Starting transitional kindergarten (TK) - what should we know?
My 4 year old will be starting TK at Malcolm X in a few weeks. We're transitioning from private daycare, so it's a big change. Can anyone offer advice or pointers for helping our son with the transition? I do also have a couple of specific questions:
- How do they do lunch in the TK classroom? Are you providing lunch or they get it at school?
- How does breakfast work? Does the child arrive earlier?
- Does anyone know the difference between the LEARNS and BEARS afterschool programs? From the website they honestly seem kinda the same.
Jul 31, 2022
Parent Replies
Welcome to the MX community. I’m the parent of an older student and I work in the school, often at the TK level. I’ll try to answer your questions in order:
LUNCH: You can send a lunch with them (in containers they can open themselves) or they can get a free school lunch. Each TK class has an aide who walks the school lunch kids to pick up their lunch, so no worries there. There are also lunch aides who are present to help kids open their milks or other containers. The TK faculty have smooth systems for everything.
BREAKFAST: All students have free breakfast and eat them generally right before first recess. Again, the TK staff is all very experienced and have a routine for everything.
AFTERSCHOOL: Learns and Bears are different in how they are funded. Because Bears is subsidized, you have to income qualify to get in. Learns is a paid program. Both fill up quickly and have waiting lists.
My kid attended a different BUSD kindergarten, but some things are the same:
Universal breakfast is served in the classroom at the start of the school day. Kids just need to arrive at school on time, not early.
My understanding is that LEARNS is for people who can pay for childcare and BEARS is subsidized on a sliding scale (which is a terrible system).
Lunch: it is youth choice. You can either pack your own or get a school lunch. This year again the school lunch might be free. At the beginning of the year, you will get a calendar with all the lunch menus.
Breakfast: come on time. Once they take attendance and greet each other, the breakfast is served. No need to come earlier. Just come on time, that is all.
BEARS vs LEARNS. one is state pays for and the other one you pay for. As far as a child is concerned, there is no difference.