New Alma school district pre-k program sees success

ALMA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Students in the Alma Primary School pre-k program started on Aug. 12 and staff members are already seeing its success.

Currently, 40 pre-k students are divided into two classrooms in the Alma Primary School building where they sit on a colorful rug for story-time, play games, and learn.

“We are learning to recognize the beginning letter of our name right now,” said Jessica Gillingham, Pre-K teacher at Alma Primary School….“We’re learning a lot of social skills, how to get along with our friends, how to use our words. We’ve been using some calm down techniques like ballooning to calm down before we try to use our words and not our hands.”

Gillingham teaches some students.

“I love it.” she said. “They are so fun. The stories they tell are interesting. They come to school so excited to learn every day. It’s so much fun, so much energy and excitement.”

This is the first pre-k program in the school district.

“I feel like it was really needed in the community,” Gillingham said.

Before, parents were taking their kids to daycare centers to prepare them for kindergarten but eventually, COVID-19 forced them to find other options.

“Because students weren’t able to attend regularly and just being able to keep those open,” Stacie Wood, assistant superintendent of the Alma School District said.

Wood saw the need for pre-k and became involved in setting up the program.

“We want it to be set up more like a community feel, a family feel. And to have [a place] where they have learning experiences built around certain topics, like whether it’s animals or whether it’s a farm or all the different subjects that kids can study,” Wood said. “And all the things about being a good member of a community, that’s kind of the way we set the classrooms up with the different experiences in there. And so that was very important to me. So I have been very involved with building the program in the curriculum.”

In 2023, US news ranked Arkansas as 45th in the nation for education.

Arkansas Advocates for Family and Children says research shows that children who receive quality early childhood education are better prepared to enter k-12.

Staff members like Gillingham and Alma Primary School Principal Shawn Bullard are already seeing its success.

“We’ve seen such growth already in the first 11 days of school with them getting the procedures. They know what to do. They’re comfortable in there and it’s been really great so far,” Bullard said.

Gillingham says there have been a lot of good responses to it.

“Parents seem really happy. The kids are thriving,” Gillingham said.

Having the pre-k program in the school also makes it easier for these students to transfer to the next grade level.

“I really like having it here. They will be accustomed to our building and our procedures. Another thing that our students get that I’m not sure if it’s available at another pre-k, they get to go to our art library, music, P.E., computer lab, all those things, just like our kindergarten through second grade students do. So I think it’s a great program. And the ones that we have here, we’ll just be able to usher them right into kindergarten and have a great experience,” Bullard said.

Wood says a lot of the parents already have a student in the building.

“And so it’s convenient for parents to be able to have their student here. And for them to learn what it’s like to be on this campus where they’ll start kindergarten. So I think that’s great,” Wood said.

Bullard says he hopes to see the program grow.

“I would love for it to be over a hundred students one day. I would love to run out of room in this building and need to do something different,” Bullard said.

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