Grapevine Elementary School

Grapevine Elementary School’s (GES) pre-K classroom was transformed into what resembled a mini drive-in movie theater on Friday, February 10, with desks pushed aside and students sitting in colorful, child-sized cars made out of cardboard.

“This is the end of our transportation study in pre-K,” said pre-K teacher Laura Jean Couch. “We’ve spent all week learning about all different types of transportation. We’ve learned all sorts of vocabulary about trains and boats and planes and even hot air balloons.”

To make the unit even more memorable and fun, the students designed a box car at home with their family and brought it in so that the entire class could be turned into a drive-in theater.

“Even though it looks like we are doing a lot of playing, we are not,” Couch added. “We’ve learned so much all week. We’ve written about what we do, how we would travel. We’ve worked on numbering cars. So this is just the fun part to end the entire study.”

GES Principal Nancy Hale said that even though it looks like fun, it is much more than just child’s play.

“Everything they do is extremely intentional and based on academics,” she explained. “It is all providing the social skills that students will need in order to be successful when they come to elementary school.”

Since pre-K is likely a child’s first time in school, pre-K also gets students ready for kindergarten, Couch added.

“We want them to learn their social/emotional skills: how to get along with people, how to operate in a school, how to walk down a hallway. On top of that, we are looking to develop their vocabulary and academic skills. Whether it be space, animals or whatever it is, we are learning.”

Learn more about GCISD’s pre-K program, which is a full-day program, by visiting GCISD’s pre-K page.