Ossining Trail Aims to Boost Young Learners’ Language, Engagement

There will be a lot more skipping, hopping, wiggling, looking and learning in Nelson Sitting Park, thanks to a new “Born Learning Trail” the Ossining School District and the United Way of Westchester and Putnam installed last week.

Ossining district staff, Village of Ossining employees and the United Way of Westchester and Putnam spent a couple hours Thursday afternoon putting up the polls and signs – in English and Spanish – for the 10-station trail. They painted yellow, orange, blue and red letters and designs along the pathway to encourage activities.

One sign asks parents and caregivers to point to the letters “A,” “B” and “C,” which are painted in red, green, orange and blue on the adjacent walkway, and make the sounds each letter makes. Then they can ask children to think of words that start with those letters, and come up with rhyming words.

Other signs suggest activities such as hopping like a frog, walking backward, making each other smile and laugh, comparing geometric shapes painted on the path, playing hopscotch and telling stories.

The trails are part of a nationwide effort by Born Learning and the United Way to promote quality engagement, bonding experiences and learning opportunities for children 5 and younger.

“These trails are really designed to connect what kids learn in the classroom with what they experience in the real world, and it’s for early childhood education,” Avery Zuvic, director of community impact for the United Way of Westchester and Putnam, told volunteers as they began the project.

The group split up into teams, with one pounding the poles into the dirt, another attaching the signs to them, and a third painting the designs on the pathway.

Roosevelt School teachers Bianca Iacono and James Langelotti painted. They were among the district staff members who responded to an email from district Community Schools Leader Megan Mastrogiacomo, who organized the effort. The teachers, both of whom are new in Ossining this year, said they were happy to have a chance to lend a hand, meet new people and get more involved in the community.

Superintendent Raymond Sanchez said the school district received permission from the Village of Ossining to put the trail in the park. The trail fits in well with the Ossining Basics initiative, which the district and community launched four years ago to boost early learners’ language and literacy skills so they arrive at school ready to learn. One of the Ossining Basics principles is “talk, sing and point,” which is along the lines of some of the trail activities.

“Clearly you want kids to go to the park, but this gives them an opportunity to develop language while they’re here,” Dr. Sanchez said.

Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students at Park School, directly across from Nelson Sitting Park, use the park on a regular basis. The trail will be particularly helpful for pre-kindergarteners who are working on their gross motor skills, said Melisa Stoller, assistant principal at the school.

“We are so happy that the Born Learning Trail is bilingual. It gives access to people who speak English and Spanish,” she said. “It is also a great way for parents to support their children to build oral language, relationships, have fun and learn how we use our bodies to communicate with others.”