NEXTGEN August - September 2020

August - September 2020

ADDING TO THE FLEET!

THE WORLD IS THEIR OYSTER..

A QUEST TO END POVERTY

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Contents

August - September 2020

PUBLISHER

EARLY LEARNING COALITION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EDITOR Darrell King

GUBERNATORIAL APPOINTEES Adam Mohammadbhoy (Chairman) Robert Bell (Secretary/Treasurer) Andrew Minor

Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County

PRODUCTION EDITOR Kelly Harbour DESIGN EDITOR Mara Stork PHOTOGRAPHY Whitney Patton Wendy Dewhurst

PRIVATE SECTOR APPOINTED MEMBERS Joseph Miller, James R. Chatham, M.D., Diane Neeves, Lupita Wells, Len Tabicman, Michael Rampino, Christina Riggio, Karen Carpenter

4 ADDING TO THE FLEET! ELC’S new mobile classroom 12 EXECUTIVELY SPEAKING Superintendent message…

14 VISION IN THE DIGITAL AGE…

COMPETITION ENTRIES competitions@nextgenmagazine.org

LEGISLATIVELY REQUIRED MEMBERS Rachel Kendzior Children With Disabilities Program Representative Annette Larkin Private, For-Profit Provider Representative Dr. Robin Thompson Manatee County School Board Designee Jennifer Passmore Board of County Commissioners' Appointee Kathy Patreka Head Start Director Maritza Gonzalez Department of Children and Families Designee James Disbro CareerSource Suncoast Dr. Carla McGill County Health Department Designee Dr. April Fleming Florida College System Designee Marjani Jones Faith-Based Provider Representative Paul Sharff Chief Executive Officer

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES advertising@nextgenmagazine.org

SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE BOARD Linda Guritz

70 Kids in the Kitchen

ADVERTISING SUBMISSIONS adsubmissions@nextgenmagazine.org

MANATEE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION Dave Miner, Scott Hopes, Charlie Kennedy, Gina Messenger, Rev. James Golden, Cynthia Saunders, Superintendent

71 Calendar of Events September 2020

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kara Chalmers, Amy Bell, Carlee Colonneso, Ana Rodriguez, Bre Jones Mulock, Sophie Williams, Dr. Sharon Otis, Katelyn Disbro CALENDAR OF FAMILY EVENTS Bradenton Macaroni Kid: Denise Granata ADVERTISING SALES Kelly Stasurak: kstasurak@elc-manatee.org PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION PCI Communications, Inc.

CONTACT NEXTGEN

EDITORIAL................................ 941-757-2912 ADVERTISING..........................941-212-4988 FAX........................................ 941-757-2917 EDITOR editor@nextgenmagazine.org

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS articles@nextgenmagazine.org

24 BON APPETIT… The World is their Oyster 31 ELC INSIDER SECTION! 32 CHILDREN’S CHAMPIONS The Untold First Responders 40 ELC RESPONS TO COVID 19 61 On the Bookshelf 62 BEYOND GENEROUS Peg Delegato and her quest…

68 Fun Kids Craft

74 ASK DR. SHARON… The best advice for parents 75 BRIDGING THE DIVIDE… 78 MANATEE’S GOT TALENT A star in the making 81 GRADE LEVEL READING LATEST… NEXTGEN and the Early Learning Coalition do not endorse or warrant any products or services contained herein, unless otherwise expressly noted. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors. Submitted materials will not be returned. Whole or part of this publication may not be used or duplicated in any way without written permission from the Early Learning Coalition.

The Early Learning Coalition is a 501-C (3) nonprofit organization committed to ensuring affordable and creditable early child care and early education through School Readiness and Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) programs.

Sponsorship by the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County and the State of Florida, Office of Early Learning and Manatee County Government.

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ADDING TO THE FLEET!

ELC introduces a new classroom on wheels…

WORDS: Katelyn Disbro PICTURES: Whitney Patton

T

he Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County (ELC) recently rolled out; pun intended, the newest member of its fleet! The third educational vehicle, named the Mobile Learning Lab, will run alongside the Book Bus and the STEAM Machine, adding additional resources to the ELC’s community educational initiatives.

The former Manatee County school bus was generously donated to the ELC by the School District. The two organizations have a successful and collaborative partnership and continue to work together on many projects to benefit children in the local community.

School District of Manatee County Superintendent, Cynthia Saunders, believes the partnership with ELC ensures children are on track with their education. She said: “What we can do collectively is to ensure all of our students, especially our most needy students, have the quality of education that they need on a daily basis and that our parents are able to go to work and do what they need to provide for their families. The new Mobile Learning Lab has endless possibilities.”

Always on the lookout for innovation in early education, Paul Sharff, ELC Chief Executive Officer, was intrigued by a video social media post, showing a mobile preschool in Colorado.

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Seeing no limits to his team’s creative abilities, Mr. Sharff and ELC staff embarked on a journey to create the first mobile learning lab in the state. Similar to the Colorado vehicle, the Mobile Learning Lab makes educational programming even more accessible by bringing it directly to the community.

He said: “We are very proud of the new Mobile Learning Lab and excited to be moving forward. There has been a tremendous amount of planning and work gone into the creation of the Mobile Learning Lab. I would personally like to thank Superintendent Saunders for donating the bus to us, and all of the funders who have helped create this amazing mobile vehicle that will enhance the educational possibilities for the children of Manatee County.”

As they dealt with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Sharff and Superintendent Saunders had a motto that “if you can’t make it to your education and come to us, we will bring it to you!” The Mobile Learning Lab will certainly make that happen in the ever-changing educational landscape.

For the bus to become a first of its kind in Florida, it went through a $50,000 transformation - becoming a classroom on wheels! Generous donors funded the project with both talent 5

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and monetary contributions. The bus was made possible by the Kiwanis Club of Bradenton’s $20,000 donation and a $6,000 donation from the Soar In 4 initiative. The colorful ceiling was designed and beautifully painted by the students of Manatee Technical College.

Not only did the ELC benefit from their work, but the students also gained job-related experience that will benefit them in their future work endeavors. The ceiling artwork features gears, clouds, and lightbulbs and meant to inspire learners to reach for the sky in both their thinking and their future ideas. The vibrant exterior wrap highlights a collection of supporters and donors to thank them for their contributions.

The exterior design was created with a vision to make the bus stand out and be a community symbol of creative thinking, educational empowerment, and collective community engagement. The bus is now furnished with air conditioning, full power, modern technology, traditional classroom tools, and bright yet calming colors – it is engaging from the moment children step aboard. The walls were custom fabricated to be both magnetic and dry erase! Teachers and students alike can capture their thinking through sketching on the walls.

There is a 60-inch TV on a swivel arm that allows for the display of educational content or past learning with a photo slideshow.

Making learning visible is a strategy that will enable children to strengthen their ideas by connecting previous experiences to new concepts. Children can also take cues from seeing the work of other children, making their projects more relevant.

The bus also features an interactive touchscreen projector that readies young learners for the technology they will encounter

when entering school. The three tables fold-away to give the educators the freedom to choose between tabletop learning and more active learning engagements.

The seating on the bus is also modular, like the vehicle itself it can be rolled to wherever it is needed. The bus is equipped with a high-quality sound system set up in multiple learning stations allowing for multiple multisensory learning experiences. The bus has the ability to become a mobile hotspot and therefore has its own Wi-Fi capabilities. This is beneficial not only to the ELC educators but also to future projects where the community may need internet access.

Lessons with a Purpose The current mobile learning plan is to travel amongst local childcare providers throughout Manatee County, providing enriching opportunities that support kindergarten readiness by hosting educational content aboard. One such program is STEAM; STEAM represents the concepts from Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math combined into handson learning. The creative thinking process is celebrated as children are asked to solve problems and be creative. The Mobile Learning Lab will also host other educational opportunities.

Director of Community Educational Initiatives at the Early Learning Coalition, Rachel Spivey said: “We provide instruction to childcare sites that align directly with the Florida Standards and the content provided by teachers in Manatee County schools. Our goal is to ensure we wrap the entire community in educational continuity, meaning that students from different parts of the county will enter kindergarten with similar

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educational experiences. We want our programs and fleet to provide a motivating setting that encourages children to become enthusiastic lifelong learners.”

The Mobile Learning Lab will also be used for ‘Operation W.I.T,’ a new program that will be run through the From Cradle to College Foundation that exists to support the programs of ELC. This program will launch in October, bringing the Mobile Learning Lab into the community on weeknights and weekends to provide a multi-faceted approach to supporting childhood development. The targeted goal is to help children and families reach their maximum ability by partnering with churches and community organizations throughout the county.

Full Speed Ahead The success of the mobile learning fleet has the ELC perpetually moving forward. Superintendent Saunders expressed her hope to have many, many, more mobile learning opportunities at the Mobile Learning Lab launch and offered her support in providing another bus – with wheelchair access and the ability to reach even more students.

Follow the ELC on Facebook (@ELC.Manatee) for more unique and innovative programs. If you are interested in donating to assist with the Coalition’s learning initiatives and the fleet of vehicles, please visit. http://www.elc-manatee.org/Donate

The program will utilize a threepart procedure. First, the Mobile Learning Lab, in addition to the other fleet vehicles, will provide a safe and welcoming setting for youth education.

Next, parents will receive an effective parenting curriculum with a trained professional.

Lastly, the participating parents and children will regroup in an early childhood activity where the authentic application of the learned parenting and educational practice can occur with the support of the parent and child educators.

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Welcome to the

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2020-2021 School Year!

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Superintendent Cynthia Saunders with Manatee County ELC Chief Executive Officer Paul Sharff.

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R esilience In Uncharted Waters…

W

hen school begins in Manatee Count y for the 2 02 0 -2 021 school year – opening day will bE my 30th first day of school as an educator. To say that this first day of school will be unlike any other we have experienced might be the Mount Everest of understatements.

Our School District leadership team began planning in earnest for the coming school year in early May. As you know, circumstances concerning COVID-19 in Manatee County and across Florida were vastly different then than they are now.

And that brings me to what I believe is the most important message I can convey to you regarding the reopening of our schools for the new school year. All of us – students, parents, employees, and our community – will need to be flexible and resilient as we navigate these uncharted waters.

Until a vaccination is found – circumstances are bound to change, often rapidly. New cases will continue to be found, including in our schools and support sites, and those cases will necessitate partial or full shutdowns for a matter of days or possibly weeks.

Even without confirmed cases associated with our campuses, there will still be new health protocols and procedures in place. All of us will need to adapt to those changes.

I have heard the varied concerns of students, parents, teachers, and employees, and I empathize with the uneasiness expressed about returning. I have also heard from many who are eager to have their children return to school and from parents or guardians who need their children to return to school in order to work.

Regardless of where we stand individually,

our unified goal must be the best interest of the children of Manatee County.

As it states in Article IX of the Florida Constitution: “The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. Therefore, it is a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.”

As educators, that is what we do.

In that spirit, I am proposing the 5 P’s below to help guide us through the new school year: Protection – The school district’s primary goal is to protect our students’ and employees’ health and safety.

Every decision we make during these challenging times will be made with that goal as the first priority.

Patience – We live in unprecedented times with certain circumstances beyond our control. We must treat each other with kindness and respect as we work together to take on the challenges before us.

Positivity – Our students need and deserve to learn in an environment filled with passion, enthusiasm, and confidence. This is a great time for us to show the young people of this community how we react to adversity.

