Pre K Scholars is delighted to announce that its Kindergarten Readiness Kit won Creative Child Magazine’s 2011 Media of the Year Award in the Preschool Educational Classroom Products category. The Kit, developed by former kindergarten teacher, Amy Schwary, is a 22-week phonics-based preschool curriculum for home and preschool use.

Creative Child Magazine 2011 Media of the Year Award

Half of five-year-olds aren’t ready for kindergarten.

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, May 29, 2011

El Dorado Hills, CA (PRWEB) July 26, 2011

The educators and parent judges in Creative Child Magazine’s Awards Program selected Pre K ScholarsKindergarten Readiness Kit winner of the 2011 Media of the Year Award in the Preschool Educational Products category. Only one product in each category is chosen. The program is unique in that the very people who purchase the products, early education professionals and moms, act as judges.

“We are thrilled to win this prestigious award,” said founder, Amy Schwary, the former kindergarten teacher who developed the program. “Pre K Scholars is committed to preparing 4-5 year olds for academic success by providing an affordable fun, comprehensive preschool curriculum that meets or exceeds state standards.”

The Kindergarten Readiness Kit was years in development by Schwary, mother of four girls. “When I was teaching I noted what studies have confirmed, that about half of all children entering kindergarten are not prepared, and this statistic runs across all socio-economic groups. “said Schwary. “Parents face a bewildering set of choices when they tackle kindergarten readiness for their children. They must decide what phonics, handwriting, math, early reading, science and fine motor skill resources to purchase and then face the challenge of how and when to introduce each topic. I designed the kit to solve those problems for parents.”

Schwary is convinced of the program’s effectiveness because she taught the material in her home-based preschool classes for many years, stopping classes only to develop the award-winning DVD. “If we are to improve kindergarten readiness in our country,” said Schwary, “we must provide parents with affordable, fun, easy to use yet comprehensive programs that use everyday household items, activities that parents and children look forward to rather than see as a chore. The Pre K Scholars Kindergarten Readiness Kit is just such a resource.”

To learn more about Pre K Scholars visit http://www.prekscholars.com

About Pre K Scholars
Founded in 2008, Pre K Scholars was developed by Amy Schwary and Alan Pierrot, MD with a vision of providing affordable resources to parents, teachers and preschools to enhance the kindergarten readiness of the population. The company is currently working on an iPhone and Android app to supplement it Kindergarten Readiness Kit DVD.

Contact

• Alan Pierrot
  Pre K Scholars
  559-779-4541
  Email

• Amy Schwary
  Pre K Scholars
  877-850-3926
  Email

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• Pre K Scholars Kindergarten…

In an effort to offer a more price sensitive product, we digitized our curriculum. The Kindergarten Readiness Kit DVD has all of the essentials to teach the Pre K Preschool Curriculum on one DVD. It comes with 150+ lessons with detailed instructions that you can print at your convenience, 52 phonics cards (both uppercase and lowercase) and 130 Guessing Game Cards (A-Z) to reinforce initial sounds. All of the flash cards are digitized and animated with an added audio to motivate the children. The DVD also allows us to provide a “drag and click” computer skill  opportunity for children, which we didn’t previously have. Parents are happy to  know that their child can explore early phonics on a computer in a safe environment without having access to the internet..an added bonus!

We debuted our new DVD at 4 Greater Homeschool Conventions back East, which meant lots of travel and organization for this mother of four.  We met so many wonderful homeschooling families who  eagerly set out to purchase varied programs for their children. It was so refreshing to see the level of interest and responsibility the parents took in choosing  just the right curriculums for their individual learners. For three days the families would attend workshops, listen to speakers and comb the exhibit halls diligently searching for educational connections. In Memphis, we met The Tuckers! New to homeschooling they were like sponges, trying to absorb everything they could! Their energy and level of enthusiasm was invigorating. Meghan Tucker is a thoughtful and dedicated homeschooling mother of 2 boys. She loves to blog about keeping a home, her Christian faith and homeschooling. They were one of many that purchased the Pre K Scholars Kindergarten Readiness Kit DVD. She writes about her experiences with it and so much more on her blog..Read Meghan’s Blog:

http://www.thetuckerstaketennessee.com/2011/03/new-month-new-goals-2/

Fortunately, our DVD  and it’s demonstration was met with much enthusiasm! For every two that we demonstrated, we sold one! A 50% conversion rate was a  reassuring testament to our efforts! If you were unable to attend the conventions, not to worry, you can get your own personal demonstration of our DVD at www.prekscholars.com Whether you are looking to find something for your tot to do while you are holding class with the olders, or you are new to homeschooling and need some direction on where to start we have you covered! Not a homeschooling parent, but want to assure your child is adequately prepared for Kindergarten, you are covered as well.  As you all head back to school with your preschooler or Kindergartener, we would love to hear from you…

The curriculum used in her class derives from a program called Pre K Scholars (www.prekscholars.com) that was created by Amy Schwary a graduate from USC who majored in Education. Wanting to make sure her own child was well prepared for Kindergarten, Schwary created the Pre-K Scholar program. She then developed a user friendly, hands-on Pre-K kit for teachers/moms interested in implementing the Pre-K program with their own children and others in their home, church and community.

