With nearly 200 little ones, the YMCA Learning Center is still enrolling new 3-year-old students.
The maximum is 300 children. Principal Sandy Canava said they are nearly at 200, so they still have a good amount of seats left.
Parents can apply on the Ector County ISD website, go under the registration tab for the 2023-24 school year and follow the prompts. Once they put in that information, it will give them the choice school that they are applying for which is the Y Learning Center. Students have to turn 3 before Sept. 1.
Word of the program gets around by word of mouth and on the YMCA Facebook page. They also distribute fliers at events.
“We do follow a curriculum. There is a set schedule that the teachers need to adhere to. They do send homework home. We do three yearly assessments for the kids that shows the growth and progress of the student and the teachers that are implementing that curriculum and … just expanding their knowledge and everything that they need to know for the age of 3. A lot of times it’s social skills — learning how to take turns, learning how to play with others, how to follow directions, but they do learn their basics. How to hold a book, writing their name, shapes, colors, numbers, alliteration, rhyming,” Canava said.
The children get introduced to books also.
“In the classrooms, they have many different centers that they go to. One of them is the library, so the children also are taught how to hold a book, how to read from left to right, how to turn the page when they are reading along … and they know how to turn the page to continue on based on what they’re looking at in the pictures. Then of course, the teachers also will read to them aloud and they’re seeing how the teachers are reading and following along with their finger,” Canava said.
The students take CLI engagement assessments to show where they are for their age.
“It’s verbal. Bilingual will do it in Spanish and monolingual classrooms will, of course, do it in English,” Canava said.
They have inclusion classes for children with handicaps or special needs.
“There is a referral process that we follow and once the evaluation enrollment’s complete ECISD” is where the referrals are sent, Canava said.
“They are the ones that make that decision on whether that child can still continue in our classroom, or maybe need more of a SPED (special education) class at a different campus where they have more one-on-one focus with the student,” she added.
This is Canava’s second year with the Y.
“I like to see the children, of course. It’s hard to see them leave. Last year was a little tough seeing some of our kids leave that we build these relationships with because they’re here every day. But I’m seeing new faces coming in, seeing the growth because you know, the first week is a lot of crying and not wanting to stay and now they’re willingly walking in, coming straight to class. I like to see even that small growth, even though I’m not in the classrooms all day. I can see that just as they’re coming in the building. Some of them already know my name. They know exactly where their classroom is and go directly into their room,” she added.
The parents have also progressed.
“I know some parents struggled with leaving their babies at the beginning and they’ve left them and they let them grow in their own way,” Canava said.
She added that parents trust them.
“They do have a lot of questions, which I can understand why as a parent myself, it’s hard to see your baby stay. But for the most part, I encourage them. I let them know it’s just a three-hour stay, so it’s not too long since we are a half a day program. … I do let them know I do … my daily checks and walk-throughs. We see the kids very often in the hallway as they’re transitioning to the bathroom or going outside,” Canava said. “I do give them peace of mind as they’re coming and picking them up. They ask how their baby was and I tell them that they do well. They’re doing really good.”
Having been a teacher previously, Canava said students who go through the pre-K 3 program will have an easier transition to kindergarten.
Students can start off in the transition room, or child care area, before they go to class in the afternoon, or vice-versa. There are two transition rooms. A teacher will take them to their classroom afterwards and once the day is over, they will go back to the transition room to be picked up by a parent before 6 p.m.
“With the transition rooms that we have, some of those kids are getting that double dose of curriculum and learning because not only are they here for a three hour program, they also are in our transition room, or … the childcare area and those teachers are also using the same curriculum, so they’re getting a double dose of the knowledge. They’re also on the same theme and page of what the kids are learning in the classroom currently so the daycare is doing the exact same thing,” Canava said.
“It works really well. Those kids are the ones that are learning a little bit faster,” she added.
She is currently looking for one teacher and three teacher aides.
Tuition is $200 per month for those that do not qualify for eligibility. Those that do qualify for eligibility get free tuition. Canava said the transition room has a separate fee because it is part of the YMCA daycare, Canava said.
She noted that they offer bus transportation through ECISD and a good number of students ride the bus because they live a little bit further away or have no means of transportation.
“We submit the form and once we submit that form, they fill out all the information through transportation. They return it back to us, they give us a start date and exactly the pickup time and drop off and the location. Give that to the parents. We prepare a bus ID for the kids to wear so that they know who they are because you know a lot of the bus drivers don’t recognize faces at first, so they know exactly where the pick up and drop off is and they use that every day,” Canava said.
“We have not had any issues with any of the kids that are riding the bus, getting on or off. The children are doing very well with that. I think they like being on the bus,” she added.
Canava said she’s happy to be at the Y.
“I want to continue staying to help our campus grow. We want it to function as a school because that is what we are. We want to make sure that more people hear about it so that they can enroll their children and know that this is a safe learning environment for them,” she added.
Ector County ISD Director of Early Childhood Education Beatris Mata said within our partnership with the Odessa Y, they have been able to serve more students and they have been able to leverage expertise from the Odessa Y and ECISD to create a successful program that consists of strong leadership, academic success, and collaborative experiences.
“We have heard many of our PreK 4 teachers within ECISD share their excitement about students walking into their classrooms ready to learn because they are coming in with a strong foundation in letters, sounds, shapes, and counting,” Mata said.
She added that they are looking forward to the future of PreK 3 “as we continue to increase the seats of students who are served at the Odessa Y. As a district, we value and support the work of our local childcare providers and understand the importance of working together in order to improve academic outcomes that will ultimately translate to a healthier community.”
