DJ Wallace
Why It’s More than ABCs & 123s for Wee Care Graduate DJ Wallace
For Shamirah Wallace, mother to DJ, a rising 3rd grader at Rogers Lane Elementary and Wee Care graduate, watching her son succeed through the past several years of stop/start school during COVID had a lot to do with the preparation he got at Wee Care.
“Even through COVID, a lot of kids are struggling, but DJ has stayed ahead of grade level because of the preparation that Mrs. Laurie & Mrs. Ellen gave him – particularly with his letter sounds and translating those into reading,” said Wallace. “His report cards every year come home with comments about how smart he is and how well he reads.”
But, as Shamirah says, while the academic part of school always came naturally for DJ, the social/emotional parts of his Wee Care experience are what continue to bring him success in school.
“For DJ, his grandmother was helping to watch him before Wee Care, so he had to transition being away from her and learning to be on a schedule,” said Wallace. “But we knew he would be taken care of from the time the bus picked him up to the time he got home. He was immediately comfortable and got on a great schedule, engaging with other kids. You could tell he was really happy there.”
Here’s something that’s easy to take for granted - for a lot of kids coming through the Wee Care program, it will be the first time they’ve participated in a structured situation outside of their home.
“The structure that Laurie & Ellen provide and instill in kids is amazing - they’re prepared to stand in lines in hallway or raise their hands to ask permission,” said Wallace. “A lot of kids in our community are home until they get to Kindergarten, so it’s their first time ever in a school environment. Wee Care prepared him to transition to K knowing there’s a certain way to behave at home and at school.”
The things children learn in preschool – play time versus learning time, how to order food in a cafeteria –are incredibly important to functioning well in elementary school. Without Wee Care, many of these children would be experiencing these things for the first time in kindergarten, adding to the already steep learning curve and transition of a first year in school.
