A Day in the Life of a Pre-K Member

If you’re interested in undertaking a year of service with the Minnesota Reading Corps, you’re probably searching for some solid information about the program. In addition to just what the program does, it’s very useful to learn what the program’s members do to meet the goals of the MRC.

Sue Cook is a second-year Pre-K member in Deer River. Sue’s day starts early. She shows up at her site at 7 a.m. and does the groundwork to make sure everything goes smoothly for the rest of her day when her students are there. This involves general set up and supply, but also involves a lot of mental preparation. There is no such thing as winging it with a classroom full of 3 and 4-year olds.

Sue drives to the students’ elementary school, wrangles them onto a school bus and rides with them to the site – something atypical for the average member. Once there, Sue spends all day with her kids. She eats breakfast with them and lunch with them, doing activities to keep them busy and thinking all day long. The key with the pre-K group is immersion.

Sue mentions how important it is just being an “extra person” in the classroom. She has her own work to do, but is useful support for the classroom teachers. When the teachers have something else to do, like paperwork or greeting parents, Sue can jump in to lead the students in literacy activities. By being able to jump in with an activity at a moments notice, Sue makes sure that literacy stays at the forefront of the kids’ minds.

All the while, Sue does IGDI Assessments (Individual Growth and Development Indicators) of her students and later enters them into a computer to monitor the improvement of individuals in the classroom. This is a crucial part of what the MRC does, since research is what determines what works and what doesn’t.

As an MRC member, you will be immersed in the world of literacy since that is what is needed for the students. It is important to keep in mind that you will get out what you put into your service. Sue mentions her service is a big time commitment and is a lot of work planning and leading the students all day, but that is also the reward. Sue says that the best part of serving is seeing growth in the students and getting to spend quality time with them that they might not be getting anywhere else.