The guiding education principle for Pre-K Scholar which states that all students are capable of learning any concept or skill if appropriately presented is what attracted Amy Hunt to use the curriculum and open Miss Amy’s Pre-K Connection.

As a credentialed teacher who taught kindergarten, first and second grades prior to having her two sons, Hunt considered the home-based Pre-K program to be an ideal setting for someone with her teaching experience who desired the flexibility of being at home with her kids while working part time.

“This is not a preschool in the familiar sense with snacks and naps” Hunt said. “It is straight instruction with class sessions running 90-minutes per day.” She plans to offer two separate sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10–11:30am and 1–2:30pm.

Hunt is still accepting late sign-ups for her introductory eight-week summer session that began last Monday, June 8, while she also prepares for a fun, positive, comprehensive learning environment for this fall and spring 2010 students.

During the 90-minute sessions, students will review one of the 22 lesson plans developed around the letters of the alphabet, in addition to studying phonic flash cards, guessing games and learning vowels through Addy the Acrobat, Eddie the Eraser and Otto the Oceanographer.

Neuroscientist Eric Knudsen is noted as saying, “Early childhood provides a window of opportunity to dramatically shape a child’s brain when it is rapidly developing. Children who attended high-quality preschool do significantly better in K-12 than children who do not (due to the fact that) in early childhood, children develop the linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional building blocks for later development.”

For more information about Miss Amy’s Pre-K Connection here in Ripon, call her at (209) 253-0081 or (530) 391-4742. Her email address is amyhunt22@charter.net. Her website is www.prekconnection.com.

After receiving positive feedback at the NAEYC Conference this past fall, we learned a few things:

1. Our concept was well received
2. Our product was aesthetically pleasing and considered “innovative” in that it’s quite comprehensive
3. We offered only two products—the Family Kit and the Teacher Kit
4. Our prices were out of the price range of most teachers, so they needed to get school approval to use school funds
5. Several questions were common:
   • “Can we buy just your guessing game cards?”
   • “Do you sell just the map of Scholarville with reinforcement stickers?”
   • “Would you sell us your character cards?”
   • “I’m tired of the phonics program we are using…do you sell just your phonics component?”

So, in an attempt to share our products with everyone, the individual parts of our whole kit are available to all of our customers.

Many parents and teachers alike are in search of a quality “phonics only” program to enhance their children’s reading readiness skills and they have found this kit component very useful. We have been approached by advocates of the Down Syndrome Association, ESL teachers, preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, and non-profit agencies, all expressing their admiration in our phonics component and how there is nothing else out there like it!

The town of Scholarville and all of its community members are “one of a kind” watercolored line drawings that have been created by an amazing artist and educator. Scholarville is unique, multi-cultural, engaging, motivating to children, and a perfect springboard into the world of letter and sounds! Their action is evident and their affiliated motions help ALL learners grasp the letter/sound connection!

The Guessing Game is a favorite of all students! It is perfect for vocabulary development and beginning sound reinforcement.

Each piece is important in and of itself, and when combined as a whole kit you have an exemplary kindergarten readiness program!

Click here to learn more about our Kit Components.

Just to be in the nation’s capital, where great policies are made and such history is represented, is awe-inspiring. But add to that a convention center filled with over 22,000 people—all gathering with one common interest: the education of young children. Policy makers, preschool directors, child psychologists, occupational therapists, computer techs, musicians, curriculum designers, authors, children’s literature advocates, distributors and teachers all convening to review key topics in early education and to visit the exhibit hall displaying a multitude of products relavant to the education of young children (there was eye candy everywhere you looked!).

I met people from near and far: China, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, India and many representatives from each of our prospective states. All appeared to be greatly drawn to the Scholarville map—I heard many reactions that described it as “creative,” “unique,” “artistic,” “original,” “multi- cultural,” and “clever.” I even had a man from India take a photograph of it noting that it provided “so many concepts displayed in one small map.”

The feedback was incredible and I can’t help be motivated upon my return. I was flattered to hear that the kit is considered unprecedented and that home daycares are in need of educational materials—they provide quite an expansive market, actually.

