- Hello there.

My name is Crystal Howser and I am a infant toddler specialist with the Virginia Infant & Toddler Specialist Network.

We are located here in the Hampton Roads area.

- Hello, my name is Mary Jo Grieve, but most people know me as MJ, and I am with VPM, Virginia's home for public media.

I'm the director of early childhood care and education for the local PBS station.

- And you are joining us today for "From Day One: How The Basics Supports Equity in Early Childhood Programs".

- Great.

So, before we dive into all of the stuff, I wanted to take a minute and just share with you this screen of all these little furry friends here, and for all of us to try and take a little moment for ourselves, which sometimes we don't do that, a lot of the times we don't do that.

And so just think about these pictures here and reflect, take a moment, reflect about where you are and what head space you're in, physical, emotional, mental space, and kind of relate to these furry friends.

For me, I think a little between number six and number two.

- Love it.

- [laughs] How about you, Crystal?

- I think...

I'm really excited that we're doing this, so I feel definitely six.

Although, you know, as we're growing and getting through the year, sometimes I definitely feel like number three too, so.

- Yeah, if anybody's feeling like number one, I think you should turn off the video and go take a nap.

Go take a nap.

- That is the beauty of on demand, is you can stop and come back when you need to, so we're really glad that you're here.

- All right.

So, what we know.

So this is kind of just a affirmation of what it is that we already know about early care and education, and the early years are really the beginning of all human potential, right?

Everything begins with day one.

There's no better time in a person's life to affect change and impact learning.

The early years are critically important to all future development.

Babies do not come with instruction manuals, and every child is different, and all families need to have access to early development information from the very, very start so that they can be the best parents and caregivers for their child or for their children.

- So as we move through this training, this is really a contract that we're entering in with our fundamental truths as early childhood educators, we are all aligned with these knowledge points and we are ready to get started.

So, today we're going to review the five Basic Principles.

This is the crux of our training today.

We're gonna review these five Basic Principles and we're gonna learn how these principles do several things for your programs.

Firstly, they support equitable practices in early childhood care and education.

They allow every child to have a strong and healthy start.

They connect to the North Carolina Foundations of Early Learning and Development.

They also support the families within programs at first contact and enhance family skills as they move throughout your program, so it's a wonderful resource that you're gonna learn how to use today.

It also creates consistent community and supported messaging.

We really, really believe that The Basics is a movement that everybody, everybody can be a part of.

And last and certainly not least, serve as primary and continued resources for community partners.

So, we're gonna talk a little bit about what that looks like at the end today.

So this is our goal, lofty goal for this presentation today.

- Right, that's right, our goal.

So really, we really want you to leave here knowing about The Basics movement, but also embracing the implementation of it, you know, into your existing work for maximum impact.

So, what are The Basics?

The Basics are five fun, simple, powerful ways that every child can get a great start in life.

We want you to include The Basics in everyday routines that help build a child's brain.

They are distilled from research by the Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative and Dr. Ron Ferguson, a nationally recognized grassroots community-driven public health campaign.

The Basics encompass five fun, simple principles that are important for boosting cognitive and social emotional development in children birth to age five.

- All right, so now you know what The Basics is in theory, let's talk about what they are in principles.

So the five Basic Principles that are covered in The Basics, the first of that being maximize love, manage stress.

So, children really need to know that they are safe in order to learn.

Just like adults learn how to drive a car from somebody they're comfortable with, that they know, in a place that they're comfortable with, children have to have that same kind of care and support.

Children grow when their world is loving and safe.

And one of the basic practices that we talk about as far as maximizing love, managing stress is responding with smiles, words, physical touch.

All of these things help children feel connected.

They help to be heard, seen, and really feel the love of those around them.

The maximize love, manage stress principle is the first always because it is the umbrella principle that really connects families and allows all of the other principles that we're gonna discuss here now to happen.

- Great.

The second principle, talk, sing, and point.

And again, some of these are very obvious.

Children learn language from the moment they're born.

Respond to their sounds and later their words.

Connect with your eyes in a loving tone of voice while pointing to things in their environment.

It helps give titles to things in their environment, and you're talking about their world.

I always look at it as you're narrating for them what's happening in their lives.

So you're narrating the world.

- Absolutely.

