A trip to the New York Public Library's Children's Books exhibit

A trip to this magnificent edifice (now named after financier Stephen A. Schwarzman) has always been special, but never more significant to me than when it involves children and reading.  Some of my fondest memories are of my mother reading to me and the pleasurable hours I spent snuggled up with and reading to my own child. Although we visited our local branch often, our visit to the 42nd Street library was mainly to visit the map room, one of the most visually interesting rooms for a child in that building.  If you haven't been to the main library recently, I highly recommend you go see the current exhibit.
 
From now until March 23, 2014 the library has on display a sympathetic exhibit...a comprehensive homage to children's books. On display are many of the books that you or your children read while growing up, along with photographs of some of the authors or their subjects, personal letters, interactive touch screens and plenty of loose books or comics that you can pick up and read.  Here you'll find Mary Poppins, a video of Eric Carle showing how he made "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Fun with Dick and Jane," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," a sky-high tower of books (including Anne Frank's diary) that were once censored,  Edward Stratemeyer's Bobbsey Twins/Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, L. Frank Baum's Oz series, "Charlotte's Web," Peter Rabbit/Beatrix Potter, "Goodnight, Moon" (which has a life-sized replica of the great green room from the book, seen below).

Take a random walk through the interesting arrangement of galleries.  Each book or genre or famous author has its own vignette of a space.  One of my personal favorites was a gigantic gift box that you can enter, with a single book prominently displayed: a Little Golden Book that was, in fact, given to my son as a gift -- "The Poky Little Puppy."

Although I visit the Bank Street College of Education several days a year (to display Discovery Toys), I had no idea how influential it was in the early days of picture books. Its founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell observed that children live in a world largely based on their immediate surroundings and their development as healthy, socially and emotionally secure "whole children" was fundamental.  Books like "Goodnight Moon" and the Steichen's "The First Picture Book" are based on that.

Below the set of unit blocks is a photograph by Edward Steichen's based on those blocks.  The card next to the blocks explains that nearly 100 years ago Caroline Pratt, founder of City and Country School in Greenwich Village (and collaborator with Lucy Sprague Mitchell in the Bureau of Educational Experiences), invented unit blocks like these to provide "open-ended play." (Incidentally, that's the term Lane Nemeth used for her Discovery Toys...meaning there's no right way or wrong way to play with these materials, and no age limit: as a child ages they find new uses.) This same concept inspired him to leave the left-hand page blank so grown-up and child together could fill in their own dialogue.

 






In the 1940s Pooh author A. A. Milne donated the collection of original Winnie-the-Pooh dolls (including Pooh's friends Kanga, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet) to the American publisher E. P. Dutton. The dolls were then donated to the library in 1988 and were displayed behind bulletproof glass in the Children’s Reading Room at the Donnell branch in Rockefeller Center.

If you've been wondering what happened to the beloved Winnie-the-Pooh dolls since the Donnell Library Center closed in August 2008, you have a chance to see them again in this exhibit.

Before you go, I highly recommend reading Edward Rothstein's review,"Bedtime With Puritans and Wild Things--Public Library’s ‘ABC of It’ Looks at Children’s Books."

discovery toys Mystery Hostess Party--you're invited

Scott Stringer's education survey

Many of my readers are parents, and many of them reside in New York City. If you are in that demographic and have a child in NYC public schools, I urge you to take a quick minute to respond to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's online survey. He wrote:

"With new leadership of our New York City public schools, my office is eager to hear what parents, guardians, students, principals and teachers think should be the top priorities over the next three years for the Department of Education. To get the conversation started, my office has launched a virtual town hall, "Your School, Your Voice."

After clicking the link below, you will be asked to answer four questions and share some basic demographic information. You will have an opportunity to provide additional feedback prior to submitting your responses. All information will be kept anonymous.

Click here to participate in this virtual town hall: “Your School, Your Voice.”

Discovery Toys press release Fall 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DISCOVERY TOYS averts crisis for children to think, learn, and compete today!

Livermore, CA, October 2010 -

One esteemed California company is on a mission to save what they believe is quickly becoming an endangered species – children who can think for themselves!

