Sara Sandstrom, Nederland. There are not many cuter things in life than watching preschool aged children giving a little concert. The adults love to see the wiggles and the excitement on their faces. And there is usually one kid who is a little too loud and a little off key. We love it and are so proud of our preschoolers. Their faces are full of pride when the audience affirms their efforts. 

These performances even at such a young age help to teach children social skills and teamwork. It helps them build memory skills as they learn songs and some actions along with the song. We also hope it helps build confidence for these youngsters. 

Nederland Elementary School (NES) has a Preschool Enrichment Program (PSE). Teacher Liz Cooley and her students have been studying Route 66 and ended this unit by performing for a few staff members at NES. It was not the normal concert with parents and grandparents but it is the best that could be done during this time of Covid. The concert was recorded and sent to all the parents to enjoy.

The preschools stepped out of their RV with homemade guitars and sang and had actions to Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again and Nat King Cole’s Get Your Kicks on Route 66.

If you know Get Your Kicks on Route 66 you know these preschoolers had a lot of words to pronounce and memorize like Chicago, Oklahoma City, Flagstaff and San Bernardino. 

In this unit they learned about maps and found those iconic Route 66 towns. They made Route 66 passports and learned about the history of this infamous highway. They listened to music from the time when this was the road to travel on for vacations. Pixar’s Cars movie was also tied into the unit so the students could see Lightning McQueen and his friends in Radiator Springs, a town along Route 66. What an awesome unit Ms. Liz put together for her students!

Throughout the year the students have learned about the contributions of African Americans, Chinese New Year and plants and trees, to name a few topics. 

Ms. Liz says, “We work on social/emotional and play skills, readiness for Kindergarten, pre-reading, letter recognition, writing and fine motor skills, history, science and math.”

Ms. Liz stresses caring for our earth, our toys, our school, our bodies and each other. Ms. Liz says that they learn, nap, play and most of all have fun.

This year the NES Preschool Enrichment students are: Sequoia Bonadies, Wynter Gaventa, Ethan Koehler, Quentin Nowels, Gabriel Livingston, Isabella Tye and Evelyn Wilson. 

You can learn more about Boulder Valley School District’s PSE in Nederland at childcare.bvsd.org. You can also go to ece.bvsd.org to learn more about the Early Childhood Education programs at NES.  

(Originally published in the April 15, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)