Kindergarten Optometrists: Exploring Our Vision!

A few months ago, a routine vision screening at school turned into so much more as students became very curious about their experiences.

When we returned from the vision screening, students were very curious as to why they had to have their eyes checked at school . We began to chart our questions. "Why do we have to cover one eye while reading the chart?". "Why did we have to stand far away from it?" "How come some of the letters on the chart are small, and some a big?" Students were also curious about the "color tracing" tasks that they had to do.

            After writing down and talking about our questions, we made an appointment to visit with the optometry assistants that visit the schools to do screenings. Students were able to answer our questions. We learned about how one eye can see differently from the other, and how sometimes it's harder to see smaller letters. This way they can figure out if you need glasses. We also learned about how some people have trouble seeing colors, and how we can test that.

           We observed our eyes closely and did sketches of our eyes. We looked at eye diagrams and learned about the different parts of the eye and what they can do. After that, our optometry screeners gave us a great surprise! Our very own vision chart and eye covers! We decided together that we could make an optometry center and help check each other's vision. We loved playing both the patient and the eye doctor!