According to Discovery Toys, LLC, a 32 year old direct sales educational toy company, we are faced with a growing crisis in our children’s ability to THINK and LEARN today. The U.S. high school graduation rate ranks near the BOTTOM of developed nations.(1) On virtually every international assessment of academic proficiency, American secondary school students’ performance varies from mediocre to poor.(1)

The impact is being felt in the economic sector, as concerns continue to mount about global competition. Discovery Toys believes it can help reverse this alarming trend with a renewed focus on how children LEARN through PLAY and how PARENTS can make a difference in reversing this trend.

“Many children today are no longer in charge of their own learning, nor developing their brains for higher learning as they grow,” states Jeremy Hobbs, Chairman of Discovery Toys, LLC. During the highly critical developmental years, a typical child spends a considerable amount of time in front of a television, a computer and playing with video games. While children find these products engaging and fun, the experience they have is guided and controlled, for the most part, by adults who program them! In addition, parents are trained to believe that more structured activities, such as sports , are an ideal way to raise their children. “We are not proposing that parents dispose of their electronic toys or pull their children out of sports,” says Mr. Hobbs. “What we want parents to realize is that unlike the play we experienced as kids, which was driven by our own youthful imaginations in the backyard or on the playground, much of today’s play has evolved into adult-directed play.”

Discovery Toys believes learning through play is the way to change this and save our kids. DT offers hands-on, child-powered learning toys, books and games, including such signature classics as Measure Up!® Cups, Busy Bugs, and Marbleworks®, that allow the child’s brain to be in charge of the play experience. Dr. Jane Healy, Ph.D. and other prominent child psychologists advise that object play is critical for future learning success. With 3-D objects, a child develops a plan for how to use the objects and then executes the plan, developing ideation, creativity, problem-solving and a host of other thinking skills. A child playing with Marbleworks® discovers how the various components fit and function together, dreams up a new tower configuration, and proceeds to build the tower through experimentation and coordination. Kinesthetic, or hands-on play, gives control to the child, who can learn at his or her own pace—thinking, strategizing, and creating on their own, to develop a stronger foundation for future academic success.

“Discovery Toys has a mission to teach, play and inspire children and parents alike,” shares Meryl Holland, Chief Creative Officer. The company’s several thousand independent distributors across the U.S. and Canada offer toys that invite and encourage parents to participate as coaches and guides, but ultimately to encourage the child to take charge of their play. Discovery Toys products are developed for open ended play where children are encouraged to try different things, arrange different shapes, create patterns, share, play games and, ultimately, learn.

“While an array of experts across North America try to address the performance of our young students with standardized testing, more technology, more homework, and more structure,” says Ms. Holland, “Discovery Toys believes a key part of the solution lies in hands-on play, delivered with rich Layers of Learning and parent participation. We need to re-educate parents that child-powered toys, which no one does better than Discovery Toys, is the key to future learning success.” With the minds of our youngest generation at stake, it’s certainly worth a try.

To learn more about Discovery Toys and its line of child-powered learning toys, visit www.toysofdiscovery.com
or contact Billie at billietoy@gmail.com

(1) Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008 Fact Sheet, How Does the United States Stack Up?

Discovery Toys opportunity comes to Chicago

Chicago Opportunity Blitz! Join our team April 21-26th

Discovery Toys, the foremost direct sales / network marketer of educational toys, is offering an opportunity for those passionate about children and education and a desire for extra income. The goal: to help parents help their children learn through play, and help parents, grandparents, and teachers supplement their current income or even start a new career.

We are going to be in Chicago from Wednesday April 21st until Monday the 26th. The purpose of our trip is to grow the Chicago area Discovery Toys team. We'll be exhibiting our products and marketing materials in a swank Oak Brook hotel. Easy access and parking for everyone.

Advance RSVP required: email Billie -- billietoy@gmail.com
Please email for additional details.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO
Who do you know in the Chicago area who you think might be interested in a fabulous home based business they can do around their family's needs? Contact them and invite them to attend or give us their info and we'll do it for you.

