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Steamboat Springs — Teacher Georgia Reust broke out in a song Tuesday about being a "cool kid" going to school.

The song is meant to ease kindergartners about the transition from home to school, and administrators and educators this week met to discuss the transitions from preschool to kindergarten and from kindergarten to first grade.

April is Month of the Young Child in Routt County, and as part of the month's activities, First Impressions of Routt County held a meeting Tuesday called "Bridging the Gap: The Transition from Preschool to School."

The meeting wasn't long, but preschool directors and elementary educators in Steamboat Springs schools said the dialogue is important for them and the children they work with.

There isn't a set list of standards children must meet to enroll in school.

"There is no entrance exam for kindergarten," Discovery Learning Center director Tami Havener said Tuesday.

But there are expectations, and most preschool directors and teachers test their students before they head to kindergarten. The process is called work sampling, and it's a performance-based assessment used in the fall and the spring to check development.

Work sampling monitors such things as a child's self-control, cooperation, expression, understanding, listening and speaking. The sampling can be done online and allows teachers and parents to track students throughout the years. Currently, the results cannot be released to the schools.

Kindergarten teachers said it would be helpful for preschools to get consent from parents to release the information.

It would be beneficial to know more about the children when they come to school on the first day, said Reust and colleague Sharon Clementson, who both teach kindergarten at Soda Creek.

An influx of young children in the county has put a strain on area daycare facilities and preschools, and more could be on the way.

There currently are about 250 children of kindergarten age in Routt County. In five years, demographers predict there will be 400 children of kindergarten age in the county, Havener said.

"There aren't enough preschools in Steamboat," Holy Name Preschool's Betsy Taylor said Tuesday. "We have a great need for PreK," or Pre-Kindergarten.

The strain on daycare facilities and preschools also could be alleviated a bit by the addition of all-day kindergarten in Steamboat. All-day kindergarten already exists in South Routt and Hayden, with positive results. Discussions have been ongoing for years about adding all-day kindergarten in Steamboat.

Space is limited at Strawberry Park and Soda Creek, and funding from the state also is limited at this time. Construction projects at Soda Creek and Strawberry Park, which likely won't be complete until 2008, will add classrooms for kindergarten at both schools.

"I'd like to see it offered to everyone and not dependent on financial ability," said Steamboat Springs Superintendent Donna Howell, who added the conversations about all-day kindergarten are preliminary at this point. "We wouldn't have added the space if we didn't think it was worthwhile."

Teachers from Strawberry Park and Soda Creek spoke in favor of all-day kindergarten, and Audrey Zwak, director of the Heritage Park Preschool, said Christian Heritage School's all-day kindergarten has been received well.

Before arriving at kindergarten, teachers urge parents, preschool teachers and daycare providers to work with children on oral language, which is achieved through singing, reading out loud and learning things such as nursery rhymes.

It's one thing to know how to say cap and read cap, but it's important for children to know what a cap is and how to use it.

"Reading is not about decoding, it's about comprehension," Havener said.

- To reach Melinda Mawdsley, call 871-4208 or e-mail mmawdsley@steamboatpilot.com