The PreK-3rd movement took a step forward in Washington state this week when three key players handed out $117,073 in mini grants to strengthen links between preschools and early elementary grades.

Thrive by Five Washington, the Department of Early Learning and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction awarded the grants to 13 school districts around the state to help them work on transitions to kindergarten, early numeracy and literacy.

“Local communities often have the best ideas, but the most limited funds,” Thrive by Five Washington president Nina Auerbach said in a statement. “These mini-grants are seed money to move promising ideas forward.”

The school districts will spend the money on a range of work, from buying evidence-based curriculum for child care centers to training providers to help smooth students’ transitions to kindergarten. Another interesting initiative will help develop meetings between early learning staff and kindergarten teachers.

To get a grant, a school district had to show “a local P-3 partnership that included the district, early learning providers and an existing early learning coalition,” DEL said.