ABCs, 123s

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BROOKINGS – Hillcrest Elementary School welcomed new faces this week during its kindergarten screening, which ran from Monday to Wednesday.

Above, Harper Haider goes through the letters of the alphabet during her kindergarten screening with junior kindergarten teacher Kathleen Beste.

Below, Arpineh Anderson is quizzed by Hillcrest kindergarten teacher Molly Alberts on numbers as part of her screening. At the end, she got to pick out a sticker.

More than 60 children were scheduled to undergo the screening process at Hillcrest alone, and screenings were held at Medary and Dakota Prairie schools as well.

The screening process is a chance to see where a child is in terms of his or her education and development, according to Alberts. They check for children’s fine motor skills through such tasks as using scissors to cut out a shape printed on paper, their social development and their understanding of such concepts as shapes, colors, numbers and letters.

It’s also a chance to start building a relationship with the kids and their parents, which Alberts enjoys.

The Brookings Lions Club was also present to conduct eye examinations.