You’ve heard it right! Miami Senior High School is officially bringing a pre-school for its staff members and the community. As the Teaching Magnet prepares to receive some true Baby Stings, the preschool won’t come into full effect till the beginning of the 2019- 2020 school year.

The preschool will be located in room 2105, next to a playground that awaits the future Baby Stings. Early Childhood Education students and their teacher Ms. Rodriguez will lead the preschool.

Since the preschool will be located in room 2105, which is the same classroom where Ms. Rodriguez teaches Level One through Five of the Early Childhood branch, the Baby Stings will have one-on-one interactions with Miami High students.

However, Ms. Rodriguez is only allowing students who are in level two and above to have contact hours with the Baby Stings. “My level-one students are going to take the first year of the teaching magnet just learning about child development and the safety issues with little children,” she said.

Priority enrollment in the preschool goes to the children of Miami High teachers and staff. “If I see that there is still space,” said Ms. Rodriguez, “then the preschool will be open to the general public.”

The process and requirements for admitting the Baby Stings is quite easy. First, the child must be at least 3 years old. Second, the child should be potty-trained before entering the program. And lastly, the child should be verbal. However, according to Ms. Rodriguez, the program will also make room for children with special needs.

Both Miami High staff members and Teaching Magnet students stand to benefit from this school-based preschool.  “The best benefit is that our Baby Stings will be close to their parents or family members being that the program is on the school campus,” said Ms. Rodriguez.

The big benefit for students in the Teaching Magnet is that they will have day-to-day contact hours observing and working with pre-school children, said Ms. Rodriguez.

Not everything is perfect, however, and for that reason, there might be some down-falls that come with the program.

Ms. Rodriguez explains that since Miami High has many students and staff members, the children in the preschool will often have a change of faces. This means that the little children will often have different staff members assisting them throughout the day. This may cause discomfort because the children often grow attachments to certain people. “But children adapt, and I will make sure they have a productive and wonderful experience,” said Ms. Rodriguez.

Another challenge for the program is that the children will need to adapt to a new setting. “Many of the children will come into the program being used to being home or with their parents,” said Ms. Rodriguez.

However, Ms. Rodriguez doesn’t believe that these challenges are too big. “It may be a challenge, but I know that we will be able to overcome them and succeed.”

The number one expectation for the program is that students in the Early Childhood program will gain a positive experience with the Baby Stings because there will be small group learning.

Ms. Rodriguez will incorporate the VPK standards. This means that the teachers will implement activities that focus on all the developmental domains for the children in the Baby Stings preschool and be very hands-on with learning approaches. She is confident that by following VPK standards, the preschoolers will leave ready for kindergarten.

The Baby Stings Program

• Will be using VPK standards
• Will provide Early Childhood students with real world experience interacting with the Baby Stings
• Open to 3-year olds that are already potty trained and verbal