Productivity – If our schools are filled with passionate, enthusiastic, and confident students and employees, that will be reflected in our academic achievements.

Partnerships – We need the support and encouragement of our parents, business partners, and community to make this school year as successful and memorable as it can be for the students of Manatee County.

This school year will be one unlike any of us have known. By encouraging each other and inspiring our students, we can make this year memorable for all the right reasons.

Cynthia Saunders Superintendent School District of Manatee County 13

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Vision In The Digital Age...

WORDS: Dr. Paige Laudicina Eye Center, Inc

“E

xtra! Extra! Read all about it!”

If you’re not familiar, the local newspaper press or paperboy may have shouted this phrase in the early 1900s announcing breaking news, while trying to sell the crowd a newspaper.

These days, however, most of us have live news updates and an infinite amount of information available at our fingertips the second we turn on our television, log into our computer, or start browsing the web on our cell phone.

There is no doubt that the average American spends an increasing amount of time looking at digital devices.

Workplaces are more productive with the use of computers. Some school systems are offering virtual learning and online classes, and children and adults alike are enjoying expanding their social networks via digital social media and cell phone use. Recent studies show that American screen time averages between 7.5 to 10.5 hours per day.

At Eye Center, Inc., many of my patients wonder about the impact prolonged digital viewing has on their eyes and their vision, and how they can promote healthy screen use in the future.

First and foremost, proper eye care and eye health begin with an annual

comprehensive eye exam. Your doctor can assess your vision and prescribe the appropriate eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Nonetheless, prolonged screen time can be strenuous, and is associated with a group of symptoms that the American Optometric Association now defines as Computer Vision Syndrome, affecting more than half of computer users.

The symptoms include eyestrain, fatigue, redness, burning, blurred vision, and/ or double vision, and can also include neck and shoulder pain and headaches.

Symptoms are associated with several factors, including over working our eye’s focusing system, dry eyes from reduced blink rates, distracting glare from surrounding lights, and improper placement of the computer screen.

Fortunately, there are some strategies we can implement to make digital screen use as comfortable and healthy as possible.

First, when doing any digital work or near task, apply the “20/20/20” rule, which suggests that for every 20 minutes of work, take a break for at least 20 seconds, and look at an object that is at least 20 feet away. This gives your focusing system a chance to relax. This short break also gives your eyes a chance to refresh their tears, and I’d recommend using this time

to use an over the counter artificial tear drop if needed.

Next, evaluate and modify your work environment if possible. Ideally, sit approximately 25-35 inches from your computer and have your computer about six inches below eye level, screen tilted slightly down. Keep your screen not much brighter than the surrounding light, limiting or adjusting sources of glare such as windows and overhead lighting.

In addition to the symptoms experienced during Computer Vision Syndrome, extensive amounts of daily screen time can also inhibit normal melatonin release and disrupt our sleep patterns. One study showed that each hour of digital screen use was associated with 3-8 fewer minutes of nightly sleep. Several studies agree that digital use, especially before bed, is associated with shortened sleep duration and poorer quality sleep in general.

For better nightly sleep, try to encourage daily “screen-free” time, avoid screens at least one hour before bedtime, and discourage the use of digital devices (including television) in the bedroom. Your mind needs this time to “unplug” and relax and reset for another day.

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The World is Their Oyster WORDS: Kara Chalmers PICTURES: Whitney Patton

T

“We stayed open for three days for takeout,” Amanda Horne said. “But we just didn’t feel it was what we wanted to put our staff and guests through.” So, they stopped offering takeout and closed March 24.

When Gov. Ron DeSantis, wanted to try to contain the virus’ spread, he ordered Florida restaurants to close March 20 (but allowed them to offer takeout). The four Anna Maria Oyster Bar locations (Landside, Ellenton, Cortez, and the Bridge Street Pier on Anna Maria Island) did so.

Still, the Hornes paid their staff of 380 their salaries, including tips, for the entire eight weeks the restaurant was closed. They switched from bi-weekly to weekly paychecks. They gave employees free groceries — including hams and candy on Easter — and Amanda made them 300 fabric masks. The couple constantly communicated, encouraging employees to reach out for help, if needed.

he way John and Amanda Horne, who own the Anna Maria Oyster Bar, have run their business since March won’t surprise those who know them well. As the coronavirus and economic devastation have spread around the world, the Hornes have continued to be the thoughtful and generous business lead-ers’ locals know and love.

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“I think communication was huge in helping people feel safe and comfortable,” Amanda said.

Also, the Hornes took advantage of the closure by updating and improving their restaurants. They added outdoor dining, a fire pit, sunshades, and tents at their Ellenton location. At the Cortez restaurant, they added tents and renovated the kitchen and bar.

At Landside, they also added tents, redesigned the kitchen, and relocated the takeout area to the bar, which is called the Halfway Lounge.

“We knew that even when we re-opened, there would be a lot more takeout,” Amanda said.

A Safe Re-Opening The state allowed restaurants to re-open May 4, with restrictions, but the Hornes waited an additional week. They opened May 11, offering a menu half its usual size and just 25 percent of seating.

As of mid-June, though, the restaurants were back to offering their full menus, seating customers inside and out, six feet apart. All staff was required to wear masks. Only half as many cooks were allowed in the kitchen at once, which meant some began their shifts at 3am The Hornes employed “safety patrols,” solely dedicated to disinfecting surfaces touched by anyone in the restaurant.

The Hornes pride themselves on their staff — on hiring great people and keeping them happy enough to stay. They provide livable wages and flexible schedules and thus experience little staff turnover. Also, if employees enjoy their work, customers enjoy themselves and come back. John Horne is a constant presence in the restaurants and comes to work each day with a smile (his secret is listening to comedy in the car, he said).

In turn, the employees appreciate the Hornes. For example, on May 3, John’s birthday, the staff surprised him and Amanda with a car caravan. Some 40 cars, filled with balloons and masked people waving, honking and yelling “Happy Birthday” paraded by the Horne’s house.

“We were just standing in the driveway, bawling our eyes out,” Amanda said.

The Oyster Bar Beginnings Other notable menu items include the The Anna Maria Oyster Bar restaurants are casual, family-friendly, and known for fresh seafood and a fun atmosphere.

John Horne, after four decades in the restaurant business, opened his first oyster bar on the Anna Maria City Pier in 1995 (it closed in 1999). Anna Maria Oyster Bar Landside was Horne’s second location, opened in 1997 near the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

Locations on West Cortez Road in Bradenton and Ellenton soon followed, in 2002 and 2003, respective-ly. Last to open, with a menu a bit smaller than the others, is the Anna Maria Oyster Bar on the historic Bridge Street Pier on Anna Maria Island.

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Landside — the one near the airport — has a spacious indoor dining area, with a large, full-service bar and a private room that can seat about 35. The building contains The Halfway Lounge — named for being the halfway point between the city centers of Bradenton and Sarasota. A casual sports bar offering the restaurant’s full menu, The Halfway opens onto a broad outdoor deck and The Backyard — a wide, grassy field with cornhole boards. Globe lights, strung up over the outdoor area, add to its charm. There are plenty of water bowls for canine patrons. Live music has always been offered every night, in season.

The decor inside, as well as the menu, is coastal-inspired. There’s fresh seafood, lobster, crab, steak, pasta, chicken, soups and salads, fish specials and, of course, oysters.

The restaurants serve oysters seven different ways: raw, fried, steamed, Garlic Parmesan, Chipotle (Grandma Georgie’s), Rockefeller (with bacon), and Tequila Lime, featuring a housemade tequila citrus blend, garlic butter, and parmesan cheese, baked and finished with scallions. The Oyster Sampler con-tains three each of Rockefeller, Chipotle, Garlic Parmesan, and fried.

There’s even a Granddaddy Jake’s Oyster Stew.

“Our baked oysters have converted oyster skeptics,” John Horne said.

Signature Dishes Since reopening, the Hornes are trying to provide as much locally sourced seafood as possible.

“We’ve switched to offering a lot more domestic products,” Amanda said. “We feel we need to purchase as local as possible.

We’ve got to help each other out.”

Customer favorites include the daily catch; stone crab in season; the Calamari, dusted with a spicy breading, lightly fried, and served with homemade chunky marinara sauce; and the eight salmon specials, including Salmon in Puff Pastry and Cucumber Dill Salmon.

Restaurant promotions include early-bird specials and “Pennyan-inch,” meaning kids under 10 eat for just a penny per inch of their height, Sundays through Thursdays at all locations.

There’s also All You Can Eat Fish ‘n Chips on Mondays, and Happy Hour daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. until close.

Watch parties are held for all Clemson (John Horne’s alma mater) football games.

The restaurant’s won numerous awards over its two-plus decades. Readers of the Bradenton Herald and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune have voted it the best All-Around Restaurant, Best Seafood Restaurant, Best Early Bird Special, and Best Margarita. The restaurant has also won Small Business of the Year awards from the Manatee, Sarasota, and Longboat Key Chambers of Commerce.

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REVAMPING A READING PROGRAM! Some 130 children took part, as well as 145 volunteer mentors.

It ran through June 26, and sessions were from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. or from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. five days a week, Monday through Friday. Students could sign up for up to five sessions a week.

For each session, Amanda sent a login link to about 25 kids and 25 mentors. The first half-hour was devoted to a “local celebrity,” Amanda said, who would read a book aloud, and then do a Q and A session with the kids. For example, an astronaut friend shared videos of himself on the International Space Station and read Dr. Seuss’s “There’s No Place Like Space.” Other guests included a father/son fire-fighting team and a surgeon, who “zoomed in” from an operating room at Manatee Memorial Hospital, Amanda said.

Next, a mentor and a child were paired together in a virtual breakout room, where they read a book to-gether and worked on sight words and math facts.

WORDS: Kara Chalmers PICTURES: Whitney Patton

W

hen Manatee County schools closed in March due to the global pandemic, Amanda Horne knew her beloved Dive Into Reading summer program was in jeopardy. For the past three summers, the program — which she had founded with her husband John — had been wildly successful.

Free for families, Dive Into Reading pairs volunteer reading mentors with elementary school students who aren’t reading at their grade levels. This situation is dire, according to Amanda, who said that a student who’s not reading proficiently by third grade is four times less likely to graduate from high school by age 19.

The number of students who signed up for the program was lower than what Amanda had hoped for, but she sure didn’t have a hard time finding volunteers.

“People so want to connect,” she said. “We shouldn’t leave our kids with nothing. They need more help now than they did before.”

Before the program started June 1, the Bradenton Marauders provided the participating students’ back-packs with supplies.

Each student was given eight books, purchased through donations made to the Dive Into Reading Fund at the Manatee Community Foundation, with extra books supplemented by the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County.

A Change of Plans

“It’s invaluable one-on-one time with an adult,” Amanda added.

John noted that mentors get as much out of Dive Into Reading as students. “It’s a chance for them to get a new grandkid,” he said, referring to the older mentors. However, volunteers can be as young as 16.

Before the coronavirus, the Hornes had been planning to offer the same Dive Into Reading program they had for the past three summers. Benefiting students from all 15 Title 1 schools in Manatee County. The program entailed inviting 375 children to a reading session, held from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., one day a week for four weeks, at Anna Maria Oyster Bar restaurants and at other locations in Manatee and Sara-sota counties.

