This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
07/16/2012 12:00 AMWith Connecticut's adoption of the Common Core State Standards, teachers and students are under tremendous pressure to meet the elevated benchmarks that the new standards require. It goes without saying that change has to occur at the beginning of the educational experience to avoid a perpetual game of catch up. With this understanding, it troubles me to see the great financial despair that is facing local nursery schools. Many of our pre-schools are in danger of not being able to open their doors this school year due to a lack of enrollment and fundraising. One school in particular, Northford Community Nursery School (NCNS), has been educating children and giving back to the community for 50 years and needs the help of the community to continue.
NCNS is an educational facility because, while many pre-schools serve as an alternative to daycare and provide little educational preparation, NCNS uses the most current methods of instruction to make sure that its graduates are adequately prepared for kindergarten. For example, students participate in Handwriting Without Tears, a program designed to make legible and fluent handwriting an easy and automatic skill for students. Students are routinely paired with 5th-grade students in a peer-reading program. Students are expected to know their home address and phone number upon completion of the program. The children are also treated to daily arts and crafts activities and field trips to places such as Lyman Orchards and Big Y. NCNS gives back to the community in the form of scholarships for underprivileged children.
Without assistance from our community and businesses, a school that has given so much back to the children of Northford and surrounding towns will be unable to open for its 51st year. For more information or to make a donation, I encourage your readers to visit www.ncns-ct.com.
Ryan ConnellyNorthford