Why Early Learning?
Did You Know... 85% of a child's brain develops by the age of five?!
High quality early learning is one of the most important keys to your child’s success!
Preschool Plays Key Role in Preparing English Learners for Kindergarten
Source:
EdSource
Date:
November 4, 2015
Much of the focus in getting children across the country enrolled in pre-school has focused on helping poor families afford the step up. Often what went unsaid, but widely believed is that the children of college educated parents in middle-class families would succeed regardless and, anyway, they could afford child care.
But a think tank examined existing research on the effects of preschool on middle-class children and reported its findings this month.
Among the conclusions: Even middle class kids benefit, entering kindergarten seven months ahead of their peers when it came to pre-reading skills. It also notes that six in 10 U.S. families have both parents working, making childcare a must. And the cost for private programs has become mighty expensive – in some states as expensive as a year in college, reports an EdWeek blog on the topic.
Invest Big in a Child's Future: Read to Them
Source:
BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL
Date:
September 24, 2015
Florida Secretary of Agriculture Adam Putnam put an emphatic stamp on a societal dilemma vexing communities everywhere -- that hungry children are impaired in their education just from the lack of food.
Learning Early: Pre-K Becoming More Important to Education
Source:
Panama News City
Date:
September 18, 2015
PANAMA CITY BEACH — Feeling restless after being in the same place for about an hour, 4-year-old Hunter Boyarski balked at the idea of reading the letters on his alphabet card and singing the second alphabet song of the morning.
“We have to work if you want to play,” Arnold pre-kindergarten teacher Tochia Pesate said.
“I don’t like work,” Hunter responded before he read all his letters without another reprisal.
When the supermarket becomes a classroom: Building learning communities beyond the school walls
Source:
Brookings
Date:
September 1, 2015
Only 20 percent of a child’s waking time is spent in school. That means that even with the best schools, the best teachers and the best educational policy, schools cannot close the achievement gap. To be sure, mountains of research demonstrate the significance of early schooling in changing learning trajectories for young children. With 25 percent of the population having 10 or fewer age appropriate books in their home, high-quality preschools offer exposure to reading and to the rich language conversations that support literacy. For children rarely exposed to puzzles and blocks, high-quality preschools grow the spatial ability that will promote strong STEM skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. For children who are not read to or talked to or encouraged to control and channel their feelings constructively, preschool helps them to develop the self-control they need to profit from further schooling. High-quality preschool prepares children for entrance into formal
Experts in education, industry, and national security all agree that there is a national imperative to graduate students with a thorough understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM.) In 2007, a,Carnegie Foundation commission,of distinguished researchers and public and private leaders concluded that the nation’s capacity to innovate and thrive in the modern workforce depends on a foundation of math and science learning. They conclude that a sustained, vibrant democracy is dependent upon this foundation in STEM.
Income and Child Development
Source:
US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
Date:
July 15, 2015
We examine how income is associated with the home environments and the cognitive and behavioral development of pre-school children, using data from a birth cohort study of children born at the end of the 20th century. Lower-income 3-year-old children are more likely than wealthier children to live in homes with inadequate physical environments and to have mothers who are more likely to be stressed, depressed, harsh and unresponsive. Additionally, low income children have lower PPVT scores, more mother-reported aggressive, withdrawn, and anxious behavior problems, and also more interviewer-reported problems with behavior, than more affluent children. A key policy question is whether increases in the incomes of poor families would result in improvements in children’s outcomes, at least in part through improvements in the home environment.
For the complete article please visit the author's website at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2847736/
Early Friendship Profoundly Affects Child's Development
Source:
Hudson Valley Parent
Date:
July 15, 2015
In one of the courses I teach we discuss the 80s award-winning film "The Big Chill." The film reinforces the message that "It's a cold world out there, but friends can make it a warmer place." In this film we see what mature friendships provide. They endure time and distance to provide comfort and support. Children's relationships don't begin this way.
Friendships in childhood begin as concrete relationships based on pleasurable experiences. As children grow-up, friendships evolve into a more abstract concept, one based upon mutual consideration and psychological satisfaction.
The role friendships play throughout life is important, multifaceted and profound. To cite a Nigerian proverb, "Hold a true friend with both hands!" This overview shows how these wonderful friendships we all cherish in adult life evolves through the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence.
Friendships for children provide numerous
Failure to Thrive as a Manifestation of Child Neglect
Source:
Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Date:
July 2, 2015
ABSTRACT
Failure to thrive is a common problem in infancy and childhood. It is most often multifactorial in origin. Inadequate nutrition and disturbed social interactions contribute to poor weight gain, delayed development, and abnormal behavior. The syndrome develops in a significant number of children as a consequence of child neglect. This clinical report is intended to focus the pediatrician on the consideration, evaluation, and management of failure to thrive when child neglect may be present. Child protective services agencies should be notified when the evaluation leads to a suspicion of abuse or neglect.
Key Words: failure to thrive development child neglect abuse nutrition
INTRODUCTION
Failure to thrive (FTT) in infants and children results from inadequate nutrition to maintain physical growth and development. An infant or child becoming malnourished as the result of parental or caregiver neglect creates concern about child maltreatment.1 In it
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Kindergartners Lag in Reading Skills
Source:
Economic Policy Institute
Date:
June 30, 2015
Understanding the gaps in school readiness that exist among America’s children when they begin kindergarten is critical, especially as we expect the majority of our children to complete high school ready to enter college or begin a career and to assume their civic responsibilities. Achieving these societal goals requires strong math, reading, science, and other cognitive skills, as well as noncognitive skills such as the abilities to work well and communicate effectively, solve problems creatively, and complete tasks. Unfortunately, the weak early starts that many of our children are getting make it hard to attain these goals. Since key foundations for learning are established beginning at birth, starting school behind makes it likely that early disadvantages will persist as children progress through school and last into their adult lives.
As the figure above shows, the most socioeconomically disadvantaged children lag substantially in reading skills as early
