I'm very excited to announce that we've been invited to participate in the Summer Enrichment Program run by the Middletown Public Schools. We'll be providing classes for adults AND CompuChild camp activities for children. To see the catalog for all the wonderful classes being offered (not just ours!), visit their site. You can see the catalog, and obtain registration information, in the same place..

Congratulations to Miss Nicole! She is the director at The Children's Workshop in Rumford, RI, and the winner of this year's drawing for a free class for up to 10 children! We'll be doing a class using a digital microscope, allowing the children to learn what peripheral devices are, and so much more!

In honor of the 45th anniversary of the Rhode Island Early Childhood Conference, a video was produced entitled "Telling the Story: The Start of the Annual Rhode Island Early Childhood Conference". In it, interviews with some of the founders of the conference reveal their experiences and their memories as they worked to make this conference a reality. In truth, many volunteers have worked hard over the years to continue to make this conference what it is - the largest annual event of its kind in Rhode Island to promote early childhood education and early childhood education professionals.

Click here to take a few moments to enjoy the story.

What an amazing event! Not only were special awards given for outstanding achievements, but the opportunities for early childhood professionals to learn and network were phenominal. It was my first opportunity to be part of the conference committee, and I must say that I was totally blown away by the professionalism and dedication of the volunteers I got to know so well. There is no way to adequately describe the depth of commitment these folks have to the children of Rhode Island and their development. They are incredible, as is each and every person who attended.

If you are an early childhood professional who didn't make it, you really missed a fabulous event - I hope you plan to attend next year. If you're not currently on distribution for RIAEYC events, please sign up!

Good morning, and Happy Mother's Day!

If you are an early childhood educator who received a discount coupon at this weekend's 45th Annual Early Childhood Conference, please use only the first 20 characters of the coupon code to get the discount when you sign up online. It turns out that the code can only be 20 characters long. Oops! My bad.

Plus, the workshop calendar will be updated shortly with upcoming classes for the summer, so please check often!

Ok. Before I tell you about this, I should tell you that I don't have an iPhone, and I've been fortunate that none of my children has a food allergy. BUT I saw this story and immediately thought of parents of children with severe food allergies and the struggles they face when grocery shopping. Perhaps this will help. Check out this online story: http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/32304-1271948664-new-technology-helps-people-avoid-added-sugars.html. If you try it out, please email me and let me know how you like it?