Lake County Gazette

Students in Mrs. Wren and Miss Jackman’s kindergarten class at Coal City Early Childhood Center held an ABC Fashion Show on September 26 to demonstrate their understanding of the alphabet.

During the first weeks of school, students learned each letter, its sound, and related vocabulary. To highlight their progress, each student created a paper bag vest representing a letter. The vests were decorated with items starting with the assigned letter, such as alligators, giraffes, cats, monkeys, and Santa Claus.

The event featured students walking down a red carpet while sharing their letter and its sound with invited guests seated along the runway. After presenting every letter from A to Z, the group sang the ABC song.

The teachers explained that teaching students to identify upper and lowercase letters and recognize sounds helps them become proficient readers and writers.

Coal City Early Childhood Center is part of Coal City Community Unit School District 1, which includes schools across Grundy and Will counties. More information about the district can be found at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/. The district employs 153 teachers with an average salary of $69,297; nearly 78 percent are women and just over 22 percent are men. There are no teachers in the district with more than ten absences per year according to state data (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). The student population is approximately 87 percent White, nearly 10 percent Hispanic, less than one percent Black or Asian (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). In 2020, spending per student was $21,619 for a total expenditure of $47 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).