Blog, News & Events
Insights, Ideas, and Resources for Early Learning
Welcome to the Think Small Blog, your go-to destination for valuable insights, innovative ideas, and inspiring stories in the field of early learning. Dive into a treasure trove of articles crafted by our team of experts, dedicated to empowering child care providers, educators, and families.
Discover practical tips, evidence-based strategies, and the latest research findings to support children aged 0-5 on their journey to kindergarten readiness. From fostering social-emotional development to promoting cognitive skills, our blog covers a wide range of topics, ensuring you stay informed and equipped to make a positive impact on young lives.
Small Talks A Think Small Speaker Series
Register White Paper About the Event Only 30% of Minnesota 8th graders were deemed proficient in reading in a recent national assessment (NCES 2022). Addressing this troubling statistic ...
A World of Opportunities: Books for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is an annual campaign that raises awareness of the inclusion and contributions of people with developmental disabilities (DD) in all aspects of community life. It highlights ...
Cisa Keller Named New CEO at Think Small
CISA KELLER NAMED NEW CEO AT THINK SMALL Respected Early Childhood Leader and Expert Chosen to Succeed Retiring CEO Barb Yates St. Paul, MN – Today, the Board of Directors ...
Small Talks A Think Small Speaker Series
Recording Small Talks Slides White Paper About the Event Only 30% of Minnesota 8th graders were deemed proficient in reading in a recent national assessment (NCES 2022). Addressing this ...
Books for Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day honors the great Civil Rights leader and has the distinction of being the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service. On this ...
Ramsey County Early Childhood Academy
It’s no secret that Minnesota is in the midst of a child care crisis. Quality child care in Minnesota has become hard to find, hard to secure, and even harder ...
A Message from the President of Think Small Regarding Uvalde, Texas, Shooting
“Our hearts go out to the families and all those affected by this tragic event. Everywhere that children gather or visit should be a safe place without fear of gun violence. Especially now more than ever, we need to be a voice for our children working together to protect schools and to prevent all forms of violence – including gun violence – in our schools.” - Barbara Yates, President and CEO of Think Small
Equity and Inclusion Efforts at Think Small: An Update
My goal is to support the ongoing growth and development of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment for all Think Small Leaders.
Think Small: Celebrating 50 Years, Innovating for the Future
“This is the biggest challenge we face: Can we build an equitable system that prepares all children for kindergarten, or will we continue to shortchange those experiencing opportunity gaps? We ...
Continuing the Juneteenth Dialog: Engaging Young Children and Families After the Federal Holiday
On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday in the United States. The Juneteenth holiday celebrates when the last enslaved African Americans were notified of their freedom on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas...
Wake Up Everybody.
By Dianne Haulcy, Senior Vice President of Family Engagement, Think Small WAKE UP! This morning I woke up with that Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song that became popular ...
Tell Your Early Learning Story: Why It's Important
By Kristie Thorson, Communications Specialist Whether you’re a family child care provider who wants to share a program success or a parent who is struggling to find high-quality care, your ...
Think Small Statement Regarding Family Separations
By Barbara Yates, President and CEO of Think Small As another school year begins, we have another opportunity to reflect on children’s readiness for the learning ahead. Think Small’s strategic ...
Think Small Applauds Relaunching the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet
By Barbara Yates, President and CEO of Think Small Today marks the re-launch of the Minnesota Children’s Cabinet, and I am excited about the possibilities it presents for our youngest ...
Child Care Assistance Makes a Difference: Oliver's Story
By Kristie Thorson, Communications Specialist St. Paul mother Stephanie Henderson knows her son Oliver has benefited from high-quality early care and education. “It was just so great for him,” said ...
Guest Post: Elders Reflect on Evaluation of Early Childhood Programs
Submitted by Jane Kretzmann, on behalf of Elders for Infants (Glenace Edwall, Dave Ellis, Sandy Heidemann, Jim Nicholie, Glen Palm, and Katie Williams). Elders for Infants is comprised of professionals ...
Guest Post: Elders Provide Historical Context on Minnesota's Early Care and Education Landscape
Submitted by Jane Kretzmann, on behalf of Elders for Infants (Glenace Edwall, Dave Ellis, Sandy Heidemann, Jim Nicholie, Glen Palm, and Katie Williams). Elders for Infants is comprised of professionals ...
Child Care Assistance Makes a Difference: Aaron's Story
Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) helps make child care affordable for income-eligible families. This can often be life-changing for children and parents, as it was for the Santamaria Mendez family. Four-year-old Aaron Santamaria ...
Learning from the Data We Seek
Think Small’s mission as a nonprofit is to advance quality care and education of children in their crucial early years. We do this by preparing providers, strengthening families and catalyzing ...
Think Small's Letter to the Department of Homeland Security
We ask the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to stop family separations at the border. Dear Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen, On behalf of Think Small, I ask you ...
Picturing Brighter Futures
By Kristie Thorson At Think Small, we picture a brighter future for Minnesota’s kids. We picture a day when ALL young children have access to high-quality early care and education ...
Small Talks - Elevating the Early Childhood Profession
Small Talks features leaders who share key insights on early childhood education and discuss innovative solutions to early learning issues in Minnesota. By Kristie Thorson “If this is going to ...
