By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
What job, other than a preschool teacher, can you have that you are greeted with hugs every morning?
Tina Albers said the hugs she receives from her students every day are a reason why she's been a preschool teacher for 18 years.
"The excitement is there, and they love to come to school," she said. "They think you walk on water.
"Preschool's my happy place. It's where I like to be," Albers added.
Before spring break, her class had a pajama and pancakes day. Her students told her she made the best pancakes ever — and she could even work at IHOP.
Small children talk off the cuff, she said.
"You never know what you're going to get, and it might be a bucket-filler, and it might not be a bucket-filler," she said. "They're pretty honest.
"It's never the same day twice, and you never know what you're going to get."
Albers teaches preschool in the Hays USD 489 tuition-based preschool program, which is at the Early Childhood Complex.
She's been with that program since 2004 when the program started at O'Loughlin Elementary School. She taught kindergarten in Pratt for a couple of years before she and her husband, Tom Albers, now the Hays Middle School principal, moved to Hays.
She teaches children who are 3 and potty trained through 5 years old. USD 489 offers two sessions of preschool per day, one from 8 to 10:30 a.m. and the other from noon to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
She was nominated for the Hays Post Teacher of the Month Award by Jessica Kerr, a parent of two of Albers' former students.
"We love Ms. Tina because she has incredible patience with her students," Kerr said. "She is interested in each of their lives and listens intently to every story they tell.
"She has a talent with preschool kiddos that is nothing short of magic. The lessons she teaches them are truly learned and not soon forgotten. My daughter remembered to locate the smoke detectors in our home long after class had ended and is very aware that not brushing her teeth will lead to getting holes in them."
Kerr said her daughter was confident and thoroughly ready for kindergarten thanks to Albers.
Albers said she thinks preschool is essential to student success later in school.
"I think we take for granted that kids know how to play," she said. "That's a skill that has to be taught. ... You have to learn to play nice. We say 'be nice,' but what does that mean to a 3-year-old?"
In preschool, children learn through play. They might play a game of dominoes, but they are learning matching, numbers and taking turns, she said.
A game of hanging up mittens with clothespins helps the children develop fine-motor skills they will need to hold pencils and use scissors when they enter school, Albers said. Children learn about squares and rectangles when they fold a washcloth, but at the same time, are learning a life skill and building fine motor skills.
"They're learning, but they don't know they're learning, because it's fun," Albers said.
One of her favorite lessons as a teacher was hatching chicks using an incubator.
"My biggest fear was that they would hatch and the kids wouldn't be there to see it. I went up on the weekend to prepare lesson plans. I hear this beep, beep, beep. I got an iPad and was taping it so I could share that," she said.
She also loves dental week. She soaks eggs in pop, juice and water to show the kids the importance of brushing their teeth.
Children also learn valuable social and emotional skills in preschool, Albers said, including taking turns, sharing, standing in a line and waiting your turn when talking.
Ideally, Albers said she would like to have students for two years with children learning social and emotional skills the first year and academic skills, such as letters, numbers and beginning writing the second year.
"I don't worry about my kids coming in low, because there's nowhere to go but up," she said.
Much more is expected of children in kindergarten than during her generation, she said. Kindergarten teachers can see a clear dividing line between children who went to preschool and those who didn't, she said.
The USD 489 tuition-based preschool program still has spots available for the fall. The fee is $215 per month. You can email tkalbers@usd489. com for more information.