Head Start Teacher Writes Preschool Book

posted 5/18/23 -- Preschoolers everywhere have a new tool to prepare for their first day of school thanks to an LCCAA Head Start teacher.

Kiara Olmo Velez has published “My First Day of Preschool” in both English and Spanish on Amazon.com. The book is designed to help anxious parents and students who are concerned about how the first day of school will unfold.

“Knowing what to expect helped me prepare my children,” Olmo Velez said. “I always wanted to work with children.”

The book walks readers through a preschooler’s day based on what Olmo Velez has learned about children in her work with Head Start.

“I always like watching children develop,” she said. “I want to see how they think and what they need.”

Olmo Velez has been an assistant teacher at Hopkins Locke Head Start since October 2021. She moved to Lorain from Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by hurricane Maria. The destruction made jobs scarce even though she had trained as a respiratory technician.

She moved with her baby daughter and now has three children. She hopes to complete her bachelor’s degree through Grand Canyon University later this year.

Olmo Velez said she has a lot of other ideas for books. Her first publication was a breastfeeding journal which she created mostly for herself. By publishing through Amazon, she has kept her costs low while keeping the book affordable for families.

While juggling the demands of children, work and school, she plans to keep writing. And, she hopes to draw her own illustrations next time.

“I get all these ideas,” she said. “I think about them all the time.”