Early Childhood and 4K

If your child will turn 4 before September 1, 2025 you should plan to have your child screened.  

If your child will turn 3 before September 1, 2025, AND you have concerns about their development (i.e., your child is not meeting milestones), you should plan to have your child screened.  

Trained evaluators, including the EC and 4K teachers, will interact with your child in a 1:1 and/or small group setting. In addition, students will engage in play with other children. The evaluators will challenge your child with skills they are going to further develop in EC or 4K programming to see what skills they have acquired and where they feel your child would be most likely to succeed.

Screening registration runs from February 26 - March 27, 2025

Screening appointments are available April 7 - 11, 2025 from 8:00 am - 1:30 pm.  A parent or guardian will need to stay with their child for screening and should plan on screening taking approximately 90 minutes.

Screening takes place at Richland Center Primary School, located at 1990 Bohmann Drive, Richland Center, WI.

Parents should park on the north side of the building and enter through the north door, where signs will be posted for easy navigation. Our friendly staff will be on hand to welcome you, answer any questions, and guide you through the process.

Screening helps identify learning strengths, delays, or difficulties early, allowing for the right support from the start. It also provides valuable insight into key developmental areas, helping teachers tailor instruction to meet students' needs.

By screening your child, our staff can recommend the best classroom placement to ensure they begin their 4K journey in a positive, supportive, and engaging learning environment.

1.  Read - Try to read with your child every day.  Select books that are simple so your child can follow along.  Plan a trip to the library and let your child pick out some books to enjoy together.  

2.  Practice identifying shapes, numbers, and colors.  These items are often found in kids books but you can also integrate this practice in to daily life.  A traffic sign for example might be pointed out to your child as a YELLOW TRIANGLE.  Shapes, colors numbers and letters are EVERYWHERE.  

3.  Sing or play kids' songs.  The alphabet song, Old McDonald, and other standards help kids identify letters, sounds, rhyming words and so much more. Plus, singing helps preschoolers start to identify the different ways their mouth can move to produce different sounds, which can help with speech development.

4.  Encourage your child to color, play with clay, and yes, even use the dreaded scissors (with careful supervision of course #NoPreschoolHaircuts)! 

5.  Find opportunities to count out loud -"You have one, two, three, four, five, six grapes on your plate" or "You need to get one, two socks from your drawer"

6.  Have Fun with Them!  Preschool age doesn't last long, and you are your child's first and best teacher. Let them see you enjoy learning with and about them and their interests.