Camp Big Readiness prepares children for Kindergarten

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Entering Kindergarten can be a very stressful time as a child, and not preparing them properly can have consequences that last through high school.

At the Clinical Education Complex on the campus of Western Kentucky University, early childhood educators are helping the next generation take a big leap from pre-K to Kindergarten with Camp Big Readiness.

Camp Big Readiness helps kids get ready for Kindergarten by teaching them how to act in a Kindergarten classroom, different work they will be doing and helping them with personal health as well.

Preparing your child for Kindergarten can have a dramatic impact on their schooling performance throughout the years.

Beth Schaeffer, the director of Renshaw Early Childhood Center, says, “Fifty percent of our kindergartners in Kentucky are not ready for kindergarten based on the present score. When they’re not ready because, even though soft skills like paying attention, knowing how to ask for help, they don’t progress, and we see deficits by third grade in reading. and we see those kids who are having trouble reading, they have a lower graduation rate.”

One big way parents can help their kids is by reading to them.

Schaeffer tells News 40 that the number one indicator of success is a larger vocabulary, so reading to your child everyday is massively important.