Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Osceola - Village Early Childhood Center

The second stop today brought us to a community I know well - Osceola. I used to represent this area in the Iowa Senate, so I know the many strengths of this community, as well as the challenges they face.

We came here today to visit with some children at the Village Early Childhood Center, which houses one of the state's early childhood programs.

These events are always so much fun. When you spend your days in the capitol, its great to be able to get out and be around our kids to remind us what we are fighting for.



We took a nice tour of the facility, and saw the work this center is doing. I got to watch a classroom of students learn sign language and a great dance.


I also got to see students learn the alphabet. Today, they were learning about the letter "R". To help them learn, they read a story about radishes - even though one little girl made her aversion to the vegetable known.

This is another of our state-funded preschool programs, and at Clarke Community Schools they are doing a great job. When they started the program a couple years ago, they had 69 students. Now, they have 159 students. These are kids who are starting to read and develop good learning skills, before they even step foot in Kindergarten. This program works, and it is because of the dedicated teachers and staff at places like the Village in Osceola.

Well, we are back in the car and headed to our last event in Mount Ayr.

Until next time,

Patty

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