KINDERGARTEN PRE-REGISTRATION

    Dr. Ross A. Scarantino, Superintendent of the Pittston Area School District has announced that registration of students who plan on attending Kindergarten in the district for the 2006-07 school year will take place on May 22, 23, 24, and 25^th.  Registration hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Ben Franklin Kindergarten Center, Walnut Street, Dupont, Pa. If there are any questions please call the Pittston Area Kindergarten Center at 654-0503

    Students will be registered according to the child's last name:

PARENTS SHOULD MAKE NOTE OF THESE IMPORTANT FACTS:

1. To be admitted to Kindergarten, a child must be five years of age on or before August 31, 2006.  Birth certificates must be presented at the time of registration.  Also, if the child has a social security number, please have it available at this time.

2. Parents will meet with the school nurse to determine compliance with the Pennsylvania Department of Health regulations.  The complete list of required immunizations are:

• DPT – Four properly spaced doses.  1 dose on or after 4^th birthday)

• Hepatitis B vaccine.  3 Doses

• Polio-Three or more properly spaced doses.

• Varicella (Chicken Pox) (1 dose of vaccine or history of disease)

• MMR (measles, mumps, rubeola)  -  Two doses

     N.B.  Parents are required to bring a record of their children’s immunization when they report for registration.  A child shall not be admitted to school for the first time unless completely immunized.

3. Students who will be entering grade one, but did not attend Kindergarten, should register on the same days.  To be eligible for admission to grade one, a child must be six years of age on or before August 31, 2006.

Reading Readiness Assessment

    Each child will have a Reading Readiness Assessment, which is an assessment of pre-reading skills consisting of two parts: Identifying letters of the alphabet and phonemic awareness assessment.

Speech and Hearing Test

    A hearing and speech test will also be given to each child and will be administered by school district personnel.

Vision Test

    A child registering for Kindergarten will receive a vision test administered by personnel of the Wilkes-Barre Branch of Pennsylvania Association for the Blind.  Mothers of the various Elementary Parent-Teacher Associations will assist.

    Because children do not know how well they should be able to see, they are not able to determine when eye care is needed.  Therefore, the purpose of the Pre-Kindergarten screening is to:

• Identify those children who may have Amblyopia (lazy eye)

• Identify those children having refractive errors (need for glasses)