The Ypsilanti District Library (YDL) is expanding its preschool resource fair to include more information about local kindergartens. This year's event will take place from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29, at YDL's Whittaker Road branch, 5577 Whittaker Rd. in Ypsi Township.

Jodi Krahnke, YDL's head of youth services, says 2019 was the first year the YDL offered a preschool resource fair as a way to provide parents a bridge between an informal home daycare setting and a more structured preschool setting.

This year, Marlena Schuler, who has coordinated YDL's preschool storytimes for many years, offered to help organize the resource fair and mentioned that parents were asking for more information about kindergartens as well.

Krahnke says Schuler is "an expert in helping prepare kids for kindergarten through storytime and other activities," and some of those activities will be incorporated into four kindergarten readiness stations at the event.

"Parents can stop by and see hands-on ideas for what they can do at home to help kids with some of the things we're teaching in storytime, like hand strength for writing their letters or doing different early reading activities like reading out loud or sensory play to build vocabulary," Krahnke says.

The kindergartens participating in the event are East Arbor Charter Academy, Keystone Charter Academy, Lincoln Consolidated Schools, South Arbor Charter Academy, and Ypsilanti Community Schools.

Preschools confirmed to participate in the event include Dorothy's Discovery Daycare Center and Preschool, Elements Preschool, HighScope Demonstration Preschool, Kekere Freedom School, KC Childcare and Preschool, Lincoln Consolidated Schools, It's a Small World Daycare and Preschool, Teddy Bear Daycare and Learning Center, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti Cooperative Preschool, Foundations Preschool, and The Collaborative: Ypsilanti YMCA Child Development Center.

Krahnke says it's likely that at least two more preschools will be added to the list before the day of the event.

During the event, there will also be opportunities for parents to learn to use Michigan's Quality Rating System to find good options and for parents to talk to Success by 6 parent advisors to learn about Great Start Readiness, Head Start, and other resources for parents. Participants can take home a free tote bag with coloring supplies and a book.

The event is free and no registration is required. More information is available on the YDL website.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

Photo courtesy of YDL.