In June, after the Manatee County School District approved Amanda’s proposal, Dive Into Reading began virtually, using Zoom, a platform that allows video, telephone, and online chat services. Dive Into Reading was offered to rising third graders only but was available to students from every school in Manatee County, including private schools.

As in summers past, the 2020 sessions would have included a hot breakfast and etiquette lessons on how to hold a knife and fork, how to serve oneself from a buffet politely, how to order from a menu, and how to greet adults. All this would have been offered to rising first and second graders, as well as third graders, who didn’t read at their grade levels.

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In 2019, for example, the program was offered at the Anna Maria Oyster Bars in Ellenton and Landside, Gecko’s Grill & Pub SR-70, the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, and Gecko’s Fruitville. Pier 22 Catering provided the hot breakfast at the Bishop Museum. That summer, a total of 11 schools were helped by the program, and seven teacher coordinators and 354 mentors volunteered. The students read a total of 13,730 books, and 365 students “graduated” from the program.

The Hornes hope to see similar results in 2021, when, hopefully, the world will be back to normal.

The Hornes also won the 2019 Leadership Florida Impact Award for Dive Into Reading. The award spotlights projects that are transforming the future of not just their region, but potentially the entire state of Florida.

“It was the first time I’ve ever seen him speechless,” said Amanda, describing what her usually gregarious husband was like at the award’s presentation. Amanda said she truly believes the program can expand throughout all of Florida.

Books for Kid Customers!

Statistics Call for Action In Manatee County, some 49 percent of students aren’t reading at their grade level by the end of third grade, according to Amanda.

In addition, on average, children who live in poverty lose two to three months of reading skills over the summer, a phenomenon known as the “summer slide.” In particular, third grade reading proficiency is a key indicator of future success, Amanda said.

These scary statistics are what spurred the Hornes to cre-ate Dive Into Reading in the first place. It aims to help Manatee County students keep reading over the summer, thus preventing or alleviating the summer slide.

“We have to give these kids a level playing field,” Amanda said.

“They deserve that.” She said that in some cases in 2019, Dive into Reading kids not only avoided the summer slide, but they also gained 1.25 months of reading proficiency.

Since its inception in June 2017 in Manatee County, Dive into Reading has expanded to Sarasota and DeSoto counties.

The Hornes, known for their philanthropy, hands-on volunteering, and small business leadership have won several awards over the years. In 2019, they won the Bradenton Kiwanis Foundation’s Bert South Philanthropic Award for their Dive Into Reading program. The annual award came with a $10,000 prize, which the Hornes promptly split between Dive Into Reading and the PACE Center for Girls.

Partnering with the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County, all four Anna Maria Oyster Bars offer each child customer a new book to read and take home. Precoronavirus, the restaurants were going through nearly 1,000 books a month, Amanda said. They are happy to take donations of new books!

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VIRTUAL

Musical Motion

Join other parents and children, up to age 5, virtually for one hour of interactive learning with your child through developmental activities and songs that stimulate your child’s growing mind and body.

Learn more at parentingmattersfl.org/musical-motion/ 941.756.3007 | Parentingmattersfl.org 602 3rd Street East, Bradenton, FL 34208 Glasser-Shoenbaum Human Services Center 1750 17th Street, Building I-1, Sarasota, Florida 34234

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ELC INSIDER Contents: Children's Champions

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Books, Food, Volunteers, & More!

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SOAR In 4!

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ELC Responds to COVID-19

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Childcare Provider Directory

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ELC News

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THE UNTOLD FIRST RESPONDERS… How Manatee County childcare providers stayed open during COVID-19 crisis

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WORDS: Bre Jones Mulock PICTURES: Whitney Patton

ike a luminary shooting warm light through a grey winter sky, Kara Moates rises each day to comfort and guide.

Not long after sunrise, she dives into a day chatting about theology and spiritual concepts with a man eager and grateful to share his thoughts about the world while she assesses his vitals. On the same day, she visits a woman in her 80s who lives alone and passes the time sewing colorful quilts, coin purses, and masks, while Moates manages the seamstress’ pain.

As a nurse for Tidewell Hospice, Moates dons a caring cloak of armor as she organizes pillboxes, educates, and lends an ear while treating a host of symptoms ranging from nausea and vomiting to hallucinations and anxiety.

She is an essential worker. She’s also a mom to 16-month-old Ellanora and depends on Happy Cubs, a childcare center in Bradenton, to juggle her superhero role of working parent.

But as COVID-19 blew a toxic plume of uncertainty across the country and a shadow of fear loomed above Manatee County, essential workers with young children collectively held their breath and watched in disbelief as childcare centers shuttered one-by-one like a row of falling dominoes., as well as Manatee County schools and a spectrum of small businesses, closed their doors, trying to navigate what seemed like a cruel funhouse maze through a global pandemic.

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While many businesses strategized innovative working conditions under stay-at-home orders, essential workers like Moates formed a fabric of individuals who sustained the needs of our country and had to report to work. Despite childcare facilities falling into a vital business category, 50 percent of the state’s private childcare providers placed Closed Signs in their windows by mid-April. According to the Florida Department of Education, it left essential workers pondering the same question: Who will care for my children while I’m at work?

“What I was super nervous about was that Happy Cubs would have to close because a lot of daycare centers had to close,” said Moate, who has cared for a COVID-19 patient. “I could not imagine working and running around with a toddler trying to continue to facilitate her growth and development and who would watch her. My job is already emotionally stressful and I’m adjusting to new COVID-19 protocols. Losing childcare would have been completely overwhelming.”

Buttressed with state and local emergency funding, genius and creative community ideas, and grassroots teamwork, many Manatee County childcare providers, rose like illuminated, protective lighthouses guiding ships on a dark and foggy night.

Braving the tempest, they boosted safety measures, offered transparent communication, and took in older siblings of students.

They worked long, draining hours to keep the community’s first responders, doctors, nurses, grocery store clerks, and many more essential professionals at work.

Like stagehands hustling behind the scenes of a complicated, high-tech production, childcare providers emerged as unsung heroes. They propelled Manatee County into one of the best performing areas of our state, with only 12 of the 171 providers licensed with the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County closing long term due to coronavirus concerns.

And concerns ran deep. As many parents fearfully pulled their children from childcare enrollment plummeted, and the providers struggled to stay afloat. The Office of Early Learning recognized a dire need to provide free or reduced rates for childcare as the statewide emergency sirens wailed.

“Our first responders and health care professionals are on the front lines fighting COVID-19,” said Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran. “These individuals are critical to providing medical care to those affected by the virus and finding childcare for their own children while performing these life-saving jobs allows them to continue serving the public. The Department of Education is committed to doing everything it can to help first responders and health care professionals find quality childcare services while school campuses are closed.”

Locally, the Office of Early Learning awarded the ELC of Manatee County a $398,650 grant designed to support providers through the pandemic with health and safety supplies, infrastructure needs, and staff professional development. At the same time, they remained open or worked to re-open to serve essential workers.

“We are grateful to the Office of Early Learning for helping us support our Manatee County early care programs that have stood with us to serve children of our essential workers,” said Paul Sharff, Chief Executive Officer for the ELC of Manatee County.

In addition, the Boys and Girls Club of Manatee County connected essential health care workers and first responders with free childcare, thanks to the support from United Way Suncoast and the Manatee Community Foundation.

As emergency funding funneled down from the state, the stage was set, and childcare providers then faced the challenge to take action.

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Happy Cubs Against a backdrop of twinkling early morning stars, Annette Larkin – the owner of Happy Cubs– arrives each day to a stream of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers who flow through the doors starting at 6 a.m.

A five-star rated childcare program across from Blake Medical Center, Happy Cubs, first opened its doors 38 years ago as a childcare resource for hospital employees to enroll their children.

With the pandemic surging through the county, Larkin realized it was more important than ever to stay open, with 90 percent of her families already consisting of hospital employees or health care professionals.

“I sat down with my teachers and staff who are absolutely incredible, and we talked about my biggest fear, which was an exposure [to the coronavirus] here and how we could minimize that,” Larkin said. “We are already diligent with handwashing and cleaning, and many parents trusted that. We implemented changes like no longer allowing sleep items or parents inside the center.”

Working extended hours and fighting exhaustion, Larkin opened up a flowing river of communication daily with her parents through COVID-19 update texts to create absolute transparency.

“She was a super communicator with texts or phone calls daily,” said Moates, whose husband is a high school teacher. “It didn’t matter if it was in the evening or on the weekend. I always knew what was going on.”

Rolling into her driveway at night, Larkin would often cradle her face in her hands and let the tears flow as she and her staff worked harder than ever to keep kids safe and continue to create a calm environment while panic raged. Larkin believes the ELC of Manatee County bridged the main lifeline for childcare centers.

“I don’t think that daycares could have stayed open without the support from the ELC,” said Larkin with a waffle of emotion rattling in her voice. “They are the real superheroes here. They 1000 percent went above and beyond, staying ahead of the game and the ball. They called or e-mailed – reached out- every single day asking what we needed and how they could help. It was extraordinary.”

In addition to grants and communication, Larkin revealed the ELC brainstormed genius ideas to keep childcare centers safe and open. When cleaning products vanished from shelves, the ELC purchased chlorine from pool supply companies, conversed with the Florida Department of Health, and created sanitizing solutions mixed in gallon jugs donated by Dakin Dairy for childcare centers to use.

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“The whole community has been phenomenal,” Larkin said.

“People have donated supplies, and food companies have donated meals to feed every shift at the hospital. The community really stepped up for essential workers and for us.”

In the midst of Manatee County Public Schools transitioning to online learning, Larkin’s phone buzzed with parents anxious to know if she would take in their older children who had nowhere to go. Larkin snapped into action, and on a moment’s notice, she made room for 12 older kids trying to complete the third, fourth, and fifth grades. She not only purchased tablets so they could continue their education through Schoology but also designed a curriculum to support them.

“This age group is not my wheelhouse and sifting through Schoology was a tough, tough go, but I didn’t want them to then just be on their phones the rest of the day. We limited screen time and came up with ideas to engage them. I get a lump in my throat thinking about the grateful responses from parents.”

The gratefulness reflected back to the community, too. Clad in Batman, Superwoman, Hulk, doctor, nurse, and firefighter costumes, a colorful parade of miniature superheroes marched from Happy Cubs across to a grassy patch outside of Blake Medical Center. Clutching posters shouting thank-you’s, the 3, 4 and 5-year-olds cheered for health care workers streaming in and out of the hospital, moving many to tears.

“The doctors and nurses were really touched, and I thought it was important for the kids to support them,” said Larkin.

While scary virus statistics blared from many living room TVs, Larkin felt compelled to create an environment and routine as normal as possible for her students. Sitting, they can inadvertently absorb the stress swirling around them. The center continued with a dose of fun like silly hair and bike days. Standing in the pouring rain, her staff hooted, hollered, banged pots and pans, and waved signs as a car parade of her graduating VPK class snaked through the parking lot.

Backed with a $2,000 grant from the ELC, Terrell purchased two no-touch thermometers, replaced napping mats with cots, and bought all new sheets for each child.

“These were huge changes for us, and we were really excited,” said Terrell. “I could not have done this without the ELC or my amazing staff. They are like my other family – they are my rock.”

While some childcare providers kept their doors open for a variety of health care professionals, A Child’s Galaxy families shine as another important segment of essential workers: Grocery store clerks, Dollar General Managers, service industry personal and a variety of other jobs that endured a painful siphon to their paychecks.

