Here Comes Kindergarten
Dallas Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
To help boost school readiness, Dallas Public Library launched a six-week virtual workshop focused on critical early learning skills. Children participated in art, music, math, reading and social emotional learning that provided direct instruction to children and modeled activities for caregivers to build school readiness can be built at home.
Challenge/Opportunity
Assessment in February 2021 showed that only a quarter of Dallas Independent School District kindergarteners read at grade level by mid-school year. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the youngest students to fall further behind than in previous years, due to the shutdown of preschools in 2020 and fewer learning opportunities available to families. As informal educators, librarians were able to provide virtual kindergarten preparedness for families outside of formal preschool as well as to childcare centers without the resources to provide curriculum.
Key Elements of Innovation
Each week included a book, songs, learning games or other interactive activities, and a craft focused on a topic essential to kindergarten success, including:
- ABC's
- Numbers 1-10
- Introducing yourself, writing your name and what to expect in kindergarten
- Colors, shapes and patterns
- Rhyming words
- Compound words and syllables
- Feelings, manners and following directions
- Hygiene and self care at school (including COVID-19 precautions)
- Navigating Zoom and interacting through technology
Achieved Outcomes
More than 50 families participated in the six weeks of Here Comes Kindergarten, with the majority attending each week. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many requesting that a second session be offered. Feedback especially praised the interactive, engaging and gamified learning format of Here Comes Kindergarten. To ensure children were retaining the learning from week to week, each session opened with a refresher of the previous week.
