Teachers all over Warren County are preparing themselves for the newest wave of young students coming into pre-k and kindergarten. Milner Recreation Center hosted two days of screening for the little ones on Thursday and Friday, where students got to meet their future educators and partook in several activities and screenings. 

Melany Crothers, a kindergarten teacher at Centertown Elementary School, shared what all the screening process entails. “The last two days we have done pre-k and kindergarten screening, and we have screened approximately 350 to 400 students. It has been a steady pace.” 

The screening took place throughout the rec center gymnasium, and some of the office areas were designated for the students to take their vision, hearing and speech screenings. Pre-k screenings took place in the upstairs portion of the gymnasium. 

“Upstairs we had pre-k students which are four year olds,” stated Crothers. “We have done approximately 200 pre-k screenings.” 

Crothers mentioned Lion’s Club International performed vision screenings, and school nurses performed hearing screenings. 

“Putting on pre-k and kindergarten screening is an endeavor of a lot of community members, and we appreciate them all,” Crothers said.

All pre-k and kindergarten teachers from each school were present as well, where they performed assessments of the students’ knowledge of numbers, colors and the alphabet. “We are just checking readiness for kindergarten. It is not a pass or fail test. It’s a readiness test that helps the teacher know where to begin at the start of the school year.”