“A great deal of our parents are essential workers in the middle to lower-income jobs who need to go to work and feel like they are dropping off their child in a safe environment,” said Terrell.

“I was not going to let this graduating class move on without a graduation,” said Larkin. “They had caps and gowns, and we moved their tassels.”

A Child’s Galaxy Preserving consistency and protecting childhood fun and growth, poured from the staff of A Child’s Galaxy, a Bradenton childcare center that normally hovers around 50-60 students and never dropped below 20 during the early weeks of the coronavirus scares.

“I have an amazing staff that worked extra hard cleaning and waiting to see how parents would react,” said Kristen Terrell, who opened A Child’s Galaxy just over 16 years ago. “I think our families realized they could rely on us, and the bottom line is they had to go to work, and we were going to make it safe and still fun here.”

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Children’s Nest of Manatee Gratitude did not only glow among families of essential workers.

It swelled like an uplifting tidal wave through the childcare centers – small businesses themselves who may have sunk below the depths of the pandemic rip current without help.

Under the new benefits, the ELC reimbursed VPK and SR providers for additional absences of active enrollees or temporary closures due to COVID-19. The additional funding helped ensure that childcare providers could financially support their day-today operations, including paying teachers and staff regardless of their decision to remain open or not during the health crisis.

“ELC stepped up in a big way, and this was a huge help,” said Mariela Johnston, who has operated Children’s Nest out of Church of the Cross for the last seven years. “If a child who is subsidized through the ELC is absent more than three days, the funding stops. In this case, the ELC said they would continue to pay.”

As a small, family-centered childcare facility, usually hovers around 60 kids. By mid-March, Johnston said her enrollment fell to about 50 while she navigated changes such as reducing the number of toys out for children to handle and increasing the classrooms’ cleaning frequency. She said her solid staff and open lines of communications helped her survive.

“We are family-oriented and very close,” said Johnston. “They all have my cell phone and can reach out at any time.”

Wading through the pandemic’s initial flood, tested Johnston’s foundation, but she stood strong for her students.

Terrell often gifted leftover food they had supplied from the state to families in need.

From toddler tunes to upbeat 60s rock, music ripples through A Child’s Galaxy most days where kids explore cooking projects like dipping pretzels in chocolate and covering them with sprinkles or comparing and contrasting three flavors of Gatorade. They dress up for Dr. Seuss week, and show-off new do’s for crazy hair day.

“Keeping kids in a routine and keeping it fun is a big deal,” said Sharon Greer, director at A Child’s Galaxy. “For many, there is already a lot of anxiety going on at home, and parents are stressed. Dress up days get parents involved in their kid’s education, too.”

One of the biggest gifts Greer said she could give her parents was news the ELC was waiving parent co-pay fees for those who were not able to work or took a cut in pay due to work closures.

“You could not even imagine the surprise on parents’ faces when I told them they had credit in their account,” said Greer as her voice rose with triumphant cheer. “They were overwhelmed with gratitude.”

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Community Strong Standing outside of her car in the 90-degree Florida summer heat, Moates suits up in the proper PPE to protect her patients from potential coronavirus germs lurking in the wings. A one-hour visit with a patient may turn into three hours as she runs through a checklist of new protocols.

Her mind wanders to protecting her family and Ellanora, who loves puzzles and blueberries and affectionately carries around a baby doll at childcare. But her drive and passion for helping others keeps her laser focused.

“I hold strong to the theory that you come into the world one way, and you go out of the world one way,” said Moates, who has also worked as a labor and delivery nurse. “My job as a hospice nurse is to help make that journey as you want it to be, comfortable and respectful. I also want the family to feel just as supported as the patient and know we are there for them too.”

Moates doesn’t hesitate to share the community uniting together has allowed her to continue passionately helping others. “I could not do my job without childcare,” said Moates. “I am so grateful Happy Cubs continued to stay open.”

“I’m a level-headed person and did not want the kids to see the stress,” said Johnston, whose curriculum focuses on inquiry and a drive to fill students with knowledge, skills, and values. “The hardest, most stressful times have been when kids are being tested for the virus. While all negative, we have had five kids go through testing.”

With initial reduced enrollment, Johnston had to improvise with a mixed range of ages per classroom, which sparked learning challenges. Now she has classrooms defined again and attention spotlighting back on learning.

“I’m trying to keep it as normal as possible and as honest as possible,” Johnston said. “Kids are taking in more than we know.”

Grandmother to 4-year-old Skylar, Jean Johnson, is grateful every day the preschool has continued to craft a safe environment, allowing the kids to grow socially and academically during the pandemic.

“Ms. Johnston and her staff have been totally awesome and taken absolutely every precaution and measure to make me feel comfortable dropping off my granddaughter,” Johnson said.

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ELC RESPONDS TO COVID-19...

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t the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County (ELC) wanted to do everything they could to support their 'Untold First Responders' – childcare providers who were open every day during this health crisis looking after and continuing to educate our local children!

To help and support them, the ELC procured paper products, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizers, and much more to distribute to them at no cost. With cleaning products in short supply, CEO Paul Sharff investigated the idea of using pool grade chlorine to mix with water to create gallons of bleach for providers to use in their centers to keep their sites clean and germ-free.

The supplies were picked up by providers at the ELC office, as staff worked hard to get the cleaning packages ready. A huge thank you is owed to Dakin Dairy Farms, who generously donated 250 new gallon milk jugs to use for the mixing process that comes complete with instructions from the Florida Department of Health (DOH). The pool chlorine was provided at cost by Galaxy Pools. Hand-made masks also came from Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

ELC staff also went into the community weekly to help distribute free family meals that were donated by Feeding Tampa Bay and distributed on Tuesdays and Thursdays at different Title 1 school sites throughout the county.

Books were also distributed four days a week to children encouraging the importance of reading as so much learning became virtual and at home. Both the children and parents were excited to receive free books and would even start to follow wherever the ELC STEAM Machine was going. By the end of June, there was a total of 9,000 children books and 15,000 family meals distributed in Manatee County.

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Thank you for your donations!

Galaxy Pools: gallon jug of chlorine NEXTGEN Family Magazine: travel hand sanitizers Manatee County Sheriff's Office: hand made masks Dakin Dairy Farms: empty gallon jug for the mixed solution

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Books, Food, Volunteers & More!

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Childcare Provider Directory A Child's Galaxy Preschool 4417 20th Street West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-755-6302 A Growing Start Childcare Center, LLC 525 3rd Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-896-9750 A Little Schoolhouse Christian Academy 11740 US Highway 301 North Parrish, FL 34219 941-776-1973 A Plus Growing Academy 800 10th Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-0797 A Readiness Learning Academy 9045 59th Avenue Circle East Bradenton, FL 34202 941-727-9354 A Readiness Learning Academy 2 6130 SR 70 East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-752-4927 Adventures In Learning 712 61st Street East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-1816

Boys And Girls Club at Harllee Middle 6423 9th Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-751-7027

All Gods Children Preschool 11107 Palmbrush Trail Bradenton, FL 34202 941-739-2776

Boys And Girls Club at Lincoln Memorial Middle 305 17th Street East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-721-6840

Bella Rose Learning Center 708 32nd Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-749-2800

Boys And Girls Club Palmetto 1600 10th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-1268

Bible Baptist Church Academy 1750 6th Avenue West Unit 101 Palmetto, FL 34221 941-479-4958

Bradenton Christian School West 1305 43rd Street West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-404-4491

Boys And Girls Club DeSoto 5231 34th Street West Bradenton, FL 34210 941-758-3828

Bradenton Early Learning Academy 7700 Cortez Road West Bradenton, FL 34210 941-216-3305

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Bright Angels Academy & Daycare, Inc. 1716 53rd Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-962-0472

Dixon-Wright Family Day Care Home 1016 31st Street East Palmetto, FL 34211 (941) 721-0232

Bright Beginnings Academy 614 10th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-479-7910

Doodle Bugs! Children's Learning Academy 11015 Passage Drive Bradenton, FL 34221 (941) 721-0330

Bright Futures Daycare & Preschool, LLC 1617 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-251-5436

Drama Kids International Multiple locations in Sarasota & Bradenton 941-922-8121

Bright Minds Family Home Daycare, Inc. 2101 32nd Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-565-9058 Capokids Martial Arts Preschool 11534 Palmbrush Trail Bradenton, FL 34202 941-922-4520 Children's Nest of Manatee, Inc. 5051 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-753-9024 Children's Nest of Manatee 2 600 7th Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34207 941-479-7789 Community Christian School 5500 18th Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-756-8748 CORE Early Education And Learning 605 13th Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-729-9069 Countryside Academy For Children 5807 18th Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-747-304 Creative Kids Connection 408 75th Street Northwest Bradenton, FL 34209 941-794-8687 CRPE Academy 1621 66th Avenue Terrace East Sarasota FL, 34243 (941) 932-0984 DC's Child Care Center 5105 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-746-6090

Easter Seals of Southwest Florida 350 Braden Avenue Sarasota, FL 34243 941-355-7637 Education Time 5165 33rd Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-753-7332 Evans Family Day Care Home 1500 7th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-720-9640 Faith Preschool of Faith UCC 4850 SR 64 East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-746-7895 Family Life Community School 3301 Moccasin Wallow Road Palmetto, FL 34221 941-281-6412 First For Kids Children's Christian Center 603 11th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-748-0824 Forza Child Development Center, Inc. 8605 Erie Road Parrish, FL 34219 941-545-6380 Foundation For Dreams 16110 Dream Oaks Place Bradenton, FL 34212 941-746-5659 Free To Grow Academy 5304 7th Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-254-4268 Genesis Learning Academy 1420 6th Avenue East Palmetto FL, 34221 941-723-7358

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Grandma's Babysitting Center 1728 26th Avenue East Bradenton FL, 34208 941-708-9864

In The Beginning Learning Center 5503 12th Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-567-6106

Great Minds Childcare 1018 35th Avenue West Bradenton FL, 34205 941-896-5319

It's A Small World, Inc. Daycare & Preschool 900 3rd Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-405-4532

Growing Hands Learning Center 5743 69th Street East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-845-4873

Jackson Family Day Care Home 6715 36th Avenue Drive West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-794-5097

Happy Cubs 6207 21st Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-798-6173

Johnson Family Day Care Home 2403 Lehigh Avenue Bradenton, FL 34207 941-242-1831

Happy Go Lucky 1606 55th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-752-4608

Joy Learning & Development Academy 2515 37th Street East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-721-0684

Hawkins Family Day Care Home 439 47th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-405-2405

Jump Start Preschool of the Arts 11005 Passage Drive Bradenton, FL 34211 941-747-8900

House of JBaby's Preschool 1300 Manatee Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-896-7415

Kathy's Kiddie Care 13501 Upper Manatee River Road Bradenton, FL 34212 941-896-9058

Imagine Charter School at North Manatee 9275 49th Avenue East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-981-5345

Kiddie Academy of Lakewood Ranch 4225 Concept Court Bradenton, FL 34211 941-727-9072

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Kids Academy Plus 57th 1415 57th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-727-1841

La Petite Academy SR 70 6919 53rd Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-753-2336

Kids Academy Plus 38th 5415 38th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-792-3678

La Petite Academy Vintage Road 4507 Vintage Drive Sarasota, FL 34243 941-355-7677

Kids Academy Plus HL 4635 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-524-1045

Lane Family Day Care Home 602 31st Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-746-1774

Kids On The Rock 1401 14th Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-729-4567

Laugh and Learn Academy LLC 202 3rd Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-281-2930

