As preschool children and parents across our community get ready to attend kindergarten kickoff events, now is a great time to remind parents of the wonderful resources FAMILY, Inc.’s (www.familyia.org) literacy initiative offers for kindergarten readiness. In 2021, FAMILY Inc.’s Southwest Iowa Raise Me to Read literacy initiative worked with local early childhood educators to develop a list of nine essential Kindergarten Readiness Skills. These skills, which include everything from dexterity skills to social emotional skills, were developed by a team of local early childhood education professionals and experts with direct feedback from Council Bluffs Community School District and Lewis Central Community School educators. A list of these skills, along with tips and tricks about how parents and caregivers can develop these skills at home, can be found for free on the Southwest Iowa Raise Me to Read website along with other fantastic early literacy resources: raisemetoread.org/swi-kindergarten-readiness.
FAMILY, Inc. is a human services organization with a mission to engage and educate the community, inspiring a healthy future through literacy, family and public health services. To learn more, visit www.familyia.org.