1. YOU HAVE what it takes to be a brain builder!

2. Introduce selves. Name, Library, Position, Education and Background.
Audience introductions- Name and Library

3. Becoming a brain builder
By the end of this presentation, you will be able to:
Describe the “Vroom Approach”
Understand the science behind Vroom
Activate Vroom in your community

4. You have what it takes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB1Uo9nbIVU

5. Brain Building Basics
To build these skills, help parents turn everyday activities into brain building moments.
Look
Chat
Follow
Stretch
Take Turns
Vroom builds skills, positive relationships, and back and forth interactions through the Brain Building basics.
These activities take advantage of the small moments in our busy lives and offer ideas for turning bath time, bedtime, and any time into Brain Building moments.
Discuss Flyer.

6. Why use Vroom in Libraries?
How many of you are in libraries that work with families with young children? Hopefully everyone! You see parents on a regular basis. You see the challenges they face, their struggles and concerns. So many young parents want to do the best for their kids, but have no idea how to start.
Vroom can help parents turn everyday moments into brain building, learning moments by offering simple and usable tips for parents to use with their children. Libraries are in a unique position to help them find this tool.
What do we get out of it? The ability to engage with parents about early literacy in ways that are empowering. Agencies we work with have found it is a way start the conversation about the importance of parents interacting with their young children in a way that respects parent strengths and abilities

7. 5 yrs. ago community organizations and Southern Public Pines Library formed Southern Pines Grows Great Readers
To ensure that SP children achieved grade level reading by 3rd grade.
The most important predictor of long term success
To achieve this goal they focused on: School Readiness- Summer Learning Gap- Attendance
As part of the National Campaign for grade level reading the partners created award winning programs
Then, in 2016 these efforts transitioned to a county wide campaign effort led by The Moore County Partners for Children and Families – The Moore County Campaign for Grade Level Reading
This group recently changed their name to Growing Moore Readers
Because of the Library’s affiliation with GMR, and an award SPGGR won through the Campaign for summer work, GMR received a grant and training on Vroom and join the national effort. Vroom is a project being launched by Growing Moore Readers and the library participates in this community effort and has adopted it in library programming.

8. American Association of University Women Moore County Schools
Moore Health
Bezos Family Foundation
National Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
Boys & Girls Club of the Sandhills
Children’s Developmental Services Agency
NC Early Childhood Foundation
Partners for Children & Families
Communities in Schools
The Pilot
Country Bookshop
Rotary Club of the Sandhills
Given Memorial Library
Sandhills Children’s Center
Good Food Sandhills
Sandhills Community College
Family Promise
Southern Pines Rotary Club
First Bank
Southern Pines Public Library
First Health of the Carolinas
STARS Charter
Life Care Pregnancy Center
Town of Southern Pines
Moore County Chamber of Commerce
United Way of Moore County
Moore County Department of Social Services
West Southern Pines Citizens for Change
Moore County Library
Moore County Literacy Council
Moore County NAACP .

9. Moore County, NC
These are the current Vroom communities.

10. Parents already have what it takes!
When do you see parents?
What challenges do parents face on daily basis?
How can parents overcome these obstacles and turn daily moments into learning moments?
Audience participation.
Keep these ideas in mind as you go on the next adventure…

11. Vroom Vocab Parents -> Guardians, grandparents, caregivers
You have what it takes to be a Brain Builder
Every moment is a Brain Building Moment
The time you have is all you need
Science made simple
Bite size tips – Brain Building Basics – Easy ways to nurture
These are some of the examples of Vroom Vocab that you may have already noticed in the video and you will continue to see in the Vroom outreach materials.

12. Poster Walk!
Walk around the room and look at the posters, which are targeted toward parents and containing Vroom tips.
Share with your neighbor which tips/posters would resonate most with your patrons?
How do these tips help reinforce that learning can take place anywhere?
Which would you be most likely to share with parents?
Walk.
Back to seats, discuss as a group.

13. Vroom principles for parent engagement
Withhold judgment
Speak in the voice of their peers
Aim for “more and better” rather than “most and best”
Meet parents where they are
Celebrate identities that parents embrace
Don’t be afraid to talk about the science
When engaging with parents, Vroom encourages us to keep some basic principles in mind. These include:

14. The Vroom approach is simple!
Affirm and reinforce these messages to parents:
You have what it takes.
Every moment can be a brain building moment.
Meet parents:
Where they are,
in places they already go,
through trusted networks in their lives.
Libraries are a great place to meet parents. Places we already see them are obviously in our childrens area, at storytime, and out in our community during outreach events. We already hand out resources, refer families to other agencies when they are seeking help or advice, and offer book recommendations.

