Ed Source – Sarah Tully
“Selene Ramirez has a lot on her plate caring for her three children and two nieces who live at her home in Buena Park, near Anaheim, but she finds the time to spend 15 minutes every day with each child – reading, writing or working on crafts. A few years ago, Ramirez, who came to the United States from Nayarit, Mexico, about 13 years ago, was unsure about how best to help her children and nieces – now ages 4 to 9 – prepare for school. But a twice-a-week parent-and-toddler class called the Early Literacy and Math Program, run by the nonprofit organization Think Together, gave her additional tools. Family involvement is key to helping all preschool children prepare academically for kindergarten and beyond, experts say. But involving families like Ramirez’s, with parents or other caregivers who don’t speak English well, is especially challenging. Cultural differences and a lack of resources among the state’s approximately 50,000 early child care providers compounds the problem.”(more)