Saturday’s Day of the Child event at Carson High School was a celebration for families of younger children to enjoy activities and discover resources to help with building relationships, according to Carson High School early childhood education teacher Kendra Tuttle.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Local organizations offering story time, photo opportunities, facepainting and four-legged friends for younger learners and resources for parents gathered at Carson High School on Saturday.
Families had an opportunity to get a head start on enrolling their “littles” for prekindergarten or kindergarten, meet their teachers and help their children enjoy a few hours of fun with activities and music.
“We had anything from things you might want for a birthday party to dogs,” according to Kendra Tuttle, education and training early childhood education teacher through CHS’ Career and Technical Education program.
Organizations invited for the event included many of her own friends from the community who are passionate about early education, she said, as well as staff members or volunteers within the school.
The Day of the Child was meant to focus on a family’s relationship as well as to nurture the social-emotional needs a child might have before they enter school and become introduced to larger social groups in the classroom.
Among the groups reaching out to families on Saturday were the “Wizard of Oz” performers who are set to appear on stage July 21 to 30. They were dressed up in costume and greeted families at their table promoting their show for Youth Theatre Carson City. The group said they have been rehearsing for about three weeks.
Brookelyn McGee, playing the Wicked Witch of the West, said the Day of the Child was an opportunity to make a difference for the younger children who were visiting.
“We wanted to really have an important impact on the children who are growing up here,” McGee said. “We thought that by showing each other and all of the youth, like, theater, they could come into a safe community and have fun, and build safe relationships.”
Tuttle said she was truly proud of the high school students who gave of their time and efforts to contribute the event, and she had 86 student volunteers through thanks to the school’s CTE Vice Principal Josh Billings and TOSA/implementation specialist Candi Robles.
Tuttle said about 450 families attended Saturday’s event.
“They were so impressive and professional,” she said.
For information, Tuttle can be reached at ktuttle@carson.k12.nv.us.