Ribbon Cutting for First St. John Born Learning Trail Set for March 20

CFVI’s Annette Olsen and Kids First! president Bruce Claflin shared information about The Family Connection on St. John last week.

“Find, explore, discover.”

“Listen, look, imagine, pretend.”

Those were just a few of the messages residents were stopping to read on several brightly colored signs offering educational tips for parents set up on the first floor of The Marketplace on Wednesday, February 29.

Together the signs compose the Born Learning Trail, which was created by the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, as a way to engage parents to find educational opportunities in every day activities. The signs were brought to The Marketplace thanks to Kids First!, a St. John non-profit organization dedicated to improving early childhood education.

“The Born Learning Trail was created by CFVI and Kids First! helped them create an affordable, movable set of the signs to put around the island,” said Kids First! president Bruce Claflin.

Claflin has displayed the signs at Julius E. Sprauve School and Gifft Hill School during Parent Teacher Nights, and has heard nothing but positive feedback about the messages.

“The signs are all about ways to integrate learning into play time,” said Claflin. “When children are young any experience can be turned into a learning experience. The idea is to engage parents to start thinking of all of the learning opportunities every day.”

There are Born Learning Trail signs on St. Thomas at Magen’s Bay and at Winston Raymond ballpark.

On St. John, CFVI, in collaboration with the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation, and V.I. National Park, will host a ribbon cutting for a new Born Learning Trail at the VINP ball field in Cruz Bay on Tuesday, March 20, at 10:30 a.m.

CFVI’s child development specialist Annette Olsen was on hand last week as well, sharing information about The Family Connection, an early childhood learning center on St. Thomas. Located in Vitraco Mall, The Family Connection offers workshops for early childhood education professionals and offers consultations for parents, who can also borrow toys, books and more form the center.

For more information about The Family Connection call the center at 777-0990.