Take Action!

Thank you for being a voice for children. We need your voice now!

Background

On Thursday, the State Department of Finance released the budget forecast for the rest of the biennium (through June 2009). The forecast includes bad news: a deficit of $935 million. Because the Legislature needs to have a balanced budget by the end of the Legislative session, this means that there will likely be cuts in current funding to state programs.

In 2003, when there was a similarly tight economic situation, early childhood programs received disproportionate cuts in funding. Thanks to the leadership of Speaker Kelliher and other early childhood champions in the Legislature, funding for Head Start, ECFE and School Readiness was restored last year to pre-2003 levels and incremental progress was made in restoring funding to the child care assistance program. Unfortunately, early childhood education remains severely lacking in resources.

We know the research - investing in high quality early childhood education is a strong investment in our economy. Five years of missed investments has led to decreased access to high quality early learning choices. In this time of economic distress, cutting funding for early childhood programs is the wrong thing to do

Action Needed

You can make a difference! It’s important that the Early Childhood Learning Finance committee NOT receive a negative budget target. Call your Representative today and ask them to talk to Speaker Kelliher. Ask them to tell her to preserve funding for early childhood programs and don't cut kids!

You can find who represents you by clicking here or call House Information at 651-296-2146 or 1-800-657-3550

Come to the Capitol!

In addition to making your call, show your support for early care and education by attending a hearing of the House Early Learning Finance Committee. Advocates from all sectors are planning to come fill the room. Join us!

Tuesday, March 4
4:00 – 5:30pm
Room 200, State Office Building

The committee will be discussing the establishment of an Office of Early Learning (HF 2983) and bills related to child care, including reimbursement rates (HF 2555), absent day requirements (HF 2637), basic sliding fee waiting list (HF 2689).

Directions and parking at the Capitol

Thank you for being a voice for children. We need your voice now! Background On Thursday, the State Department of Finance released the budget forecast for the rest of the biennium (through June 2009). The forecast includes bad news: a deficit of $935 million. Because the Legislature needs to have a balanced budget by the end of the Legislative session, this means that there will likely be cuts in current funding to state programs. In 2003, when there was a similarly tight economic situation, early childhood programs received disproportionate cuts in funding. Thanks to the leadership of Speaker Kelliher and other early childhood champions in the Legislature, funding for Head Start, ECFE and School Readiness was restored last year to pre-2003 levels and incremental progress was made in restoring funding to the child care assistance program. Unfortunately, early childhood education remains severely lacking in resources. We know the research - investing in high quality early childhood education is a strong investment in our economy. Five years of missed investments has led to decreased access to high quality early learning choices. In this time of economic distress, cutting funding for early childhood programs is the wrong thing to do. Action Needed You can make a difference! It's important that the Early Childhood Learning Finance committee NOT receive a negative budget target. Call your Representative today and ask them to talk to Speaker Kelliher. Ask them to tell her to preserve funding for early childhood programs and don't cut kids! You can find who represents you by clicking http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html here or call House Information at 651-296-2146 or 1-800-657-3550 Come to the Capitol! In addition to making your call, show your support for early care and education by attending a hearing of the House Early Learning Finance Committee. Advocates from all sectors are planning to come fill the room. Join us! Tuesday, March 4 4:00 - 5:30pm Room 200, State Office Building 100 Martin Luther King Blvd The committee will be discussing the establishment of an Office of Early Learning (HF 2983) and bills related to child care, including reimbursement rates (HF 2555), absent day requirements (HF 2637), basic sliding fee waiting list (HF 2689). http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/leg/faqtoc.asp?subject=14 Directions and parking at the Capitol 2233 University Avenue, Suite 345 St. Paul, Minnesota 55114-1629 | Tel: 651 644-8138 | Fax: 651 644-0733 | http://www.ready4k.org/ www.ready4k.org

Let us know what action you take and what you hear from your Representative by leaving a comment.

How do I know my child is developing normally? A new series on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress

A few weeks ago I shared about the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIPs to those of us in the field – as in “ee-Sips”) produced by the Minnesota Department of Education. The ECIPs are a clear and concise summary of child development for children aged 3 to 5. They are a great tool for family members, teachers, care providers and community members to support the school readiness of their children. Children can be expected to meet the majority of these indicators by the time they reach kindergarten.