Kids R Kids 4 Florida 11520 Palmbrush Trail Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202 941-727-9990

Learn and Explore Early Learning Academy 107 20th Street North East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-896-1584

Kidz Learning Steps 1425 10th Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-538-0231

Learning! Kidz Zone 2211 53rd Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-254-7859

Kidzone Preschool 116 27th Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-746-2727

Learning Unlimited 6210 17th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-794-5838

La Petite Academy 37th 4301 37th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-756-5227

Learning With Love 2712 47th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-751-4989 47

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Pictures: Whitney Patton

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Let's Learn Early Childhood Center 2118 1st Street West Bradenton, FL 34208 941-567-4279

Next Generation Academy 4636 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-251-2491

Lil' Angels Daycare Inc. 1415 7th Avenue East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-729-0442

Our Kids West 2425 38th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-752-1715

Little Einstein's Academy 3631 Tallevast Road Bradenton, FL 34243 941-894-6505

Palma Sola Early Learning Academy 7315 1st Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-795-0788

Little Manatee's Cove, LLC 707 3rd Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34221 (941) 405-7991

Palmetto Youth Center 501 17th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-722-0783

Little People's Place 374 Scott Avenue Sarasota, FL 34243 941-355-8741

Pathways to Learning LLC 2601 7th Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-896-8802

Love Comes First Preschool & Child Care Center 8630 SR 70 East Bradenton, FL 34202 941-755-7800

Primrose School Lakewood Ranch Town Center 9127 Town Center Parkway Bradenton, FL 34202 941-373-6363

Loving Hands Daycare 1204 60th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34207 941-755-6306

Puppy Patch Preschool 1116 35th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-748-6648

Manatee United Methodist Preschool 315 15th Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-750-6739

Rayitos De Sol 1019 61st Avenue Drive East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-565-7459

Mini Me Kids Daycare 1902 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-254-4940

RCMA Palmetto Child Development Center 2725 16th Avenue East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-723-4563

Morgan Family Day Care Home 2809 8th Street Court West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-745-2401

Reaching For The Stars Academy 2239 14th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-748-3901

My First Steps of Bradenton, Inc. 3815 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-727-5511

Sand & Buckets Daycare 3407 17th Street Court East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-748-4799

My Three Angels Daycare, LLC 2611 9th Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-254-7211

Sandman Preschool & Academy 924 Wilmerling Avenue Sarasota, FL 34243 941-755-2591

Myakka Early Learning Center, Inc. 37190 Singletary Road Myakka City, FL 34251 941-322-2605

School District of Manatee County Professional Support Center 2501 63rd Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-751-6550

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School For Constructive Play, Inc. 302 Pine Avenue Anna Maria, FL 34216 941-778-2210 Smarty Pants Preschool LLC 832 62nd Street Circle East, Suite 101 Bradenton, FL 34208 941-747-7710 Smarty Pants Preschool 2 904 43rd Street West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-896-4796 Smiling Faces Academy, Inc. 910 19th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-756-1234 Smiling Faces Junior Academy, Inc. 1720 11th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-747-3925 Sproutlings Kids SFCP Too, Inc. 1222 36th Avenue East Ellenton, FL 34222 941-776-4947 Sproutlings Kids SFCP Too, Inc. 3411 US Highway 301 North Ellenton, FL 34222 941-845-4484 Stapleton Family Day Care Home 1110 42nd Terrace East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-580-0510 Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning Harllee Middle 6413 9th Street East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-750-6667 Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning Morton Clark 1707 15th Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-750-6667 Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning Palmetto 1315 2nd Avenue West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-750-6667 Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning Parkland 6432 Parkland Drive Sarasota, FL 34243 941-750-6667

Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning Pine Village 1103 56th Avenue Drive East Bradenton, FL 34203 941-750-6667 Step Up Suncoast Rise and Shine Early Learning - Visible Men Academy 921 63rd Avenue East Bradenton FL, 34203 941-750-6667 Step Up Suncoast Rise & Shine Early Learning West Bradenton 2531 9th Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-750-6667 Sunny Daze Preschool East 9922 SR 64 East Bradenton, FL 34212 941-750-0042 Sunshine Academy & Daycare 2520 43rd Street West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-794-3143 Teachable Moments Learning Center LLC 4200 32nd Street West Anna Maria, FL 34205 941-900-1022 The Center of Anna Maria Island, Inc. 407 Magnolia Avenue Anna Maria, FL 34216 941-778-1908 The Goddard School 14534 Arbor Green Trail Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202 941-752-6600 The Learning Experience Lakewood Ranch 14425 Arbor Green Trail Bradenton, FL 34202 941-251-4046 The Learning Post Child Care 623 30th Street East Palmetto, FL 34221 941-536-4858 The Myakka City Community Center 10070 Wauchula Road Myakka City, FL 34251 941-322-8114 Thompson Academy LLC 1212 43rd Street West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-748-2162

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ELC AWARDED $398,650 CARES AC T FUNDS & $50,0 0 0 UNITED WAY GR ANT...

ANT.. .

T

he Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County, Inc (ELC) was awarded a $398,650 grant through the Office of Early Learning (OEL) to support local providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. $262,000 was awarded to 131 programs, and $136,650 was awarded to 255 individual program staff for completion of specified professional development opportunities. Grants were designated for health and safety supplies, infrastructure needs and staff professional development to assist providers who remained open.

Paul Sharff, ELC Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are grateful to the Office of Early Learning for helping us to support our Manatee County early care programs that have stood with us to serve the children of our essential workers.”

ELC has also been awarded a $50,000 grant from United Way Suncoast to help fund a collaborative effort between the ELC and Feeding Tampa Bay, in support of PALS participants, teenage parents, and Early Head Start participants being served at Harllee Service Center.

Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) facilitates the parents' mastery of specific skills for interacting with their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with a focus on strengthening the bond between parent and child and to stimulate early language, cognitive, and social development.

Parents with children 4 months to 48 months participate in 15-18 weekly home visits. Additionally, families will have access to nutritionally adequate food at the Harllee Service Center food pantry.

The overall program cost is $75,000 and anyone willing to support this partnership can find more information at www.elc-manatee.org.

Sharon Oakes, ELC Chief Operations Officer, said: “We are grateful to the United Way Suncoast for this investment in our partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay. Through our collaboration with the school district and Early Head Start, we will have the good financial start needed to serve some of our most vulnerable citizens.”

Mr. Sharff is pictured below with Marjani Jones, ELC Board of Directors Provider Representative and Annette Larkin, owner of Happy Cubs, and an ELC Board Member.

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Tiny Tots University 930 9th Street Drive West Palmetto, FL 34221 941-723-9072

Toddler's Ark FCCH 711 36th Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-879-2407

Toad Hall Children's Center of Bradenton 4004 8th Avenue Drive West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-746-3951

Toddler's Inn Child Care Center LLC 2611 9th Street East Bradenton, FL 34208 941-746-4631

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Tree Of Life Preschool 2200 26th Street West Bradenton, FL 34205 941-747-1756

Woodland Early Childhood Center 9607 SR 70 East Bradenton FL, 34202 941-753-8588

Trinity Children's Center 3200 Manatee Avenue East Bradenton, FL 34205 941-748-8608

YMCA Manatee County 3805 59th Street West Bradenton, FL 34209 941-798-9622

Childcare Resource & Referral (941) 757-2910

Make a difference, donate today at www.fromcradletocollegefoundation.org!

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Historical Attractions

The Whole Family BORIN BORIN MUSE GG MUSE UMS UMS

Willofof Love AreaaThing Are Thing thePast the Past

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature

Kids of All Ages Love Exploring Everything the Bradenton Area Has to Offer Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key is known around the world for beautiful island beaches, sprawling nature preserves, exciting activities, and so much more.

However, there’s so much more than outdoor adventures to discover here. The Bradenton Area’s history and culture is unlike anywhere else in Florida. Our history represents Old Florida at its finest, built on the backs of the maritime, agriculture, and railroad industries. Our founders date back to the 1840s, but our area’s history of human inhabitants goes back even further. We invite you and your family to explore our history and culture through several fun and interactive museums located throughout Florida’s West Coast.

See a 1913 Baldwin Locomotive at Manatee Village Historical Park.

Learning about where we came from will give you an even greater appreciation for where we are today, and where we’ll be in the future. Discover how visitors of all ages fall in love with the Bradenton Area when our history comes alive.

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Manatee County Agricultural Museum 1015 6th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221 | (941) 721-2034

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Established to preserve, share, and educate the community about Manatee County’s agricultural heritage, this museum also looks to the future and supports local agriculture today. Historical artifacts and exhibits are rotated frequently to ensure there is always something new to see. The Manatee County Agricultural Hall of Fame is a dedicated space that honors local agriculturalists who have made a great impact on our community, while the Citrus Room showcases specialized tools and equipment from the local groves and businesses.

The Ag & Economy board teaches guests how agriculture affects Manatee County’s economy, and allows children to guess which tools are useful to farmers. The Livestock Room highlights our area’s rich cattle industry, and “The Barn” contains larger agriculture equipment such as engines, a silo filler, seeders, fanning mill, and more.

Learn more at ManateeCountyAgMuseum.com See everything from historic photographs to authentic farm and citrus grove equipment, a 1925 Model-T, and more.

Keep Our Area’s Culture Thriving The Florida Arts License Plate Program was developed so arts lovers could show their support of local artists in a fun, eye-catching way.

The funds collected through the sale of these specialty plates are used to support local arts organizations, programs, and activities in the county. If you’re a lover of the arts, or just want to stand out and express yourself, there’s no better way to show your support for our local artists and turn heads than with a Florida Arts License Plate.

Order yours today: dos.myflorida.com/cultural/info-andopportunities/florida-arts-license-plate/ We hope you and your family will explore the Bradenton Area to learn all about the history and culture we have to offer. Go online today to learn more about everything there is to do in the Bradenton Area.

Visit BradentonGulfIsland.com

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The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature

201 10th St W, Bradenton, FL 34205 | (941) 746-4131 Kids of all ages love the largest natural and cultural history museum on Florida’s West Coast. Oh, and adults like it too. Here, you’ll enjoy exhibits and educational programs that interpret the scientific and cultural knowledge of Florida, the world, and our universe. The museum’s exhibits include permanent and temporary installations. Exhibits range from fossil evidence of Florida’s earliest animal inhabitants and archaeological materials representing Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and pre-contact cultures to local history and creative exhibitions. The new Mosaic Backyard Universe is a literal backyard experience, complete with a giant artificial tree, that teaches children about our natural surroundings and beyond with interactive and fun activities. Showcasing our county’s favorite water-dwelling mammal, the Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat provides a temporary home for manatees that will be released back into the wild, and has housed more than 30 manatees over the years. Parents and kids love getting an up-close look at these “sea In The Planetarium, guests can lift off from Earth and fly beyond our cows” as they prepare to return to the wild. solar system, out of our galaxy, See all the exhibits at: BishopScience.org and to the very edge of the universe.

Florida Maritime Museum

4415 119th St W, Cortez, FL 34215 | (941) 708-6120

Florida’s maritime industry was essential in developing the majority of its coastal towns and communities, and that’s especially true for the Cortez Historic Fishing Village. Housed in a historic 1912 Schoolhouse and surrounded by the Cortez Nature Preserve, the Florida Maritime Museum documents the growth and significance of one of the Bradenton Area’s most crucial industries and time periods. Exhibits include historic photographs, boat models, tools, instruments, and other historically significant materials that were a part of Florida’s maritime culture and history.

