Strong Beginnings Pilot Program
Updated: Aug 13
The MDSCAA Early Childhood Program is excited to announce that we have been selected to participate in Strong Beginnings, a preschool program for 3-year-old children. Along with our partners at the Delta-Schoolcraft ISD, we can expand access to play-based early education for local 3-year-olds!
Strong Beginnings is a state-funded pilot preschool program that gives eligible 3-year-olds a free, high-quality early learning experience — a full year before they'd typically enter Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) at age four. Children who complete Strong Beginnings are guaranteed a GSRP spot the following year, giving them two consecutive years of quality preschool before kindergarten instead of one.
The best way to find out if your family qualifies is to apply. Strong Beginnings is designed for families who could use a little extra support getting their child ready for school. Income is the main factor. Families who are enrolled in the food assistance program or cash program through DHHS are automatically eligible, as are families who are experiencing homelessness or children in foster care. Families may still qualify based on other circumstances, such as a child's developmental needs or other factors that may affect their readiness for school. If you're not sure where you stand, don't count yourselves out — give us a call and we'll walk you through it together!
Strong Beginnings follows the same curriculum as GSRP but adapted for 3-year-olds — the program is modeled on GSRP, with modifications made to ensure suitability for three-year-old children. So, it's not a "lite" or different program — same play-based, hands-on approach to literacy, math, motor skills, and social development — just paced and scaffolded for kids a year younger, who have fewer social-emotional skills and are often still learning to use a toilet. Expect more support around basics like toileting, shorter activity blocks, and more help with the social skills GSRP classrooms can take a bit more for granted.
For more information, please call us at 906.786.7080 or go to dspreschool.org to sign-up!
A conversation about choosing learning resources for different needs seems most useful to me when it leaves space for uncertainty and further questions. The same explanation can feel clear to one learner and confusing to another. That is the kind of detail I would keep in mind while exploring educational learning resources. I am more curious about the process than a polished result, because the steps in between are usually where questions appear. What clues help you choose a resource that matches a learner's starting point?
I can see why connecting values with everyday school life would invite discussion, since different people will bring different experiences to the same question. Kindness becomes easier to understand when it appears in ordinary classroom situations. It makes me curious about the practical side of values based education. I can imagine different answers depending on the situation, so I would want to understand the context before drawing conclusions. How can a school discuss values while leaving room for students' questions?
The subject of creating a welcoming preschool environment feels more interesting when there is room for a reader to stop and ask their own questions. A predictable daily rhythm can make an unfamiliar classroom feel more comfortable. I would use that point as a starting question when considering welcoming preschool environment. I am still thinking through the details, and a small example would help me picture how this works in practice. Which small classroom details help a new child settle in?
My first thought about making room for neighbourhood learning activities is that the everyday experience deserves as much attention as the larger explanation. A familiar local meeting place can make trying a new activity feel more approachable. For me, that is a useful way into the broader subject of community learning activities. A short discussion of an everyday example would make this easier for me to connect with, especially as someone still learning about the subject. What would encourage someone to join a class for the first time?
There is something approachable about discussing returning to learning as an adult through situations people can actually picture. A flexible pace can help learners fit study around work and family responsibilities. That connection helps me see why adult continuing education can be worth a closer look. The part I would like to explore further is what happens when the idea meets a real situation with its own limitations. What support makes returning to education less daunting after a long break?