Wildcat Preschool has changed just as much as any other school has this year.

Mrs. Klinedinst, the DAHS Child Care teacher, and her students have been working harder than ever to make this school year run smoothly for both the preschoolers and high schoolers.

Preschoolers join class by Zoom this year instead of face to face. 

 “It’s still nice being able to see the kids,” Klinedinst said. 

Preparing lessons to teach the kids is  a little harder this year, and  more steps have been added to the process.  

Klinedinst sent preschoolers a box that contained basic equipment that they may need for classes such as glue, crayons, a paintbrush, nametag, makeshift whiteboard, dry erase marker, a paint bag, and the lessons that students in Child Care II class created. 

Students taking Child Care spend weeks working on lesson plans for the preschoolers at home.

The class is split in two.

While one group in the class prepares projects that they have been assigned, the other team gets ready and Zooms with the children to teach their lessons. 

Most assignments are now on computer, where before, most of the work was on paper.

“It’s not the quite same now that they are not in the school; They don’t have the same personal interactions with the group.” Klinedinst added

In previous years, preschoolers had the chance to be more independent and had chance to have the experience of  coming to school.

Now that the preschoolers are at home, they can get distracted more easily, and their parents often have to help them do some of their work.

Klinedinst says most kids work fairly well independently but some need some assistance from their parents when doing their crafts.

Before the pandemic the preschoolers would be in the classroom from Monday through Thursday  for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Now students have to log into a zoom for 30 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Another activity that the Child Care students can participate in is simulated parenting.

Students have the chance to take a robotic baby to experience parenthood for a night. Having the baby act like a real life baby with bottle, burping, crying and diaper changing.

Klinedinst washes and cleans everything between every use.

Students learn about the cost to have a child, how to deal with the baby, and medical problems that could happen,  preparing them for the future.

Child Care students learning from home have also to make sure they have the supplies they need for their projects and assignments. They have to come into school to get or to drop off their supplies for their preschool lesson and class.

Senior Eris Sollmer has taken the class and experienced every project.

She says although the class has dealt well with this year’s changes, working with the preschoolers would have been better with the kids in person. “That way we could have had the one on one teaching and they could have gotten to  have the school experience.”

One thing is for sure. Students in Child Care have learned the challenges of being an online teacher.

“Childcare is a lot harder than it seems and it takes a lot of patience and work” Sollmer stated