The museum is also home to a folk school that teaches traditional Florida skills.

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For more information, visit: FloridaMaritimeMuseum.org

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Manatee Village Historical Park

1404 Manatee Ave E, Bradenton, FL 34208 | (941) 749-7165

Preserving, sharing, and educating visitors about the founding period of Manatee County, 1840-1918, this village features historical and replica buildings reflecting this crucial time in our county’s history. Today, guests can explore exhibits recreating the daily lives of early Manatee County residents. There are two permanent exhibits to enjoy: “One Century Plus of Ranching in Manatee County” located in the Wiggins General Store, and “Life on the Florida Frontier” found in the 1912 Stephen House. However, there are always new events scheduled to keep visitors coming back to experience something fresh, such as lectures, book signings, festivals, workshops, and demonstrations.

Learn more online at: ManateeVillage.org The museum opened July 4, 1976, and features fourteen structures representing pioneer life in Manatee County.

Florida Railroad Museum

12210 83rd St E, Parrish, FL 34219 | (941) 776-0906

Have you ever wondered what it felt like to ride the rails in the 1940s or 1950s? If so, this is the museum for you. The goal of the Florida Railroad Museum is to recreate the sights and sounds of Florida railroading as it once was. To do so, the museum operates a six-mile line between Parrish and Willow, Florida where guests can take a train ride back in time. Each weekend, diesel locomotives pull equipment consisting of open window coaches, a covered gondola, and an air-conditioned coach. This is one of the most unique museum experiences in the world, but it doesn’t stop with classic trains. Whether you’re a train enthusiast, history buff, or coming for a show, this is a fun and interesting experience the whole family will love.

Offered on specific dates, guests can experience an intriguing murder Get your ticket to ride at: FRRM.org mystery on the train, or a thrilling train robbery by ruthless outlaws.

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R E A D Y, S E T , READ... SCAN! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Through state and local funders, the ELC of Manatee County is able to donate 38,000 books a year into our community. Please scan the QR code located on the inside cover or back of an ELC book to take a short informational survey. Your feedback offers us important data on child literacy outcomes. This will help to ensure our funding can continue to support Early Literacy.

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On The Bookshelf REVIEWS: Ana Rodriguez

I'M SILLY!

THE JAR OF

(Birth to 3) • By Jennifer L. Holm “I’m Silly!” is a story about an energetic tornado that gets a little bit too silly and wrecks his friends’ tea party. The story is made in a comic book format with pictures and bubble text to help young children stay connected with the story. This board book is an excellent tool for parents looking for books with social-emotional skills as it highlights feelings. The story would spark a great conversation about how sometimes we may unintentionally hurt friends and how to recognize these situations and make it right by asking for forgiveness.

This book is entertaining and easy to read through the pictures, the first step toward reading words.

“I’m Silly” is the perfect sized board book with colorful pages to attract any toddler’s attention and will surely be a favorite in your home.

(4-6) • By Ailsa Burrows

In this story, a girl named Meg walked everywhere with the jar of happiness she created until, one day, she couldn’t find her treasured jar. Meg worried that she would never be happy again without her jar of happiness. She looks everywhere and couldn’t find it, but Meg learned that she could be happy without the jar because what actually gives her joy is the acts of love she receives from her friends and family. The story includes beautifully animated pictures and calming colors. Children can learn how to overcome sadness in a healthy way without feeling the need to depend on objects that he/ she may lose. The book also teaches a valuable lesson of caring for others and selfregulation with sweet and warm illustrations. It is an uplifting book that comes full circle, for Meg, and highlights the concepts of happiness and caring for each other.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, KITES SAIL HIGH (7-9) • By Ruth Heller

“Kites Sail High” is an excellent book about verbs. This book has a continuity that starts by defining verbs and goes all the way into explaining verbs from the most basic to complicated forms. The text in the book explains and gives examples of various verbs, and the pictures make it even easier for children to understand them by tying everything together. The book covers various types of verbs, such as vigorous verbs, link verbs, auxiliary verbs, irregular verbs, and regular verbs. This magnificent book highlights verb moods and voices like imperative mood, indicative mood, subjunctive mood, passive voice, and active voice. “Kites Sail High” is a great book choice for this age group of learners to learn or refresh their knowledge about verbs by using a combination of colorful pictures, simple rhyming text, and detailed examples and explanations of VERBS.

The first 50 people to come into the lobby of the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County, 600 8th Avenue West, Suite 100, Palmetto can pick up free copies of the books reviewed.

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A Quest to End Poverty…

Peg Delegato and her gift of giving Words: Amy Bell Picture: Whitney Patton

F

or most of her life, Margaret (Peg) Delegato has been on a quest to end poverty and rid the world of hatred. It’s certainly a lofty goal — but if anyone can come close to pulling it off, it’s a dedicated philanthropist like Peg. Born and raised in Detroit, Peg says Motown was a vibrant and exciting city during her childhood. “I grew up in what for me was the best of times, but for some, it was the worst of times,” she recalls.

Peg graduated from high school in 1958, full of optimism and idealism. “I knew great things were awaiting me,” she says. “After all, I had a dad who told me if I worked hard, I could become the president of the United States. Oh, he was so ahead of his time!” she laughs.

Planting Seeds After high school, Peg considered a career in nursing. “Little did I know at the time that more seeds were being planted for future ripening and harvesting,” she says. A couple of years later, Peg changed career plans and ended her marriage. Now a single mother, she took on a job at a credit union that offered her the flexibility to raise her child.

“It was at this job that my supervisor pushed me towards fur thering my education,” she recalls. In 1968, Peg began her studies at the University of Detroit. Soon after, she quickly climbed the ladder at the credit union to a manager position.

“In my credit union employment, I learned that many besides myself lived paycheck to paycheck, and many suffered as the working poor,” she recalls. “It gave me a crash course in compassion.”

At the time, racial tensions were high in Detroit, and there were frequent riots.

“The city was burning, and as I learned more about the plight of the people, I burned with the passion of wanting to help them,” Peg reflects. This led her to join an organization called Focus Hope. “It was here that community leadership became paramount in my life—and it was here that the seeds of ending hatred and poverty became my being.”

During her time with Focus Hope, Peg developed fundraising and organization skills, but most importantly, she learned compassion. This was when she vowed to dedicate her life to ending poverty and bigotry. To this day, she has not broken that promise.

Florida Philanthropy In 1989, Peg moved to Bradenton, first as a snowbird and eventually a full-time Floridian. “I tried retirement for a while,” she recalls. “Very boring.” By 1995, she decided to go back to school and complete her college education.

Peg received her A.A. from Manatee Community College and then transferred to USF- Sarasota/Manatee. “In 2003, at the age of 63, I earned my B.A.,” she says.

“I was so grateful and promised the good Lord that I would do what I could to help others fulfill their dream of an education,” she did.

Soon after, Peg started volunteering at Ballard Elementary School. She also taught a Sunday morning preschool for Hispanic children for five years.

As she continued her school volunteering, Peg was introduced to Reading Pals. “I could not participate in its first year but have every year since,” she says. She has participated in Reading Pals at a number of local elementary schools, including Daughtrey, Ballard, Rogers Garden, and Prine. “Oh, I enjoy it more than I can say,” she exclaims. “Ballard and Rogers Garden were also my camping ground for 63

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County, my energy in this regard was with Our Daily Bread,” she explains.

“My stint there began when it operated out of Sacred Heart Parish and then to a building on 14th Street. I volunteered there for more years; then I can count.”

Over the years, Peg has also been heavily involved with the NAACP. “This organization is my vehicle for ending hatred,” she emphasizes. “It is my belief that there is one race: the human race. When I first became active, I was criticized by several white friends. My statement to them was: If you are a bigot, you cannot be my friend. A few returned later after soul searching and apologized.

They stated their past feelings as being wrong. Maybe I made a difference.”

When she first became active with the NA ACP, Peg chaired the Education Committee. “I believed and still do that education is the pathway out of poverty,” she says. “In setting committee goals, this belief was the impetus. It was with the NAACP that I learned the importance of early education.”

After a brief hiatus from the NAACP, Peg chaired the Freedom Fund Committee.

During this time, she found that fundraising was something she truly enjoyed. “It gave me the microphone to espouse my beliefs in the sin of hatred,” she says.

The Spirit of Giving volunteering in other ways. I truly enjoy working with the kids.”

During her time in schools, Peg realized the importance of giving kids hope and someone to talk to. “This led to my involvement in another organization: Take Stock in Children, which is ending poverty one kid at a time,” she says. Peg has mentored four students through Take Stock and will begin with her fifth when school starts.

“Mentoring makes a difference,” she says. Peg recalls fondly what one of her Take Stock students said about their time together. “When someone asked

how I had helped her, she said, ‘When I was falling, Miss Peggy grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.’”

Peg has also taken on a leadership role with Take Stock, starting off with the Leadership Council, which became the Community Council. “Diana Dill was at the helm, and her energy and leadership were contagious,” Peg says. “She grabbed my energy and directed it to the kids of Take Stock. She was then and still now, my friend. Together, we create positive change in the lives of kids.”

Of course, ending poverty has been Peg’s dream for a very long time. “In Manatee

These are just a few examples of Peg’s tireless volunteer work in Manatee C o unt y. S he has wo rked with s o many organizations during her time in Bradenton; she sometimes loses track.

“I want everyone, especially children, to be on a level playing field,” she says.

“And if they need a hand up, I want to be there for them.”

When asked what inspires her passion for volunteer work, Peg says it comes from her spiritual side. “Jesus Christ would be the person I would like to have lunch with if I could have lunch with anyone ever,” she says. “If you read the gospels, he lifted people up. He cared about the less fortunate. He told us to love one another.

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He wasn’t popular with everyone, but he did what was right.”

Peg has also spent some time studying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. “To paraphrase it: when basic needs are unmet, self-actualization doesn’t happen,” she explains. “We need to help others for them to reach the point of their selfactualization.”

Outside of her volunteer work, Peg enjoys reading, creating art, and sewing. For the last 15 years, she has been making dresses for women and children in Haiti.

“I quit counting at 500,” she says. During one of her trips to Haiti, Peg visited an orphanage in Leogane and came across a little girl wearing a dress she had made.

“I’ll never forget it,” she adds.

Family and friends are also very important to Peg. “My daughter is in a corner of my heart occupying my love and pride,” Peg gushes. “She is married to a wonderful man, and they live in California.”

Although they are not related by blood, there is another young man who is particularly special to Peg. “He is Haitian, and I met him when he was in the third grade and in need of tutoring,” she says.

Peg continued to mentor him through his middle school years. Now, he is starting his senior year. “I have spent a lot of time with this kid, from when he was a cute little kid up to now as I see him mature to a fine young man. He has been a joy in my life.”

Peg says volunteering has been the basis for many friendships over the years. “They have become my extended family, and I love them,” she says.

“I have truly been blessed in life and hope that I have done some good along the way,” s h e ref l e c t s .

There is no question that Peg Delegato has a c c o m p l i s h e d m o re good than she will ever know, impacting lives across Florida, Michigan, and beyond.

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The From Cradle to College™ Foundation Golf Classic Hosted by State Representative Will Robinson and Former State Rep Jim Boyd, benefiting the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County

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WELCOME BACK!

