Clinton County FCS Extension facilitated the Summer Smart Start Academy for children up to age five to promote kindergarten readiness. The Summer Smart Start Academy was a month long program that offered weekly online learning sessions in addition to educational kits with hands-on activities that reinforced learning at home. 57 children participated in the program. Each week, parents, day care providers, and children practiced enhanced skills development in areas such as language, math, fine and gross motor, literacy, and social and emotional development. 

In addition to monitoring enhanced skills development throughout the series while learning together online, the kids were eager to share comments about what they did at home with the kits. A daycare provider commented that “The Summer Smart Start Academy has been a wonderful opportunity for our daycare to have the ability to participate in. Our children have loved it and was so excited to receive their own packets of supplies.” A parent stated that “Guided weekly lessons were perfect for helping me keep my little one learning at home over the summer. He especially loved the gator grabbers and all the activities using them.” Helping families learn more about school readiness and giving them tools to implement learning at home will lead to a greater number of children eager to start school equipped with the skills they need to be successful.