This week’s Carbon School District weekly update shines light on the Castle Valley Center. Preschool/Kindergarten Teacher Misty Robinett stopped by Castle Country Radio to share some information on their preschool program and to talk about the school’s concession stand.

The Castle Valley Center offers unique curriculum to their students who may have a developmental/learning disability so the preschool/kindergarten program is no different. “Our transitional kindergarten and our preschool we’re able to help kids with speech needs that maybe they have some delays there, occupational therapy delays, physical therapy delays, maybe some cognitive or academic delays but if they can receive some specialized instruction in a smaller setting, we can help close those gaps,” said Robinett. The hope is that students are able to move on to a regular classroom setting and to become a successful student in that atmosphere.

There is a possibility that a student can spend a year in the preschool/kindergarten program before they are able to move onto their own school. “So the majority of our students will repeat kindergarten in their neighborhood school. Some of them will go straight into first grade it just depends on what their needs were and how the year progresses with us. It’s usually that 5 and 6 old year that there’s a lot of gain – kids are just really primed for instruction and they’re super motivated. So with our small class sizes and the three wonderful para-professionals I have and myself, we’re really able to provide individualized instruction,” explained Robinett. If a parent feels that their preschool/kindergarten-aged child may have a developmental/learning disability they can contact the Castle Valley Center to get some testing done.

The school has not been able to take various field trips to businesses in the town due to COVID-19 pandemic. The school has designed a concession stand for their students to gain that experience of going into a business to purchase items. “So they go to the concessions, they spend their earned money, and then we go into the gym and have a movie. So we try to recreate that experience in going to a theatre and after you’ve earned money get to go enjoy, you know, spending it and learning the social ques need to have, and the behaviors you may need and practice those. So when we do get to go back out to the community soon, hopefully, we’ll have those skills still building. Because that’s really our main goal, we want the kids to be successful in the community and be able to access all that our wonderful community has to offer,” stated Robinett. School officials say that the student ran concession stand has been a huge success and the students enjoy it very much.

To learn more about the Castle Valley Center visit their website https://www.carbonschools.org/o/castle-valley-center