Maine’s Distinctive Approach to First 10
Maine began working with First 10 Director David Jacobson in 2018, implementing First 10 practices in 13 schools across the state. This early work led to the creation of a state-level, cross-agency team that promotes connections between early education initiatives. Currently, the Maine Department of Education provides a state level support position and fading funding…
School-Connected Play & Learns
The First 10 Network launched in 2022 as a way to connect First 10 communities to one another so that they can learn about and build on each other’s innovations and adapt them to meet local needs. At our February network meeting, a panel of on-the-ground experts from the First 10 community—facilitators who lead play…
Playgroups offer rural families a head start on school (Hechinger Report)
“On a June morning in this rural eastern North Carolina community, about a dozen families grabbed the edges of a rainbow parachute, making plastic balls bounce in its ripples. Grandparents, parents and children switched between water games, parachute activities and swing-sets spread across a playground. The fun and games are serious business to the group…
“How to Play Our Way to a Better Democracy”
“Out of the Books in Kindergarten, and Into the Sandbox”
From today’s New York Times: As American classrooms have focused on raising test scores in math and reading, an outgrowth of the federal No Child Left Behind law and interpretations of the new Common Core standards, even the youngest students have been affected, with more formal lessons and less time in sandboxes. But these days,…