LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — For Spanish-speaking families in the valley, finding affordable early education that supports their native language can be a challenge. But one campus is giving those parents opportunities, they say they didn’t know they had.
The Nevada Ready Pre-K program is offering Spanish-speaking families something many have never had access to: a free, full-day pre-K classroom that welcomes children who mostly speak in their native language.
“If you speak Spanish, you automatically qualify. We have a form that you just fill out saying that you speak Spanish at home, and that’s why you’re automatically qualified for it,” said Maria Gonzalez, assistant director at Children’s Learn and Play Campus.
Children’s Learn and Play Campus in the southeast valley is one of the sites now enrolling qualifying 4-year-old students.
“It runs as a CCSD school, they’ll have their own personal student ID, the grade system is the same, and then we do have a graduation for them by the end of the year, and then they’re ready to go to kindergarten,” Gonzalez said.
Program bridges language gap for kindergarten readiness
Teachers are able to bridge both languages so that children who may be listening to English for the first time don’t fall behind before they even start school.
“I know that they speak Spanish at home, but they’ll learn English here, and it’s very nice that we have a lot of bilingual teachers that would help them be better,” said Rosa Munguia, a parent in the program.
For Munguia, finding this program has lifted a financial and emotional weight she carried as a mom of four.
“I don’t have to worry about the bills, with the kids, four kids, and then the little one, it’s really hard to find something that in the budget that we can afford it, so it’s been really easy and a huge weight lifted off my shoulder, honestly,” Munguia said.
She said she wanted to prepare her son the best way she could before he starts kindergarten.
“When they start actual CCSD school, you can’t like show up, you can’t walk into the classroom or see how they’re doing. So the fact that he started here and we get to check in on him and I text him and they send me a picture, it’s really, it helps a lot,” Munguia said.
The campus director said they still have an entire classroom that they’re looking to fill with students.
For more information and how to apply, visit the Children’s Learn and Play official website.
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