Milestone: Preschool program gets grant

First Step Family Support Center in Port Angeles recently received a $3,000 grant from the Ben and Myrtle Walkling Memorial Trust to help provide a “Tools of the Mind” Early Learning Academy for 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income families.

First Step Family Support Center in Port Angeles recently received a $3,000 grant from the Ben and Myrtle Walkling Memorial Trust to help provide a “Tools of the Mind” Early Learning Academy for 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income families.

The “Tools of the Mind” curriculum focuses on building young children’s executive function skills that foster self-regulation, inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility, thus enabling very young children to begin to develop critical thinking skills that are extremely important for school readiness and school success.

Parents of the children attending the Early Learning Academy learn along with their children.

For more information about the Early Learning Academy, contact Nita Lynn at First Step Family Support Center, 457-8355 or visit www.firststepfamily.org.