Schools offer free playgroups for toddlers

They’re weekly, available to toddlers and their parents at no charge, and represent an opportunity far more important than just play.

Playgroups are among the offerings available at the St. Charles Parish School System’s family centers to area residents. They focus on activities aimed at child development and support for parents, as well as help prepare children for kindergarten by learning, playing, exploring and making friends in a comfortable family-centered setting.

These groups are scheduled Monday at Mimosa Park Elementary; Tuesday, Luling Elementary; Wednesday, Allemands Elementary and New Sarpy Elementary schools, and Thursday at Luling, Norco and St. Rose elementary schools. They all begin at 10 a.m.

“Playgroup is just one aspect of the family center,” said Kevin Nicholas, who oversees the parish’s centers and playgroups. “We do lots of parent involvement with the family centers.”

Activities, information and resources are available at the centers, Thomas said.

Last school year, about 2,200 people a month participated in family center events that included: workshops, Parent Learning Walks, FACT time (Family and Child Together time), student performances, Family Math Night, Family Literacy Night, Preschool Reading Carnival and kindergarten transition activities, according to Thomas.

Parents also used the centers.

They checked out 3,108 resource materials to help their children succeed in school. Thomas also said the family centers gave 1,941 children’s books to parents.Local businesses, such as Entergy, and organizations, such as the parish library system, also support activities at the centers throughout the year.

Each school in the parish with primary grades also has a family center.

In St. Charles Parish, they include Mimosa Park, Luling, Allemands, New Sarpy, Luling, Norco and St. Rose elementary schools.

“Our family centers are open to everyone in the parish because they are federally funded,” Thomas said.  “The centers provide resources that all families need.”The Mimosa Family Center recently reopened because of the area re-qualifying for funding.

The centers are federally funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Title 1 program and other local grants to assist areas with high percentages of children from low-income families to help them meet state academic standards.

“It’s very important,” Nicholas said of the Mimosa center reopening. “In the past, when the family center in Mimosa was open it was heavily utilized by the community and we’re very happy to be able to reopen it.”

The St. Charles Parish School System got into family centers in the 1990s, he said. The first ones that opened were in Luling and Norco.

“We’ve been pretty successful,” Thomas said of the centers. “We’ve had lots of parent involvement in the centers. A part of this involvement includes showing parents how they can help their children at home.”

Thomas said the program offers an alternative to pre-kindergarten program or Head Start, and it’s proven successful by instilling early  learning standards that help these children perform better in education.

He added, “It’s a bridge program that acclimates both parent and student to getting the most from the educational experience.”

 

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