The annual registration of pre-K and kindergarten students gets under way at the end of this month in Rockmart, but will not take place until April for Cedartown residents.

Pre-K Round up

Pre-K registration for children who live in the Van Wert and Eastside school zones will be held at the Nathan Dean Center, 604 Goodyear St., Rockmart from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day, March 26-30.

Pre-K registration for children who live in the Cherokee, Northside, Westside and Youngs Grove school zones will be held at the Polk School District Board of Education office, 612 S. College St., Cedartown, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day, April 16-20.

Your child must be 4 on or before Sept. 1, 2012 to attend Pre-Kindergarten.

Documents required

For your child to be registered with the Georgia Department of Early Learning Pre-K, you must provide the following information:

Certificate of Live Birth (certified copy not the hospital copy or copy of live birth);

Immunization Certificate (obtain from Health Department);

Hearing, Vision and Dental Certificate (obtain at Health Department).

The school will also need:

A copy of Child’s Social Security Card (this will be your child’s ID number);

Utility Bill (power, gas or water to show proof of residency).

School officials stress that you do not need to bring your pre-kindergarten child with you to registration.

If your child has an out–of-state birth certificate, it must be a certified copy with a state file number.

If you have a non-certified copy of your child’s birth certificate, you will need to apply at the Vital Statistics Office in the state where the child was born. This process takes about 6 to 12 weeks to receive a new birth certificate. Remember to take this into consideration and do not wait until the last minute to obtain.

Kindergarten registration

Registration for kindergarten children who live in the Van Wert and Eastside school zones will be held at the Nathan Dean Center, 604 Goodyear St., Rockmart from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day, March 26-30.

Kindergarten registration for children who live in the Cherokee, Northside, Westside and Youngs Grove school zones will be held at the Polk School District Board of Education office, 612 S. College St., Cedartown, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day, April 16-20.

Your child must be 5 on or before Sept. 1, 2012 to attend Kindergarten.

Documents required

Documents required to register for kindergarten are the same as for Pre-K. State law requires the following information:

Certificate of Live Birth (certified copy not the hospital copy or copy of live birth);

Immunization Certificate (obtain from the Health Department);

Hearing, Vision and Dental Certificate (obtain at the Health Department).

You can use the certificate from Pre-K but you must obtain a new Hearing, Vision and Dental Certificate for Kindergarten Registration. For more information, call the Health Department at 770-684-1385.

The school will also need:

A copy of the Child’s Social Security Card (this will be your child’s ID number);

Utility Bill (power, gas or water to show proof of residency).

Unlike the Pre-K registration, officials stress that you must bring your kindergarten-aged child with you to register for a readiness and communication screening.

If your child has an out of state birth certificate, it must be a certified copy with a state file number.

If you have a non-certified copy of your child’s birth certificate, you will need to apply at the Vital Statistics Office in the state the child was born. This process takes 6 to 12 weeks. Take this into consideration.

For more information about Pre-K or Kindergarten registration, call Van Wert Elementary at 770-684-6924, Eastside Elementary, 770-684-5335 or Polk School District, 770-748-3821.