Children, Inc. Covington, KY Governor’s Office of Early Childhood 10 NO COST/LOW COST WAYS TO ENSURE THAT ALL CHILDREN ARE READY FOR SUCCESS IN KINDERGARTEN

The physical architecture of the brain is developed after birth. SYNAPTIC DENSITY 50 trillion 1,000 trillion 500 trillion

Brain Pathways are: Experience Expectant Experience Expectant Different parts of the brain develop at different times. School is based upon language. Most of the physical capacity of the brain to learn language is developed between 6 and 42 months of life. Different parts of the brain develop at different times. School is based upon language. Most of the physical capacity of the brain to learn language is developed between 6 and 42 months of life. Experience Dependent Experience Dependent A child who is talked to, read to, listened to, asked questions of will typically have greater development in that part of the brain that processes language—an essential key to school success Use DependentUse Dependent Use it or lose it. By 10 years of age the brain has already begun discarding that part of the brain that is seldom used. Experience Expectant Experience Expectant Different parts of the brain develop at different times. School is based upon language. Most of the physical capacity of the brain to learn language is developed between 6 and 42 months of life. Different parts of the brain develop at different times. School is based upon language. Most of the physical capacity of the brain to learn language is developed between 6 and 42 months of life. Experience Dependent Experience Dependent A child who is talked to, read to, listened to, asked questions of will typically have greater development in that part of the brain that processes language—an essential key to school success Use DependentUse Dependent Use it or lose it. By 10 years of age the brain has already begun discarding that part of the brain that is seldom used.

Huttenlocher, 1992 Human Brain at Birth 6 Years Old 14 Years Old

Early Childhood Brain Development 1. Share the brain slide to everyone who works with adults that play a meaningful role in the life of a young child. GOOD: Share the brain slides with all early childhood staff to build motivation and dedication to the essential work that they do every day. BETTER: Share the brain slides with all the families that you serve. These slides are both motivational and informational. Helping families understand that they are essential to their child’s success may lead to a much greater commitment to use some of the resources that you will make available to them. BEST: Get the Oregon University Brain Series and have your preschool staff share them with families.

More information about the Changing Brains program at Oregon University can be found at

Effective Community Early Childhood Councils #2. Keep building a more and more effective Community Early Childhood Council. GOOD: Your Council has broad representation by members who attend faithfully bringing their best ideas. BETTER: Your Council uses the Early Childhood Profile to create a shared agenda that will lead to more children arriving at kindergarten ready as measured by the Brigance.

Building Effective CECCs What did we learn? Common Vision Collaborative Membership Robust Leadership Shared Goals Results Driven What makes a council succeed? Common Vision – All understand the importance of the work Collaborative Membership – The right people at the table Robust Leadership – Diverse leadership but all strong Shared Goals – Everyone focused on the same outcomes Results Driven – Measuring success with data

Early Childhood Profiles #3. Your Early Childhood council is Results Driven. GOOD: All members are familiar with your Early Childhood Profile. BETTER: All members agree to use the Profile to determine the most impactful ways to enable many more children to be successful.

Early Childhood Profiles are available by county at EarlyChildhoodProfile/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookie Support=1 EarlyChildhoodProfile/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookie Support=1

Early Childhood Profiles are available by county at EarlyChildhoodProfile/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookie Support=1 EarlyChildhoodProfile/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookie Support=1

School Readiness Definition #4. Kentucky’s School Readiness definition is disseminated broadly, frequently, and effectively to all families with young children, birth to age 5. GOOD: All your Community Early Childhood Council partners share this with their families multiple times Opportunity: The School Readiness Definition is too rich to just be handed out. There is an opportunity to break it our in pieces and share with families in a way that builds meaningful partnership. BETTER: Council partners develop and share the most effective way of providing this information to their families, developmental domain by domain, multiple times

The Kentucky School Readiness Definition can be found online at chool%20Readiness/Pag es/default.aspx chool%20Readiness/Pag es/default.aspx

Monthly Strengthening Families Messages #5. The Governor’s Office of Early Childhood is sending out monthly messages that will help all families by more effective in getting their children ready for success. GOOD: Get these messages every month to families with young children in your county. BETTER: Develop a dissemination network that guarantees that even the hardest to reach families with young children get these messages every month.

The Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Monthly Messages can be found online at Communities/Pages/Monthly-Message.aspxhttp://kidsnow.ky.gov/Mobilizing- Communities/Pages/Monthly-Message.aspx

Parent Guides #6. Updated Parent Guides are filled with wonderful suggestions for families with children birth to 5. These Guides can have a profound impact on a child’s success if they are shared in a meaningful way with families. GOOD: Distribute effectively the Birth to Three and Three and Four Parent Guides. Look for multiple opportunities like websites, social media, newsletters, Family Resource Centers etc. to share parts of the Guides. Opportunity: Each Developmental domain has wonderful things families can do with their children. Early learning programs could use the Guides as a focus for a year-long partnership with families. BETTER: Develop and share among your Community Early Childhood Council partners the most effective way to share the guides with families.

The Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood School Readiness Parent Guides can be found online at families/Pages/Parent-Guides.aspx families/Pages/Parent-Guides.aspx

Bornlearning and/or Parent Express #7 Distribute wonderful, free, just-in-time monthly or bimonthly materials that help all families be more effective with very young children. GOOD: Partner with schools, local hospital, early learning programs to send this just-in- time information to families. Opportunity: There are various institutions like hospitals, schools, etc. and businesses that want to have an on-going relationship with families with young children. Getting this very useful information to a family when the family needs to know it is an effective way to establish that relationship. BETTER: Develop a way to reach all families in the county including all hard to reach families who are caring for their children at home or using unregulated care, etc.

Ages & Stages informational tools can be found at ault.aspx?id=19

Parent Express guides you through parenting of children through age 36 months. For other publications in the 27-part series, contact your county Cooperative Extension Service office. Parent Express guides for prenatal-12 months can also be found online at CS/ Parent Express guides for 13 months-36 months can also be found online at 01=FCS7 CS/ 01=FCS7

THE 30,000,000 WORD GAP (Hart & Risley, 1995)

Shared Reading #8 Shared Reading or Dialogic Reading is a highly effective way for all families to build children’s pre-reading skills. It is a simple method that can be taught to all families. It was originally developed for low-literacy families. It is more effective than just reading to a child. GOOD: Train your staff and your families to do Shared Reading. Opportunity: This method of asking a child a question, waiting 5 seconds and then expanding on the child’s answer can be easily taught and used by all families anywhere (while walking, riding in a car, etc.). There are unlimited opportunities to teach this simple method at churches, libraries, PTOs. etc. This is a highly effective intervention that all Council partners could do. BETTER: The whole community adopts Shared Reading.

“Language is the Key” Resource Guide can be purchased online at cts/language-is-the-key/

Kentucky Early Childhood Standards #9. Kentucky’s revised Early Childhood Standards align what is presented in early learning centers with what children need to know and be able to do. Early Learning Professionals want their children to be successful in school. Aligning the early learning environment with kindergarten is a critical component for school success. GOOD: Make sure that Council Partners programs are aligned using Kentucky Early Learning Standards. BETTER: Provide training and coaching so that all early learning environments in the county are moving toward greater alignment.

The Early Childhood Standards can be found at ol%20Readiness/Pages/Earl y-Childhood-Standards aspx ol%20Readiness/Pages/Earl y-Childhood-Standards aspx Kentucky Early Childhood Standards

Brigance Screen III #10. The Brigance Screener used by all Kentucky school districts has a version for children ages 2 to 4. Early screening can lead to dramatic improvements for many children. Consider using the Brigance for younger children GOOD: Use the Brigance screen in the fall to determine if a more in-depth assessment is needed, to get an early snap shot of students’ strengths, and to help individualize the program for each child. BETTER: Provide training for all early childhood staff in the county on how to get and use the data.

New Brigance Screen III (3-5 years) $279 Includes everything you need to get started: Screens III Manual (0–35 months, 3–5 years, or K & 1) 60 Assorted Data Sheets Screens III Technical Report Screens III Accessories (for 0–35 months) Durable Canvas Tote Order online at Order by phone:

Partner with Families Partner with your early childhood education community to reach out to all families with material that is both informational and motivational. Helping all children arrive at the Kindergarten door ready to succeed is within our reach!