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     “I thought I’d done everything right and had tried to make sure we all knew what to expect when Maya went into kindergarten, but I’m afraid I feel at a loss right now. It seems like she’s gone from one world to a completely new one, and I just don’t feel prepared to help her, after all.”



“I really want Maya to do well in kindergarten,” Nicole sighs after another grueling morning getting Maya ready for school. “Kindergarten is such an important year and will make such a difference in how she will think about school for a long time to come. It’s worrisome to see my daughter like this. I wish this had just been an easier transition. I thought I’d done everything right and had tried to make sure we all knew what to expect when Maya went into kindergarten, but I’m afraid I feel at a loss right now. It seems like she’s gone from one world to a completely new one, and I just don’t feel prepared to help her, after all.”

Nicole had always been an involved parent. She was actively involved in the program parent committee and policy council at Maya’s Head Start program. She attended nearly all of the family events and often talked with Maya’s preschool teacher about how she could support Maya’s growth. Nicole and her husband enjoy reading with Maya every night, and on weekends, she and her husband like to take Maya and her sister to museums and events across the city through a free program for low-income families. Nicole doesn’t understand why the transition to kindergarten has been so hard for Maya.

At the advice of Maya’s former preschool teacher, whom Nicole consulted about the transition difficulties, Nicole requested a meeting with the kindergarten teacher. In preparation for the meeting, Nicole wrote down her own ideas about Maya’s development and the ways that she wanted to be involved in her daughter’s education. Nicole also had learned from the public librarian that some schools have children create “All About Me” books and thought that this would be a helpful resource for Maya’s kindergarten teacher to have. Nicole helped Maya write and illustrate the small book about herself to share with the kindergarten teacher.

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illustration of Maya Warren
illustration of Maya's mother


illustration of Teresa Guzman illustration of Tanya Robinson small image of a data table illustration of Esther Lasher  
illustration of the people in the Bridging Worlds Case
Maya

Maya’s mother

Up Next --> Preschool teacher Kindergarten teacher

Supporting data

Educational director

Piecing it all together

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Published by Harvard Family Research Project