

Off to a Good Start San Diego County: Partnering with parents of preschoolers to build school readiness skills
The Issue

Parents make object recognition picture plates during a Off to a Good Start workshop.
What Has ANR Done?
UC Cooperative Extension developed a school-readiness program called "Off to a Good Start" for parents of four- and five-year-olds. The program includes seven workshops covering kindergarten expectations, language development, reading readiness, social-emotional development, problem-solving (math and science), nutrition and home-to-school connections. With the support of a three-year grant from the First 5 Commission of San Diego, bilingual parent educators presented "Off to a Good Start" at 143 workshops in San Diego County that served 1,339 parents representing 1,920 children. Ninety-seven percent were Spanish speakers.The Payoff
Parents learn they are their child's most important teacher
Participant surveys indicated that 59 percent of the participants improved their understanding of their role as their child’s first teacher and 62 percent of the parents said their child showed more interest in books.Clientele Testimonial
“The topics that we touched were very interesting because it cleared up all my doubts related to my children’s early learning and they helped me feel more prepared and they taught me more tips about the productive activities.” (translated from Spanish)Contact
Supporting Unit:
San Diego CountySue Manglallan, 4-H Youth and Family Development Advisor,(858) 694-8836, ssmanglallan@ucdavis.edu