Winston Salem Times

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools issued the following announcement on November 10.

NOVEMBER 10, 2021 – Gibson Elementary has long had a big-kids playground.

Only recently, though, have the 60 or so students in the Pre-K program at Gibson had their very own Pre-K-size playground. Since the end of October, they have been able to zip out the doors of their classrooms and enjoy colorful playground equipment that includes slides, ladders, and more.

There is also a playhouse that can be accessed by a student using a wheelchair.

Dr. Ian Olsen, the principal at Gibson, credits Pre-K Teacher William Gormsen with providing the leadership and sustained focus to make it all happen.

“Mr. Gormsen has really been leading the way,” Olsen said.

It’s great to have the new playground.

“It’s inspiring. It’s uplifting,” Olsen said.

“The students are so excited.”

Play 4Ellen Ahearn, who is a Pre-K teacher assistant, said that, when the students in her class came to the playground for the first time, one student said, “Guys, we have a real park.”

“They are so excited,” Ahearn said.

Teressa Beam, who is the Director of Early Learning for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, let the people at Gibson know that money would be available for the playground.

Here is what Gormsen had to say:

“We received an email from Teressa Beam stating that Gibson Elementary was one of the few schools earmarked for $40,000 towards a new playground. I took it upon myself to do the research and to talk to various venders until I could get the playground that would give us more bang for our money. When I found a playground system that checked all boxes, I showed it to my Pre-K team to get their approval before I submitted the paperwork to Ms. Beam.”

“Our new playground was just installed the last week of October. Our whole Pre-K team is delighted that we now have 4 slides, 2 learning stations, and a playhouse for our scholars to explore and to use their imagination with one another. The new playground also helps us check off various TS Gold goals as we watch our scholars play and interact with one another.”

Play 54“Our scholars are so happy with the new playground their faces show it every day, my scholars tell me they can’t wait to go and play on the slides and in the new playhouse.”

Kaylin Kitts is a Pre-K teacher at Gibson.

"Gibson Elementary School Pre-K Program was granted funds to provide a new playground for our pre-kindergarten scholars,” Kitts said.

“The new playground has promoted the growth and advancement of our scholars' development across multiple developmental domains, including, social-emotional, physical, language, literacy, math, cognitive, and English language acquisitional skills among English language learners.”

“Since the completion of our new playground, the children really look forward to their time outside and it is evident during their play. Children are now able to climb up ladders, go down slides, interact with their peers in a different play setting, solve problems, throw small balls through the target and identify the number of points earned, and even test their alphabet knowledge and diversity, through the use of braille.”

Kitts 71“We are beyond grateful for the new equipment on our playground and look forward to many opportunities to use this equipment, promote learning and development, and inspire creativity through play."

Many people worked hard to make it all happen, Olsen said. “It took a lot of people to pull it off.”

As has been the case with many projects in recent times, situations created by COVID-19 delayed the project as people waited for not only the equipment but also such materials as the fencing to surround the playground to arrive.

“It was a happy day when we learned they were coming to install it,” Olsen said.

In addition to the equipment with the slide, the new project included the playhouse. From Gormsen’s earlier efforts, the play area already had a sand box. Pre-K students also already had an area where they could ride small bikes.

Original source can be found here.