Hedda Sharapan, Director of Early Childhood Initiatives, continues to bring Fred Rogers' messages to professionals working with young children. Through our monthly professional development e-newsletter, she communicates directly with early childhood professionals to provide strategies for working with children, activities to support those strategies, and insights into childhood based on Fred Rogers approach.  Fred always considered himself a partner with those who work with young children, and for more than two decades we’ve been bringing his insight and understanding to early childhood professionals through a wide variety of media – books, pamphlets, video-based workshops and an online newsletter.

 We’re in the process of expanding our professional development e-newsletter. We’re exploring a more personal, more interactive, and more extensive communication that will cover the full range of our professional development materials – anger management and other behavior issues, emergent literacy, and scientific inquiry.  Our materials have been praised by early childhood professionals from directors to higher education professors, resource and referral facilitators, and practitioners. Hedda’s presentations around the country about how we can continue to learn from Fred Rogers are in high demand.  With our e-newsletter we have the opportunity to extend that work by offering strategies and insights to help adults understand children from a developmental approach, along with a range of activities to extend the strategies involving physical movement, creative arts, cooking, music, pretend play, and meaningful discussions.  

 This e-newsletter is available to anyone who cares about children and would find Fred’s work helpful in their professional life.  We’re conducting a short online survey to better understand how we might be most helpful to the professionals we serve and would appreciate your input.