For Immediate Release
Contact: Holly Brooker
(845) 255-1450 xt.1301 Ulster BOCES Preschoolers Dive Into Books

Kids who are read to from a young age tend to become lifelong readers. But that’s just one of the reasons the Ulster BOCES Child Care Center, located at the Career & Technical Center in Port Ewen, recently decided to participate in a library fair for the parents of preschool students.

“We’ve never done one before,” Kristi Cusa, Ulster BOCES Child Care Center coordinator explained. “But this has been great for the kids, great for their parents, and great for the high school students who work with our program.”

Cusa explained that a leading children’s educational book company provided all of the necessary materials needed to make the event successful.

“Our theme this time was about the ocean,” said Cusa. “So, we set up activities around that idea for the kids. There were also a lot of books in the fair about fish and the ocean.”

For the few days the fair was set up, parents were able to stroll through the exhibit with their children, looking at the books and other educational activity projects for sale. The event, said Cusa, also provided the high school students in the Ulster BOCES Early Childhood Education program with new opportunities to work with the children. For sponsoring the program, the Ulster BOCES Child Care Center received credits from each sale from the sponsoring company that will be used to purchase classroom materials.

“Many of the parents work so many hours, they don’t really have a lot of time to shop for quality books with their children,” said Cusa. “This really worked well for them, too.”