Diyan T’ Sharma is still a year or two away from his first day of kindergarten.
But the 4-year-old Murray boy is already discovering the wonders of reading and math.
“If we’re out traveling and Diyan sees a new word he will try to read it out loud — and then say to me, ‘Hey, Mom, that line says this!’” said his mother, Anju Thapaliya.
“Then he reads it back to me.”
For parents of a pre-K child, such real-time learning is thrilling to watch.
Yes, Diyan is taking his first steps to literacy. But he’s simultaneously building confidence in his capacity to learn. And he’s developing a positive relationship with education. Learning new things is fun, safe and rewarding.
That’s a relationship that will serve Diyan well throughout his fast-approaching formal school years and beyond.
For the past few months, Diyan has been participating in Waterford Upstart , an adaptive online software program for pre-K children that is funded by the state of Utah.