Community Cultivators Archives - Early Learning Nation

Bird by Bird: Mya-Rose Craig’s Campaign for the Planet

Mark Swartz·Aug 7, 2019·4 min read

Mya-Rose Craig, 17-years old, has followed her passion for birds and the environment to create and galvanize a community of activists of all ages. In the process, as a young Muslim woman, she’s been trolled on social media. Not an insurmountable problem, though, as Mya-Rose is keeping her eye on a larger issue: saving the planet.

“Reading Prepares You for Your Destiny:” 5 Literacy and Life Lessons from Darryl McDaniels

Mark Swartz·May 3, 2022·4 min read

Darryl McDaniels might strike some as an unlikely ambassador for early literacy. Today, McDaniels, 57, is exercising his education muscle with a vocabulary-building series from Noggin called “What’s the Word?”

Tiffany Shlain’s Vision for Building Community

Embrace Beauty, Be Present, Always Carry a Notebook

Mark Swartz·Aug 27, 2019·5 min read

This is the fourth entry in Early Learning Nation’s Community Cultivators series, and you would think, by now, we’d have...

Jessica Meir’s Five Rules for Being a Good Earthling

One Half of the World’s First All-Female Space Walking Duo Returns to Solid Ground

Mark Swartz·Oct 13, 2020·4 min read

During her 205 days on the International Space Station, astronaut Jessica Meir had a little green friend. It wasn’t a Martian, it was mizuna lettuce that she tended as part of an experiment. “There was definitely a psychological component of having something green we could take care of,” she says. “We also got to eat it.”

Good and Good for You: Ellie Krieger’s 5 Food Tips for Children and Families

Mark Swartz·Sep 3, 2021·5 min read

It all started with a spanakopita. Ellie Krieger was about eight years old, and her mother and aunt took her...

Parents and Caregivers Are Vital to Children’s Early Learning and Development

A team at the University of Chicago's TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health is building resources to help them understand brain development.

K.C. Compton·Dec 10, 2024·7 min read

Tune in, talk more, take turns is good advice for anyone hoping to build their conversational skills. It is also...

Kyle Zimmer Builds Community of Educators on Frontlines of Economic and Educational Justice

Mark Swartz·Oct 29, 2019·9 min read

In the late 1980s, as Washington, D.C., endured the crack era, Kyle Zimmer felt compelled to do something to help...

The Songs That Saved Mary Gauthier

A New Memoir, Plus Songwriting with Soldiers

Mark Swartz·Jul 20, 2021·6 min read

“Music is very, very important for brain development,” Mary Gauthier states. “Especially when you sing together.”

Rhythm, Blues and the Revolutionary Power of Creativity

Mark Swartz·Apr 21, 2023·5 min read

Just as Early Learning Nation showcases the ways families, researchers and grassroots nonprofits and organizations are building an early learning...

Author Bruce Perry and the Neuroscience Insights We Need Today

Mark Swartz·Feb 8, 2023·8 min read

A decade ago, early childhood advocacy could be a lonely pursuit. “It felt like we were talking to an empty auditorium,” says Bruce D. Perry, MD, Ph.D. “Now there are more people in the auditorium. They’re recognizing the power of early childhood, the importance of creating policy and practice that will benefit children and that will meet the needs of the adults who are caring for young children.”