindergarten.  A teacher revealed, “There are so many wonderful things we observe in our students throughout the year. Student school readiness skills improve; communication skills and using words instead of actions to express themselves; ability to transition appropriately; use of the bathroom independently; separation from parents successfully; follow a daily routine; independence in self-help skills such as putting on coats and boots, packing backpack.”

“Early childhood programs are proven to reach far into high school and college outcomes, not to mention the social advantages. My daughter, Mia, started in POP this fall and has since expressed more interest in letters and in drawing than in all our time working together. She is happy to go to school each day to spend time with her friends and teachers. The care provided by the teachers and aides is excellent, and they are always helping her exceed expectations. We have seen improvement in counting, letter and number recognition, and drawing. We cannot wait to see what the rest of the year brings. Thank you, United Way, for providing another option for early childhood education in Sioux Falls,” exclaimed Mia’s mom.

“Thank you Sioux Empire United Way for your generous support for our POP and Ready to Start programs. Because of your support, we are able to build relationships with families like Mia’s and Tobias, and learn about their possible struggles with daily life situations and provide information regarding resources to assist them while also preparing them for the transition from pre-kindergarten to Elementary School,” expressed Elizabeth.