 One of the workshops in the Every Child
Ready to Read (ECRR) Manual is a workshop to train library staff, including the
library director and other administrative staff, youth services staff, and
others who may be involved in planning for or delivering early literacy
programs. The workshop is intended to last under an hour and incorporates
background information on ECRR and an overview of the Parent Workshop. Here are
just a few key points that are covered in this workshop:
A. To become
successful readers, children need an understanding that written letters (a
code) represent spoken sounds.
B. Children also
need comprehension skills to understand the meaning conveyed by print.
C. Children develop
decoding and comprehension skills through interactions with adults and their
environment.
D. Learning letter
names and sounds is critical to learning how to decode, or read, words.
E. Print conventions
like knowing how to hold a book, turn pages, and follow sentences on a page
help a beginning reader, but they are not a predictor of later reading
achievement.
F. Experiences that
develop oral language, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge play an
important role in helping children get ready to read.
G. Reading together
with children continues to be one of the most powerful ways to develop early
literacy skills
H. How parents read
to children makes a difference. Talking about books and extending the
conversation about a story by asking and answering questions leads to greater
learning.
I. Repeatedly
reading the same book helps children learn vocabulary, how stories are
structured, and other literacy skills.
J. Reading and
writing go together. Writing activities help children learn about letter names
and sounds, that print has meaning, and that writing has a purpose.
K. The environment
influences learning. Spaces at the library (and at home) can be organized to
support the development of early literacy skills. How space is arranged and
used affects how often and how long children engage in early literacy
activities.
For more information on this workshop
(and to see actual PowerPoint slides that are included) you may wish to listen
to the webinar that was offered in March of this year and that was recorded.
You can find the webinar here: http://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan/0,2351,7-160-62245-370596--,00.html (March 8, 2016 recording.)
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 Be Who You Are! Todd Parr. Little, Brown, 2016.
ISBN:
978-0-316-26523-2. $17.99.
It’s true
that Todd has addressed this theme before with his 2001 book It’s Okay to Be Different, but quite
frankly, I have not seem much of a change from 2001 with children in relation
to issues of bullying or accepting others that are different from them in some
way. Unfortunately, there still seems to be a need for this book.
Parr’s
usual bright colored child-like appealing illustrations are in evidence here
too. The last page of the book pretty much sums up the rest of the text. “It
doesn’t matter what color you are, where you are from, or who’s in your family.
Everyone needs to be loved. Always love yourself and just be who you are!”
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 Lift-the-Tab:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 50th Anniversary Edition. Bill Martin
Jr. Holt, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-62779-723-8.
$13.99
Why buy this
version of Brown Bear…? I think this
version will be perfect for children’s narrative skills (child participation.)
Let’s face it --- when you ask children “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you
see?” you have to turn the page before children can answer that question
(unless they already have the book memorized.) Now, you do not have to turn the
page --- you simply point to the tab (red bird) and they can guess the answer before
you turn the page. Granted, this is just a slightly larger board book size, so
it might be better for one-on-one reading or for a small group, unless you have
the funds to buy multiple copies and parents can share with their child in
storytime while your read the book. On another note, because of the 50th
anniversary, a new board book version has been released also. It is slightly
larger than the original board book (which is great) but the cover is also
padded. What a wonderful gift this would be for a baby!
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 Often library staff that
are not children’s specialists will need to assist patrons/parents who have
children and will be asked for reading tips for their young children. When
training or sharing information with other staff members, you might want to
recommend the excellent Reading Rockets website. If you are not familiar with
Reading Rockets, you might want to spend a little time exploring their site as
there is an incredible amount of useful information. Reading Rockets is
described as “a national multimedia
literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn
to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.”
The following links would be useful for ALL
library staff to be aware of, but also the tips could be reproduced on bookmarks
to hand out to parents or distribute at programs. Most importantly the information is given in
numerous languages including Spanish, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Haitian
Creole, Hmong, Korean, Navajo, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Here are just a few tips under each age group.
A. Reading Tips
for Parents of Babies: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-tips-parents-babies
A few of the recommended tips:
1. Keep books
where your baby can reach them
2. Talk with
your baby all day long
3. Develop a
daily routine (and make reading a part of it)
B. Reading Tips
for Parents of Toddlers: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-tips-parents-toddlers
1. Don’t expect
your toddler to sit still for a book
2. Keep reading
short, simple and often
3. Encourage
play that involves naming, describing, and communicating
C. Reading Tips
for Parents of Preschoolers: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-tips-parents-preschoolers
1. Read with
fun in your voice
2. Talk about
writing too
3. Point out
print everywhere
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 Justifying Early Literacy Training to Library Directors or Administrators
Just this month (December) I
completed several days of training to librarians that were from various library
systems in the state of Florida. On the first day, I stood dumbfounded when an
attendee said that her library director reluctantly allowed her to attend my workshop
because he felt early literacy training was not necessary. In his opinion, a
child would be taught how to read and write when entering school and there was
no reason to “teach” the child before arriving at school. For one of the first
times in my life, I was speechless. This was a library director of a large
public library system who made this comment. For the rest of the day, whenever
I made a point, or quoted relevant research, I would find myself saying “You
need to tell your library director this.” Just to be clear, I also agree that
we do not “teach” a child any of the early literacy skills. The early literacy
practices are natural things to do with children that will lay the important foundation so that a child will be able
to learn to read easily when arriving at school.
Seriously though, if a library
director feels this way, then it will be very difficult to center your
programming for young children around early literacy practices. In this small
space, it is difficult to list all the reasons why early literacy programming
is important, but here are just a few statistics from research that might be
useful.
1. “Roughly
35% of children in the United States enter school without the skills necessary
for learning to read.”
Carnegie Foundation of New York. Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our
Youngest Children. Waldorf, MD: Carnegie Corp of NY, 1994.
2. "Research
shows the development of early literacy skills through early experiences with
books and stories is critically linked to a child’s success in learning to
read. Children who are read to from an early age have a larger vocabulary and
better language skills when they start school. “
Contacts of Literacy: What Children
Learn from Learning to Read Books in W. H. Teale Emergent
Literacy: Writing and Reading, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986.
3. “Research
shows that children with larger vocabularies have higher school achievement.”
Duke, Neil and Annie
Moses. 10 Research-Tested Ways to Build Children’s Vocabulary, Scholastic
Professional Paper. Scholastic, 2003.
4. “Children's
phonological awareness begins to develop during the preschool years. Unless
children are given help from teachers, parents, or other adults, those with low
levels of phonological awareness will continue to be delayed in this skill from
the late preschool period forward.”
Marilyn Adams. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About
Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.
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