After more than a year of planning and input from hundreds of Washington residents, the Washington State Early Learning Plan is now the state’s roadmap for building a comprehensive early learning system in Washington over the next decade. It is designed to better coordinate all of the great work already happening for children – from birth to age 8 – and families and guide policy, funding and ongoing work by organizations and agencies. And it shows how we all make a difference in the lives of children.
Thrive by Five Washington, the Washington state Department of Early Learning and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction helped lead the creation of the plan and will help lead its implementation, but many individuals and groups will be part of bringing this plan to life, including parents, providers, early learning coalitions, public health professionals, public libraries, state agencies, child care resource and referral agencies, schools, educational service districts, and more.
KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION PROGRAM
Beverly Park Elementary gets kindergartners ready for their first big day
Beverly Park Elementary School kindergarten teacher Richard Dunn says he’s never had such a great start to the school year … and the school year doesn’t officially start until next week.
Dunn and four other kindergarten teachers at the White Center-area school are at school this week with many of the school’s 76 enrolled kindergartners as part of the new Kindergarten Transition Program. For three hours each morning, kindergartners are getting to know each other, their teacher and what to expect at school, such as how to behave in circle time, where to find the bathroom and how to get lunch. During this week, teachers also visit each family’s home to learn more about their students’ families, set share goals, and talk about school expectations and ways for families to support learning at home.
Dunn says it’s great to have this time with the kindergartners before the "big kids" show up next week and that it will make it so much easier to jump into the school year. Dunn advocated for the program to come to his school after hearing how successful it has been in Yakima schools.
The Kindergarten Transition Program first started three years ago in four East Yakima schools as part of the work of Ready by Five, one of two Thrive by Five Washington Demonstration Communities. Beverly Park’s Kindergarten Transition Program is supported by the White Center Early Learning Initiative‘s (WCELI), the other demonstration community.
The Kindergarten Transition Program is funded by The Norcliffe Foundation.
THRIVE DEMONSTRATION COMMUNITY AWARDED GRANT
Ready by Five receives support from U.S. Education Department
Congratulations to our partners in East Yakima!
Ready by Five, the Thrive Demonstration Community in East Yakima, has been awarded a $379,217 grant in support of family education from the U.S. Department of Education under the Migrant Education Event Start Program. The grant is eligible to be renewed for a total of four years and will serve parents and children, ages birth to 7 years, with interactive family literacy programs, adult literacy, basic education and English acquisition, in addition to early childhood education.
Both Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell supported the grant.
Ready by Five staff say they’re excited to use this money to grow some of the work that was started in East Yakima with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Thrive by Five Washington.
LEARNING FOR LIFE
During the month of August, Learning for Life (and Thrive’s daily blog – Birth to Thrive Online) looked at how children with special needs and their families fit in early learning.
Early Learning and Children with Special Needs: In this segment we talk with Dr. Bette Hyde, director of the state Department of Early Learning, about the supports available to children with special needs and how to access the program as well as how this growing group of children fits into the state's new 10-year early learning plan.
Keeping Up with the Cost of Helping Children with Special Needs: Learn about the nonprofit Kindering Center in Bellevue, which provides therapy, special education and counseling to more than 3,000 children from birth to 3 who are disabled, medically fragile, or vulnerable because they've been neglected or abused.
When a Child has Special Needs: One Family's Story: Watch this Learning for Life as one family gives us a look at what it's like to have a child with special needs - whether that child is born with special needs or suffers a traumatic event to her body.
Autism: What You Need to Know: In this Learning for Life, we talk with Dr. Felice Orlich of Seattle Children's Autism Center, about what autism is, how it's diagnosed and the signs parents should look for. We also explore the issue of whether there are enough resources available to support the increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families.
These Learning for Life segments focused on the unique challenges of needs of families of special needs children. They were complemented with a weekly feature on Thrive’s blog, Birth to Thrive Online, that dealt with the topic as well. Be sure to check it out.
Learning for Life airs weekly on Wednesday mornings between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. on KONG 6/16.
BIRTH TO THRIVE ONLINE
Have you heard the latest?
Thrive’s daily blog, Birth to Thrive Online, has lots of readers. Are you one of them?
Read the blog, written by former Seattle PI family reporter Paul Nyhan, to get the latest news, research, ideas and breakthroughs in early learning … and because all the cool kids are reading it.
Here are some highlights from the past two months:
July
August
As we mentioned above, during August, Thrive’s blog and Learning for Life did a series of blogs and TV segments on families of children with special needs.
Birth to Thrive Online: http://birthtothrive.thrivebyfivewa.org
