WEBVTT

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Um I feel like pre K is probably one of

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the most fundamental and foundational

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years of our children's lives . And so ,

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um although I've taught every grade

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level that you can imagine , I really

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find that Pre K shows the greatest

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growth of all the grades that I've ever

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taught . And so I was just super

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excited to be a part of a year where

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you see such significant growth in our

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students .

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I'm actually very excited to be a part

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of the UPK program . And um what I

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really appreciate about the program is

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that there's a cohesiveness among all

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of us no matter where you are , we are

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one Dodea and it shows in us all

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participating in this training and

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preparation for our students . So it

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doesn't matter if you're in Virginia or

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if you're in Spain or Germany , you

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still get the same experience that you

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would wherever you are . So I'm excited

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to pilot it and I'm excited to learn

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and to grow and to just become a

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stronger educator .

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Oh , for our military connected

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Children , I think that the primary

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grades are especially Pre K more

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specifically is extremely important

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because it's a jump start to prepare

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them . Um I know that for me ,

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kindergarten and first grade look

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completely different than they do now .

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And so this universal Pre K or the pre

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K program gives them those foundational

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literacy skills that they need . You

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know , it introduces them to social

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emotional skills , it introduces them

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to , you know , working together ,

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being in a collaborative setting . And

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I think that once we teach our students

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those important skills that when they

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get into those upgrades , that they're

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able to just roll into the academic

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form of where they're looking to go um

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in their educational career . So I

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think it's important for the , the

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literacy , you know , for the um

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connections and relationships and just

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understanding what is school , you know ,

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what does it look like to be in a

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classroom ? What does it look like to

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be a part of something other than a

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family ? You know , what does it look

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like to be a part of a group that's a

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little bit different than what I see

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every day . There are significant

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deficits for , for students that don't

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have that opportunity for

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pre-kindergarten . Um For example , at

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the end of kindergarten , they're

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expected to be able to read . And so um

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if you are starting pre K or excuse me ,

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starting kindergarten and learning

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letters , then you , you're kind of at

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a deficit because everyone else is

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already beyond that . And so they're

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moving on to reading and you're still

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learning the sounds and putting the

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sounds together . And so I think here

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in pre kinder , what we do is we give

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them those sounds , we give them those

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foundational skills , we give them the

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understanding of what it is to read .

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What is it to go from left to right .

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What is a book , you know , um how ,

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what , what do these sounds make ? And

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so I think that um if you don't have

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that opportunity , there is a slight

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deficit because you're just not exposed ,

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you know , and sometimes exposure is

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all you need to get started . But

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sometimes exposure can really create a

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gap between classmates and peers .

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Um Oh , I've learned so much . It's so

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hard to pinpoint . Um But I think the

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biggest bang for our book is going to

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be um the choice um moments where our

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students get to choose what centers

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they work in and it's kind of them

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choosing how they learn about the skill

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that we want them to learn . Um And I

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think in this training , I was

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extremely appreciative to have a

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training where they literally laid

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everything out . Um Pre K in the , in

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the years before . It's kind of been

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everyone and working together . But you

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have a style , I have a style but it

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was so , I mean , it was so mind

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blowing for us to compare and put

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everything together and say , hey ,

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this is where you should be , this is

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where your students should be . So I

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think in this training , what it did

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was it pulled all of our skills

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together , it pulled everyone's

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expertise together to create a uniform

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and equal opportunity for all of our

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students . So , I mean , the , the

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training has just been mind blowing .

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I've learned so much , especially

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coming back to pre K because it's been

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some time . Um

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I think what I want parents to know and

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understand is that although it's pre K

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and um in the past , pre K has just

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been a program um of just playing and

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hanging out , I want them to know that

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them sending their students to pre K

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will really support them as they move

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in into higher grade . Um It is a

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literacy rich environment , it is an

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environment that will push their

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Children so that they are a little more

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prepared for kinder or a little more

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prepared for first or whatever

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direction they're going in . And I

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really want them to know that we are

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working hard as educators to provide an

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equal opportunity for all Children .

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And so um I think that once parents

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understand that , then they will trust

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us to know that even though this may be

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your baby , that we're gonna love your

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child , and we're gonna make sure that

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they get everything that they need .