The third principle is count, group, and compare.

So this really allows you as educators to know that what you're doing helps them to connect to numbers, shapes, and patterns as you go about your daily routines together, and watching the children learn and connect to math principles.

That you see in the picture, the father or caregiver stacking blocks, and being able to count those blocks as they go.

Or comparing a large block to a small block, or possibly being able to group them together.

All of the blues, all of the purples, we begin to sort very early in life.

So these are really simple things that they can do in this picture, but we're gonna talk a little bit later about those routines and how even though this is an activity, we can create some of those patterns in our routines as well.

- Mm-hm, yeah.

And then the fourth one is explore through movement and play.

If anybody has spent any time with a toddler, they know that they love to explore.

Children are like scientists, making discoveries at every turn.

So, watch to see what interests your child and encourage their curiosity, help them learn through that play, and explore their environment.

So, this one is that big one where you know that a child is learning as they move through their day.

- And last, but certainly not least, is read and discuss stories.

So this fifth Basic Principle really connects to language and literacy, that building blocks and foundations of development for children.

And it takes something like literacy and language and really breaks it down into the most simple and supportive way to connect.

Whether it's making books a regular part of your day, and so helping the families know that that's a really big part of their day as well.

Pointing at the pictures.

I had a NASA scientist parent once not know that he could read to his infant.

She didn't know how to read, so why would I read to her?

And so some parents just don't know.

You don't know what you don't know.

So, pointing at the pictures and speaking with that excitement is really important.

And then sharing stories together, helping really build that love of learning.

When we create those feelings of positivity and love in connection with a activity like reading, we know the benefits that it can come for many, many years in a child's life.

- Yeah, and I love the idea of modeling that behavior for a child as well.

Children mimic us all the time, so if you can model that behavior, that's even more of a bonus.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, so why The Basics, right?

We went through the five principles, but why?

Why do we do this?

Well, from birth, young brains are developing like muscles and getting bigger and stronger every day.

You know, I like that concept of thinking about the child's brain as a muscle, right?

We have to exercise our muscles to grow, we have to exercise our brains.

So, the more you are interacting with your child, the more learning and growing that is happening.

You're building that foundation for all future learning, that the movement is about sharing and affirming that knowledge, and that reinforcing the behaviors that you're doing every day with your child is important.

And you are praising, you're praising parents on what they're doing so that they feel like they are empowered to help their child learn and grow.

- Absolutely.

Mary Jo did an excellent job illustrating why The Basics is needed.

And now let's talk about the brain science behind why we should use The Basics.

So, we know that science is clear about the experiences that help shape children's brains in the first three years.

Those years are pivotal and make a huge difference.

We also know that 80% of brain growth happens in that first three years.

So let's take a look here on our chart.

We have our newborn brain here with our neurons and our synapses that are connecting, you know, very, very slow, or very fast, but you know, consistent.

So let's take a look between newborn and nine months.

That brain has made a lot of connections.

And we know that those connections are made when that child has that, again, that lived experience that really helps that brain grow.

Now let's jump over from nine months to two years.

So we see that brain growth, the proliferation of that brain growth, how fast it has grown in just a very short amount of time, and then comparing it to the adult brain.

So it's not necessarily that they have more in the adult brain, but throughout time, some of those connections have been made much stronger.

So it's exactly what Mary Jo was talking about, that foundation, we are setting the foundation for later learning, for loving learning to create that later experience.

And then finally, we know that the skills gap between groups are clear in national data by age two.

So there are differentials in that data.

Children that are able to have these skills and are reaching these skills and are not able to reach those skills by age two, we can see that.

So that's really powerful data.

And The Basics was really created to help support this brain development.

Like we said, there are things that you are probably already doing in your programs and maybe your families are already doing at home, but the intentionality about why we're doing it is so important.

We're doing it to really help our children grow and connect so that they are able to have the best foundation for later learning.

- And you know, to reiterate what Crystal said, that the gap, the gaps that exist by age two, when you hear that statistic, that's just so powerful.

So, if we can really get the message out to families, to folks, to let them know that those experiences that children have those first three years of life are so important.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

So, how do we implement The Basics?

You've told us this great information, and now what do we do with it?

So, The Basics here in Virginia is used to support intentional practice and to support development.