15. Daily Vroom app
What Vroom looks like – Daily Vroom – Pick your own – Completed Vroom – Vroom Progress and Badges
These Brain Building steps are incorporated into daily Vroom activities and the Vroom app. Parents and guardians who register for the app create profiles for their children and age appropriate activities will be sent out each day.
-Remember – While the app is useful, we must encourage parents and let them know that they don’t need the app to do the activities

16. Daily Vroom App
Examples of Daily Vroom -

17. Daily Vroom App

18. Daily Vroom App

19. The science behind Vroom
Vroom is based on three core principles:
Positive adult-child relationships
Serve and return interaction
Executive function life skills
Now that you have seen some examples of Vroom- let’s talk about the science that went into the initiative:
Vroom is a tool that bridges the gap between scientific research and parent-child interactions. It tells all parents they have what it takes to enrich their child and turn everyday moments into “brain building moments.”
Vroom was created by the Bezos Family Foundation and developed through research with parents, early childhood experts, and neuroscientists.
It is based on 3 principles…Positive adult-child relationships – Serve and return interaction – Executive function life skills
First we will talk about positive adult relationships and serve and turn interaction- by focusing on what Vroom calls Brain Building Basics….

20. https://youtu.be/WQNm4ASB7iY

21. What is executive functioning?
Defined as “the business of making decisions and carrying them out, as when one is deliberately trying to solve a problem.”
Now, let’s transition into Executive Functioning.
Executive functioning is defined as…“the business of making decisions and carrying them out, as when one is deliberately trying to solve a problem.”
EF it is a way of combining recognizing the interaction between different skill sets, as well as life skills and personal skills, and using them together to solve problems and navigate life.

22. Possibilities
With Executive function skills Children learn more from the same amount of instruction
and
Understand and get along better with other children and adults

23. Mind in the Making – 7 Essential Skills
One of the main contributors to the Vroom method is Ellen Galinsky’s research for her book Mind in the Making Mind in the Making is a collection of research on Executive Functioning and the background behind the Vroom tool. It breaks Executive Functioning into 7 essential skills.
Focus and Self Control: Paying attention, remembering rules, thinking flexibly, and exercising self-control
Perspective Taking: Goes beyond empathy, involves figuring out what others think and feel and forms the basis of children understanding their parents’, teachers’ and friends’ intentions- those able to take others perspectives are less likely to get into conflicts.
Communicating: The skill of determining what one wants to communicate and realizing how our communications will be understood by others.
Making Connections: Figuring out what’s the same, different, and sorting these things into categories. Making unusual connections is at the core of creatives-beyond knowing information- knowing how to use information.
Critical Thinking: Ongoing search for valid and reliable knowledge to guide beliefs/decisions/actions
Taking on Challenges: Taking on/learning to understand life and stress instead of avoiding or coping
Self-Directed Engaged Learning: Never stop learning! We realize are potential as we learn.
Bundles and Active Reading - Ask Questions - Build Vocabulary - Connect to the Child’s World

24. Brain Building Basics in Action
In the magic cup illusion – To make an educated guess, we are using our executive functioning skills
– What EF skills are we using?
Focus/Self control

25. Brain Building Basics in Action
Quick! Say aloud what color you see in every word… NOT the word you read.
What skills are you using?
Taking on challenges
Focus and Self Control
Making Connections

26. Bridging the Gap Science Application
Initiatives - Vroom and Mind in the Making
Parents and caregivers - Everyday moments into Brain Building Moments
YOU! – Communities can make an impact by becoming a part of the initiatives
Goal: Early learners are prepared for success in school and life
Bridging the Gap between Science and Application
The Initiatives- Vroom and Mind in the Making are using the tools– Books and Technology to apply the science that is behind Brain Building – in order to reach children and parents and demonstrate how every moment is a Brain Building moment.
You! – Can become a part of the initiative! Pinpointing families, caregivers, and places where they can be reached - Sharing the initiatives!
All of this is in an effort to reach our goal of preparing early learners for success in school and life

27. Your turn to be creative
Create your own Vroom tip What everyday activity lends itself to the Vroom philosophy? Which executive function skills would children use when doing this activity?
Share.