This post is the first in a series examining each of the six domains of development and their indicators. This is a general overview of the components of each of the indicators and how we may use these indicators to support our young children. Look forward to following posts describing each of the domains in detail.

Introduction of the indicators for 3-5 year olds

First published in 2000 and based on national models, the ECIPs were developed with five clear goals:

1. Raise awareness about all aspects of early childhood development and to offer suggestions for supporting strong development
2. Help increase understanding about the various influences on children’s learning and future success
3. Support families by giving examples of what to do to enhance development
4. Give professionals a common framework and guidelines for teaching and assessing young children
5. Be a resource for community members and policy makers for evaluating current policy and resources

Domains and their components:

As described in the publication of the indicators,

"The Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota’s Early Learning Standards are intended to provide a framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for young children within a context of shared responsibility and accountability for helping children meet these expectations.”

The indicators are divided into six domains that cover the full range of child development. Each domain is broken up into three to five components as follows.

Social and Emotional Development

• Emotional Development
• Self-Concept
• Social Competence and Relationships

Approaches to Learning

• Curiosity
• Risk-Taking
• Imagination and Invention
• Persistence
• Reflection and Interpretation

Language and Literacy Development

• Listening
• Speaking
• Emergent Reading
• Emergent Writing

Creativity and the Arts

• Creating
• Responding
• Evaluating

Cognitive Development

• Mathematical and Logical Thinking
• Number Concepts and Operations
• Patterns and Relationships
• Spatial Relationships/ Geometry
• Measurements
• Mathematical Reasoning
• Scientific Thinking and Problem Solving
• Observing
• Questioning
• Investigating
• Social Systems Understanding
• Human Relationships
• Understanding the World

Physical and Motor Development

• Gross Motor Development
• Fine Motor Development
• Physical Health and Well-Being

How we can use the indicators

These indicators are meant to be used as a resource for family members, teachers and caregivers, community members and policy makers for supporting young children’s development. Each domain and component gives recommendations for what these groups can do to support that domain.

Overall, family members may use the ECIPs to build awareness of child development, become more involved in their child’s learning, and to better understand the systems needed to support their child’s growth and development. Teachers and caregivers may use them to guide planning, curriculum development and teaching strategies; gain direction for authentic assessment for young children; to provide a framework to standards and evaluation of their program; and gain ideas for staff development. Community members may use the ECIPs to assess the needs within the community and to organize advocacy efforts within the community. Policy makers may use these indicators to assess them impact of public policies on young children and their families.

Summary

Minnesota’s Early Childhood Indicators of Progress are a framework for a common understanding of early childhood development for children aged 3 to 5. The indicators are divided into six domains: Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, Creativity and the Arts, Cognitive Development and Physical and Motor Development. Family members, teachers, care givers and community members may use the indicators to guide their interactions with children and to assess how children are fairing as well as how community resources can best support early learning.

What do you think? Have you heard or used the ECIPs before?

Go Read! Family fun in Minneapolis

For those of you around Minneapolis this weekend, there's a great series of events going on at the North Regional Library, the Mills City Museum and the Guthrie Theater. Macy's Go Ready Days! is a free program presented by Macy's in partnership with The Neighborhood Forum, a group of non-profit groups in the northeast downtown area of Minneapolis.

With free events happening Saturday, Feb 23 and Sunday, Feb 24, this is a must-do for families.

February 23
Macy's Go Read Days Goes Tech
at the Minneapolis North Regional Library
11am-5pm
Kick-off Go Read at North Regional Library and connect reading and technology at your library. Try your hand at Wii, show off your moves in the DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) tournament, and use Scratch to create your own computer game. Meet our teen tech squad and check out the cool technology at the library. Storytelling, art activities, free food, and more.
For more information call (612) 630-6600.

February 24 Do It Yourself, Do It Together (main event)
Mill City Museum and Guthrie Theater
11am-5pm
Celebrate the joy of reading with a day of storytelling, presentations by award-winning children’s authors, theatrical adaptations of Gerald McDermott’s folktales, Zomo and Raven, short films based on books curated by Childish Films, book making activities, and many more activities to spark the imagination of children and families. Museum admission is free. For event information, call 612-341-7555.

