The sounds of English and Spanish filled the air last week at the island’s newest preschool as children gathered for a snack before heading out for a romp on the playground.

“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho,” para-educator Lisa Breen counted as she knelt at a table and talked with a young student about his Goldfish crackers.

The bilingual preschool, called Mi Escuelita, opened Nov. 3 and is funded by Washington State to serve children from low-income families. Similar to Head Start, the preschool, funded by the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, is free and aims to ensure that all Washington children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Those involved with Mi Escuelita, housed at Chautauqua Elementary School, say the program is a lifeline for island families, providing not only vital early childhood education, but other services related to child development, health and nutrition.

Islander Alicia Cronin, a single mother and a familiar face to many because of her job at the Vashon Pharmacy, is sending her son Zachary, 4, to the school this year. It is his first preschool experience, and she has only praise for the program so far. There was an adjustment period in the beginning, Cronin said, but he has settled in and now enjoys the school. She has already seen growth in him, she noted, and they both enjoy talking about the projects he brings home. For Cronin, who works four days a week and also has a 7-year-old son, the school has provided much-needed child care as well as assistance beyond the classroom. The school recently stepped in to help her cover the cost of a filling for Zachary.

“They have offered support, not just by providing the care, but they have also reached out to me as Zachary’s parent to find out how the program is working for me and how they could be helpful outside of the classroom,” she said. “It has been incredible. It is almost like having a new family.”

While she gets paid reasonably at the pharmacy, she said, as a single mother, it is difficult to make ends meet. She earns too much to qualify for some assistance programs, yet her income does not go far enough, and she could not have afforded preschool were it not for this program, she said.

The school also runs longer than many other preschools on the island, beginning at 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday and ending at 3:30 p.m., with bus transportation to and from school.

While Cronin still pays a friend to watch Zachary when she has to work outside of school hours, she said the program has been helpful for her to her as a mother caring for two boys.

“It has been a huge financial lift for me,” she said. “I can provide better care for them. I do not have to try to work extra hours to earn more money, and I can leave work and be there when they get home from school.”

Peggy Rubens-Ellis, who serves as a family support specialist for the English-speaking families with children at Mi Escuelita, says the focus on health is an important part of the program, as health and education are linked. The young students receive free screenings for hearing, vision, height and weight. Nutrition is also emphasized; two meals and a snack are served each day, she said, and the children brush their teeth after breakfast.

The family support is also a key element, she said. After the new year, she and Sally Adam, who is the family support specialist for the Spanish-speaking families, will meet with parents individually. Per the state’s requirements, three hours or more of one-on-one support are required each year.

“I help them find whatever they need to have a healthy, positive life,” she said.

The program includes 11 children from English-speaking families and seven children from Spanish-speaking families. While both English and Spanish are spoken throughout the day, currently English is spoken more, according to lead teacher Sara Bennett. As the year moves along, she said she expects that the amount of Spanish will increase.

For Adam, who also works for the school district as a family advocate and translator, Mi Escuelita fulfills her longtime dream of having a preschool to serve the island’s Spanish-speaking families.

The school helps families with financial challenges, she noted, but it is especially welcoming for young children whose families speak Spanish. Spanish is spoken in the classroom by native speakers, including assistant teacher Lilia Longworth, and the class sings Spanish songs and hears Spanish stories.

“They feel confident that they belong,” Adam said. “And the other kids get the advantage of learning Spanish, building their language skills and getting a great preschool experience.”

The program has been running for six weeks, and already Bennett says she has seen changes in the students. They are learning about how to play well with others, how to make and keep friends and how to follow basic routines.

“I see some friendships forming. The kids interact and share, compare knowledge and lifestyles and learn from one another,” she said.

The school was made possible by a grant that Roxanne Lyons, the school district’s curriculum director, applied for earlier this year. District officials learned this summer that they received the grant, which provides up to $150,000 or $5,000 per student per year for the preschool. She and others worked quickly to get the new program up and running this fall.

Six weeks into the school year, Lyons noted that taking a group of children from different backgrounds, many of whom had never been in a group setting before, made for some interesting moments, but like Bennett, she sees the kids settling in.

“It’s been a really busy and challenging process to create a cohesive team of kids. We have had some exciting days,” she said, “but it feels like all the pieces are all coming together.”

As the year progresses, teachers will keep track of typical child developmental tasks, such as tying shoes, zipping coats and brushing teeth. If any child shows a delay in a task or skill, it can be worked on at home and at school to help ensure that the child is hitting all the appropriate developmental milestones, she said. The same is true for cognitive skills, such as understanding cause and effect and the learning the alphabet.

Families who might be eligible for the program are encouraged to apply to join later this school year, as there will be a few openings, or for next year, Rubens-Ellis said. Priority is given to those with very low incomes as well as foster children, children who are in the Child Protective Services system and children who are homeless or are in a transitional living situation.

Currently, children from families that earn up to 110 percent of the federal poverty level, or $21,769 for a family of three, qualify. But even if people do not fit into this category, Rubens-Ellis said, they should contact a program representative to see if there might be circumstances that would make them eligible.

Lyons noted that children have different opportunities in life depending on what families they are born into, and those opportunities affect their odds for success in school. Giving more children access to preschool, she said, can even that playing field.

“This is, for me, one of those rare and wonderful programs that really addresses that divide,” she said. “All the kids in this preschool are going to start kindergarten ready. Their language will be more like their peers. Their school skills will be more like their peers, and their social skills will be more like their peers, who have had very, very different opportunities just because their families have more means.”

Mi Escuelita

Applications for the program are available at the Chautauqua office. For more information, people may also call Sally Adam at 218-9545 (for Spanish speakers) or Peggy Rubens-Ellis at 335-9051 (for English speakers).