 curiosity, passion, building community. It's brilliant, awesome, extraordinary. Good morning. Welcome to the San Francisco Public Library. It's a pleasure to be a part of the Early Literacy Network here in San Francisco. This has probably been my third year actually participating in the event and leading one of the workshops and it's always a joy because I have the opportunity to learn from other Early Literacy professionals just preparing for the workshops. It's always a challenge because we know that there are so many veterans that come to this event every year so it's always interesting trying to find the material that we know is going to be new and innovative for them but also just make it fun for them where they really feel like they're learning something new from all of the amazing organizations that come to the table to put this event together. It's bringing us in to learn from each other, bounce off of each other so that we can take it back out to our centers, our daycares, our schools and make things a little bit better. We feel like we have a lot of support when we come and so it's like once you leave, once I left the first session, when I first came to the first one it's like I couldn't wait for the second one. I know I will be learning something and bringing it into my classroom. Sometimes when we teach we always teach in a certain way but it's not until we go outside and we see how other people do their teaching and getting ideas you know it's always refreshing to learn new ideas and bringing it into the classroom and it just makes you feel very exciting to be a teacher. We get free books then we get a lot of different activities, handsome activities. And you really provide us a lot of really good trainings but we just enjoy it and keep coming and I love to be here today. When I come here I really feel like I am a unique contributor to a larger network of early literacy professionals and especially all of the men and women that are part of the San Francisco Early Literacy Network. They've been a crucial part in my growing up as a young professional within this field and so it's hard not to get emotional when we do some of these warm and fuzzy activities as a part of a larger whole but it really makes me feel like I've had something to contribute but I know that I've also learned so much. The library has always been an important part of my focus in the classroom. I always came to the library on a regular basis to get books that were related to the theme that we had. It's so important to have the linkage because literacy and language development is becoming the forefront for the school district and so the opportunities to combine what's happening in the community and also what's happening in the school will just provide that redundancy that I think will support better learning for the children and also show the families in the community the importance of language and literacy development. I think that if every sector had a platform like the ELN we could all go deeper and farther and really increase the quality of our work across the city so my hope is for the future of the ELN that it really continues to thrive and continues to inspire people across the city no matter what content they're working on to use the ELN as kind of a model collaboration how agencies and professionals can work together. The Early Literacy Buffet is a beacon program of the San Francisco Early Literacy Network hosted by the San Francisco Public Library to showcase united support for local early childhood educators. The 2000 Buffet was made possible by contributing members of the ELN which included Katharine Aranda of Jumpstart, Brian Castain, Christy Estrevitz and Catherine Reimler of the San Francisco Public Library, Allie Quintos and Lynn Mays of Pulsingware Consulting, Jude Deckenbach from First Book and Joe Potter from Raising a Reader. 80 early childhood educators ranging from SFUSD early education programs to private daycares and family daycares gathered for a morning of nourishment professional development and networking at the Buffet. The Mimi and Peter Haas Fund provided a bag of books to refresh the classroom of every participant and a certificate of professional growth. Supporting educators sharing resources and partnering together are core to the mission of the ELN. The annual Buffet is one example of the many ways the ELN's mission is put into action.