This year, with thousands of new preschool slots for children, it’s more important than ever that we make sure our youngest learners develop the love of reading that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

That’s why we jumped at the chance to work with our national union, the AFT, on a pilot program with the National Center for Learning Disabilities called Transitioning to Kindergarten.

They have created an array of activities that help children become ready for kindergarten by engaging the whole school community — including teachers, paras and parent coordinators — in their learning and by building a bridge to parents. If we want our children to have academic success, it begins with a partnership between the home and the school.

I’ve had the pleasure of being involved as three Brooklyn schools — PS 156 and PS 184 in Brownsville and PS 158 in East New York, all UFT Community Learning Schools — spearhead the program. And what a joy it’s been!

With generous support from First Book, every child in the program receives free books, from the latest in children’s literature to the classics that every child loves; and every school receives a library of free books. At a celebration for the Transitioning to Kindergarten program at PS 156 on March 10, preschool students received two books. You could hear a pin drop as I read from “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.” I let the parents know that reading to their children is their opportunity to let their inner actor come out.

The parents also received a toolkit of activities to do with their children over the school year as well as during the summer to minimize summer learning loss.

The teachers had set up a game of fishing for letters — using toy fishing poles with magnets — which is one of the activities in the program’s toolkit that parents take home with them. These activities are fun and easy to do at home, while teaching children letter recognition, shapes, names and sounds and helping them expand their print knowledge.

Gyasi Daniel, a paraprofessional at PS 158, told me how he uses the learning activities to obtain information that helps him and the teacher to know where kids are in their learning and what enrichment activities will be useful.

“Kids love the fishing for letters activity; they go crazy for it, and we get the data,” he said. “I make a simple chart; the letters they understand get a green check. The next time I do this activity, I try new letters and build words out of the letters they know.”

The screening tools and activities serve as an authentic form of assessment that does not take time away from instruction. “This allows us to weave in the assessments as we go,” Daniel said. “Students are engaged and learning while you get the information you need. It makes your day less stressful and more fun.”

Another section of the toolkit, “Getting to Know My Child,” helps parents to share information they want the teacher to know: whether their child is waiting for their glasses and should be seated at the front of the classroom in the interim, whether the child speaks another language, or whether mom is expecting another child. Knowing this information helps educators have a more holistic picture of the child and they are able to bridge any gaps.

At the end of the year, the screening tool shows you where the child is — not just academically, but also in terms of their social-emotional and physical development — and what enrichment activities are most appropriate. You’ve now created what we call an early learning passport, which can be shared with their kindergarten teacher.

This should make their transition to kindergarten more successful, which is everyone’s goal.

We presented the Transitioning to Kindergarten program at the national Teaching and Learning Conference in Washington, D.C., in March because we hope to encourage other educators to use the free online materials in their pre-K classrooms.

Check out the program yourself.

Carolyn Benjamin Smith, the parent coordinator at PS 156, says Transitioning to Kindergarten helps educators to foster the literacy of the entire family. “We have a few parents who are looking for their GEDs, so activities that help their children to love reading also help them to develop reading skills for themselves,” she says.

I always tell parents that learning is a partnership between teachers and parents. You gift us with your children, and it’s up to us collectively to help these children move ahead.