OUR PART
You may have your prospects contact us directly, if you prefer, or we would be happy to contact them, answer any questions and invite them to our showing. When they decide to join, they will, of course, become YOUR team member. We are sharing this with all of you because if you have any connections with people in the Chicago area who might consider joining Discovery Toys, please let us know! We have teamed up with Sherre B. (longtime leader in our family from Chicago) and are available to meet and greet, show prospects our fabulous toys, answer any questions--and schedule Success Start trainings for those who are ready to go.

We will schedule a time all day Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday morning that is convenient for them.

THE BACK STORY
We started brainstorming about building up the Chicago area -- especially with the Discovery Toys Convention being in Chicago this summer. This is an area that has supported many huge organizations in the past and is ripe for growing. The opportunity to "success start" a lot of folks this spring and early summer who could then quantum leap their business by attending Convention in their backyard just made sense!

We are really excited about this trip! We hope to hear from you so we can help you build your teams. Call your Chicago area prospects today!

Seth Berg, FIRST Dean's Award Winner

On Feb. 27 I told you about the local FIRST international robotics competition that outstanding math and science students from the New York area were participating in. Yesterday, the championships were underway at Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

My son's team mate and the president of engineering for the Stuyvesant High School team, Seth Berg, was honored by Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, along with 9 other students from FIRST for being an exemplary student. His team writes, "The award is given to students who are '...examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission.'

"Seth has done an incredible job leading the team for the past two years and the team could not be more proud of all he's done and the recognition he received today. Because of the award, our team will have reduced registration fees for one regional next year. In addition, Seth gained the team some air time on news channel NY1 which can be found here:

http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/top_stories/117066/city-students-face-off-in-national-robotics-competition "

If you're in Atlanta, come on out to the Georgia Dome today and tomorrow for more qualifying matches and award ceremonies. Stuyvesant High is still in the running for the Chairman's and Engineering Inspiration awards. Come cheer them on. Free and open to the public!!

Go 694!

NYC FIRST Competition

Because I'm a proud mama of a child raised on Discovery Toys, I am happy to announce his participation in his school's Robotics team, Stuy 694, at the 10th anniversary of New York City FIRST!

Learn more about FIRST and how it impacts kids interested in technology, math and science, and hear what Dean Kamen told Anderson Cooper on AC360 about innovation. You can also see what PBS Newshour had to say about FIRST.

You can be part of the biggest celebration of its kind in New York City - four major student technology events under one roof. New York City FIRST's Mega Celebration is the biggest FIRST event in the world, second only to the FIRST World Championship at the Georgia Dome, in Atlanta.

Join us in celebrating our City's kids working smart in science and technology. Help inspire young men and women to go on to further studies and careers in science and technology.

This event is free and open to the public.

2010 New York City FIRST Mega-Celebration

Celebrating young men and women
working smart in
science and technology

Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14
9:00am to 4:00pm

Jacob Javits Convention Center
New York, NY

NYC FIRST Robotics Competition
Saturday, March 13 & Sunday, March 14

Sixty-four competing high school robotics teams of future technologists and entrepreneurs.

NYC FIRST LEGO League Championship
Sunday, March 14
Eighty middle school teams, exploring alternative transportation systems selected from among 220 winning teams from across the City.

NYC FIRST Tech Challenge Championship
Saturday, March 13
Forty-eight high school robotics teams putting their technical and teamwork skills to the test.

NYC FIRST
Science & Technology Career Expo
Friday, March 12, through Sunday March 14
Fifty exhibitors, including colleges and universities and NYC FIRST sponsors informing students about careers in science and technology.

MAJOR SPONSORS:
(as of February 24, 2010)

Platinum
Bloomberg
Credit Suisse
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs employees

Gold
Con Edison
Google
Hearst Foundations
JPMorgan Chase
Two Sigma Investments

Silver
Michael Dubno
Johnson & Johnson
Newman's Own
NYSE Foundation
Milgo Bufkin
Port Authority of NY & NJ
Josh & Judy Weston

Bronze
Ackman Family Foundation
Bezos Family Foundation
David L. Klein Jr., Foundation
Jerry Callaghan
NASA
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp.
Pershing Square Foundation
Polytechnic Institute of NYU

Fresh Air Fund

"We made s'mores and hot dogs over the fire. I've never cooked outside before!"

