{"id":65496,"date":"2026-05-06T22:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65496"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:35:17","slug":"new-kindergarten-first-grade-program-coming-to-lakeland-learn-more-may-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/new-kindergarten-first-grade-program-coming-to-lakeland-learn-more-may-12\/","title":{"rendered":"New Kindergarten\/First Grade Program Coming to Lakeland, Learn More May 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"b3ae9f\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #b3ae9f;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"555\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wonderhereNews.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65497 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wonderhereNews.webp 800w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wonderhereNews-300x208.webp 300w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wonderhereNews-768x533.webp 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A different kind of learning opportunity is coming to Philip O\u2019Brien Elementary, and Polk County families can now apply for this unique microschool experience.<br><br>WonderHere is partnering with Philip O\u2019Brien to launch a new blended kindergarten\/first grade program, designed to offer families an additional educational option rooted in hands-on learning, creativity and connection.<br><br>This small classroom community will include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Project-based, hands-on learning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gentle literacy &amp; numeracy instruction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Personalized support in a small-group setting<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meaningful parent partnership and engagement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We know every child learns differently, and this program was created to provide another pathway for families seeking a more experiential, relationship-centered approach in the early years.<br><br>Enrollment is limited and application-based. Parents and guardians can apply here:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FMg33U56yCxUKjmLe6&amp;data=05%7C02%7Crichard.sacks%40polk-fl.net%7C39dd5d654d68448b37d408deabaaeac9%7C3ce159a93b59425bb96604d39f099bba%7C0%7C0%7C639136948690851220%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=hDW%2F9OYpCriShEttnOUzQN7kC8pxB9JaQqjjZpufj2Y%3D&amp;reserved=0\">https:\/\/forms.gle\/Mg33U56yCxUKjmLe6<\/a><br><br>An informational meeting will be hosted for those who want to learn more about this unique learning experience. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, in the media center of Philip O\u2019Brien Elementary, 1225 Lime St. in Lakeland.<br><br>We hope to see you there! Families with questions can also contact Sam Brown, the program\u2019s site director, at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:sam@wonderhere.com\">sam@wonderhere.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polkschoolsfl.com\/UserFiles\/Servers\/Server_3007318\/File\/News\/2026\/May\/POBE%20Interest%20Meeting%20Flyer.pdf\">Click here to view the promotional flyer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A different kind of learning opportunity is coming to Philip O\u2019Brien Elementary, and Polk County families can now apply for this unique microschool experience. WonderHere is partnering with Philip O\u2019Brien&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL3dvbmRlcmhlcmVOZXdzLndlYnA_Zml0PTgwMCUyQzU1NSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6Ik5ldyBLaW5kZXJnYXJ0ZW5cL0ZpcnN0IEdyYWRlIFByb2dyYW0gQ29taW5nIHRvIExha2VsYW5kLCBMZWFybiBNb3JlIE1heSAxMiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.GMzY5INvQRmu-u6OMJHMfgbsGGYR2uAwFW_CeV1xzXcMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[14567,14566],"class_list":["post-65496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schools","tag-learn-more-may-12","tag-new-kindergarten-first-grade-program-coming-to-lakeland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65498,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65496\/revisions\/65498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}