Articles in the Early Learning Category
The illustrations in children’s books are often as engaging and imaginative as the stories. Many people maintain memories of Harold and his purple crayon, or the wild things among the trees. Click below for the New York Times selection for the best illustrated children’s books of 2011.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/the-2011-best-illustrated-books/
This blog was prepared by United Way Worldwide for its member organizations
In the budget that has been approved by Congress, and is expected to be signed by President Obama, we are pleased to share that the majority of programs that United Way has prioritized have stayed intact or even increased in funding. Given the conomic and political landscape, this is good news. Please see below for highlights of FY2012 program funding in our building block areas. Note: There is an additional 0.189 percent across…
Kathy Rossol reads as a way of “investing in our future.” As a child she loved listening to stories read aloud; later she enjoyed reading to her daughter. Now she shares her love of books with the children at Seattle First A.M.E. CWB in Rainier Valley.
A child in this program (who speaks little English) used to cry every time her mother dropped her off. However, when Kathy began reading the book Abiyoyo (by Pete Seeger), the little girl began to hop and sing along…
Atlantic Street Center, a multi-service nonprofit organization in Seattle, has been offering the Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) since 2004 and in 2010 partnered with United Way of King County as one of the agencies that will help bring the program to families throughout King County. The Parent-Child Home Program is a proven early literacy, school readiness and parenting program that encourages verbal interaction and educational play between parents and their preschool children in families that have had limited exposure to educational opportunities and activities. Atlantic…
Occupy Wall Street is shining a useful spotlight on one of America’s central challenges, the inequality that leaves the richest 1 percent of Americans with a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent.
Most of the proposed remedies involve changes in taxes and regulations, and they would help. But the single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It’s an expansion of early childhood education.
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/occupy-the-classroom.html?ref=nicholasdkristof
The smallest boy in the Pike Market Child Care & Preschool class grabbed Harry’s hand to head back to school after a field trip to the library, and Harry instantly changed his plan to return to work. Holding the child’s hand, he walked with the class back to preschool. Harry is just that kind of guy.
Harry Bonnette is a Customer Service Specialist at United Way of King County and he has been a Volunteer Reader for four years. He started with a class of…
Unique recession has led to extended shortfalls in revenue
This recession is unique among recent recessions in the overall loss of jobs and revenue as well as the depth of the loss making the recovery not a swift recovery back to “normal” but an extended period of high unemployment, rising costs of goods, high foreclosure rate and overall lack of consumer confidence. To illustrate, Washington has lost 195,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession and regained only 62,000.
The combination of deficits in anticipated…
“What are we reading today?” Bonnie Rosalind asks the small pupils at Grace Children’s Center. Her favorite response is for a child to select a book that Bonnie herself loved to read while growing up; she believes that is “a true testament to the timelessness of books.”
Bonnie signed up for the Volunteer Reader Program on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2009. President Obama had declared that date a National Day of Service, and Bonnie took it as a call to action. Since then,…
The children at Little Eagles Child Development Center are delighted when Miss Kitty, a well-loved puppet cat, comes to visit. Accompanying this now-famous puppet is another popular visitor, Volunteer Reader Joan Davis. Although Miss Kitty occasionally finds the kids’ exuberance a bit trying, Joan’s reason for volunteering is clear: “I am not their regular teacher, I am not their mom or dad or grandma or grandpa- I am a friend whose only mission is to show them great books, to read to…
Agreement on increasing the federal debt ceiling was reached on August 2, the final day (identified by Treasury Secretary Geithner) before the federal government would default on its financial obligations because it had run out of money and could no longer borrow to pay bills. A bipartisan compromise was reached by the House and Senate but neither body, the President, the Pentagon, or interest and advocacy groups was particularly happy with the outcome. The National Senior Corps Association has done an excellent summary…