In walking the rows and rows of great booths, I was on a mission to establish how Pre K Scholars differs from all of the others offerings. I’ve had a sense of this all along, but my searches confirmed what sets us apart.

Pre K Scholars provides:

1. More than phonics.
2. Completely integrated—fine motor, writing, reading, letter value, letter recognition, number value, number recognition, number writing, basic math, basic science, social studies, colors, shapes, simple science and much more all embedded in one program.
3. A progressive discipline—each week skills are built upon the skills from the previous week. Letters are introduced with a bigger picture in mind.
4. Artistry in the materials that is original and created by well-respected artists.
5. A primary focus on preparing children for the kindergarten of today.
6. Home-based business opportunities—for those wishing to teach classes out of their home, we offer afterschool enrichment for preschools to let them increase their revenue stream while meeting the needs of parents and students. Likewise, we provide a well balanced program for parents wishing to work with their child one-on-one.

What a treat to be able to express our differentiating qualities to those who stopped by our booth!

While I was manning the booth my father visited the Newseum, a museum pertaining to all aspects of news and television. Feeling inspired to be a reporter himself he filmed a short clip, which I’ve included below.

Amy Hunt, who teaches Pre K Scholars classes in Ripon, California wrote this morning:

“Hi Amy! I looked at your new website and LOVE it! How do I get my class posted and enter my profile information? I’m assuming you will let me know! This will be great. I still need to fill my class for fall. Thanks for looking out for us teachers!”

Immediately following that email I received a second one indicating she had already figured out how to register to start a class and create her own teacher profile. It’s easy—and now she will benefit from all of the marketing and publicity Pre K Scholars pursues.

With this milestone reached, we continue search for more talented teachers nationwide. Did you know that 49% of children who do not know the alphabet as they enter kindergarten are middle class or higher? I’ll touch more on that later

It really is profound when you can see the self-worth it restores in many stay at home moms. I hear the dads say, “My wife is so happy to get those monthly checks.” And I hear the moms say, “I am so happy to be teaching again.”

One mom in particular outwardly exemplifies this business enthusiasm. Amy Hunt is a stay at home mom and former teacher from northern California. After hearing about the Pre K Scholars Program from a friend, Amy grew curious and emailed for more information. We had several email exchanges to answer her questions address her initial fears. After deliberating for about a week, Amy decided to GO FOR IT!

Amy began recruiting and initially was only able to find one student. But this did’t stop her from teaching the class—she proceeded with one student. It didn’t take long at all for word to spread of her course, and six months later, she has created her own website, www.prekconnection.com, she has been featured in her local newspaper, and she has summer and fall classes all lined up. Read Friday’s story from The Ripon Review.

Amy’s is not the only PKS success story, but it’s one worth sharing…

Many of these inquiries come from former teachers who miss working with children. Almost all say, “It would be a perfect fit…but can I ask you this? And what about that?” I am ALWAYS happy to answer any questions, but I thought it would be nice if they could hear firsthand from a stay-at-home mother of two, and former teacher, who decided to purchase the Home Based Business/Teacher Kit and teach the program with a friend.

1. How long have you been teaching your class?
   “I have been teaching my class with a partner for almost 6 months.
2. How many students are you teaching?
   “We have 8 students in each of our 2 classes that we teach.”
3. How did you recruit students?
   “We recruited our students mostly by word of mouth. We did send an initial flyer, but most of those people had shown interest prior to the mailing.”
4. How did you prepare your home?
   “My partner’s home is perfect for teaching this class. We made sure that we had a sitting area and two work spaces for children to work in small groups. We also made sure we had all of the tools listed in the Instructional Guide that came with the kit.”
5. What feedback have you received?
   “We have heard from many parents that their children don’t want to go to their preschools anymore; they would rather come to our class.”
6. What one piece of advice would you give a prospective buyer of the HBB/Teacher Kit?
   “Buy it! It has been such a joy to get these children ready for Kindergarten.”
7. What’s the biggest pleasure you’ve received from the PKS Program?
   “After teaching our 18th class today, I feel like our kids have the head start needed to have a successful kindergarten experience. They are ready and we had a huge part of that!”
8. Do you consider your HBB/Teacher Kit purchase a good investment?
   “YES!!!!!! It paid itself back within the first month, with having two classes. I feel like I am really contributing to our local schools and our family.”
9. As your classes come to an end, do you plan on teaching subsequent classes?
   “Yes, some parents are wanting some additional activities/classes over the summer.”

As we talk with moms and teachers to get feedback on the Pre K Scholars program, I will post more of their responses. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in learning more, we welcome you to send questions to info@prekscholars.com. The Pre K Scholars website also offers detailed information on both the Home Based Business Kit and the Family Kit.