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Somerset County Public Schools Pre-K 3 Program
Resources for Parents and Families
Ready At Five – for Parents
“You are your child’s first and most important teacher! There are many things you can do with your child, starting at birth, to help him/her be ready to succeed in school.
And, we are here to help. Our ParentTips, parent-child activities, school readiness resources, and other important information will show you how.”
Children’s Mental Health Matters – Parent/Families
“It’s easy to know your child needs help dealing with a fever or a broken bone, but mental health problems can be harder to identify. Children of all ages, even as young infants, can experience mental health problems. A difficulty of parenting is knowing the kinds of behaviors and moods that are usual for the stage of development your child is in and when your child has gone beyond the norm and needs help.”
Early Childhood Maryland Public Schools – Families
“We know that families play the most important role in preparing young children for school and for the rest of their lives. But child care providers are right there too in terms of their impact on children. Choosing the right child care provider could mean the difference between your child being ready for the first day of Kindergarten (and everything that comes after it) or not.”
Ready4K
To register just text SCJC to 70138
“Each week, parents and caregivers receive fun facts and easy tips on how to promote their children’s development by building on existing family routines – like pointing out letters on the cereal box at breakfast, counting the number of steps as you walk to the car or bus, or making feeling faces in the mirror after you brush your teeth.”
Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age five in participating communities. United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore has provided the Imagination Library program to children in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties in Maryland for over 8 years.
Sign up your child today! Simply go to United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore’s website to register your child OR call the office: 410-742-5143. https://www.uwles.org/imaginationlibrary
Pathfinders For Autism
500 by five
Is Your Child Riding Safe?
Did you know that under Maryland law any child, age 0-7, who is shorter than 4’9″ must be secured in a car seat or booster?
With your help we will determine which seat is best for your child. We provide a car seat safety training and a free car seat or booster for families in need. Please call and set a appointment for car seat installation with a certified car seat technician. For more information Contact Tynice DeShields 410-651-1275 (Princess Anne Families), and Janell Hale 410-968-1295 (Crisfield Families). For more information on car seat safety click this link. safekids.org
Car Seat installations will be done on Fridays from 9:00am-3:00pm at the Somerset County Board of Education located at 7982A Tawes Campus Drive Westover, MD 21871.
Activities to try!
Counting Carrots
This counting activity is perfect for working on number recognition and scissor skills. Encourage your child to cut out 5 orange triangles. These will become your carrots. Write the numbers 1-5 and have your child glue the carrots in numerical order. Then cut 15 green paper strips for carrot tops. Have your child glue the number of green strips that correspond to the number on the carrot.
Materials: Brown, Green, Orange construction paper, Scissors, Glue
Jelly Bean Science

Using Fine Motor Skills to create this fun craft. First have your child sort the jelly beans by color. Then put them in a clear cup and pour warm water until the water reaches the top of the jelly beans. Leave for a hour, and have children come back and look at the changes it’s making periodically.
Materials: Jelly Beans, clear cups, warm water
Alphabet Egg Match

This activity focuses on letter names and recognizing upper and lower case letters. Pull apart 12 plastic eggs and then put them back together with mismatched colors. Next, write an upper case letter on the top half and a lower case on bottom half. Try to choose 12 letters that look different in upper and lower case form. For example Ee. Then split the eggs apart and let your child sift through them and put the matching letters back together.
Materials: Plastic Eggs, Black Permanent Marker, Empty Egg Carton