Somerset Co. officials encourage parents to consider prescho

com. schools across delmarva will be be getting ready to start school in the next few weeks. and in somerset county — school officials are encouraging parents to consider pre-school for their children. 47 abc’s lissette nunez reports natural sound pencil sharpening noise tracks 1 pencils were sharpened, sounds of chairs scraping floor track 2 seats were arranged. tuesday afternoon, teachers at princess anne elementary set up pre-school rooms to gear up for the new school year. although pre-k is not mandatory in maryland. somerset county public school officials tell 47 abc they see many benefits in children who are enrolled. karen karten, early childhood coordinator somerset county public schools 12:59:21 we do see that children who enter our school having pre-k or pre-school experiences, they do enter with more skills than those students that have not early experiences like that.”12:59:34 track 3 and dr. sam scott a local psychologist agrees. dr. sam scott, psychologist 12:51:02certainly the social aspect. especially if a kid hasn’t been in daycare or hasn’t been around other children. it’s a really great transition year to get to know a lot of kids, to get to know how to interact with other kids without mom or dad around, how to share things like that.”12:51:14 track 4 karten also says children who have that extra year of instruction before kindergarten get an academic boost. she tell us the past few years, somerset county has implemented a literacy program in their pre-k and kindergarten classes calledraising a reader . school officials say the program allows children to bring homea new set of books every week in order to encourage reading. karen karten, early childhood coordinator somerset county public schools “13:01:13 well the more often children have exposure to books, we find that they’re literacy levels are going to be higher as they enter school.”13:01:20 levels are going to be higher as they enter school.”13:01:20 track 5. but lastly help them gain skills that has long term effects on their education. <karen karten, early childhood coordinator somerset county public schools 12:57:03 many of those students who are used to school and feel comfortable in the school,they have those skills that they need to succeed in school.”12:57:10 track 6 lissette nunez 47 abc. 47 abc took a look at research studies posted online — in an effort to find recent data — supporting what the folks in somerset county had to say about the benefits of enrolling children in pre-school. although there was research which showed pre-k helped with performance in kindergarten and early grades — the studies were dated. we also made phone calls to the u-s department of education about an recent research that might be out there — they said that the research does exist but they couldn’t direct us to specific studies about long term benefits of pre-school. to find this story and more – just head over to our