Think Small Annual Report: Picturing Brighter Futures
“Our mission is to advance quality care and education of children in their crucial early years.” The theme of our 2017 Report to the Community is ‘Picturing Brighter Futures’ for ...
Think Small Offers Free Information Sessions for Parent Aware Participation
By Susan Schaffhausen In 2017, Think Small undertook new efforts to increase the number of child care providers who devote their care to ensuring children’s health, safety, and best practices ...
Early Sprouts: Growing Great Gardeners
By Kristie Thorson, Communications Specialist There is much more ‘being planted’ in this backyard then simple seeds and seedlings. These Minnesota children, along with their family child care provider, are ...
The Triple Bottom Line of Child Care
The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...
Free Early Childhood Text Messaging Program Offered to Minnesota Parents
Child Care Providers Can Meet Parent Aware Requirement by Encouraging Families to Sign Up When Woodbury parent Amy Raleigh heads to the store with her 4-year old daughter Fiona, she ...
Seven Reasons to be Optimistic About Early Learning in Minnesota
By Todd Otis The benefits of giving children access to high-quality early learning have been proven beyond a doubt. Nobody has been able to dispute that targeted investment in quality ...
Early Learning Investment - Turn Up the Volume!
By Todd Otis The early childhood movement has come a long way in the past twenty years, and has a long way to go. The public now understands the importance ...
Think Small's Publishing Division Wins Big at Midwest Book Awards
Winners of the Midwest Book Awards Gala were announced May 12, 2017, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Think Small’s publishing division, Redleaf Press, took home top honors in three categories: Education/Learning, ...
Celebrating the Debra S. Fish Early Childhood Library!
Did you know Minnesota’s best resources for early childhood professionals are available FREE to you? April 9 – 15 is National Library Week! What a great opportunity to explore a ...
Using LENA to Help Close the Word Gap
By: Gerri Fisher This month marks one year since the start of the Think Small blog. To celebrate, we’re using January to highlight information and initiatives from Think Small and ...
Happy Birthday, Blog!
We’ve moved up a few diaper sizes, mastered crawling, and are transitioning to solid foods and walking. This month marks one year since the start of the Think Small blog. ...
Think Small’s 2017 Legislative Agenda
The 2017 Legislative session starts in less than one month. In preparation, Think Small created our policy priorities. The priorities all support our mission of advancing quality care and education ...
Make a Difference for Give to the Max Day
Think Small is participating in Give to the Max Day on Nov. 17. The annual event, sponsored by GiveMN, encourages Minnesotans to donate to their favorite nonprofits and charities on ...
Celebrate Think Small Day with us!
Governor Mark Dayton has proclaimed today Think Small Day in Minnesota in honor of our 45th Anniversary. Now that’s something to celebrate! It all started with a bus. As more women ...
Think Small Resource Fair: Connecting for Children
Join families, child care providers, and child care centers to discuss what you think about parent engagement. Tell us what changes you’d make, or what you want to remain the ...
Celebrate Think Small's 45th Anniversary at Open House
Think Small is celebrating its 45th Anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 13 with a community open house. The event will be hosted in our new office space in the lower level ...
Closing Opportunity Gaps to Shrink Achievement Gaps
By: Maya Fanjul-Debnam The opportunity gap is one of the biggest obstacles our education system faces today. As highlighted in a Minnpost op-ed written by Think Small President, Barbara Yates: ...
Pathways to Quality: LENA Start Fall 2016 Update
By age three, it’s estimated children from low-income families hear 30 million fewer words than their more well-off peers. This word gap contributes to children from low-income families being less ...
Word Pedometers Brought to Minneapolis to Help Close Word Gap
By: Maya Fanjul-Debnam Minnesota is heralding in an innovative program to help close the word gap. The word gap–a 30 million word deficit between children from low income families and ...
Leaders in Early Learning Bring Concerns to MN House Committee on Child Care
The Minnesota House Select Committee on Affordable Child Care held a hearing on July 19 at the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board office to hear from the community on child ...
Never Give Up on the Children, Regardless of How Hard it Can Get
There is much to mourn over recent weeks, with terrible acts of violence in Louisiana, Texas, and our very own home Minnesota. Current events expose great rifts in our communities, ...
Think Small Bringing Cutting Edge Program for Child Care to Clinton Global Initiative America Meeting
Think Small is thrilled to share new, cutting edge approaches to reducing opportunity and achievement gaps at the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America meeting in Atlanta this month. It’s ...
Early Learning Scholarship Helps Prepare Child for Kindergarten
Meet Lisa Wilson. She is a single mother to a rambunctious 4 year-old. They try hard to make ends meet every month, but sometimes it just didn’t work out. Child ...
Pheng's Story: Spreading the Impact of Parent Empowerment
This is the third in a series of videos showing the impact high-quality early learning has on children, families and child care providers across Minnesota. Check back here for a new ...
Early Learning Scholarship Changes Bobbi's Family Forever
This is the second in a series of videos showing the impact high-quality early learning has on children, families and child care providers across Minnesota. Check back here for a new ...