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Countdown to Kindergarten Booklet is a New and Improved Resource for Parents
Fort Worth ISD, under the direction of the Early Learning Department, has just released a new “Countdown to Kindergarten” booklet for parents of infants and young children. Parents can use this resource to better understand the importance of the time they spend with their children from birth until they enroll in Kindergarten.
The booklet is in English and Spanish and will help parents get their child ready for school one year at a time. It begins with a letter from Superintendent Dr. Kent Scribner that tells parents how important the first three years of life are to a child’s brain growth and development and how parents play a vital role as their child’s first and best teacher.
“Unfortunately, parenting doesn’t come with an instruction manual. So, we created this booklet as the next best thing,” he said.
“Countdown to Kindergarten” provides information about the important milestones in social skills, emotional development, language acquisition, and motor skill development that are part of children growing up and getting ready for school. It features a description of skills children need to be ready for Kindergarten. There are also sections for Birth to One-Year-Old and sections for each year from age 1 to age 5.
Each section of the booklet includes helpful examples of what children may be able to say and do at each age, such as “Birth to three months, your child may listen to sounds.” There are also suggested activities in each section to encourage development at each stage of a child’s life. By the time parents read the section called “Five-Year-Olds,” the examples of development will include “Your child may understand past and future tense” and “Your child may recognize very small details.”
The booklet features pages for parents to keep notes and record special moments, including a place to record age, weight, height; favorite activities; funny moments; and things to try. There is also a pocket to keep documents, records, photos and other keepsakes, as well as a page of “Helpful Online Resources.”
The Early Learning Department is focused on providing children from Pre-Kindergarten through second grade with high quality, engaging learning experiences that ignite in every child a passion for learning. The “Countdown to Kindergarten” booklet is one example of the valuable resources provided by the department.
Dr. Scribner also explained this booklet is a great support tool for 100x25 FWTX, which sets a goal of 100 percent of third-graders reading on grade level or above by the year 2025. The superintendent is partnering with Mayor Betsy Price and BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose to lead the community-wide Read Fort Worth initiative. This collective impact strategy engages parents, grandparents, and caregivers as well as volunteers from the city’s business sector, higher education, non-profit organizations, and the faith-based community.
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