LAKELAND, Fla. — You’ve heard the saying “the early bird gets the worm,” and in a summer camp offered by Polk County Schools, the “worm” is confident, capable kindergarteners. 

The district offers “Camp Early Bird” over the summer to children who will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and the goal is to get campers on the same level and ready to begin “real” school.

What You Need To Know

  • Camp Early Bird is offered by Polk County Schools to incoming kindergartners

  • Campers learn letters, numbers and work on social-emotional skills

  • Camp Early Bird is free, and registration opens every April

According to the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning, 40% of children walk into kindergarten one to three years behind, and those students struggle to catch up.  

According to the center's research, most never catch up, which is why Polk County Schools say Camp Early Bird is so important.

It looks like it’s all fun and games, but the children in Camp Early Bird are actually hard at work, going through a kindergarten crash course.

“We try to provide enrichment for kids who’ve already been exposed to our VPK (voluntary prekindergarten) curriculum, but some of our kids have not had any exposure," said Dr. Ben Henry, a regional superintendent for Polk County Schools. "We provide them certain intervention to really get ready for Day 1.”

Henry said the district started Camp Early Bird three years ago, and it’s grown every year. Students work on learning the basics while having fun. 

“We do certain things with language for learning, which really gets kids some of the language acquisition skills they need to be ready for the first day of school. We do some number sense activities,” Henry said.

Social-emotional skills are also very important for incoming kindergartners, and he said a puppet named “Al” helps teachers with those lessons.

“Al teaches our kids how to really get ready for the first day of school and be able to express some of the emotions they feel so they can have that first day of school and first adventure in big school to be something they’re excited about,” Henry said.

Getting students excited about learning is most important, Henry said.

All kindergarteners are given a readiness test, and there’s a direct correlation between those who score well on it, and their future academic success, according to Henry.

“When we start looking at our kindergarten rate of success and getting them ready for kindergarten, in a couple years we look at third grade reading scores, and we want kids to be ready, so we can really start all kids on the right path starting in kindergarten by third grade. They’ll be ready to read and be successful for everything moving forward,” he said.

With a head start, students are set for success. 

The school district accepts open registration for Camp Early Bird every April. The camp is free, and students also receive free breakfast and lunch.