November 24, 2015
Ready to Learn Director Leslie Gell (right) and R2LP Family Ambassador Ana Velez (left) pose with Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute (FWI), at a Mind in the Making retreat in October. The conversation that started there continued last week at a featured session of the NAEYC Annual Conference. See story below.


(L-r) Ellen Galinsky, Jackie Bezos, Leslie Gell and
Jackie Santiago at the NAEYC Annual Conference
Mind in the Making, Vroom and the science of early learning

Working together to build an Early Learning Nation by 2025

To build an Early Learning Nation we must use knowledge from developmental research to encourage engaged learning and strengthen the executive function skills that manage our emotions, intellect and behavior.

That was the focus of a Mind in the Making retreat in October, and then again at a featured session last week at the NAEYC Annual National Conference. R2LP Director Leslie Gell joined Ellen Galinsky, of the Families and Work Institute (FWI), and Jackie Bezos, of the Bezos Family Foundation, at the conference in Orlando to discuss the science of early learning and the role it plays in creating an Early Learning Nation by 2025, an initiative that mayors across the country committed to in 2014. Leslie was asked to talk about how Ready to Learn has brought Mind in the Making to more than 1,000 family members and school staff since the spring of 2014 through a three-year initiative with the Providence Public School Department.

Galinsky and FWI, developer of Mind in the Making, have teamed up with the Bezos Family Foundation, which has launched a program called Vroom. Vroom gives parents and caregivers tips for turning everyday moments into "brain-building moments." Galinsky and Bezos see the two programs, which are highly compatible and both built on science, as playing a key role in the "Building an Early Learning Nation by the Year 2025" initiative.

Vroom's tips, accessible through the free Daily Vroom app, the Vroom website and elsewhere, give busy parents hundreds of entertaining ways to create brain-building moments in their daily interactions with young children. By partnering with corporate brands, Vroom also plans to squeeze tips into favorite products, such as on the inside lid of a can of beans. And partnerships within communities - with museums, libraries and child-care centers, for example - provide yet another way to disseminate its tools and materials.
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Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza with a mother and child
who have participated in Providence Talks.

Reducing the word gap

R2LP to partner with Providence Talks

R2LP is now partnering with Providence Talks, the innovative program that seeks to reduce the word gap among young children in the city. We'll be helping to inform families of this valuable resource.

In 2013 the City of Providence (and then Mayor Angel Taveras) won the $5 million Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge. The city has completed the pilot phase of the program, with encouraging results, and is now looking to bring it to all eligible families in Providence. R2LP, which is already in the Providence Schools recruiting families for its Mind in the Making workshops, will ensure that families with very young children (birth to age 3) are aware of this program as well.

If you are a Providence parent with a young child, call 1-844-401-TALK, or go to the Providence Talks website, to see how you can take advantage of this opportunity. Learn more about our partnership with the program here.  
AmeriCorps

RI's AmeriCorps members sworn in at Opening Day ceremony


"I serve because I enjoy working with parents and helping children become successful in and out of school," said Dasiel Rondon (right), an R2LP AmeriCorps member and one of five in the state asked to deliver a "Why I Serve" statement at the Opening Day ceremony held on October 5 at the Statehouse. To see Dasiel and other highlights from the event, which was attended by the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service and many RI officials, watch this video created by Serve Rhode Island.
Pre-Kindergarten

Putting theory into practice




 
On a recent visit to our Pre-K Classroom at CCRI in Providence, we saw lots of fun, learning, exploration and conversation taking place during the free-choice period. The CCRI classroom is one of three state-funded Pre-K settings we administer. We operate the other two with and at the Heritage Park YMCA Early Learning Center in Pawtucket.  
Attention all early learning programs!

Earn cash award by increasing your rating

Child-care centers, family child-care providers and public schools that increase their BrightStars rating by December 15 are eligible for a Rising Star cash award. Programs that transition to the 2013 BrightStars framework are also eligible. Click the image at right for details.
 
Check out the fall offerings at the Center for Early Learning Professionals

See the full list of professional development courses scheduled for this fall in English and Spanish. Register soon to avoid disappointment. Ready to Learn Providence is a partner in the state-funded Center.
 
 
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