DOWAGIAC — Monday, a group of children sat on a carpet practicing the alphabet as their teacher acted out the various sounds in the form of an alligator’s mouth and a bunny’s ears. This is a daily activity for children enrolled in The Step Up Program at Dowagiac Union Schools.

The Step Up Program is designed for incoming kindergarteners from all four of the elementary schools in the Dowagiac Union School district. The three weeks of learning start at 8:30 a.m. and go until 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Dowagiac Middle School, 57072 Riverside Dr., Dowagiac.

“Children are selected if we feel they might need extra help or introduction to kindergarten,” said Lauren Cornelius, the lead teacher of the Step Up Program. “Some of [the children] have not had any schooling before. Some of them have been in preschool, but it’s basically a select group of incoming kindergarteners.”

The students specifically work on letters, sounds, sight words and language based instruction, Cornelius said. The program focuses on getting students to use their words and their language. Students also learn how school works, how to line up and how to sit on the carpet, she said.

“Basically, students get a view of what kindergarten is going to look like,” Cornelius said.

Cornelius has been involved in the program since its inception in 2015.

“It started because we wanted to give a boost to children who are incoming kindergarteners, who might not have had any exposure to school before,” she said.

Cornelius is in charge of one classroom and a second special education teacher teaches the impaired resource room, along with two teaching paraprofessionals, Cornelius said.

Since Cornelius is a kindergarten teacher in the district, she will be a familiar face for many of the students when they start kindergarten in the fall, she said. Having experience with teaching younger children is necessary for the program, Cornelius said.

“Most of the time, the teacher who helps is someone who teaches kindergarten or has been working with the lower elementary children,” Cornelius said. “It’s always been someone who is experienced working with lower elementary.”

Cornelius continues to help every year because she believes it is important for the children to get a basis of learning and instruction before they come to school, she said.

The program also has both beginning and end of the week assessments which help the teachers see the growth of students, Cornelius said.

“We do see progress every year,” Cornelius said. “It might be in the letter, and the sounds and the sight words, but they make progress, and those are the three areas that we assess.”