Fresh Air children are boys and girls, six to 18 years old, who live in New York City. Children on first-time visits are six to 12 years old and stay for either one or two weeks. Youngsters who are re-invited by the same family may continue with The Fund through age 18, and many enjoy longer summertime visits, year after year. A visit to the home of a warm and loving volunteer host family can make all the difference in the world to an inner-city child. All it takes to create lifelong memories is laughing in the sunshine and making new friends.

The majority of Fresh Air children are from low-income communities. These are often families without the resources to send their children on summer vacations. Most inner-city youngsters grow up in towering apartment buildings without large, open outdoor play spaces. Concrete playgrounds cannot replace the freedom of running barefoot through the grass or riding bikes down country lanes.

Fresh Air children are registered by more than 90 participating social service and community organizations located in disadvantaged neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City. These community-based agencies are in close contact with children in need of summer experiences in rural and suburban areas. Each agency is responsible for registering children for the program.

What do Fresh Air children enjoy?
Playing in the backyard
Laughing in the sunshine
Catching fireflies
Riding bicycles
Learning to swim
Building sandcastles
Making new friends
Simple pleasures of life away from the inner-city

If you do decide to sponsor a child, please consult my Discovery Toys website for some great outdoor toys you can play with.

World-class education

Did you watch the President's first State of the Union address Wednesday night? In it, he spoke about education, the lagging emphasis on math and science in our schools and America's risk of falling behind if we don't make education an affordable priority. My favorite line was, "The best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education." Who could disagree?

Back in July 2009, I provided the alarming statistics of where America's teens were ranked internationally in math and science. What are the other countries doing differently? Finland was ranked #1 in both math and science in the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Are more moms in Finland staying home and playing with their babies? (The next results, PISA 2009 National Report, won't be released until December 2010. )

Why not help your child get a head start by playing and reading every chance you get? Using Discovery Toys takes the guess-work out of choosing the right toys. Our experts rate the toys by the developmental abilities of particular age-ranges and by the skills developed. Today's pre-schoolers and school age children are tomorrow's scholars. Start now!

Consumer Product Safety Commission as Grinch?

In her article in The Wall Street Journal on 12/24/09, There Is No Joy in Toyland, Anne M. Northup suggests, "The overreach of a child-safety law is killing American jobs and businesses. It's not too late for some common-sense changes."

In February 2009, I reported on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's policy regarding limits of lead levels in children's products. Little did we realize at that time that many small toy concerns would be forced to eliminate jobs or to shut down their businesses completely, due to the cost of enforcing the policy. It seems the unscientific folks in Congress didn't realize that a zipper may contain lead that is not able to be easily absorbed into a child's bloodstream, unlike lead in paint. They also made the requirements so stringent that it bans some toys with less lead than the Food and Drug Administration allows in a piece of candy. Fortunately, the commission has agreed to take another look at such things as treating a 12-year-old toy and an infant toy identically.

In its 31 year history, Discovery Toys can boast no recalls. Read about their quality and safety promise. I wish that some of the larger manufacturers' greed hadn't spoiled it for an entire industry. At least when you shop with us, you know you're buying something that is safe and fun for your child.

Discovery Toys donates $500K to Toys for Tots

Discovery Toys Steps It Up! to Make Sure Deserving Kids Celebrate with Toys this Holiday Season!

Discovery Toys, longtime Sponsor and Partner of Toys for Tots, was in the midst of readying their annual toy donation last week when members of the Concord, California, Marine Reserve Unit arrived at our warehouse and related the toll that the economic crisis has taken on the local Toys for Tots area drive this holiday season. With many businesses shut down this year and many more not able to support the annual T4T drive as in years past…they needed over 20,000 toys in one week to meet their goal…it looked as though the Holidays were likely not to be so jolly!

Every year Discovery Toys makes a firm commitment to donate at least 2500 toys or $50,000 to Toys for Tots! This year the dock was loaded with over 3000 toys at the time of pick-up! Upon hearing this story, though, Discovery Toys leaders and staff made a very quick decision to do more…

This year we literally opened our warehouse to giving…and loaded palettes of toys, books, games, and more, to exceed the Toys for Tots need! Monday, December 14, 2009, over 27,000 products left our company warehouse with a retail value of $500,000 - ten times our customary donation!

