Early Childhood: Resources

For maximum impact with our work in the community, VPM will partner with organizations who are able to incorporate The Basics™ initiative directly into their existing work.

The Basics™ is a public health messaging campaign developed by the Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative and Dr. Ronald Ferguson, designed to improve learning outcomes for all families. The Basics focuses on five key caregiving behaviors that are important for cognitive and social-emotional development of children, birth to age five. With these 5 principles in mind, caregivers play and interact with children while laying the foundation for future growth and learning, giving every child a more equitable start in life.

Trauma Resources for Families and Educators

VPM Early Childhood Care and Education supports families, educators, and the community with resources to help navigate traumatic experiences.

Sesame Workshop, along with other resources are listed below to support you through these difficult times:

• What Are Traumatic Experiences?
• Sesame Workshop: Helping Kids Deal with Grief
• Families Help Each Other: Emergencies
• B.U.C.K. Squad

Tools from PBS KIDS

With tools from PBS KIDS, explore ways to integrate media-rich lesson plans in your classroom and empower students to expand their natural curiosity and understanding of the seasons.

Now available in English and Español.

Learn to Build Classroom Community

The things we do today manifest a better tomorrow. Starting conversations about the people and heroes in our world can foster values of, and an appreciation for, stewardship, activism, diversity and kindness in our youngest learners. Check out these resources for clear pathways to connect with your students, have important conversations, and inspire our leaders of tomorrow!

Black Excellence

VPM celebrates Black history, culture, and excellence through powerful documentaries, podcasts, specials and more. Explore stories of triumph, adversity, and achievement on VPM PBS, VPM News, VPM Music and social media @myVPM.

What is Toxic Stress?

Stress is called toxic when it is continuous and does not stop; when there are not supportive relationships in place to help us manage the stress we are feeling. To understand more about toxic stress or what to do about it in our lives, watch this short video.