A pre-kindergarten student. | Polk County Public Schools
2-minute read
If recent years are any indication, only 44% of Polk County children entering school for the first time in August will be “kindergarten-ready.”
That might seem crazy to those who remember when the only requirement was turning 5 by a certain date. But kindergarten isn’t like it used to be. Nor is this generation of kids.
To help, Polk County Public Schools has developed “Camp Early Bird,” a free 4-week summer program for incoming kindergarteners. Registration opened today.
Camp Early Bird
Who: Any incoming kindergarten student in Polk County.
What: Certified teachers will use fun activities to strengthen social and pre-reading skills. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
When: June 4–26, Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Select elementary schools throughout the county.
If your child has attended VPK or another preschool program, chances are they already know most of their colors, how to hold a crayon and what “circle time” is all about.
But that’s not all there is to kindergarten readiness. The school district offers a checklist of skills children should have and how parents can help.
Can your child…
Sort items by color and shape?
Understand concepts like in, out, under, off, front and back?
Point to body parts like head, shoulders and knees?
Zip or button clothes?
Bounce a ball?
Run and climb?
Count four to 10 objects?
Turn the pages of a book?
Recognize his first name in print?
Take turns?
Why it matters
Polk County was recently ranked 60th among Florida’s 67 counties for education, based on several factors including number of students attending preschool, 4th grade reading, 8th grade math and graduation rates.
Some of the data used in the ranking was a couple of years old, and more recent figures show improvement. But school district officials are making a concerted effort to help Polk County students improve by focusing on early learning, food insecurity, mental health and teacher pay.
Superintendent Fred Heid has worked to expand early childhood programs, calling it a “unique opportunity to invest on the front end with students rather than spending millions — if not billions — of dollars chasing them after grade 3 with intervention and remediation strategies.”
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Cindy's reporting for LkldNow focuses on Lakeland city government. Previously, she was a crime reporter, City Hall reporter and chief political writer for newspapers including the Albuquerque Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She spent a year as a community engagement coordinator for the City of Lakeland before joining LkldNow in 2023. Reach her at cindy@lkldnow.com or 561-212-3429.
Your thoughts on this? (Comments are moderated; first and last name are required.)Cancel reply
Support local news for Lakeland!
We believe everyone should be able to be informed about the place they live so we don't charge to read LkldNow. Instead of paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on contributions from readers like you to fund our journalism. Give Monthly, One-time or Once a Year.
Stay in the know
Get the scoop on what’s happening in Lakeland. Sign up to our weekly newsletter to get all your local news in one email!
Thank you for being a LkldNow reader!
LkldNow is your truly local, independent news. No paywall. No subscription fees. No opinions. Just the local news you need.
Get the best of LkldNow directly in your email inbox.
Sending to:
Gift this article
Manage Consent
To understand what news and features our audience is most interested in, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. LkldNow does not sell your data.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
