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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1990-03-14, Page 3r.udas. Sentinel, Wednesday, Mardi 14, LIMI..Page 3 Junior kindergarten coming to some Bruce county schools By BEV FRY Bruee qty Hoard of Education Will be introducing a junior kindersarteamom in some of its schools begirming this Seepteiriber. The progr, finistrY of Education n Will be Mandated inhek to the Bruce County systan over the next five Years. At the board's regular March meeting . held, at Kincardine and District Secondary School Mar. 6, an expert m early childhood education explained to the board he benefits of junior kindergarten. Margaret Deeth, an edueational consul- tant and retired priMary education Co- ordinator for the Toronto Board of •Educa- tion told the• board Toronto has had junior kindergarten since 1965. She feels the op- tion should be available to everyone. According to Mrs. Deeth, over 90 per cent of junior .kindergarten aged children m Toronto do enter the Program. °"I know it's difficult for a parent to give. up a child early, but it is only half a day, which gives the caring parent time to get other things done," Mrs. Deeth said, The mother of three and grandmother of four suggested that half a day of quality time with it parent is better for .the ;child than a whole day where quality time isn't spent. Junior kindergarten gives a child a chance to learn to be with another adult besides its mother, they develop,ldren oral and to other ch languaeteacher,skillsbsinging songs,liatening to stories. Not a Baby Sitting Service • , • "It is not a baby sitting service, nor. day • care. Day, care is from 7 a.m. until 6 p.,m.,. junior kindergarten ishalf a day. I know of no nursery school closing because of the j juuniior kindergarten system," Mrs. Deeth • According , to Mrs. Deeth, junior kindergarten is a piece to give a child the opportunity to discover, exert, to make mistakes, dream, cry and wonder. Its goal is to help a child . • ... self con- fidence, sell worth and self ' 1 , vation. It is gully accepted that a child who is doing well by the end of grade two, does well all the way through school, she says. Mrs. Deeth suggested that if children had the opportunity of attending junior kindergarten, there wouldn't be so many in spacial education classes later on. "In stun boards, 30 to 40 per cent _ of the students require special education. That is a tremendous amount of students. My own feeling is we expect too much of our kids too soon. They suddenly .hit grade one and. we expect them to read. Many children get put into a' reading program far too soon," she told the hoard.. , She said if a child went to junior kindergartenthey would have more time to experinnent. "Two years to experiment doesn't mean they will read six months earlier but the children will have a varie- ty of opportunities to explore and discover." Referring to the high number of special education students in some boards, Mrs. Deeth said if the education system focus- ed on prevention rather than mediation then maybe there would be no need for so many special education classes. Only .12 per cent of Bruce County students are in special • education classes. Mrs. Deeth told the board the whole crux of the junior kindergarten program is the. teacher. - "You need someone who recognizes children are different, curious, active and eager to learn." She added" the classroom must be a '. spare with room for activities that provide children with alt kinds of experiences. A place where the teacher can read to them,. sing songs withthem and talk to them. Mrs. Death told the beard of a X. year survey of early childhood mon carried out by Dr. David Wycart i# Ipsilanti, bigan. Dr. Wycart matched children who had good early chi1dbool education with children who hadn't had any early chlidhood education, unity they were 21 years of age. The results from that research, were that the children who did have the early education did better" in school, went further and had leen difficul- ty with police. "Each child is different," Mrs. Death said, and it is not my to twist arms. To send a child junior kindergarten is a decision parents must Mrs. Deeth said she has heard the argu- mast "We didn't have *Aariclndemarten I when to ache* why have it now." She pointed out there was no T.V. and cbidren didn't have the they have now. "One himthed and five years ago it must have been hard to implement senior , but times do change. France ad junior ' arten for three years,. Japan and E�have and thdUnited States is looking into it," she Weather Different frrn Toronto Kincardine Township trustee Alvin T�e i asked Mrs. Deeth if she had const red the stormy weather Bruce County experienees in the winter. "Those children will have to travel on the bus. The • Tura to page 5 • Public meetings to be held 'froin page 2 dramatically as the composition of the county's population . changes. Residential and commercial development in. townships adjacent to urbanized areas are: raising servicing and environmental ' concerns. • The Study Committee will be presen- ting four restructuring scenarios which have been drawn from the preliminary research: Mr, McIver noted that the ad- justed boundaries were drawn to cohncide as closely as possible with demonstrated "communities ofinterest' in the county,, The scenarios, he said, were also drawn to reflect the principles the com- mittee adopted to guide it in its con- sideration of. restructuring alternatives. The principles require that both the county and local municipalities should be strong units of government, that municipalities should.encompass complete - -service areas, that, councils should be ac- countable and representative, and that local government - units should have the fiscal and administrative capacity to pro- vide a wide range of services economical- ly and effectively. Mr. McIver stressed that the purpose fn presenting the scenarios is to generate public input. The committee is most anx- ious, neious, he sz to receive and consider the views of county residents in evaluating alternatives to the structure of local government in .the county. Meetings are scheduled for March 27, 8 - 10 p.m. in the Township of Lindsay Municipal .Offices and .the Town of Kinn cardine. Auditorium; March 28, 8 - 10 p.m. at. the. Town of Wiarton Community Centre and Town of Walkerton, Bruce County council chambers; and March 29, 8 - 10 p.m. in the Town of Port Elgin council chambers and . the Village of Teeswater Town Hall. Full details are available in the advertisement in this week's paper. WILFRED McINTEE & CO. LIMITED Realtor. Real Estate Announcement Wilfred Mclntee & Co. Limited is pleased to announce the ap- pointment of Fern Vibert to the sales staff of our Kincardine office. .. r' Fern has recently completed the - Ontario Real Estate Course and is qualified to handle your real estate needs. • Please call Fern at the Kincar- dine office at 396-9412 or her residence 395-3478 at RR #3 Lucknow. Don't Let That Stop You From Re -Decorating Your Home! From Now Until March 31st; ra we're. ` once again offering 0 MONEY DOWN NO PAYMENTS FOR 6 MONTHS NINTEREST FOR 6 MONTHS Use somebody else's money for the next 6 months with NO INTEREST and replace that old furniture with Quality New Furniture only from... 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