Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1036712
Fall 2018 | wyoea.edu X 12 Fall 2018 | wyoea.edu skills to be successful in kindergarten and beyond. When the Purple Bus arrives, the children are excited and ready to play and learn. Their parents may join them in lessons, and families are provided books and other manipulatives to enhance their child's learning, until "The Purple Bus" returns a week or so later. Emily Smith is a vivacious early career educator – now in her second year as the teacher and the bus driver on The Purple Bus (she taught 4th grade for two years before accepting this assignment). When she heads out to bring school to her students, she is accompanied either by nurse Kelli Walker or paraprofessional Shino David. The nurse conducts health screenings and provides health information for the students and their families. The paraprofessional supports the lesson plans for the day and helps keep all the young students engaged in learning. Since this program began in 2013, its positive impact has resulted in a signifi cant increase in early childhood learners reaching age-appropriate benchmarks and readiness for kindergarten. The daughter of two career- educators from Torrington, Emily is a graduate of the University of Wyoming and a proud WEA member. Every day she wakes up excited to serve the 70+ students who rely on The Purple Bus to bring learning experiences to them. Emily employs kinesthetic and experiential learning strategies with her students, regardless of their age. She uses sensory bins, learning activities, toys, and manipulatives to develop reasoning and communication abilities as well as literacy and numeracy skills, which the students will need to be successful in school. Her thematic units focus on content that the students may not otherwise be exposed to at home such as science, space exploration, music and the arts. Her greatest joy is to see children pressing their noses to the front window of their home waiting for a glimpse of the bus, and then jumping up and down because they are truly excited to learn.