It really looks at, why are we doing what we're doing?

It also allows parents at day one of enrollment to have sort of a guide or to understand our culture within our program and how it's supported by these five Basic Principles that they can do at home.

The Basics also supports equitable practices.

It has many languages there are on thebasics.org that you all will have here.

You will see that many different languages.

It's supported throughout many different cultures.

These five practices that we talk today are really overarching connections to supporting basic learning.

And though it might look different in different routines, it really is supported in those practices at home and within programs.

It also connects to here in Virginia, our Early Learning Developmental Standards, also called the ELDS, which you see right here on your screen.

And that really is our driving force for understanding development, and The Basics really overlaps and is interwoven in many of these areas of development as we will see in just a minute here.

It connects also to the foundations that you all are using in North Carolina as well.

So, these are your North Carolina Foundations of Early Learning and Development.

So, looking over these five, approaches to play and learning, it really looks at temperament, right?

We look at that as how children approach things.

If we don't give them the opportunity to explore through movement and play, one of our Basic Principles, we might not be able to know or see what that child's temperament is and how they approach the world.

The emotional and social development, that really looks at our feelings and being able to see how we connect to the world around us.

Again, if there's not a lot of maximizing love, managing stress, those emotions and that social development might look differently than if that child had a more tolerable stress household.

Health and physical development, looking at, again, that movement through play, the talk, point, and sing, count, group, and compare, all of these are really connected to those principles of health and physical development, language development and communication, and cognitive development.

So as you can see, these foundations of early learning and development that you all have in North Carolina are very similar, actually, to our ELDS here in Virginia, which is really nice to see, 'cause we already practice The Basics here in Virginia, and so this is an easy parental support for you all as educators to say, hey, day one of enrollment, these are five Basic Principles that we abide by in our program and that you all can do at home to support a child's development.

So, these are easy and they're also interwoven with those, the development is interwoven within all of those principles.

So we could make a case for really any principle and how it would be connected to any one of these areas of development.

So, just like the areas of development for children's brains are interconnected, so are The Basics with the Foundations of Early Learning and Development for North Carolina.

It's pretty cool.

- Yeah, and that's a given, right?

When you look at all these different approaches, you can say, oh, that's basic number one, two, three, four, five.

So, you know, there's a lot of overlap and a lot of opportunity to touch on each of the principles as well as the learning, the foundations.

So yeah, lots of overlap.

Thanks, Crystal.

- Absolutely.

- So, The Basics, and one of the reason I love the title, The Basics, because they are basic, right?

They're free, they're every day, they're things that you're doing with your child on a daily basis, you know, right?

You're interacting with your child.

It doesn't cost you any extra money.

There's not something you have to go out and buy or order.

It's really what you're doing on an everyday routine basis.

So, no fancy tools, no extra time, it's really just having that cognizant thought about what you're doing and making it intentional.

Having that language with your child, narrating the world.

So, it's really about, you know, walking through the day, the tasks that happen, and connecting The Basics movement and capitalizing on those everyday experiences, and using that as an opportunity for learning and building skills.

- Goes back to those equitable practices, right?

You don't have to have fancy tools, you don't have to have thousands of dollars worth of, you know, materials.

These are everyday concepts and principles that connect to your families and the things that you're doing in your program.

All right, so it's activity time.

So I know that this is virtual, so for those of you who are at home, take a minute and think about routines in your family's day.

We have many diverse families within our programs, and so thinking about which routines that they have would connect to The Basics principles.

It might be thinking back to routines...

When I was a twos teacher, I had a large classroom of two year olds, and some of the routines that we, our families, had was pick up and drop off.

Sometimes it was, you know, having things like getting dressed in the morning, making dinner, going to the grocery store, what the sleep routine looked like at home.

So there are lots of different... Their days are made up into many, many, many different routines.

So, thinking about The Basics principles and how they can connect to those routines.

Something like exploration through play and movement.

I used to recommend that the parents had a drawer that the toddlers could take, you know, lids on and off, or have wooden spoons that they could play with, you know, something that they could incorporate play and movement during a time that the family was having a routine is a really, really powerful time that they can talk and engage with each other.

- Yeah, I mean, if you ask an early childhood educator what is the hardest time of the day, it's transition times, right?

