This
story
features
an
activity
that
took
place
prior
to
school
closures
due
to
COVID-19.
Thanks
to
a
partnership
between
Smart
Beginnings
Greater
Prince
William
(GPW)
and
the
Prince
William
Chamber
of
Commerce,
a
handful
of
local
business
leaders
visited
early
childhood
education
classrooms
at
Washington-Reid
Preschool
Center,
reading
stories
with
100
of
PWCS'
youngest
students.
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
is
dedicated
to
advocating
for
quality
early
childhood
health
and
education
programs
and
working
with
parents,
educators,
health
providers
and
businesses
to
deliver
them.
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
is
a
program
operated
through
SPARK,
the
Education
Foundation
for
PWCS.
"The
students
enjoyed
having
special
visitors
read
to
them,"
shared
Stacy
Williams,
administrative
intern
at
Washington-Reid
Preschool.
This
is
Washington
Reid's
first
year
as
a
Preschool
Center.
The
Center
promotes
inclusion
of
the
two
preschool
programs
it
serves,
the
Virginia
Preschool
Initiative
(VPI)
for
4-year-olds
and
the
special
education
programs
for
2-
to
4-year-olds
who
have
special
needs.
"With
the
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
mission
to
promote
early
literacy
for
children
(birth
to
age
five),
parent
engagement,
and
professional
development
for
preschool
and
family
daycare
directors,
we
chose
to
bring
readers
to
the
Washington-Reid
Preschool
Center
to
highlight
the
importance
of
early
reading
for
brain
development
and
school
readiness,"
said
Tawnya
Soltis,
executive
director
of
Smart
Beginnings
GPW.
"We
also
wanted
to
draw
attention
to
the
fact
that
we
have
a
public
preschool
center
in
Prince
William
County."
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
is
the
only
donor-funded
regional
organization
exclusively
dedicated
to
advocating
for
quality
early
childhood
health
and
education
programs
and
working
with
parents,
educators,
health
providers
and
businesses
to
deliver
them.
Each
year,
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
partners
with
the
Prince
William
Public
Library
System
to
bring
celebrity
readers
to
10
library
branches.
And,
over
the
past
four
years,
Smart
Beginnings
GPW
has
also
brought
elected
officials
from
each
of
the
three
jurisdictions
(Prince
William,
Manassas
Park,
and
Manassas
City)
to
area
libraries
where
they
read
to
several
hundred
children
and
their
parents
during
regularly
scheduled
story
times.