Strong Parenting Is Key to America’s Future
Today, we need the leadership of American mothers, fathers, and all surrogate parents. We need them to begin to develop a standard of excellence in parenting and family, now and for future generations.
In Brief: The Science of Early Childhood Development
This edition of the InBrief series addresses basic concepts of early childhood development, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research, which help illustrate why child development—particularly from birth to five years—is a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society. (video, pdf)
Halloween Fun with Sid the Science Kid
What’s the Big Idea with October 31st? Check out these ideas on how to explore and discover new ways of having fun this Halloween!
Building Connections to Support Literacy
This webinar highlights the importance of starting from birth when supporting learning, development and future school achievement. It outlines the U.S. Department of Education’s view on the role of early education in the birth to career continuum and provides an overview of the importance of the first three years in setting the stage for learning and literacy.
Early Learning Paves Future
Quality early learning will also ensure we have a future work force with 21st century skills. Research demonstrates that children who participate in these programs are significantly more likely to enter school with the underlying skills they will need to succeed in school and later in the work force.
AEYC-SEA’s 2010 Invest In Young Children document
These priorities from the Association for the Education of Young Children – Southeast Alaska, are recommendations articulated in no particular order. The recommendations are meant to assist public policy leaders in developing a system of early learning to promote school readiness, strong families, and a strong workforce. These are advanced by a coalition of early childhood advocates working together to support young children.
Child Development Tracker
A child’s development is greatly influenced by factors in his or her environment and the experiences he or she has. The information provided by this tool is considered by experts as a representation of “widely-held expectations” for what an average child might achieve within a given year.
Early Learning Activities and Activity Guides
Best Beginnings offers several versions of free Activity Guides to help child care providers, parents, family members enhance a child’s development and help prepare him or her for success in school and success in life.
Available in English, Spanish, and Yup’ik, the Guides are filled with fun, brain-building activities for your baby, toddler or preschooler.
Best Beginnings 2010 Report to Alaskans
“Quality early learning is a guaranteed investment in Alaska’s future. It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up.” View the report from Best Beginnings, Alaska’s Early Childhood Investment.
Parenting Infants and Toddlers Today
www.zerotothree.org
What has a more powerful influence on how parents raise their young children: the way they were raised or their faith? What roles do professionals and friends play in shaping parents’ views on childrearing? What impact is the economic downturn having on child care arrangements for young families?
These questions and more are some of the issues addressed in a new national parent survey of 1,615 parents of children from birth to 3 years conducted for ZERO TO THREE by Peter Hart Research.
Here you will find a range of resources related to key research findings to use in efforts to support babies, toddlers and their families.
Try This: Build Emotional Literacy
This video from the Rachael Ray Show features Raising Happiness techniques for increasing gratitude, joy, and emotional intelligence in your household–while reducing sibling conflict and back-talk.
What Can We Do to Prevent Childhood Obesity?
What factors in the experience of infants and toddlers seem likely to account for childhood overweight? What evidence do we have to suggest that these factors do, in fact, influence obesity risk? If research findings are scarce (or shaky), what advice about preventing obesity can practitioners offer to parents and caregivers of babies and toddlers? What can we do at a public health and policy level to change our obesigenic (obesity-producing) environment? This article is an effort to answer these questions as fully as reliable research findings will allow.
Exploring Science with Children
Helping children engage in the world of science can be daunting. Many parents feel they don’t know enough about science to help their children at all. Worry less about explaining to your child, and spend more time modeling the fun of science: going on walks, mixing things, testing to see what will happen, observing carefully and wondering along with your child.
Parenting Infants and Toddlers Today – Key Findings From a Zero to three 2009 National Parent Survey
Hart Research Associates conducted a national survey of 1,615 parents of children from birth to 3 years for ZERO TO THREE in June 2009. The survey was designed to explore the issues and challenges that parents of young children confront today where gaps in knowledge about early development exist, identify the sources of information and support to which these parents turn, and what factors influence their approach to parenting.
Raising a Fit Teenager
Preschoolers develop important motor skills as they grow. New skills your preschooler may be showing off include hopping, jumping forward, catching a ball, doing a somersault, skipping and balancing on one foot. Help your child practice these skills by playing and exercising together.
Is Happiness Actually Important?
Does happiness actually matter? Is happiness really an important part of a meaningful life, or are other things more important?… Does happiness provide for advantages in a world that values performance and achievement?
Hunger in an Obese Nation?
Food deprivation can take a toll on early learning and cognitive development. In a December 8, 2009 Coalition on Human Needs’ webinar on Food Insecurity, three nutrition and advocacy experts addressed the ways that economic hardships impact families’ diets and mental and physical health, and what can work to help.
Activities for Early Childhood: Castaldo’s Corner
Educator Nancy Castaldo shares timely activities throughout the school year for engaging young children in discovery and learning. Each link below takes you to a hands-on activity and ideas for extending that activity.
The Power of Magical Thinking
For years, imagination was thought of as a way for children to escape from reality, and once they reached a certain age, it was believed they would push fantasy aside and deal with the real world. But, increasingly, child-development experts are recognizing the importance of imagination and the role it plays in understanding reality.
Imagination Library Headed to Kuskokwim Villages
Babies and young children in 10 villages along the Kuskokwim River will be eligible to receive a free book every month from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, thanks to a commitment from the Kuskokwim Education Foundation (KEF) and Best Beginnings Alaska.
Articles from 2009
Reading practice can strengthen brain-highways
Intensive reading programs can produce measurable changes in the structure of a child’s brain, according to a study in the journal Neuron. The study found that several different programs improved the integrity of fibers that carry information from one part of the brain to another.
Getting Ready to Read: Helping Your Child Become a Confident Reader and Writer Starting from Birth
Developing the skills necessary to read and write actually starts in your child’s earliest months of life. This new ZERO TO THREE booklet offers ideas for nurturing these skills in your everyday interactions with your young child. The information is presented in easy-to-reference tables, organized by age from birth to 5 years. This booklet is available exclusively online.
Dolly Parton Imagination Library – RFP
With the financial support of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, Best Beginnings is offering Requests for Proposals to launch or sustain Imagination Library in communities across Alaska.
thread Alaska – connecting early care and education to Alaska
Caring for young children is rewarding, but often challenging. thread is a statewide network of professionals who aim to empower parents and early educators with information and resources that will support meaningful adult/child relationships and healthy child development.
The Truth About Play
Play is learning. Playing with your child is not only fun, it’s one of the most important ways you can nurture development. “Play” doesn’t necessarily mean an organized activity or a dedicated period of “quality time.” Play—and learning—can happen anytime you are with your child. Follow the link to practical tips and tools.
Setting the Stage for Learning
This article from Scholastic highlights how parents can help their child through: Building a Strong Sense of Identity, The Three Rs of Security, Sparking Your Child’s Curiosity, and What You Can Do at Home.
Mind in the Making: The Science of Early Learning
Research on the development of young children, including their brain development, creates a great deal of interest in early learning, with many positive, but also some negative, repercussions. On the positive side, studies show that more and more Americans understand that “real” learning doesn’t “wait” until children enter school. The early years are critically important learning years. On the negative side, interest in early learning sometimes strays far away from the science, leading to some misconceptions.
Summer Learning
Summer is often a time of change; the school year ends, families begin their vacations, and everyone relaxes a bit from the standard schedule. It is important to remember that even though the weather changes and regular programs end, children’s interests and abilities to learn do not slow down. Summer is a great time to continue stimulating learning with new and exciting outdoor opportunities.
Child and Brain: The Stages of Development
Developmental milestones, the checkpoints along the road of life that are supposed to gauge our progress, also allow us to look from the outside in, to gauge how our brains grow to interact with the external world.
Spotlight on Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat
Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat, which translates to “anything is possible” and “a place of learning,” is dedicated to instilling the knowledge of Inupiaq identity, dignity, and respect as well as to cultivate a love of lifelong learning. The school is part of the Kotzebue IRA, the tribal government serving the Inupiaq people of Qikiktagruk.
Social Emotional Development From Birth to Three
Making friends. Showing anger in a healthy way. Figuring out conflicts peacefully. Taking care of someone who has been hurt. Waiting patiently. Following rules. Enjoying the company of others. All of these qualities, and more, describe the arc of healthy social-emotional development. Like any skill, young children develop these abilities in small steps over time. Learn what you can do to support social-emotional development in your child from birth to age three.
