About
Message from Me serves as a tool for children to communicate with their families about their daily activities and learning experiences through the use of digital pictures and recorded audio messages. Message from Me aims to engage families in the educational experience and strengthen the home-school connection while enhancing a child’s communication skills, digital wellbeing, and promoting interaction.
While children are developing critical language and literacy skills at child care or in the classroom, they sometimes struggle to communicate what they did “at school” to the adults important to their lives. Message from Me serves as a platform to promote student voice while providing a developmentally appropriate and meaningful experience for children to explore open-ended digital technologies.
Relationships Matter
The Message from Me App is intentionally designed to support relationships between the child, their caregivers, and the school community. We believe building relationships with families is essential to the healthy growth and development of a child. Message from Me can strengthen the relationship between families and the child care or classroom setting by providing opportunities to share discoveries and spark conversations.
Benefits Children’s Development
Children enhance their self-esteem and build confidence when they talk about their day, accomplishments, and self-discoveries. Message from Me offers children the opportunity to share daily experiences and supports the individual needs of a child’s cognitive, emotional, linguistic, physical, and social development. With Message from Me, every child has the opportunity to share learning experiences with their family members, which grows conversations in the home about classroom and school activities.
A child who uses Message from Me also develops skills that help him or her to be:
- collaborative, curious, and persistent
- creative and innovative thinkers
- flexible and problem-solvers
Our Story
Message from Me was designed to enhance adult-child relationships by providing a way to more easily document and share what goes on in the classroom and answer the age-old question: “What did you learn in school today?”
In collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment Lab (CREATE) Lab, Trying Together (an early childhood nonprofit based in Southwestern Pennsylvania) provided its expertise in child development for the creation, implementation, and delivery of the Message from Me (MfM) technology. Trying Together exclusively provides the MfM professional development and support for educators.
MfM was also created in alignment with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children Birth through Age 8. Read the position statement. (PDF)
Originally, MfM was designed as a kiosk for children to take a photo with a digital camera and record a message using a microphone to send messages to their family members via the internet. In 2009, the first pilot took place at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Children’s School. In 2013, the CMU CREATE Lab researchers updated the tool by creating an Apple Software Application (App) for children and educators to send messages through the use of an iPad. The MfM App is now available to download on the Apple Store, Amazon Appstore, and Google Play.
Today, over 20,000 children have engaged in consistent communication with their families about their educational experiences. Having now expanded from pre-kindergarten to the lower elementary grades, MfM continues to promote student voice, providing a platform for children to share their unique perspectives. Currently, MfM is used in early learning centers and school districts across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Utah, and in Atlanta Public Schools. Beginning in 2019, with the generous support of PNC Grow Up Great, Message from Me is poised to expand nationwide across PNC’s 50+ markets.
History
First pilot at the Carnegie Mellon University Children’s School
Partnership with Trying Together
Pilot launch in 14 early childhood settings across Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Initial funding through Grable Foundation, Sprout Fund, and the PNC Foundation
Message from Me iPad App launch Kindergarten Transition pilot project in 70 classrooms
Pilot in 86 classrooms in Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education Program
Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Community Innovation Zone Grantee: Pilot in 37 educational settings (home-based child care and kindergarten, first, second, and third grade classrooms)
Expansion to West Virginia
Expansion across school districts located in Western Pennsylvania
Expansion to Georgia: Atlanta Public Schools
Expansion to Utah
Pilot in kindergarten-fifth grade classrooms
PNC Grow Up Great Expansion across PNC Markets
First pilot at the Carnegie Mellon University Children’s School
Partnership with Trying Together
Pilot launch in 14 early childhood settings across Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Initial funding through Grable Foundation, Sprout Fund, and the PNC Foundation
Message from Me iPad App launch Kindergarten Transition pilot project in 70 classrooms
Pilot in 86 classrooms in Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education Program
Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Community Innovation Zone Grantee: Pilot in 37 educational settings (home-based child care and kindergarten, first, second, and third grade classrooms)
Expansion to West Virginia
Expansion across school districts located in Western Pennsylvania
Expansion to Georgia: Atlanta Public Schools
Expansion to Utah
Pilot in kindergarten-fifth grade classrooms
PNC Grow Up Great Expansion across PNC Markets