By Amy Baskin

Community Education and Communication director

The Week of the Young Child is an annual National Association for the Education of Young Children-sponsored celebration that focuses public attention on the needs of young children and their families and recognizes the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

The NAEYC is the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children.  The theme for the 2014 Week of the Young Child is Early Years Are Learning Years.

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) staff participates as members of NAEYC and believes in their goals of improving professional practice, working to achieve high quality early education programs and building high performance organizations committed to promoting excellence in early childhood education. We invite the community to join us in celebrating our youngest learners this week and throughout the month of April.

In celebration of the young children in our community, Early Childhood and Family Education is bringing author Eric Litwin to Austin. Eric Litwin is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes” and three follow-up adventures. He performs all over the world and is a popular keynote speaker on interactive literacy. He is also co-founder of the Learning Groove. Eric is a popular performing artist who plays guitar, sings, tells musical stories and brings books to life.

He will perform a free family show at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23, at Ellis Middle School. This show is free and open to the public thanks to the support of the ECFE Advisory Council. With his guitar, harmonica and dynamic singing voice, Eric will have everyone singing, laughing, dancing and moving. We invite the entire community to come and join us for this 45-minute interactive and fun show.

A variety of Pete the Cat books will be available for sale at the show and Eric will sign the books after the show. Creative arts and play help children enhance their literacy and math skills, social studies and science knowledge, and support their physical development. In addition, the creative arts and play support children’s social and emotional development, including their interpersonal skills.

For more information about NAEYC visit their website at www.naeyc.org. For more information about the Eric Litwin performance or ECFE visit our website at www.austin.k12.mn.us/clc/ecfe.