At Discovery Toys, we believe in giving back to our communities and partnering with causes that bring education and joy to children everywhere. Thank you, Toys for Tots, for doing what you do to help us contribute our share!

The Play's the thing

When I first moved into the neighborhood, Union Square was riddled with homeless people, addicts and rats. By the time my son was born, the park had been cleaned up and refurbished, thanks to the folks who built nearby Zeckendorf Towers. They pumped a lot of money into the subway station beneath them, and the immediate area, in an effort to make their building desirable. This started the domino effect of the entire neighborhood gradually changing, and the area now sports a Barnes and Noble superstore, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, a 14-screen multiplex cinema, 3 Starbucks, Cosi, and the super cool ABC Carpet and Home. When we started using the playground inside the park, there were 2 distinct areas: one for toddlers, one for older kids. Woe be the mom who had to have one foot in the east playground and her other foot in the west if she had 2 kids a couple years apart. That all changed today when the Union Square Partnership declared,

"We are pleased to announce that Manhattan's newest showpiece, the 15,000-square-foot Union Square Park playground, opened at 12:00 PM today to the delight of neighborhood kids. The playground consists of three outdoor "rooms" dedicated to children of different age groups, and features state-of-the-art play equipment and beautifully landscaped gardens designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Open year-round from 8:00 AM to dusk, the play space is three times the size of the previous bi-furcated play areas, and is accessible at several points along the repaved and landscaped 16th Street transverse. Special thanks to our partners at the Mayor's Office, the City's Department of Parks & Recreation, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Architecture Research Office, Hill International, and Padilla Construction as well as Community Board 5, area elected officials, the project's donors and countless supporters for bringing this exciting new amenity to fruition for our littlest constituents.

In other North End Project news, the transverse, which opened earlier this month, includes new asphalt pavers and crushed bluestone, which allows the stately elm trees along the transverse to thrive while removing the previous trip hazard, and the entrance to the center lawn is now ADA-accessible. Work at the site will now focus on the restroom facility and the Pavilion in order to open these structures as soon as possible. The new restrooms, including the dedicated playground bathroom, are nearing completion as all plumbing and most interior finishes have been installed. Crews are awaiting the fabrication of doors, screens and stainless steel fencing to enclose the structure before opening to the public. Over at the Pavilion, the difficult task of graffiti removal finally bore fruit as the building's limestone facade now looks practically brand new. Plumbing, electric and heating systems are in place, leaving interior finishes to be completed on both the basement and ground floor levels. The bulk of remaining work on the building involves substantial structural repair and restoration work to ceiling beams and three of the exterior columns."

Playtime will never be the same!

No recalls

Discovery Toys: 31 years and no recalls.
Maclaren recalls 1 million strollers. Get the free repair kit and read the news here.

OHNY: It's Time to Play

This weekend marks the return of openhousenewyork for its 7th year of free access to NYC's best architecture and design venues. There are many kid-centered activities, but as your toy lady, I'm most interested in telling you about "It's Time to Play" at the Queens King Manor Museum on Jamaica Avenue and 153rd Street where kids will be able to play games from the 18th & 19th centuries. Subway: E, J or Z train to Jamaica Center or F to Parsons Blvd. AirTrain to Jamaica Station, walk one block north to Jamaica Ave. 4 blocks east to 150th St. Visit www.OHNY.org for more info.

Oh, and after you're done playing old-fashioned games, step back into the 21st century and try our new board games: Friendship Island, Play to be Safe or Labyrinth.

Need suggestions for special child

I received a note from someone seeking advice as the home school teacher of an 11-year-old boy. He writes,

He was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder that makes him a fairly unique case. He's not mentally retarded, but he's very far behind in his language development because he was unable to hear until about age 8 (he hears fine now with hearing aids). He's at a mid-fourth-grade math level, but a mid-first-grade reading level because he started learning to read just last year. He has somewhat short stature, a somewhat large head, large eyes and a small nose---other 11-year-olds might describe him as funny-looking, but I wouldn't say he's desperately so. His voice is very nasal and he has an odd speech impediment, but he's talkative and can be understood relatively easily.

