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United Way of Southwest Minnesota (UWSWMN) invests in and manages several internal programs aimed at ensuring children enter school developmentally on track in literacy, social, emotional and cognitive skills and that K - 12 students have the tools needed to succeed and thrive. The cost of each of these programs is covered by donations to our annual campaign, as well as through partnerships with other organizations and/or grant funding.
As part of this commitment, we are re-instating the distribution of Wild About Kindergarten School Readiness Kits in 2023! These kits are distributed to encourage children and their parents/guardians to work on school readiness skills over the spring and summer in preparation for starting kindergarten in the fall. Bags are offered to every child who attends Kindergarten Round-Up in all participating schools in our service area. Each kit includes a book, coloring & activity book, whiteboard and dry erase marker, crayons, scissors, glue stick, modeling clay, toothbrush, parent/guardian resources and more.
Parents/guardians are encouraged to use the contents of the kits to have their child focus on the following skills: reading; alphabet; name recognition; shape recognition; counting/numbers; colors; rhyming; using a scissors; hand dexterity with modeling clay; and oral hygiene.
The UWSWMN service area includes students attending all public, private and charter schools in each of the following school districts: Canby; Dawson/Boyd; Echo; Fulda; Hendricks; Ivanhoe; Lake Benton; Lakeview; Lynd; Marshall; Milroy; Minneota; Murray County Central; Russell-Tyler-Ruthton; Tracy Area; Westbrook-Walnut Grove; and Yellow Medicine East.