Partners in Play program kicks off

By Kim McDarison 

A new early development program, Partners in Play, debuted Tuesday at the the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Community Engagement Center, 1260 W. Main St., Whitewater.  

Several families with children ages 2-5 arrived at 10 a.m. for the first in a series of weekly sessions planned to run through mid-November. 

Upon arrival into the early development classroom, visitors were asked to remove their shoes before exploring the many colorful and tactile opportunities designed to engage youth, as they partnered with educators for both group and individualized guided learning experiences. 

Tuesday’s focus was on learning about healthy foods by color. Other sessions will explore such topics as emotions, body movement, light and shadows, and relaxation techniques, among others. 

Newly hired Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) Family/Community Engagement Coordinator Molly Fuller has been instrumental in helping to develop the program. 

Placed in her position this past summer, she said, before taking the job, she served within the WUSD as a paraprofessional, working within the district’s elementary schools. 

“The students I worked with had educational needs, emotional needs, experiences with trauma, and the like. School was their safe space,” she said. “I always worried about the children before they were of school age and wondered where their safe space would be,” she noted, adding that her new position offered an opportunity to address those concerns while also providing enrichment to a broader preschool community.  

The program focuses on creating a fun and developmentally sound opportunity for families while supporting children and parents, Fuller said. 

Prior to Tuesday’s kickoff, the program was in the planning stages for about three months, she said, adding that finding partnerships with the UW-Whitewater Early Childhood Department, headed by Dean Robin Fox, who was on hand Tuesday to greet families and mingle with preschoolers, and PremierBank, which provided support including a bilingual translator, has brought a more inclusive and dynamic element to the curriculum. 

“I wanted to make sure that any child, no matter income or language barrier, could come and enjoy Partners in Play,” Fuller said. 

The school district serves a student population in which at least 30% of students and families can benefit from translation services, she said, adding that the program is open to families with children in two age blocks: birth to 2, and 2-5. Parents of 2-year-olds have the option of placing their children in either session, depending upon their child’s perceived maturity level. 

Another aspect of partnering with the UW-Whitewater, Fuller said, is that university students, who are pursuing a career in the field of eduction, work with the preschoolers. The collaboration is valuable to both sets of students. 

“University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Early Childhood Education Program professors, along with the students in the program, create and teach the sessions. This not only helps the university students have hands-on experience before heading out into the field, but creates state of the art sessions for families,” Fuller said.  

Thanks to these collaborations, Fuller added, the Partners in Play program is unique in the broader Whitewater area, and has attracted families from outside of the community. 

“Half the families who have signed up are from other towns. That shows how much a program like this is needed, and the fact that it is in collaboration with UW-Whitewater makes it one of a kind,” Fuller said.  

Also on hand to greet program participants on Tuesday were interim UW-Whitewater Chancellor Jim Henderson and WUSD Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty. 

Emphasizing the program’s value to preschool-aged students, Pate-Hefty said: “Every second, the children of our community are learning, exploring and growing. We don’t want to miss a single opportunity to partner with their families to watch and support that process. The classes — Partners in Play — are open to any children birth through age five and their caregivers, from all of our surrounding areas. The curriculum for these sessions was created and will be taught by WUSD staff and the Early Childhood Education Program faculty and students from UW-Whitewater.”

“Early childhood programs in general, and Partners in Play in particular, provide young children the opportunity to engage in both social learning and developmental engagement,” Henderson said. “Such interactions have shown to lead to better experiences in K-12 and a higher rate of lifelong learning. The socialization part of the program plays a key role in development, and is even more important given the isolation that has taken place for many families during the COVID pandemic. The Partners in Play classroom provides a stimulating environment that will support multiple modes of learning, provided in both English and Spanish,” he added. 

Henderson described the collaboration as an example of the type of success that is gained when community members come together, providing resources that each organization, individually, would likely not be able to provide. 

“The University was pleased to provide space for the program, some funding for furnishing the space and equipment, and expertise from our College of Education and Professional Studies. Molly Fuller, the director of the program, and Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty were crucial in seeing the development through from its inception, solving problems along the way. Community members such as (WUSD Board of Education member) Larry Kachel also played a major role in ensuring that this concept resulted in a community asset. Finally, PremierBank also provided support, including bilingual staff members who will be crucial to the success of the program. This is a true community effort that will provide invaluable support to families in our area with young children,” Henderson said.  

Partners in Play is offered to families with preschool-aged children throughout the area free of charge.

Topics for each session include: week 1, “Rainbow of Foods,” exploring healthy foods by color; week 2, “Crunch and Munch,” exploring healthy foods by texture; week 3, “If You Are Happy and You Know It,” exploring emotions; week 4, “Moving and Grooving,” big body movements; week 5, “Roll Baby Roll,” exploring things that roll; week 6, “Into the Light,” light and shadow explorations; week 7, “Cool as a Cucumber,” relaxing our bodies, and week 8, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” featuring body awareness.

Parents and guardians interested in having their children participate in the program can sign up at wwusd.org. Look for the Partners in Play link. Parents and guardians must stay with their children for the duration of the session. A limited number of spots are available within each session and will be filled on a first-come, first served basis. 

For more information, contact Whitewater Unified School District Family/Community Engagement Coordinator Molly Fuller: mfuller@wwusd.org. 

Following are photographs from Tuesday’s program kickoff.