Hawaiʻi County invites Early Childhood practitioners to a Symposium on Saturday, April 22, 2023, to learn from Lt. Governor Sylvia Luke about the state’s new preschool initiative, “Ready Keiki,” which is a public-private effort to ensure all Hawaiʻi’s keiki will be ready for kindergarten and the future.
“Building on-island capacity for our keiki to excel as they enter kindergarten and beyond is critical to our ability to forge a Hawaiʻi Island where our keiki can thrive and succeed for generations to come,” said Mayor Mitch Roth. “We encourage all of our Early Childhood educators to take advantage of this opportunity to connect, learn, and prepare for the journey ahead as we ready our keiki for scholastic success.”
In addition to a session with Hawaiʻi’s Lt. Governor, participants will hear from Dr. Lauren Padesky, Hawaiʻi’s DOE Early Learning Specialist, who will speak about a new Kindergarten Entrance Assessment (KEA), which includes a Kindergarten Assessment tool that will be administered to all students entering kindergarten this Fall.
Directly related to this assessment is the information to be shared by the symposium’s third speaker, Sue Entz, who will talk about ways for providers of early childhood programs to better prepare keiki for the assessment.
Further, Entz has created a literacy continuum that informs about the sequence of skills from birth through kindergarten that lay the foundation for reading and writing. A copy of this continuum will be provided to each Symposium participant.
The event, held at the Courtyard by Marriott-King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., is being sponsored by the County of Hawaiʻi, the Baby STEPS team, and Friends of the Future.
The cost to register for the event is $30 per person and includes breakfast and lunch. Parking is $5 for conference participants.
To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/2p95kkpv. For questions, email Angela at angela.thomas@hawaiicounty.gov or Susan at future@fofhawaii.org.