Laguna Beach Unified School District Falls in Love with Reading

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Laguna Beach Unified School District’s School Readiness program hosted an event to promote early literacy, provide parent education, support school readiness and increase awareness of community resources as part of the Fall in Love with Reading program Monday, October 24 at 8:30 a.m. at the Boys and Girls Club of Laguna Beach.

Early Learning Specialist Sandee Bandettini read a book a book titled "The Bear Ate Your Sandwich" by Julia Sarcone-Roach and distributed plastic pumpkins containing Halloween safety tips, a reading log, literacy handouts, treats and stickers, coloring pages and a box of crayons.

“To help support Jumpstart’s national reading campaign Read for the Record and our School Readiness Program, I shared the book at both the Boys and Girls Club and in our Learning Link to encourage early literacy, promote school readiness and offer some wonderful tools to support early learning in our community,” said Bandettini.

The Fall in Love with Reading program began this September by offering book bags to children ages 0-5 years old that were enrolled in an early childhood program in Laguna Beach. The book bag included a parent letter, 10 free books, a monthly reading log, literacy handouts, parent education handouts, school readiness materials, and transition to kindergarten tips in both English and Spanish to support Spanish speaking families.

The Fall in Love with Reading program is supported by a grant from the Children and Families Commission of Orange County and the book bags were donated by Whole Foods Market in Laguna Beach. Gently used books were also donated from THINK Together and families that attend local schools in Laguna Beach.

“We are very thankful to the School Readiness Program for supporting our preschool,” said Doris Fusco, Director of Even Start Preschool at the Boys and Girls Club in Laguna Beach. “The Fall in Love with Reading program helps motivate and instill a value of reading for both the parents and children in our program. The district’s participation in reading stories to our children and providing free books and handouts for each one of them is such a wonderful way to encourage healthy growth and development and family learning.”

The LBUSD School Readiness program provides the Learning Link, the Laguna Beach Library, and community partners and families with one on one support, free developmental screenings and parent education to build early literacy, offer community support and provide tools to for families to support school readiness. Bandettini will be available at the Laguna Beach Library on a monthly basis to provide parent education and support.

For more information about the Laguna Beach Unified School District’s School Readiness program, including information on how to participate in our Learning Link, please email Early Learning Specialist Sandee Bandettini at sbandettini@lbusd.org.

Laguna Beach Unified School District Photo