He's outgoing, kind, humorous, well-behaved, and well-adjusted.

Since he's home-schooled, I want to find opportunities for him to socialize. I suspect that groups of non-disabled 11-year-olds would tend to disinclude or bully him because of the way he looks and sounds, so I'm most interested to find groups or activities for kids with special needs. (Or, if there were a "mainstream" venue for socialization that could assure he'd be meaningfully included, I'd be interested in that too.) Sports and music come to mind as good activities for him, but I'd be open to other ideas.

If you have any general ideas, please comment. Specific ideas for lower Manhattan are especially welcome.

Big Apple for little kids

I love my city and am glad MommyBlog and her family enjoyed it, too. People don’t realize what a great place it is for kids to visit. Even though I sell Discovery Toys, I often send people to the Times Square ToysrUs where there’s an indoor ferris wheel and American Girl Place where you can dine with your dolly and have her hair styled. You can rent model sailboats to sail in Central Park, rent rowboats or borrow free fishing poles at the Harlem Meer at the northern edge of the Park. Plus we have that Lady in the Harbor, and Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes. Please tell all your friends to come and visit the Big Apple, the city that doesn’t sleep.

Discovery Toys Opportunity Session

Discovery Toys Brings Opportunity and Play to Central Jersey Sept. 12

Who:

Discovery Toys, the foremost direct sales / network marketer of educational toys, is offering an opportunity for those passionate about children and education and a desire for extra income. A refreshed company with new learning products, a new engaging website and a new compensation plan to stimulate immediate earnings, all designed to help their Educational Sales Consultants reach more consumers and create more viable job opportunities than ever before. The goal: to help parents help their children learn through play, and help parents, grandparents, and teachers supplement their current income or even start a new career.

What:

In Central New Jersey, Discovery Toys Fall Kick-Off is opening its doors to the public. All are invited to come discover an income opportunity in a friendly community environment, meet the company Chairman and others who work with DT, and get more information about becoming part of the Discovery Toys team.

When:

Saturday, September 12

Public invited: 9:30-11:30AM. Information session begins promptly at 9:30.

Where:

Clark, NJ

Public RSVP:

Advance RSVP required to: Billie billietoy@gmail.com
Please email for additional details.

Background:

For over three decades, Discovery Toys has been the most trusted and respected direct sales company for quality, award-winning educational toys. It all began when an early childhood educator first brought together a group of dedicated teachers, mothers and parents to take on the important topic of early education for children through play. Today they remain the premier home-based business for those wishing to balance family life with a fun, flexible career that encourages families everywhere to spend time playing with their children.

Details:

From President Obama to TV personalities, everyone is raising awareness on the need for parents to engage young children in the love of learning from early childhood. Discovery Toys creates a unique opportunity in the current economic climate for new income and career opportunities while it helps further the education of the coming generation.

The tagline Teach. Play. Inspire. reflects the company’s core beliefs and very reason for being: teaching and inspiring through play every day.

Early Learning Challenge Fund

President Obama in his remarks to the NAACP on July 16 issued the following challenge for early childhood education,

"And we should raise the bar when it comes to early learning programs... Today, some early learning programs are excellent. Some are mediocre. And some are wasting what studies show are – by far – a child's most formative years.

That's why I have issued a challenge to America's governors: if you match the success of states like Pennsylvania and develop an effective model for early learning; if you focus reform on standards and results in early learning programs; if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to meet the highest standards of success – then you can compete for an Early Learning Challenge Grant that will help prepare all our children to enter kindergarten ready to learn."

His administration was prepared to offer grants totaling $10 billion over a ten year period, but the House Education and Labor committee recently authorized $8B over 8 years. You can read about the requirements of model systems and the two tiers of grants (one for states that are already on the right path, and another for states that have been lagging in this area) that are planned at The Early Learning Challenge Fund on the Department of Education's website.

National Journal online invited comments from experts such as Chester E. Finn, Jr. President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute and David L. Kirp, Professor, University of California (Berkeley), on whether this "standards based, outcome driven" method was the way to go. Most agreed with the method, particularly the 2-tiered approach, but some were a bit skeptical. You'll want to read what the education experts had to say for yourself.