February 24 Making Zines and Comics
1-4pm (grades 6-8)
4:30-7:30pm (grades 9-12)
Learn the tricks and tools of zine and comic book making in these workshops for middle school and high school students. Local writers and comic book artists will lead the sessions, demonstrating the writing and illustrative processes used for these fun and easy do-it-yourself publications. Students will create and make copies of their own zine and swap with others during a pizza dinner. Free books and give-aways. Availability is limited. To reserve a spot please call 612-215-2549.

For more information, visit the Hennepin County Public Library or the Mill City Museum websites. For other early childhood events, visit Ready 4 K's event page.

Take time to go read!

Go play outside!

This article appeared in the StarTribune last week about the decline in children and youth participating in outdoor recreation activities. The premise is that if fewer young people are taking part in outdoor activities, then their interest in nature conservancy may decline.

I am a true nature-lover. I grew up in Washington state where, like in Minnesota, there is a strong culture of outdoor recreation and activities. My brother and I played outside together often. I remember playing with stick "dolls" in the small copse of trees on the hill above our house. My imagination was wild with stories and fairy tales of traveling to exotic places and other worlds. It was like my own Terabithia. As I grew older I continued to participate, and still participate, in outdoor activities including hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and kayaking. In college, I lead outdoor adventure education for elementary and middle-school aged kids from disadvantaged neighborhood in Tacoma, WA.

Looking back, it is clear to me that my love of the outdoors and my interest in conservation is linked to the hours spent making up games with my brother or sitting alone under the alder trees singing to my "dolls".

But, as the article points out, what will happen to the conservation movement if children are spending less time outside? How will they know to appreciate the natural world all around us?

Last summer, Vicki Thrasher Cronin, a parent educator for Duluth Public Schools, wrote an article for Ready 4 K asking Do too many kids of nature-deficit disorder? Vicki asks some of the same questions and the article is worth a second reading.

Technology is certainly intertwined with this "nature-deficit disorder". I certainly don't advocate taking away technology (I love my ipod as much as the next gal) but there has to be a balance. Parents can make a commitment to creating opportunities for their children to get outside. Vicki has some great suggestions in her article. Communities, too, can come together to make their communities "outdoor friendly."

What do you think? Are kids spending enough time outside? What do you do to encourage the children in your life to appreciate nature?

photo of Lake Maria State Park by jbenson2

Early Childhood @ the Capitol

Eric Haugee here, Ready 4 K's "government affairs specialist" or more commonly known as "lobbyist." I spend most of my time during the legislative session in the State Capitol complex, talking to legislators about our agenda, helping set up hearings on the legislation we're working on, coordinating with other early childhood lobbyists, and generally trying to keep my ear to the marble floors of the Capitol.

This week I did all of that. The 2008 legislative session began with a flurry of activity unlike I can remember in the decade that I've worked in public policy. The bulk of my work this week was arranging the first hearings on our bonding proposal to fund early childhood facilities grants.

Share your precinct caucus stories!

We want to hear from you! Did you attend your precinct caucus last week? What was it like? Did you submit a resolution on early childhood? How was it received? Share your story in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you!

My precinct caucus in St Paul was busier than I've ever seen it. Our precinct met at a near-by elementary school along with two other precincts. The parking was difficult, but I could feel the momentum as my neighbors were streaming in from all corners. Inside the school there was a lot of confusion about where to go. There were long lines at the two tables where people could confirm which precinct they lived in. Fortunately, I had my reminder written on my hand: W5-P3. Still, with the long lines and crowded hallways it took me about 10 minutes to wind my way back to the multi-purpose room where my precinct was meeting.

At 8:00pm the ballots began to be counted and the 40 or so of us still in the room prepared to introduce resolutions. I prepared a simple resolution encouraging my party to support increased investments in early care and education. There were resolutions on a variety of issues: health care, transportation, free and open internet communications, and family leave just to name a few. After I read my resolution there was a loud round of applause (was it just me, or was the applause for early childhood more enthusiastic than for other resolutions?). Once all the resolutions were read we voted to pass them on "in summation" to be considered at the Senate District convention.

