SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego Unified School District is launching a new literacy program for preschoolers, giving teachers new tools and techniques to help students build reading skills long before they reach elementary school.
Santos Gonzalez, director of early learning for San Diego Unified, demonstrated one of the new tool kits, which includes books and hands-on materials designed to build vocabulary and a love of reading.
"This is all about Quentra Bajan El Super Mercado. So this is, you know, who works at the supermarket," Gonzalez said.
She says the program is designed to give teachers a strong foundation to work from.
"What we love about this program is it really helps our teachers build that vocabulary, that love of literacy, that engagement with different texts, and it sets them up for a huge success," Gonzalez said.
The new preschool curriculum is just the beginning of a broader effort. According to the San Diego Council on Literacy, the state reported more than half of students did not meet the standard for reading for their grade level.
Under a new state law, San Diego Unified will spend the next year training teachers in the science of reading before rolling out a new literacy curriculum for transitional kindergarten through fifth grade in the 2027-28 school year.
"So it really sets a strong foundation for the work that's gonna happen in all the grades after preschool," Gonzalez said.
Some of the items in the tool kits may look like toys, but Gonzalez says that is intentional.
"They would be playing with their friend, 'Hi, you know, I'm at the store and I'd like to buy some orange juice and here's the water,'" Gonzalez said.
She says listening and imitating are the first steps in learning literacy. Preschoolers learn language best through playing, exploring, and becoming familiar with signs they may see every day.
"They know what McDonald's sign looks like, right? And they start to — mm, the sound mm, right? And so that's how they begin to internalize, that's a letter, that's a sound, and maybe their name is Michael, McDonald's, mm, Michael," Gonzalez said.
While training and the new tool kits will be a central part of the curriculum, Gonzalez says a teacher's expertise is what will bring the tools to life and put students one step ahead.
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