Ready to Read Michigan Newsletter - December 2019

every child ready to read

Ready to Read Michigan - December 2019

In This Issue:

To the Tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It."

If you’re marching on parade, swish your tail! If you’re marching on parade, swish your tail! If you’re marching on parade,
Your smile won’t fail,
If you’re marching on parade,
Swish your tail!

Selection from the Ready to Read Michigan Programming & Resource Guide 2020 for
A Parade of Elephants

 

 

A Parade of Elephants at Your Library!

YSAC discussion

This March there will be a parade of elephants marching through your library! Well, more like a herd of toddlers, but they’ll be having a lot of fun while engaging in early literacy. How will this come about? The explanation starts back in May of 2019 when the Library of Michigan’s Youth Services Advisory Council (YSAC) met to select the Ready to Read Michigan (RTRM) book for “March is Reading Month,” 2020. The RTRM program is designed for public librarians to model early literacy skill development directly to families and to assist libraries in engaging in outreach to early childhood centers and daycares throughout their community. