Everyone who interacts with a young child is a teacher. This booklet is written for you. As preschool teachers and child care providers, you have both the wonderful opportunity and the important responsibility to teach and nurture our youngest children. The years from birth through age five are a time of extraordinary growth and change. It is in these years that children develop the basic knowledge, understanding, and interests they need to reach the goal of being successful learners, readers, and writers. All young children deserve experiences that will help them to achieve this goal.

You play an important role in ensuring that "no child is left behind." You spend many hours with children and the right kind of activities can help them tremendously. You can be especially helpful to those children who have limited learning experiences at home.

This booklet draws from scientifically based research about what you can do to help children to develop their language abilities, increase their knowledge, become familiar with books and other printed materials, learn letters and sounds, recognize numbers, and learn to count. Many examples of strategies you can use for teaching these skills are included here. Also included are examples of ways to create an environment in your preschool classrooms that will nurture children's natural curiosity and their zest for learning.

Remember, you hold the key to the future academic success of the young children in your care.