CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Independent School District is getting ready for pre-kindergarten enrollment -- inviting parents and kids to a pre-registration event.
District officials told 3NEWS that the event will help take away some of the stress involved as parents are guided through the registration process.
The event will take place at Corpus Christi ISD's Instructional Resource Center Saturday from 10-2 p.m.
Children who are either three or four years old are welcome, and parents can pre-register their kids online in either English or Spanish.
CCISD Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator Cynthia Hernandez said expanding the program to include three-year-old's helps them develop language skills at an earlier age.
"Four-year-old's is typically the pre-kindergarten age level, but we've opened it up this year to three-year-old children because we see a need in our community for providing those services," she said.
Research done by the district has shown children who attend pre-k tend to enter kindergarten better prepared. Hernandez said each pre-k classroom has 17-20 children with one certified teacher and one certified paraprofessional.
"90 percent of the brain is developed before the age of five, so we want to provide children with opportunities to grow and learn and develop reading skills and math skills so that they'll be ready for kindergarten," she said.
Parents will be given the choice what school to enroll their child at during Saturday's event. Hernandez said students can attend any school but will be selected via a lottery for the Early Childhood Development Center at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Metro E Elementary School. She said pre-k helps develop kids beyond the classroom curriculum.
"We want to really educate the whole child, not just making sure that they're academically ready but that they're also ready to socialize and to work well in a school setting," she said.
CCISD pre-k programs are also available to students outside of the district, but they will need to request a transfer online. Parents can find out if their child is eligible for free pre-k on the Texas Education Agency's website.
Otherwise, pre-k will cost $375 a month for ten months for CCISD employees. It costs $468 a month for everyone else.
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