Finally, the ballots were announced for our precinct and over 230 people voted that evening. I went home feeling encouraged and hopeful. Every election is important, but it's hard not to think that this year is an especially important time - both for our country as a whole and for our youngest citizens.

What about you? What's your precinct caucus story? Share in the comments below.

2008 Minnesota Legislative Session kicks off!

The Minnesota Legislature has begun it's 2008 session. This is a shorter session focused on bonding for infrastructure and capital development.

Ready 4 K's legislative agenda is promoting a few bills calling for key strategic investments in early learning during this session.

Already there are hearings scheduled in the House Early Learning Committee (Room 300s State Office Building) on some of the issues on the 2008 agenda: bonding for early childhood facilities (Thursday Feb 14, 4:00-5:30pm) and early childhood scholarships/allowances (Tuesday Feb 19, 4:00-5:30pm). Attending the hearings is one way you can show your support for early care and education.

This is also an excellent time to contact your legislators and the governor urging them to support our youngest Minnesotans. You can find out who represents you here. A sample message to send to your elected officials can be found here.

photo by Tony Webster

Partnering for Early Education in Edina

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Stephanie co-chair of Edina Partners for Early Education (EPFEE). State Senator Geoff Michel from Edina recently wrote a column for the StarTribune that highlighted the work that EPFEE is doing. I called Stephanie so that I could learn more.

EPFEE started as a result of a breakfast event in October of 2006. A group of community members including school district and business personnel coordinated the breakfast where over 150 people attended. Rob Grunewald from the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis and Mark Scally from Minnesota Business for Early Learning spoke at that October breakfast on the economic impact of investing in early education.

Now, almost a year and a half later, a group of committed community members are continuing to meet and promote early childhood in their community.

EPFEE has coordinated a Kindergarten Summit, bringing together all the kindergarten teachers in their district together to discern what they look for in kids readiness for success when they come to their classrooms. The information from the kindergarten teachers is being shared with preschool and early childhood teachers in the community so that they can work to help their kids be ready.

EPFEE is planning a second, follow up breakfast on February 28 to hear from the Edina community and take the next steps in promoting early care and education.

Talking with Stephanie got me thinking about all the other great work that's happening in communities around Minnesota and across the country. There are so many examples of community members coming together to raise awareness about the importance of the first five years.

What about you? What is happening in your community to bring more voices to the table and involve more people? What are you doing to ensure that the children in your community enter kindergarten fully prepared to learn?

Caucus time!

Tonight's the night to get out to your precinct caucuses! To me, this is the most exciting part of living in a democracy. This is when we as citizens can come together to collectively support the candidates and issues that are most important to us. If you are unsure of where to find your caucus, click here.

As part of the caucus process, citizens are encouraged to bring forward issue resolutions. Ready 4 K has prepared a sample resolution calling for increased investments in early care and education. Click here and you can see the sample resolution along with a description of the caucuses. You can print the resolution and bring it with you. Or you can use the blank resolution form to submit one of your own.

See you out there tonight!

image by Will Merydith

How do we know if our kids will be ready?

Sometimes it's hard to know what we should be doing to help our kids be ready to learn once they enter school. (The easiest answer is simply to read to your child. It's never too early to start!) Parents and caregivers often wonder if their child is developing appropriately and if everything is "going right".

The Early childhood Indicators of Progress is a place to find answers for your questions. The Indicators give a basic snapshot of where children should be at various stages of their development. The Minnesota Department of Education released the first set of indicators for children ages 3-5 in 2003. In 2005 an updated version was released. The goal of these indicators is to give:

"A framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for children in the preschool period of ages three to five, presented within a context of shared responsibility and accountability for helping children meet these expectations."

All that to say it's a tool to help family members, teachers and caregivers, community members and policy makers have a general idea of what kids should be able to do or be learning how to do when they are in preschool. View the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress here.

In 2007 the Minnesota Departments of Human Services and Health released Early Learning Guidelines for children birth to 3. These guidelines are similar to the Indicators of Progress for 3 -5 year olds, but are described in a more developmentally appropriate way for infants and toddlers. You can see the Birth to 3 Guidelines here.

By using these tools, we can know how we can help children grow and develop so that they will be ready for kindergarten and for life!

What do you think? After you have a chance to look at the Indicators and Guidelines, do you find them helpful?