What a fascinating conference! I had the opportunities to see many of my friends from Ohio, California, Michigan, Maryland, and my home state of Texas.

My major impressions are:

1.  Many conferees were interested in understanding rigorous research findings and standards when inquiring about products.

2.  Technology was a focus of a number of presentations this year.

3.  Secretary Duncan's speech.  His remarks will be the topic of a future blog.

The highlight that stands out the most is meeting Lisa Guernsey at our book signing event.  Her book, Inside the Minds of Babes, should be read by anyone who is connected with a child birth to five.

Thank you to everyone who visited our display!

I will be departing Houston tomorrow to attend and participate in the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Conference in Washington, D.C. While there, I will be blogging or tweeting about what I see and hear. Hatch, Inc. is a platinum sponsor again this year! If you are attending, please stop by our booth. We are located close to the escalators at #2405. SMART Technologies is partnering with us this year. You will see some new and exciting classroom materials and technologies for sure. If you are unable to attend, keep up with what is happening by reading my blog or Hatch’s tweets.

I will be highlighting sessions that may be of particular interest to you. The first one is “The Schools that NCLB Forgot: How Changes in the Law Could Lead to More Funding and More Responsibilities for Preschools.” The presenter is Sara Mead and co-presenter is Lisa Guernsey from the New America Foundation. This session is from 8:30-9:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 19th in Meeting Room 4.

Visit Hatch's Twitter page at http://twitter.com/hatchearlychild

It is currently 55° degrees and sunny in Houston. Looks like D.C. will be a bit colder. Hot or cold, I love visiting our Capitol.