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West Jordan Journal

Parents Attend Preschool

Aug 04, 2016 03:59PM ● By Tori La Rue

Jennifer Adams, preschool teacher, asks Brody Drope, 4, to point to specific letters on a giant poem book. –Tori La Rue

By Tori La Rue | [email protected]


West Jordan, Utah - Students in Jennifer Adams’ preschool class at Columbia Elementary School play to learn math, safety, phonetics, reading and other subjects in the company of their parents.

Adams said the major purpose of the class is teaching parents learn to help their children learn school concepts at home. Holly Phelps brings her daughter Elsie, 4, to a traditional drop-off preschool class and the Parent and Preschoolers class at Columbia.

“She’ll come home from her [traditional] preschool, and I don’t know what she is trying to tell me,” Phelps said. “They are so little that sometimes you don’t know what they are talking about, but because I attend the other preschool with her, I know the songs, and I can reinforce what she is learning at home.”

Elsie will begin kindergarten at Columbia in August, so Phelps said Parents and Preschoolers has been a good transition class. She’s become familiar with the school, so it’s no longer a scary place, Phelps said.

Columbia’s Title 1 funding pays for the Parents and Preschoolers class, which is open to parents and students within Columbia Elementary School’s boundaries, and the school is already accepting reservations for the 2016–17 school year. January was the first time the school offered this class, but Adams said she thinks it has been a success.

The maximum capacity for the class is 10 students, and during the 2015–16 school year the class reached up to eight students, with that number dwindling to three students by the end of the year.

“We really have such a great time,” Adams said. “I would love it if more parents could come take advantage of this awesome program.”

Phelps said it was hard for some parents to keep coming because of their schedules. Some of them preferred taking their child to a preschool where they could drop their child off and finish other errands.

Although it can be a little more of a hassle, Adams said children may have the opportunity for a better education because they have more one-on-one assistance. When Adams teaches something, each student has a personal tutor: his or her parent.

Mike Drope said he is happy to stay with his son Brody, 4, throughout the preschool sessions.

“I have never taken him to a different kind of preschool, so I guess I don’t know what to compare it to, but I think this has been a good experience for him,” Drope said. “I don’t think he would be OK being by himself at a school right now, but this program has allowed him to get social experience and get used to being around other people.”

When asked if he liked the Parents and Preschoolers class, Brody said he liked it because they get to eat Cheese-Its during snack time. Brody still has one more year before kindergarten, so Drope said he’s looking forward to another year of preschool.

Those wishing to join Brody and Drope in the Parents and Preschool class can email Adams at [email protected] or call the school at 801-280-3279 to speak with Angie Drope to reserve a spot. The fall 2016 preschool will go from 9 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning on Thursday, Sept. 1.       λ