You may remember in a previous article I lamented the slipping math and science test scores of our high school students and how it all relates back to early childhood education. This is the time when the brain is developing at its most rapid rate and why more attention needs to be paid to this critical period. Acting early can save society later on in terms of costs of unemployment, crime and lack of productivity.

Many organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have done research showing the cost to society later on if we don't beef up the early education for our most disadvantaged children. Dr. James Heckman, the Nobel Laureate, in his paper with Dimitriy Masterov entitled, "The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children. Working Paper No. 5. Invest in Kids Working Group. 4 October 2004. Committee for Economic Development." tells us that "Three of the best documented studies of interventions directed toward children in low-income families with long term follow-up find that participants experienced increased achievement test scores and high school graduation, and decreased grade retention, time in special education, crime and delinquency... The estimated rate of return on one such program is 16%, much higher than any other type of program targeted at low-ability children that has been carefully evaluated.... Extending the program to all of the 4 million children under 5 who are currently living under the poverty line would yield an estimated private net benefit of $4.6 billion for boys and $97.8 billion for girls. For the general public, the estimated net benefits are $254.4 billion and $154.8 billion, respectively."

About Discovery Toys

As astonishing as it may seem to those of us who have been working at building this brand for many years, there are still a couple of people who don't know us. This is for them.

Discovery Toys is an educational/developmental toy company that's been around for 30 years (I've been with them for 14, since my son was an infant). There are no stores; toys are sold by moms (and a few dads) like me who work from home. We build teams of educational consultants who we coach and train (and also earn on). There are educational consultants in all 50 states (and Canada), but we can each sell anywhere we choose. Many consultants have home parties. I, personally, sell product at church/synagogue boutiques, in hospital lobbies, private schools and daycares and wherever children, parents, occupational therapists are found. I hand deliver gift baskets (I ship, too) and also make house-calls and do personal shopping appointments for busy executives at their offices. In other words, I bring the "store" to my customers and offer unsurpassed customer service. The company stands behind each of us with their unconditional guarantee and quality safety/testing procedures.

These developmentally appropriate toys (for birth to age 10) build self-esteem, cooperative play, social and emotional intelligence, while being wholesome and fun. Many of the toys are not language specific (e.g., a French child derives the same play value as a Chinese child). They encourage a love of learning and literacy that lasts a lifetime.

Established in 1978, Discovery Toys has received over 165 awards from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, Dr. Toy, and other highly recognized educators and parenting organizations, for its original products such as Marbleworks and Tangiball. In addition, many products have been acknowledged by Dr. Patricia Krantz, of the Princeton Child Development Institute, as being useful in addressing the six weakest developmental areas in children with autism.

We are having an "opportunity session" at a hotel in Clark, NJ on Saturday, September 12, if you would like to meet us. We'll be explaining how it all works and signing people up on the spot. Our starter kit, usually $125 (+shipping&tax) is only $99 right now (August). You get $370 in product and business tools, 60 catalogs, and can start with as little as $25 down. Contact Billie at billietoy@gmail.com

200th birthday of Alfred, Lord Tennyson

For all my literary readers in NYC, check out this performance, Thurs. Aug. 6. Details at http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/home.asp

ENOCH ARDEN; A CELEBRATION OF THE 200TH BIRTHDAY OF ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Audrey St. Gil, pianist ; Paul Hecht, actor
Enoch Arden with text by Tennyson and score for piano by Richard Strauss.

We have reason to believe this is the only celebration on this side of the pond of Alfred Lord Tennyson's 200th birthday.

"Enoch Arden" is a poem published in 1864 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, during his tenure as England's Poet Laureate.

The hero of the poem, fisherman turned merchant sailor Enoch Arden, leaves his wife Annie and three children to go to sea with his old captain, who is offering him work.

He finds upon his return from the sea that, after his long absence, his wife, who believed him dead, is married happily to another man, his childhood friend Philip, and has a child by him.

The story could be considered a variation on and antithesis to the Classical myth of Odysseus, who after an absence of twenty years at sea found a faithful wife who had been loyally waiting for him.