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Summer Sessions Available For Prekindergarten

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By LIZ BLEAU

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2008

BRANDON - Parents soon can register their 4- and 5-year-olds for the summer session of voluntary prekindergarten, which runs from June 23 through Aug. 4 at 21 sites in Hillsborough County, including 10 in east Hillsborough.

The program aims to prepare children for kindergarten and is open to children who will be age 5 by Sept. 1 and have not attended voluntary prekindergarten or kindergarten.

Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, but children can spend only part of the day in prekindergarten if parents prefer.

Lisa Bellock, kindergarten supervisor for the school district, said parents also have the flexibility to register children at any of the 21 sites. A busy working parent can, for example, register a child at a site close to his or her office.

Parents must provide transportation. All children will get breakfast, lunch and a snack.

Summer prekindergarten will be offered at Buckhorn, Clair Mel, Dover, Gibsonton, McDonald, Mango, Mintz, Seffner, Sessums and Wimauma elementary schools in east Hillsborough.

The voluntary prekindergarten summer program is in its third year. Bellock said the initiative, launched in 2006, is growing more popular.

Almost all the sites have space, she said, but if one fills up parents can enroll children at other nearby schools.

The program's goal, she said, is to prepare children for kindergarten by developing early reading and math skills.

"The morning is packed with reading and math in small, 15-minute lessons," Bellock said. "In the afternoon, the children do different activities that reinforce the morning's lessons. That way, if a child attends for only a portion of a day, the student will still have the essentials of the lesson presented that day."

Children also become accustomed by spending time away from parents, learn how to behave in school and become acclimated to a school environment.
Bellock said parents can register at any of the sites beginning Monday. For information, call (813)272-4840 or visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us and click on the prekindergarten link.

Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com.

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