So it's those transition times, moving from one place to the next, getting, you know, and for families getting in and out of the car, or you know, transitioning to bath time, or whatever it is, you know, how you can incorporate those everyday routines and incorporate The Basics into them is key.

- Yep, and thinking about how could maximize love, manage stress, connect to all routines?

Just like Mary Jo said, transitions can be stressful, right?

It can be difficult.

So, what are some strategies that we could use to maximize love and manage stress?

We talked about a few of them in the beginning, but at thebasics.org, there is a whole list of different strategies to try to help maximize love and manage stress for your families and for the educators that you either are or work with.

So, we're really thankful that you've taken the time to think about these routines and how The Basics can connect to them.

- So, Dr. Ferguson put this slide together, and this is what he calls the socioecological saturation of a community.

And I really love this slide because it gives us, I'm a visual learner, and it gives us a little bit of a picture of how The Basics can be used and utilized within a community at every level.

So, no matter where you are or what you're engaged with, you hear The Basics, see The Basics, you know The Basics, right?

You encounter it at each move, at each place in your life, whether it's a barbershop or a hairdresser or, you know, your school, wherever you are, your pediatrician.

So this is kind of the concept that Dr. Ferguson is really trying to instill upon communities as a whole, and to reach all the different areas that, you know, where we are, where we engage.

- And sometimes The Basic movement starts with you all.

You are the first place that they hear about The Basics in your program.

Again, it's a great resource to start that conversation with parents at day one, when their child starts in your program, "Hey, how do you support your child's development at home?"

They might say, "Oh, we do this and we do this," or they might be like, "I don't know what you're talking about."

This gives them that, like, hey, well, these are five Basic Principles that we abide by here in our program, and that we give to parents to give them ideas and resources to support them in the home.

It really allows this beautiful opportunity to be on the same page and to know that you are the expert in child development, they are the expert in their child, and this is how you're gonna work together to value and honor their family relationship at home, and how that can have opportunities to grow their child's development.

- And using parents in the community help spread the word, right?

That's the socioecological saturation.

So we're all, you know, speaking the same language, and, "Oh, have you heard about The Basics?"

"Oh," you know, and you can share that with others.

So, I think that's really the idea, is that we share it, you know, across our communities, so.

One of the things that we do at VPM is we create with our community partners, we create our basic bags, our basic kits, and we developed these just by looking at simple everyday things that children like to engage with.

And a lot of these materials came from the Dollar Store or the Dollar Tree.

We have some dancing scarves, we took some scarves and cut them in half, and you know, you can move to music with the scarves.

And there's chalk and bubbles, maximize love, manage stress, the best way to do that is deep breathing, and bubbles are a great activity to do with your child to get them to calm down.

You know, if they're having a little bit of a meltdown, grab a thing of bubbles and it's like magic.

So these are some activities that we put in our kit.

We always put a few books in there because books are so important for conversation and language.

Drawing utensils or whatever it is that you might have to put into your kit.

So, we partner with organizations that are like-minded that had, you know, similar goals, and then we come up with a kit together.

When we did our nature trail engagement, we focused the kits around things in nature.

So, that was a good partnership as well.

- Absolutely, and you can see how all of those resources connect back to one of those principles, like Mary Jo said, the maximizing love, manage stress, count, group, and compare, exploration through movement and play, reading and discussing stories, all of those are clearly visible in those kits.

And early childhood educators are creative people, so we know and imagine that North Carolina is probably gonna do some great things with this.

- Yeah.

So, one of the mantras that Dr. Ferguson uses too is the collective intentionality of this work.

And that's really reflecting back on the community as a whole, intentionally working together to send this message so that we're all speaking the same language and really focused on those early years and those five basic skills.

And the mantra that he uses is, what none of us can do alone, all of us can do together.

- So, Mary Jo and I really appreciate you all taking the time to be here today to invest in yourselves, to invest in your program.

We hope that you are as excited about The Basics as we are and hope you wanna share it with your families and your pediatricians and your, you know, pastors.

So, whoever you have in your community that you feel like would benefit from this knowledge and this information, please share it.

And we look forward to seeing you all hopefully soon and getting to learn a little bit more about The Basics.

- Thank you all.

- Bye-bye.

- Bye-bye!