Ironwood schools host kindergarten orientation

IRONWOOD - Students from the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency Head Start program and the Great Start Readiness Program got a chance to see where they would be going next fall as the Ironwood Area Public Schools held a kindergarten orientation on Friday.

The tour took approximately 65 kids through the various kindergarten classrooms and the elementary school office as well as showing the students other key places in the school such as the cafeteria.

"We wanted them to be able to come into the school, look around, get a feel for where things are before they started," said kindergarten teacher Niki McRae.

The orientation was extra unique for the kids as it happened during the kindergarten through second grade classes "beach day" to celebrate the start of spring for March reading month.

While the district has done a kindergarten orientation in previous years, according to McRae, the event coinciding with beach day was due to the district wanting to do something special for the incoming students as it was the first year that all the grades were at the Luther L. Wright building.

"We thought it would be fun if they came on a day when we were doing some fun activity that they could participate in, so that they kind of felt like they were part of the school," McRae said. "Usually they just come in and take a peek, but we wanted them to feel like they were part of the school. We wanted them to participate in our activities."

Elementary school Principal Nicholas Steinmetz felt the orientation session was beneficial to everyone involved.

"It's been great," said Steinmetz. "We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from the parents and the teachers in the classrooms."

The district also held a registration event for the upcoming year of kindergarten Friday evening.