During snack time, have a letter-building party. Can your child make a T, X, L and N out of snacks like Cheerios or grapes? What about curvy letters like S?

That’s one example of a message parents might receive when they sign up for Ready4K, a free text-messaging program that helps parents of preschoolers incorporate learning into everyday activities. Each week, parents receive three prompts with fun facts and tips designed to help them build their children’s literacy skills.

“We know—particularly for kids who are not learning as much as we wish they would—that this can be really effective,” said Loeb, an associate professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education and founding director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis.

In this episode of School’s In, Loeb joined GSE Dean Dan Schwartz and Senior Lecturer Denise Pope to talk about how the program works, research into its impact and how her team is working to expand it more widely around the world.

Listen from the link below, and find more episodes of School's In at the Stanford Radio main page. The show airs Saturdays on SiriusXM Insight Channel 121.