Preparing kids for Kindergarten

Which of the following things helps prepare your child for Kindergarten?

• Talking and singing with your baby
• Playing with play dough
• Building things with blocks and legos
• Walking on a nature trail
• Learning your letters

     Of course, this is a trick question! The answer is everything you do with your child helps build skills needed for school readiness. Children need a variety of experiences from the time they are born to the time they enter school to gain background knowledge and build vocabulary.  Children (and adults!) learn from watching others, then doing. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.  Getting dirty is a bonus!

On Saturday April 6^th, from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, Berkshire United Way will host the 7^th Annual School Readiness Fair in partnership with the Berkshire Athenaeum and Wee Read - special thanks to Mountain One for sponsoring the event!

Children and families will have the opportunity to play and learn at activity stations. We will have a Mad Scientist on hand to make glow bracelets and Pittsfield Public Schools will be onsite for Kindergarten registrations. 

Through our collaborations with partners throughout the county, we are committed to making sure children get the skills they need to succeed. Come join the fun! 

Karen Vogel

Director of Community Impact

berkshireunitedway.org

Learn to read, read to learn!

On a sunny, Saturday morning, in the First Street Common, I had the privilege of meeting a local kindergartner.  This enthusiastic young lady spent over 30 minutes creating a crown with a pattern of colors and star stickers as her dad patiently waited; acknowledging her love of both the arts and reading new books every day.

A local early childhood educator reads to a young girl as she decorates her crown at a Berkshire United Way
pop up party.

This is just one of many scenarios I could share with you from our summer pop up reading parties.

What’s a pop up reading party you might ask? It’s a fun event where children and parents meet outside—often at Berkshire United Way Book House sites—to spend time reading together in the warm sunshine.

Through the generous support of  AVANGRID, parent company of Berkshire Gas and the Avangrid Foundation, Berkshire United Way purchased four large screened tents to provide shelter from the wind and sun, and puffy pillows for young children and their families to sit on. Throughout the summer, we used them at nine pop up reading parties here in Berkshire County. At each party, children listened as a local pre-school teacher read a story then provided a FREE art project to go along with it.  After they completed their works of art, children had the opportunity to explore different books to read with a family member, and the fun and learning didn’t stop there!  Young attendees received a cute, complimentary stuffed animal to serve as a reading buddy at home, along with a free book to take with them.

A young child intently studies a book about kindergarten at a Berkshire United Way pop up party.

Our last reading party, which was held at the Harvest Festival Farmers Market at the First Street Common in Pittsfield, drew over 52 children and their families!  One child commented as she made her reading crown and received her small, stuffed animal book buddy, “Thank you so much, bear and I are going to read this book when I get home.”

Berkshire United Way’s early childhood goal is for 90% of Berkshire County kids to read proficiently by 3^rd grade at which point they move from learning to read to reading to learn, and this impacts every subject they are taught.  Reading to your child every day, beginning at birth, helps build school readiness skills so children arrive at school ready to learn.  To learn about future family-friendly reading events, be sure to follow us on Facebook.  I hope to see you soon!

Stephanie
Coordinator of Early Childhood Development