More electronic devices are on their way to Deerfield’s Helping Hands Preschool to aid the three-, four- and five-year olds with their STEM education and collaboration skills as they prepare for kindergarten.
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) works itself into the preschool curriculum as young children learn how electric circuits are broken using Play-Doh.
Helping Hands began its eighth year as Deerfield Public Schools District 109’s preschool on Aug. 22 with lessons ranging from letter formation to STEM concepts.
“We are able to deliver a STEM experience to every child’s level,” Kat Armstrong, a Helping Hands’ teacher, said. “STEM gives them an opportunity to collaborate and learn in their own way. We have an iPad we use and we’re getting more.”
Armstrong said the children use an application known as “Squishy Circuits” to learn how when a circle of material is fractured a circuit running through it is broken too.
“They use Play-Doh, which they love,” Armstrong said.
Helping Hands is not a typical preschool, according to Marcie Faust. She is District 109’s director of innovative learning and Helping Hands Preschool program director. Originally run by the North Suburban Special Education District, Faust said the mission has changed since District 109 took control.
Faust said Helping Hands is now a school for all children that is designed to meet the requirements of special needs students. Along with certified teachers, there is an occupational therapist to help with motor skills, a speech pathologist and a school psychologist.
Certification is not a statewide legal requirement to teach at the preschool level, according to Faust. She said District 109 does require it.
“We have special needs students and typical peers in the same classroom setting,” Faust said. “It benefits all the children. A child with needs is able to listen to a typical peer who may be more verbal and they can play together.”
The morning session at Helping Hands is for three-year-olds, according to Faust. She said afternoon classes are for students who will enter one of the four district elementary schools as kindergartners next year. There is no tuition for special needs students.
The use of STEM and technology at the preschool level gives children who learn in different ways the opportunity to thrive in the same environment, according to Armstrong. Not only to they learn collaboration, but they can learn on their own.
Like other pre-kindergarten programs, Helping Hands students learn how to write the letters of the alphabet and the sounds associated with the letters. Some students easily grasp the skill while others need more time.
“We want them to appreciate the skill and find the method,” Armstrong said.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter.
