Preschool starts: kids ready to learn basics

While walking up to the Sweetwater County Child Developmental Center Tuesday morning, parents and children were bustling to get into the building.

Many were stopping to take pictures outside of the building for their child's first day of school.

For some children, this was the first time going to a school and being away from their parents. Some children just ran into the room as if they had always been there, others clung to their mother's legs not sure what was going to happen next; while some cried.

As this was going on throughout the building, teachers and other children tried to settle in and start the first day of school.

Teachers already had name tags made, baskets assigned and folders ready to go.

Most of the teachers were just as excited as the kids were as they waited to see who was in their class.

"It's just as exciting for me still as it is for the kiddos," CDC teacher Jennifer Rundell said.

This is Rundell's second year teaching at the CDC. This year, she will have two pre-kindergarten classes, which will consist of three and four year olds.

"We have a lot of big changes with a new curriculum and new staff," she said.

Rundell said she is happy with the academic focus the CDC's curriculum provides. Rundell, who worked in the Sweetwater County School District prior to the CDC, knows just what the local school districts are expecting the kindergarten students to know when they start.

Rundell has eight students in her morning class and nine in her afternoon class.

She expects more students will be added as the school year progresses. Rundell said thinks she will have 16 students by the end of the year.

At the CDC, each class has a class motto, some are moose, hummingbirds, frogs or monkeys. Rundell's class is based on The Cat in the Hat from Dr. Seuss. Her classroom was filled Dr. Seuss characters, which made some children feel right at home. Some ran in and said "Oh. It's the Cat in the Hat."

After all the children were in the room, Rundell had them sit in a circle to discuss the day's schedule. All of the tension was gone and the children were ready to learn.