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www.pms1.org Platinum Mortgage Solutions, Inc. is a Mortgage Broker licensed by the State of CT Department of Banking. NOT A LENDER OR A CORRESPONDENT MORTGAGE LENDER. NMLS No. 1598108.

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Sign Up For This Cool Craft!

With education continually evolving in the current social distancing environment, we may find our kids at home learning a bit more frequently during the upcoming school year. Regardless of what the future may hold, it is important to be prepared for a sudden shift of how school is administered.

One of the many things this past year has taught my family is the importance of creating a space where kids have materials, technology, and a spot with minimal distractions to study in.

With a high schooler, middle schooler, and second grader, my kid’s learning needs have continued to be vastly different from one another. When it comes to learning, they need boundaries to help with their educational success as they continue to study in different parts of our home.

To help keep my kids out of one another’s study zones, my daughter put together a simple Craft Stick Sign this summer to aid in keeping interruptions to a minimum.

Are your kids interested in making their own sign for back to school? Check out below!

What You Will Need: • 20 Craft sticks • Glue • Acrylic paint • Paint brushes • Fuzzy Stick AKA pipe cleaner • Paper towels • Black magic marker Tip: You can locate most of these items at a dollar or craft store.

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DIRECTIONS: To get started, I first had my daughter decide which colors to use for the Craft Stick Signs.

Next up, we set aside enough paintbrushes for each color. For my son’s room, she picked green and red to represent Stop and Go, and for her room, she wanted pink and purple.

Tip: Acrylic Paint dries fast. I suggest having your child wear an oversized T-shirt or apron to protect their clothing and washing out brushes after use.

It was then time to get started with assembling the craft sticks into a sign. First, my daughter laid down nine sticks horizontally in a row. She then placed glue along two craft sticks and laid those vertically across the nine on opposite sides, leaving a little overlap at the top.

She then repeated this process by putting glue on top of the two craft sticks and then laying another set of nine across the top. By doing this, it created a two-sided sign.

Next, she started painting each side of the sign a solid color.

Placing the craft sticks on paper towels, she painted the one side completely, waited for about 15 minutes until the paint dried, and then flipped the sign over to paint the other side.

Once the paint had completely dried, she added the wording to both sides with a permanent marker.

Tip: Depending upon your child’s hand-writing ability, you may want to first trace the letters with a pencil.

After she finished writing out her sayings on the sign, she then added a fuzzy stick to the top by placing glue on the ends and wrapping each side tight to form an arch.

Once the glue dried, this Craft Stick Sign for back to school was ready to be hung on a hook or door handle, or the pipe cleaner could be bent back as a stand to put on a desk or table.

Since making our signs, we have already put my sons to use while my oldest child took a test as part of an FLVS course. When we saw the sign, his siblings knew they needed to stay out of his room and be quiet, and it worked out well.

I hope this craft also comes in handy for your family - and wish you all success in the upcoming school year!

WORDS & PICTURES: Carlee Colonneso Carlee Colonneso is a wife, and stay at home mother of three. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida and author of funlearninglife.com.

Her website is a lifestyle blog that centers on family, crafts, recipes, and frugal living.

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RECIPES: Sophie Williams

Kids in the Kitchen

MUDDY BUDDIES INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Chex cereal • ½ cup Powdered sugar • cup Peanut butter • ¼ Chocolate syrup

PREPARATION

1. Put 1 cup of Chex cereal into a plastic bag.

2. Take cup of peanut butter and ¼ cup of 3.

4.

5.

6.

chocolate syrup and put it in a microwave safe bowl and melt them together. Stir the mixture.

Pour the mixture into the plastic bag and shake until each Chex is completely covered.

Add ½ cup of powdered sugar into the bag until all of them are covered.

If they aren’t all covered, add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar until fully covered.

Put them into a separate bowl.

BANANA PANCAKES INGREDIENTS • 1 • 1 • 5 • 1

banana egg tablespoons of oats teaspoon of cinnamon

PREPARATION

1. Turn the stovetop to medium and spray pan.

2. Peel a banana and use a fork to mash the banana until there are no chunks.

3. Add one egg and stir until combined.

4. Add the oats and cinnamon.

5. Pour enough batter until it makes a 4-inch circle.

6. Let cook for 4 minutes or until the side is golden brown.

7. Flip and let the other side cook for 2 minutes.

8. Put them on a plate and top with syrup if you would like.

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Sunday

Monday

Out & About NEXTGEN encourages the use of face coverings and social distancing when out in public.

Please note: Due to COVID-19 all events are subject to change or cancellation without warning.

Please check with the venue prior to making any plans.

SEPTEMBER Tuesday

1

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

Wednesday

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

2

Thursday

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

3

Friday

4

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

6

Jumpin Fun Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am Sun N Fun Sarasota Pirate Invasion Weekend

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

7

5

Astro Skate Bradenton Skating Lessons 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Village of the Arts Artwalk 11:00am-4:00pm

Sky Zone Toddler Time 10:00am-12:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Village of the Arts Artwalk 6:00pm-9:30pm

South Florida Gymnastics Preschool Playtime 2:30pm-3:30pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sarasota Children’s Garden Thrifty Thursdays (Discounted Admission) 10:00am-4:00pm

Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Parrish Elite Open Gym 6:00pm-8:00pm Sun N Fun Sarasota Pool Glow After Dark 7:00pm-10:00pm Sun N Fun Sarasota Pirate Invasion Weekend

Sky Zone Sarasota Character Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Saturday

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics Open Gym 6:30pm-8:30pm Sun N Fun Sarasota Pirate Invasion Weekend

Astro Skate Bradenton Skating Lessons 9:00am

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Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Treat Yourself Like a Queen UTC Mall 10:00am-3:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sky Zone Toddler Time 10:00am-12:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

KidSpace Zoom Bishop Museum of Science and Nature 10:30am

Sarasota Children’s Garden Thrifty Thursdays (Discounted Admission) 10:00am-4:00pm

Parrish Elite Open Gym 6:00pm-8:00pm

Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Sun N Fun Sarasota Pool Glow After Dark 7:00pm-10:00pm

South Florida Gymnastics Preschool Playtime 2:30pm-3:30pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit) Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics Open Gym 6:30pm-8:30pm

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Sky Zone Sarasota Character Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Jumpin Fun Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sky Zone Toddler Time 10:00am-12:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sarasota Children’s Garden Thrifty Thursdays (Discounted Admission) 10:00am-4:00pm

Parrish Elite Open Gym 6:00pm-8:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit) Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Astro Skate Bradenton Skating Lessons 9:00am

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Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm South Florida Gymnastics Preschool Playtime 2:30pm-3:30pm

Sun N Fun Sarasota Pool Glow After Dark 7:00pm-10:00pm

Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics Open Gym 6:30pm-8:30pm

Teen Anime Club Zoom (Hosted by library) 4:00pm-5:00pm

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Sky Zone Sarasota Character Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Jumpin Fun Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Jumpin Fun Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sky Zone Toddler Time 10:00am-12:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sarasota Children’s Garden Thrifty Thursdays (Discounted Admission) 10:00am-4:00pm

Parrish Elite Open Gym 6:00pm-8:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Sky Zone Toddler Time 10:00am-12:00pm

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit)

Arts A Blaze Kids Open Studio 10:00am-6:00pm (30 minute limit) Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

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Bounce Down Under Toddler Time 9:00am

Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm

Sky Zone Sarasota Character Toddler Time 9:00am-11:00am

Defy Bradenton Kids Jump 9:00am

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Sun N Fun Sarasota Pool Glow After Dark 7:00pm-10:00pm

Astro Skate Bradenton Skating Lessons 9:00am

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KidSpace Zoom Bishop Museum of Science and Nature 10:30am Kids Ninja Training Live Training Center Palmetto 12:00pm South Florida Gymnastics Preschool Playtime 2:30pm-3:30pm Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics Open Gym 6:30pm-8:30pm

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Bradenton Macaroni Kid is one of the area's top resources for all things family-friendly! With a comprehensive listing of holiday events, play groups, classes, festivals, summer programs, shows and much more, Bradenton Macaroni Kid makes it easy for parents to keep their children busy and entertained all year long. Don't miss the exciting giveaways, promotions, timely bits of parenting advice and humor! Like us on Facebook and sign up to receive the FREE weekly e-newsletter with the latest scoop on fun outings and events in Manatee County at www.bradenton.macaronikid.com.

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65th Anniversary

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PHOTOBOOTH PICTURES: Be Scene 73

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ASK DR. SHARON doctorotis@nextgenmagazine.org

Dr. Sharon Otis is a licensed clinical mental health psychotherapist who is owner and clinical director of the Family Care Counseling Center in Bradenton.

Kids and The Uncomfortable New World‌ My child keeps asking me about the things she sees on social media or television. How do you talk to kids about current events? -HK, Bradenton

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his spring, I noticed an increase of calls to our center from parents regarding their young children and anxiety about the coronavirus. During the summer, the phone calls from parents were in regard to talking to their children about protests and violence in the streets.

Children are hearing words like police brutality, riots, domestic terrorism, political bashing, or an increase in COVID-19 cases. Parents are wondering how to address the news with their children.

Be proactive about what is happening instead of being reactive when talking to your child. News stations compete for breaking news, so normalize the event by discussing where the event is happening and how the event affects your child.

Since stations replay events over and over, children synthesize the information as re-happening events instead of a single event. If they hear there is a hurricane and said multiple times, the child hears the event as many hurricanes happening at once. Children are hearing things on the television or hearing people talking, so they have questions about a global pandemic or social injustice. Not talking about current events and voicing your perspective will add to the child’s fears and confusion.

Prepare for these conversations. What do you feel about the events and what terms are you going to use in your family discussions? If you do not know the answer to their questions, say you do not know.

Do not shy away from talking to your child

about what is happening in the world.

Experts agree that talking is essential and agree that approaching current events are important even if parents are uncomfortable with the issues.

Be truthful but be appropriate. Your child has two or more stages of brain development and cannot be logical, and they can misinterpret stories they hear on social media. Be factual. In the case of the virus, teach your child to wash their hands often, and sneeze into a tissue or their elbow. Talk to your child about what might be different about this school year.

Children, depending on their age, process the news differently than we do. Stages of brain development were named after Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget. He studied intellectual growth. When a child becomes seven years old, the prefrontal and temporal lobes of the brain grow, and verbal development increases. The child then attaches more words to those feelings. Before this stage, children live more in a fantasy world and believe inanimate objects or animals think and feel like them. This is a great time for encouraging creativity and role-playing.

Piaget called the next stage of brain development, concrete operational. This happens around seven to 11 years old.

Information travels to parts of the brain, and the child can now make logical arguments and begin to reason more accurately.

However, your child still has more stages of brain development to come, so that

logic does not always make sense with a full understanding of the situation. They are taking in the news, but reasoning and logical conclusion can be scary.

Remain calm when discussing news events with your children as the children are picking up on cues from you on how you feel. Children sense and can read your responses even if you do not verbalize your anxiety. Children develop a sense of justice around seven and can pick up on news that does not seem fair.

Good discussions begin at seven years old and can get more abstract as your child moves toward ten. Children count on their parent’s perspective until about twelve or thirteen. At that point in brain development, the child can be argumentative and think their way is the right way. They cannot see all perspectives until about twenty years old.

Reassure your child that they are safe and listen to what they have to say about topics that are coming up for them on social media. Try to monitor the stimulus of what they hear and see. The news seems very personal to a seven or eight-year-old.

