It is through our valued partnership with the Allen, Logan, and Simpson Community Early Childhood Council that we, the Logan County Cooperative Extension Service, seek to improve school readiness in Logan County by educating, encouraging, and engaging families. Kindergarten readiness means that each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote the child’s success. The kindergarten screener measures readiness in five important domains, academic/cognitive, language development, physical development, self-help, and social-emotional. The 2016 Early Childhood Profile for Logan County indicates the following readiness results for preschool aged children in Logan County:

Academic/Cognitive: 34.1%

Language Development: 75.8%

Physical Development: 47.1%

Self-Help: 44.2%

Social-Emotional: 74.8%

To address our school readiness areas of concern, the Logan County Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with our community partners, provided a school readiness event called “Preschool Pumpkin Days” for families of preschool aged children in Logan County. 

This county-wide initiative was held at the Logan County Extension Office by the Logan County Extension Agents in Family Consumer Sciences, 4-H and Youth Development and Agriculture as well as the Logan County SNAP-Ed Assistant. Other key community partners that were instrumental in making this event happen were family resource directors from all of the Logan County Schools and Stevenson Elementary School, the Logan County Library, the Logan County Health Department, and the Logan County Schools preschool teachers. Parents were provided information on school readiness on top of opportunities to observe the level at which their children were ready for school. Parents and children rotated through sessions on healthy eating, reading a story, physical activity and craft activities. Each session focused on one or more of the school readiness skills for Kentucky. Parents completed a school readiness evaluation as they rotated the sessions based on their observations of their children. Before leaving, all children in attendance were given pie pumpkins with agriculture and nutritional facts attached to provide additional education and opportunities to engage with at their homes. There were 63 adults and 33 children in attendance for Preschool Pumpkin Days. The results of the evaluations are as follows:

My child can (does):

Sort items by color and/or shape – yes 28 no 0

Name at least five colors – yes 28 no 1

Count at least 5 objects – yes 29 no 0

Count from 1 to 10 in the correct order – yes 25 no 4

Eat a balanced diet – yes 25 no 4

Eat five fruits and/or vegetables each day – yes 19 no 10

Follow directions with two steps – yes 25 no 3

Speak in complete sentences – yes 28 no 1

Tell others his/her first and last name – yes 24 no 6

Persists in activities – yes 24 no 5

Cut with child size scissors – yes 17 no 10

Share with others – yes 25 no 4

One family boasted about taking their pumpkins home and through the education and confidence provided, made their very first homemade pumpkin pie with great success. It is through community programs like “Preschool Pumpkin Days,” our families grow.