28. So What?
We’ve talked about the what and they why, now its time for the how.
How can you use Vroom in your Library?

29. Ask Me About Vroom Ask me about Ask me about
One of the things our staff wear are their Vroom Buttons. We make these in house with our button maker, and it is a way of starting conversations with patrons.
The Vroom App cards give us the opportunity to start a discussion with parents about early literacy and are a quick and easy resource to hand out.
Vroom also has items like stickers, cards, and bookmarks that are good swag for events or reminders to parents in the Library.

30. Book Bundles
One of the most successful ways we have used Vroom and Mind in the Making at the Library is through the creating and distribution of Mind in the Making Bundles. Using resources published through First Book, we cultivate a collection of books that parents can take home, and which address a particular executive function skill.
They are bundled together with a rubber band, and include suggestions for promoting the skill as well as information on Vroom and downloading the Vroom app.

31. Vroom Wall/Displays
Another way we have tried to get the word out is through library displays. The “Vroom Wall” pairs the Vroom tips with posters, information on downloading the app, and book suggestions.
As you can see, it also has been well loved. We are looking at replacing it this fall with another Vroom Display, this one that looks like a road with cars (vroom vroom) and which has tips that progress from very young children all the way through preschool aged.

32. Storytimes
During our storytimes we focus on ECRR principles: Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing, and Playing.
-----Vroom gives specific examples of ways to use ECRR principles in your home or during everyday moments.
We have four types of Storytime sessions at our library:
Baby Bunnies – Storytime for ages birth-18months
Read to your Bunny- Storytime focused on Kindergarten Readiness
Music and Motion- Storytime geared towards 2-5 year olds and their families
And
Evening Story time- Geared towards ages 3-3rd grade and their families
-----We use Mind in the Making Princples take Vroom a step further.
I have focused specifically on the Mind in the Making principles and bundles during the Evening Storytime. This summer I read books from the Making Connections, Taking on Challenges, and Critical Thinking Bundles. Evening Storytime starts with Yoga and ends with breathing exercises and we have focused on Healthy habits, Calm Down Strategies, expressions of the imagination and family bonding. More/different members of the family are usually present during this storytime, so I thought it would be an appropriate platform to share the Mind in the Making books.
-----For Making Connections: I read the book “Same, Same, Different” and then we turned to our neighbors and I asked the groups to talk about what made them the same, what made them different, and then to talk about whether or not you have more in common than you thought. We also read “Harold and the Purple Crayon” and talked about one event in the story led to another.
----Featured learning stations:
-A sorting table where items were sorted based on how they were alike and different
- Draw your own adventure Comic Strips
- Tracing practice – Trace the lines of Harold's adventure with a purple crayon
- Yarn Art

33. Interactions with Parents and Teachers
Vroom is all about having conversations about the approach and not just leaving handouts and posters:
Parents
- We approach parents in the library and share information about VROOM and we add it into our regular interactions
-----If they are looking at the Bundles, if they come in with families, if they are asking questions about books or resources
- We provide information to parents in parent bags for the daycare/preschool centers and at events
- We share information with the partners that may also be working with our patrons
Teachers
- Daycare Centers, preschools, traditional school setting
- We have passed on Vroom materials at the beginning of the launch and on behalf of Growing Moore Readers, the Partners for Children and Families went to each site in the county to pass along information, they have also provided information sessions for teachers
- We ask teachers two survey each month when we visit for outreach – Have you used Vroom? Or passed it along to parents?
We have included Vroom information in their library information bags that were given out during our first session
We inform Growing Moore Readers of the feedback we receive and the impact of the Vroom presence
Since we began, we have seen the number of daycare providers who know about Vroom and who are distributing the information to parents increase 100%.

34. Fill your toolkit Work with the Daily Vroom app Explore joinvroom.org
Follow and use Vroom social media channels
Brainstorm trusted messengers
Distribute materials and help parents learn more about Vroom and how it can positively influence their routine

35. Direct link - https://dl.orangedox.com/UPnK1F
Learn more
Materials:
joinvroom.org-> Tools and Activities->Scroll down until you see Dropbox Folder -> View and print Vroom materials for your library
Direct link -

36. Contact Information
Southern Pines Public Library: ->Town Services->Library
Growing Moore Readers:
Find SPPL and Growing Moore Readers on Facebook
Amanda Brown:
Kelly Ficker:

37. Questions?