Parents - Support Pennsylvania's Promise
for Children
 As a parent, you are already an advocate for your child. Use that
passion and power to advocate for all young children!
Here are some ways
that you can support Pennsylvania's Promise for Children:
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Sign our declaration to support
Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children.
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Learn more about why early learning is so important to a child’s
future success in school and in life.
- You are your child's first teacher.
Learn how you can help your
child grow in mind, body, and spirit.
- Choose
quality early learning programs for your child.
- Ask
questions of those who are providing early learning to your child.
- Become
a messenger - Educate your friends, family and colleagues.
-
Contact your legislators and let them know you care about quality
early learning for Pennsylvania’s young children.
- Become a
public voice for quality early learning.
Help your child's early learning and
development everyday
Here are some materials that help you make every moment with your
child a fun learning experience:
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Kindergarten Here I Come! Activity Guide for parents of
three and four year olds to get them ready academically and
emotionally for kindergarten. The activities are based on the
Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards. You can download a copy
online or request a hard copy for you and your friends!
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PNC’s Grow Up Great campaign provides more ways to make
everyday moments a learning opportunity.
- The United Way of America has created
Born Learning materials for parents and teachers, in
English and Spanish.
- Zero to Three has
“The Magic of Everyday Moments” Guide for children from
birth to 36 months. Free registration to the website is
required.
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Choose quality early learning programs
for your child
- Look for a Keystone STARS early childhood program.
Keystone STARS stands for Standards, Training, Assistance,
Resources, and Support, is a voluntary continuous quality
improvement initiative for child care and Head Start
programs. Child care programs may enter at the Start with
STARS level and earn STAR 1 through STAR 4 ratings. You can
find out the STAR rating of a child care program at
www.pakeys.org/stars/centers.aspx
- Find out more about the Governor’s proposed Pennsylvania
Pre-K Counts program which will bring quality
pre-kindergarten to more than 11,000 3 and 4 year olds
across the Commonwealth. If the Governor’s proposal is
passed, free quality pre-kindergarten would be available in
September 2007.
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Ask questions of those who are
providing early learning to your child
You have a right to ask your child care program, schools,
and after school programs what they are doing to make sure
your child gets the quality early learning experience he
deserves. Here are some questions you can ask:
- Are you participating in Keystone STARS? If not, why
not? You can get information and enrollment forms at
www.pakeys.org.
- What is the educational background of your lead
teachers?
- What is your staff-child ratio?
- How do you make sure that you are providing
activities that are appropriate for my child’s
development?
- What sort of curriculum do you use?
- How do you keep parents informed of their child’s
progress?
- How can you help parents be better teachers for
their child? Gain access to other services, such as
nutritional, health, etc?
- How are you working with the local school districts/
child care programs to make sure that my child’s
transition to kindergarten is a smooth one?
- (for child care programs) Are you sponsoring any
teachers to earn college degrees through the
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhoodâ
PENNSYLVANIA Scholarship program?
- (for after-school programs) How do you coordinate my
child’s after school activities with what they are
learning during the day?
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Become a messenger - Educate
your friends, family and colleagues
Think about ways to talk to your friends, family and
colleagues about the importance of quality early
learning opportunities for every child. Ask them to sign
on to support Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children.
Develop a short explanation in your own words of how
quality early learning is vital to a child’s development
and success in school, work and life.
Here’s an example:
All children need to learn and
develop skills necessary to grow up healthy and strong.
Research has taught us that the earliest years of
childhood are critically important to children’s long
term development. When children are thriving, their
parents can provide for and support a more stable
family. A solid workforce fuels economic growth across
the state.
Quality early learning can open
the doors of opportunity for every child to do well in
school, in the workforce, and in life. It's our
responsibility as good citizens to help all of our young
children receive the quality early learning
opportunities that they deserve.
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Contact your
legislators and let them know you care about quality
early learning for Pennsylvania’s young children
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Write a letter, telling them your
story and how quality early learning has benefited
you, your child and your family. Send them quick
notes celebrating your child's milestones, such as
when your child graduates from preschool.
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Visit your legislators. You can go
alone, bring a friend, or link up with your county’s
Community Engagement
Group and go with them.
-
You can access contact information
for your state legislators at
www.legis.state.pa.us.
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Become a public
voice for quality early learning
Everyone wants to hear from parents.
Legislators, businesses, and community organizations
look to parents and the general public to gauge the
importance of an issue. You can be the voice for many
parents and their children. Make yourself available to
speak at public functions, to be interviewed by media,
to sign letters to the editor and Op-eds for the
newspaper. Your
community engagement group or Pre K Counts
partnership can help you become that public voice.
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