Author Connie Schofield-Morrison and illustrator Frank Morrison (pictured left, photo credit to Kalamazoo Public Library) had a fantastic time touring in Michigan - although they did think it was awfully cold compared to their home state of Georgia! They interacted with nearly 2,000 young children in Michigan while touring with their book I Got the Rhythm. It has also been thrilling to see all the posts from public libraries on social media and to read about upcoming Ready to Read programs in your libraries. Thank you for embracing this new early literacy program.
That said, the Library of Michigan, and our supporters the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Consumers Energy Foundation, need your feedback! Please take about 10 minutes to complete the 2018 RTRM survey and be sure to include any stories or quotes from outreach or from patrons on the Ready to Read Michigan program. Your responses are important in how the Library of Michigan shapes and funds this program in the future.
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The Library of Michigan is pleased to inform you that we have some extra kits featuring 1 copy of the book available from our “Ready to Read Michigan” (RTRM) program. RTRM is an early literacy outreach program designed for public libraries focusing on ages 0-5 and the 5 practices of Every Child Ready to Read, a Public Library Association initiative. If you would like to continue doing outreach as a public library, or if you are not a public library but are interested in requesting a kit, please complete the RTRM Kit Request form for your organization.
Please be mindful that this is not the Michigan Reads program, which did end in 2017, and kits do not get mailed to schools, Great Start or Head Start programs automatically anymore. Any extra kits will be mailed in the order the request was received, while supplies last. For more information on this public library program and to access the programming guide you can go to www.mi.gov/readytoread.
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The New York Public Library has released a new album for young children, caregivers and librarians to help expand early literacy practices. Movement, vocabulary, play and more are all a part of this inclusive album.
Download of the full album is available for free from NYPL Sings! as .MP3 or .WAV files, and lyrics are also downloadable. A couple of sing-along videos are also available.
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Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (Michigan AEYC), an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), has undergone significant restructuring and branding changes under the direction of NAEYC.
To align more closely with NAEYC, Michigan AEYC decided to discontinue the celebration of April as Month of the Young Child® and, beginning in April 2018, will celebrate Week of the Young Child™, April 16-22, 2018.
The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration hosted by NAEYC celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families. Information about Week of the Young Child™ can be found here.
View Governor Snyder's Week of the Young Child™ Proclamation here.
Effective immediately, please discontinue using the phrases Month of the Young Child® and MOYC®, and the MOYC® logo and graphics, including the purple ribbon graphic and wearing of purple ribbons as purple is not an approved branding color of NAEYC.
Although Michigan AEYC is no longer officially celebrating April as Month of the Young Child®, they urge individuals and programs to continue their celebrations of young children year-round, not only during the Week of the Young Child™, April 16-22, 2018.
For ideas to celebrate Week of the Young Child™ in Michigan, visit the MiAEYC website.
Source: Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children e-newsletter dated March 22, 2018.
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In the Fall 2017 issue of Children and Libraries Judy T. Nelson writes "Librarians add small motor activities such as bending, stretching, playing with a parachute, or tossing small balls into their storytimes with great regularity. And while libraries are no longer the quiet places they once were, most libraries still do not have a basketball hoop or slide in their children's area to encourage the development of gross motor skills, yet this category is as important as its smaller cousin. Especially in today's screen-filled sedentary world, children need to develop both small and gross motor skills; plus play is a primary way children learn about their world, its boundaries, and how things function."
You can read more of from her article, Play, The Library, and Every Child Ready to Read 2 on the Association for Library Service to Children's website, but this got me thinking... just what are Michigan libraries doing to encourage gross motor skill play in an appropriate way? Do you offer large foam blocks for building or maybe have a playground on library grounds? Maybe your storytimes offer structured physical play time? Please feel free to share in an email to me, Cathy Lancaster, any strides your library is doing to encourage gross motor skills in young children at lancasterc5@michigan.gov.
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