0-12 months
24-36 months
Help Your Child Learn Through Everyday Play
Slideshow presentation highlighting how babies and toddlers learn through play. (MS PowerPoint)
Emotion Coaching: One of the Most Important Parenting Practices in the History of the Universe
According to John Gottman, emotion-coaching is the key to raising happy, resilient, and well-adjusted kids. His research—30 years of it—shows that it is not enough to be a warm, engaged, and loving parent. We also need to emotion coach our kids.
Everyday Ways to Support Your Baby or Toddler’s Early Learning
Learn more about how you can support your child’s development from birth to three in the everyday moments you share.
Salmon Creek Head Start and Juneau Pioneers’ Home
In Juneau, Alaska, preschoolers in the Salmon Creek Head Start program have an invaluable opportunity to be immersed in an intergenerational learning environment. Located in the Juneau Pioneers’ Home, Salmon Creek Head Start is one of fifteen programs across southeastern Alaska that is part of the Tlingit and Haida Head Start.
Small Kids, Big Words
Research-based strategies for building vocabulary from preK to grade 3 (from the Harvard Education Letter – May/June 08)
Children: Recess Found to Improve Behavior
Children who misbehave at school are often punished by being kept inside at recess. But new research shows that recess helps solve behavioral problems in class.
Early Math for Infants and Toddlers
www.pbs.org/parents
Build a “can-do” attitude toward math with tips, resources, and activities for your child.
Online Worlds for Young Kids Tips
www.commonsensemedia.org
Resources, advice, and tips for parents related to online websites that are the new playgrounds for kids.
Articles from 2008
Promoting Effective Early Learning
www.nccp.org
Language and literacy skills are critical to success in school. For low-income preschoolers, increasing early literacy and math skills is vital to closing the achievement gap between them and their more advantaged peers. New research shows that an intentional curriculum and professional development and supports for teachers are important components of effective preschool classrooms and programs.
Introduction: Emotional Literacy & Raising Happy Kids
www.greatergood.berkeley.edu
Happiness is, in many ways, a skill that parents can teach their children. Kids develop habits of thinking, feeling, and behavior based in large part on what we teach them about the world, their relationships, and our expectations. These habits profoundly influence how happy they are.
Supporting Early Math Skills Through Everyday Moments
www.zerotothree.org
Children are using early math skills throughout their daily routines and activities. This is good news as these skills are important for being ready for school.
(may require site registration, free of charge)
Home Resources at Discovery Education
www.discoveryeducation.com
Homework help and other resources for students in kindergarten through high school.
Web Resources for Young Children
www.kidinfo.com
Resources tailored to preschool and elementary school children that combine educational activities and fun!
Babies, Bonds, and Brains
aeyc-sea.org
Bonding is the emotional and physical attachment that happens between a parent, especially a mother, and the child. It usually begins at birth and is the basis for further emotional growth within the child and the parent!
Nutrition and Fitness
www.pbs.org/parents
Ideas and tips to keep kids healthy and fit.
Back to School Tips
The following health and safety tips are from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Early Childhood News radio
Listen to experts in the fields of early childhood education, child development, physical education, neuroscience, play, and more, interviewed by Rae Pica, well-known author and early childhood expert. Rae explores every stage of child development, from birth to age 8.
Table Talk
Engaging children in meaningful conversations about what they do, what they notice, and what they imagine helps children to develop into readers and writers.
Creativity at Various Ages
www.pbs.org/parents
This Web site focuses on individual creativity, with attention to how it might develop in children at different ages. In addition to the elements of creativity, there are also physical, intellectual, and social dimensions of creativity.
When Children Draw
www.earlychildhoodnews.com
Dr. Sandra Crosser explains how examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional, and cognitive development of the young child.
The Power of Family Conversation
The May/June edition of the Harvard Education Letter adds a second idea to the existing “Read to your children” message: Talk to them, too.
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development
A clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics on play and maintaining strong parent-child bonds.
School Readiness: Helping Communities Get Children Ready for School and Schools Ready for Children (2001)
A Child Trends research brief that updates one that Child Trends published in August 2000. It includes some new research findings, as well as new sections on two additional factors that affect school readiness: emergent literacy and the media.
Preschool Comes of Age: The National Debate on Education for Young Children Intensifies
An article from www.edutopia.org that details, and debates, the benefits of early childhood education.