Validate what your children are feeling and tell them it is normal to feel the way they do. Help your children process their emotions and normalize what is being discussed on social media and the news.

Your role as a parent can be crucial to how a child views the world through your lens of brain maturity.

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Let’s Bridge The Digital Divide…

WORDS: Women’s Resource Center

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relevant at a moment when real interactions are limited, and virtual connectivity is a necessity.

WRC serves thousands of women and families in Manatee and Sarasota counties through resource advising, mental health counseling, career coaching, mentoring, support groups, and other educational programs. Its vision is to provide unique strategies that strengthen women through life’s many transitions.

As this health crisis has unfolded, WRC has seen an increase in demand for our traditional services. We have also had requests for both computers and internet access now that colleges, libraries, coffee shops, and other locations are closed.

This includes establishing a cooperative and system-based approach, collecting data on technology gaps, coordinating stakeholder groups’ efforts, and sharing information about all aspects of access, including affordable broadband internet service, internet-enabled devices, and digital literacy training, and quality technical support.

hile the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges, it also offers opportunities for positive change. One notable example is in the area of technology and the potential for achieving digital equity in our community. Women’s Resource Center (WRC) believes all individuals deserve affordable, reliable, high-speed internet, and the devices and skills to effectively navigate the digital world.

According to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, ‘digital inclusion’ refers to the activities necessary to ensure that all individuals, including the most disadvantaged, have access to and use of information and communication technologies.

They believe digital equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services.

Achieving digital equity in our bi-county area requires intentional strategies and investments to identify and eliminate historical and structural barriers to access for underserved residents, small businesses, and organizations. WRC calls on community partners and local governments to build public/private partnerships and develop a cohesive plan for digital equity in our region.

WRC encourages our region to be at the forefront of change by thoughtfully building and adopting an equity-based technology plan that assembles resources, maximizes investments, and employs best practices to achieve digital inclusion in our region.

Our hope is that all residents will be able to participate fully in a technology-based economy.

Sarasota and Manatee school districts have worked diligently to provide devices and internet access to the nearly 100,000 children in the K-12 education systems through Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile-enabled buses.

Our local colleges are striving to get both laptops and access to their post-secondary students as well. These education institutions also encourage families to sign up for the free 60-day coverage offered to new customers by carriers like Comcast and Spectrum.

The need for connectivity goes far beyond online learning. Internet access is necessary for job search tools and application portals, registration for unemployment compensation, and other government benefit programs, health insurance information, telehealth services, online orders of food, and essential items, including medications.

And for a portion of our elderly population isolated by COVID-19, access to technology and digital education can reduce loneliness and depression. The digital divide is particularly

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Investing in our youth is not merely our responsibility.

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A Star WORDS: Kara Chalmers PICTURES: Whitney Patton

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n the span of one hour, I watched Allie McLaughlin, 10, laugh, cry, speak with a convincing British ac-cent and belt out two — pretty difficult — songs. She wasn’t on stage. She was in my living room.

I was interviewing Allie, who’d performed in two big local shows in the past year. Allie played Marta, second youngest of the von Trapp children, in The Sound of Music, which ran in November and Decem-ber at Sarasota’s Asolo Repertory Theatre.

In January and February, she played the lead in Matilda the Musical at the Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton.

Allie’s a triple threat — besides acting and singing, she dances at Reflex Arts Dance in Sarasota, where she takes ballet, jazz, and tap. She’s taken private piano lessons for nearly three years, takes a musical theater class at Spotlight Theatre. She loves it all.

“I love being on stage,” Allie said. “I like the lights and seeing all the people in front of me.”

That might freak some people out — even theater people. Or, at the very least, give them butterflies. But Allie said she never worries.

“I don’t get scared on stage,” she said, adding that a friend once told her that meant she didn’t care enough. “I care a lot,” she said. “But if you make a mistake, so what? What’s the point of being nerv-ous?”

While Allie adores singing and dancing, acting is her favorite.

She likes being different characters, learn-ing lines, and dressing up as someone else.

“Because you’re able to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and tell a story,” Allie said. “You’re someone entirely different from you.”

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In The Making!

Being Matilda Interestingly, while their families couldn’t be more different, there are some notable similarities be-tween Allie and the character she played in Matilda the Musical. For one, both she and Matilda are spunky and smart. Before Allie switched to Florida Virtual School in 2019, to better accommodate her rehearsals and performances, Allie was a straight-A student at Pine View School — no small feat, as Pine View, is solely for academically gifted kids.

confident without being arrogant, assertive without being pushy.

She has empathy and is skilled at reading people.

Also, both Allie and Matilda are avid readers. For example, Allie had read all seven books of the Harry Potter series, on her own, by third grade.

According to Giglio, Allie is a talented singer with a wide range.

But she’s also a hard worker. Even when she’s tired, Allie never admits it. “If she keeps that up, she’ll go far,” Giglio said.

“Being Matilda was very fun,” Allie said. “The one thing I really like about Matilda is that she’s very smart and tells stories.”

Allie played Matilda with an accent. The story is set in England, and Allie learned her lines and songs partly by listening to the Broadway version of the musical, in which Matilda and the rest of the cast speak with British accents. When I asked Allie if she would demonstrate, her eyes lit up, and she said, “Sure, I love the British accent!”

Warming to her audience, she immediately asked, “Can I tell you a joke?”

Allie is witty and comfortable talking to anyone and singing in front of anyone. But while she’s fond of being in the (literal) spotlight, she is not needy, nor does she crave attention, the way some kids do. She’ll tell you a joke but will ask permission first. Allie is

Michelle Giglio, a professional opera singer who’s given Allie private vocal lessons for more than two years, noted Allie’s energy, enthusiasm, and zest for life. She said they are contagious.

“She’s definitely a performer,” Giglio said. “She just loves it. And I hope she never loses that.”

A Fearless Starlet Being cast in The Sound of Music was a highlight of Allie’s life. She auditioned in April 2019, and rehears-als began that October. In all, there were 52 performances, and Allie did not miss one. She had only Mondays off. And all the while, she learned pages and pages of lines for Matilda the Musical.

But she didn’t mind the long days and nights.

“I liked staying up late,” she said, noting she once stayed up till 1 a.m. “That’s every child’s dream, to stay up late… or early.

As Allie talked to me about how sad she was when The Sound of Music ended, I noticed her eyes welling up.

“I cried after the curtains closed, I cried after the toast, I cried when I got home,” she said. “Because I was going to miss it, the cast, the stage, the set.”

At that point, I realized tears were actually flowing — it had been hard to tell at first because she was wearing a mask — and I put down my pen and asked her if she needed a hug. She did.

“She’s sensitive,” said Christine Orta, who’s been Allie’s musical theater and dance teacher for seven years. “She can recall a memory and really feel it. She was born with that skill.”

Allie was born with a lot of skills; it turns out. She’s been fearlessly entertaining people since she could walk and talk, her parents said. There’s a video of Allie, at age four, singing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” at a talent show aboard a cruise ship during a 79

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Giving her All, All the Time According to Allie, she puts her entire heart and soul into each performance, each audition. She uses the phrase “tried my best” often.

She’s had her heart broken. She hasn’t won all the parts for which she’s auditioned. She’s been an understudy for a play that never needed to use her.

“I almost cried,” Allie said. “You do get heartbroken. But that’s OK.” Allie is mature enough to know there’ll be more rejections in her future if she continues down this ca-reer path. But she has enough of a sense of self-worth not to take rejections as reflections of her as a person. There’ll always be another show to try out for, she said.

“The thing about acting,” she said, “is that you have to be prepared to get ‘no’s.’ There will be a million ‘no’s’ for one ‘yes.’”

Allie practices what she preaches. She’s up for anything. A fear of messing up words doesn’t keep her from singing louder than anyone else. A fear of a slip doesn’t keep her from leaping. A fear of not being good enough has never even entered her mind.

“I’ve never had that feeling,” she said, looking confused, I would even ask.

Most likely, her family is responsible for that. Allie has a close family that loves, nurtures, and supports her unconditionally, but that keeps her grounded in reality. The family, comprising Allie (the sole extrovert), her older brother Thomas, 12, and her younger sister Ainsley, 6, enjoys family game nights, Disney movie nights, and marathons of Brain Games (Allie’s favorite TV show) at their Lakewood Ranch home. family vacation. Being on stage brought a huge smile to her face.

You can hear her raw vocal talent and feel her stage presence.

Her innate perfor-mance and memorization skills were apparent even then.

“That can’t be taught,” Orta said. “It’s natural for her.” Orta, who teaches at Reflex Arts Dance, remem-bers the first year she taught Allie. “Allie was immediately the star in the class,” Orta said. “She was three. She was so strong-willed, extremely social, not shy at all.”

Orta said Three-year-olds are often shy at first. But not Allie. “She was like, ‘Hi! I’m here! What are we doing first?’” Orta said. Allie picked up dance moves quickly and was great at memorization.

“She paid attention very well,” Orta said. “She was always present, didn’t drift off.”

Allie has since become extremely skilled at remembering choreography and lines. In fact, for both The Sound of Music and Matilda the Musical, she learned the other cast members’ lines, songs, and dances, and performed them backstage.

The McLaughlins have a busy schedule that accommodates the passions of all the children equally and allows plenty of time for the siblings to play together. The siblings support each other — Allie cheers Thomas on at his swim meets, and Ainsley claps for Allie on stage, although sometimes she’s fallen asleep by the final bows.

Allie knows what she wants — as local theaters start re-opening, she’ll audition for any role that calls for a girl her age. She wants to go to Pace University and then to sing and act in, well, anything.

She wants to star on Broadway.

Her parents will do what they can to help Allie achieve her dreams, including bringing her to New York to audition for Broadway shows, as soon as the world is back to normal.

Orta, Allie’s dance and musical theater teacher, said she definitely sees acting and musical theater in Allie’s future.

“I could honestly say I can’t see her not doing it,” Orta said. “She’s just going to keep driving this car till it flies. This is going to be her primary focus. This is not just a phase or a hobby.”

According to Orta, as a student, Allie is a perfectionist, a rule follower, and exceptionally confident. She wants to please, and Orta said she never has to give Allie critiques more than once.

Allie gives 100 per-cent, every class.

“She goes for it,” Orta said. “Those are the kids who are going to be successful.”

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THIS BOOK IS COOL! B

ack to School is an exciting time for children, and this year is clearly unique! As kids begin their school year in-person or through distance learning, the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (SCGLR) is happily inviting families to use the THIS BOOK IS COOL! as a tool to promote literacy.

THIS BOOK IS COOL! is a series of 100 webisodes to encourage a love of reading for children in grades Pre-K–3.

Each 10–15-minute webisode features a special guest sharing reasons why this book is cool, new vocabulary words, and a suggested activity that goes with the book. Activity guides with step-by-step instructions for each featured book can be found at the bottom of each webisode library.

SCGLR provides 20 webisodes for each grade level. Although the webisodes are not read aloud stories — read aloud encourages children to read the books themselves — they are very engaging. Your local library is a great place to pick up books that correspond to the webisodes.

Are you ready for the fun to begin? Join us on this fantastic, virtual reading adventure at www.gradelevelreadingsuncoast.net.

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Stand out From the Crowd

Be bold, be different, and be creative with a colorful Florida Arts License Plate that not only stands out, but also helps support local arts organizations, programs, and activities in the county.

GET YOUR PLATE TODAY!

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If you’re experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.

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