By Mary O’KEEFE

Parents of children beginning kindergarten in 2010-11 at Mountain Avenue Elementary are invited to visit the school on Dec. 18.

“It is an opportunity for our community to come and visit our kindergarten classrooms for the day and find out what we have to offer,” said Principal Rebeca Witt.

Parents are invited to attend without their children and will start the morning by attending the flag ceremony at 8:30 a.m.  The ceremony occurs every Friday morning and highlights the events that have taken place over the past week, reminds students about upcoming events and usually spotlights at least one classroom in a performance.

The parents of kindergarteners will then get to enter a classroom and get a feel of what their children will be doing the following year. They will not be able to meet with the kindergarten teachers at the time because they will be busy with instruction.

“But the parents will be able to meet with other staff at the school,” Witt added.

Parents can ask questions about registration and what their children will be facing as they begin their school career.

Witt added that a lot of times determining whether a child is ready to start school is difficult for parents. What the child will be required to learn, what types of studies they will face and how they will transition from the comfort of mom and dad to school can be a tense time. By allowing parents to tour the classrooms and school, meet the staff and see how teachers and students react to one another will hopefully ease some of that stress.

“They can also find out how they can be involved in the school [through PTA, foundation and room parents],” Witt said.  “After the tour they will be able to meet with PTA families.”

In addition to visiting the classrooms parents can also tour the library and computer lab.

Parents who would like to visit Mountain Avenue for the Kindergarten Tour are asked to call to the school to reserve their space.

Mountain Avenue Elementary is located at 2307 Mountain Avenue. Contact (818) 248-7766 or visit its website at www.mountainavenue.org.