Preschool Without Walls visits Indian Museum

Lake Los Angeles – The Antelope Valley Indian Museum was the destination for November’s theme “Cultural Diversity”. Each month a theme is chosen as a guide to further enrich and expand upon the education of children.

Jean Rhyne, State Park Interpreter I with the California State Parks System and Docent/Volunteer Jeannine Byer were the hostesses for the children and their families. The ladies escorted the families through the museum and through the buildings on the ground in two rotating different groups.

Erika Schwerdt with Strength Based Community Change (SBCC), said, “This field trip was organized for Preschool Without Walls (PWW) by SBCC as part of our monthly AV PWW field trips. This trip capped off our month of November cultural diversity theme. The kids learned about various cultures and celebrated indigenous people all over the world. The experiences that these families get will bring fond memories that last a lifetime.”

Refreshments were served. Baby2Baby provided diapers of all sizes for the families to share. The families were treated to a demonstration of native dancing by the wonderful group Aztec Dancers. Toward the end of the dancing, the children their teachers and families joined the Aztec Dancers in the circle learning the traditional dance steps and meaning.

Building parent, caregiver and community capacity to educate young children is the foundation for PWW. (PWW) provides a participatory, parent-child early learning program in accessible community locations including parks, libraries, community centers, and faith institutions. All sessions and printed materials are presented in English and Spanish. Unlike most early education, PWW requires parents to participate in the classes with their children. Another unique aspect: in the Antelope Valley, the classes are taught by parent volunteers.

“The trainings include information on what children need to successfully enter kindergarten,” said SBCC’s Erika Schwerdt. “The curriculum parents learn is based on a learn-by-playing style. It lets parents understand what is happening in a child’s brain when they sing a song or do a certain craft.”

PWW started in Long Beach many years ago. The Antelope Valley PWW program began in 2016-2017 as a pilot project at Jackie Robinson Park. Teachers led the movement as it was adopted by the Antelope Valley Neighborhood Action Councils (NAC) groups.

It is called Preschool Without Walls because they can be set up anywhere. When a PWW child enters kindergarten they are so accustomed to a school setting they don’t have separation anxiety and are more natural at playing games in learning. Parents who are involved in PWW are more involved in school once their kids go to Kindergarten.

By Shirley Harriman