Milford kindergartners got visits from professionals in the community as part of their community helpers unit during the first half of December.
A dentist, a firefighter, two police officers and students’ parents came to talk about their jobs.
Kindergarten teacher Tiffany Reynolds said the unit helps get kids thinking about their future. The unit’s theme is, “Everyone has a story, make yours worth telling.”
“It’s thinking about what they want to do when they grow up. There’s so many different jobs, and school is important because you want to be able to do one of those jobs,” she said. “That’s kind of how we wrap it in with school.”
The students prepared questions to ask the community professionals prior to their visits. Milford Police Chief Darrin Kremer said it was fun to hear what the kids, who had all gathered in one classroom, wanted to learn.
“We went in there and talked to the kids all about being police officers,” Kremer said. “Of course, all the kids wanted to know about was how many bad guys we had arrested and things like that. And, they had questions about our equipment.”
Reynolds said visits from police officers can also help show kids that officers are there to help and they don’t need to be afraid of them.
“We told them about how our job is to help people and solve problems,” Kremer said.
Reynolds said the unit is something both teachers and students look forward to every year.
“The kids love it, and it’s fun to have different people in the room,” she said. “It’s a fresh face for the kids to hear talk instead of us all the time.”
Kremer said the best part of the day was seeing how excited the kids were to talk with him and Officer Lisa Wiedemeyer.
“We got our picture taken, and they all wanted to stand by us. It was nice to see that they’re not scared of us at all,” he said. “They really wanted to speak with us and see what we had on our uniforms.”
