The Pre-K 4 SA master teachers and teaching assistants are hard at work training as the first day of school quickly approaches on Aug. 26.
The training this week consists of team building, social and emotional development in young children and building mathematical thinking.
At the Southside model education center, located at 2535 SE Military Drive, teachers got instructions on topics from dress code to keeping children engaged.
Amber Watson is a teacher's assistant who is going to school to be a kindergarten teacher.
"Right now we're just going over procedures, how your day is going to go, trying to soak everything in," she said. "So I'm just looking forward to being able to learn from all the teachers that have been teaching, some of them for 33 years."
Watson, a native of Lawton, Okla., said she is in college right now for her education degree and applied to the Pre-K 4 SA program three times before she finally got the position.
Even with training in full swing, the centers still need to be licensed by the state.
A model classroom is set up to demonstrate to a state employee touring the sites that the bookshelves are secure and won't fall on children, that water temperature is appropriate and that there's enough square footage for the 20 kids that will be in each class.
Rebecca Flores with the City Manager’s office said she expects the final stamp of approval to be mid-August because the playground is not yet finished at the Southside center.
