Children, Families, and Early Childhood Educators invited to access virtual resources celebrating young children

Starting Monday, April 4^th, Somerville will join communities across the nation in celebrating the Week of the Young Child. Sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Week of the Young Child is a way to celebrate young children and the important role that early education plays in preparing our youngest learners for a lifetime of success. This year’s Somerville event will be virtual and all are invited to be part of recognizing and celebrating Somerville’s youngest residents.

Children across the city will have an opportunity to learn about Somerville’s new Mayor, Katjana Ballantyne, through a social story that describes her personal immigrant journey from Greece to her new country, her new home, and to becoming Mayor of the City of Somerville. The Somerville Family Learning Collaborative partnered with Mayor Ballantyne to write the social story. To view or print multilingual copies of the story, please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/woyc. Starting April 4th, video links will also be available to listen to this story, “Hello from the Mayor”, narrated in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole, along with a multilingual performance by Maura Mendoza of the song “Hello to the Mayor”.

As part of the Week of the Young Child celebration, we invite Somerville children to draw a picture answering one or both of the questions the Mayor asks in her story:

“What do you do to help people now?

How will you help people when you are grown up?”

Parents and guardians are invited to share their children’s work on social media using the hashtag #SomWOYC22. You can also email your child’s artwork to rronen@k12.somerville.ma.us or mail the artwork to the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative, c/o Nomi Davidson at 8 Bonair Street, Somerville, MA 02145. We will be compiling responses through April 30^th and will share the gallery through the Somerville Public Schools website.

Somerville’s Week of the Young Child celebration is a collaboration of the Somerville Public Schools (SPS), SomerPromise, the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC) and Somerville Partnership for Young Children.

-Somerville Public Schools