Resources

This bilingual website contains information and resources for educators, administrators, librarians and families of English language learners.

This kit was designed to help educators monitor childhood development during play activities. It contains information about monitoring developmental milestones, suggestions for a safe and successful activity day, tips about talking to parents if you suspect a child has a developmental delay, and a special pullout section with activities to share with parents for at-home play.

Min Jee’s Lunch is a Learning for Justice original children’s story written by author and educator Elizabeth Kleinrock. In this video, narrated by Kleinrock and beautifully illustrated by Janice Chang, a classmate announces that Min Jee’s Korean lunch is “how everyone got sick.” Min Jee and her friends must decide how to respond. Find the story and accompanying reader questions at https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2020/min-jees-lunch?utm_source=Learning+for+Justice&utm_campaign=0c919f1691-Newsletter+5-18-2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a8cea027c3-0c919f1691-83000183

“Having your child learn two languages at the same time will confuse them, won’t it?” “You know that teaching your child multiple languages is just going to cause a speech delay?” These are common questions that may be asked of families and caregivers who are supporting young children to become multilingual. The answer is “No” to all of the above. Learning two languages at the same time does not negatively affect speech development. On the contrary, bilingualism might help a child to achieve greatly. Read on to learn about ten benefits of being bilingual.

In case anyone asks why you see supporting the home languages of young children as essential, here are some good responses.

A useful resource for professional development, each of these in-services contain a short video and a set of supporting materials. A trainer version of each in-service is also available and contains the presentation slides, notes and learning activities. Look under the heading “Language Modeling and Conversations” to find suites on expansions, asking questions, engaging children in conversations, thick and thin, and more.

This collection, which includes both current and older titles, ranges from Lullaby for a Black Mother by Langston Hughes to Firebird by Misty Copeland.

The talented women at Good Things for Young Children have created a set of developmentally appropriate ideas to engage with children and made those resources available in English and Spanish. The activities support learning and development across all domains.

This thoughtfully written article offers evidence-based strategies for building the capacity to understand and demonstrate empathy. Using headings like “develop your child’s empathy muscle” and “expand your child’s circle of concern beyond family and friends,” the author sorts suggestions into meaningful chunks.

It might sound counterintuitive, but one strategy widely recommended by children's health professionals is to engage a child in short, daily sessions of child-led play. In addition to providing the evidence for this approach, this article also shares an acronym “PRIDE” to help family members and caregivers to remember the tenets of child-led play.

Watch what happens when the residents of Humboldt County, California, wake up one day to find that all their child care providers have mysteriously disappeared and a good portion of the workforce has to stay home to take care of their kids.

Intended for governors and state policymakers, this document outlines and describes five policy actions to get all children reading on grade level by third grade.

This publication highlights six evidence-based teaching practices that may be used by adults (e.g., family members, practitioners) or, in some instances, by other children, to help facilitate children’s participation in everyday routines, learning experiences, and activities. Each practice (e.g., scaffolding, modeling) is summarized and examples of how to use the practice are provided in English and Spanish. Using these strategies engages children in activities, maintains their interest, and provides opportunities for them to learn concepts and thinking skills that support learning when using adaptations.

This paper describes Head Start Trauma Smart (HSTS), an early education/mental health cross-systems partnership designed to work within the child?'s natural setting-in this case, Head Start classrooms. The goal of HSTS is to decrease the stress of chronic trauma, foster age-appropriate social and cognitive development, and to create an integrated, trauma-informed culture for young children, parents, and staff. The HSTS program emphasizes tools and skills that can be applied in everyday settings, thereby providing resources to address current and future trauma.

This issue brief offers hope and a way forward so that all children and their families can attain optimal physical, social, and emotional development and well-being. Presented are the latest data documenting the prevalence of ACEs among children in the U.S. This brief also points to strategies that families, caregivers, providers, and communities can implement to reduce the negative health effects associated with ACEs, heal, and help children thrive in the face of adversity.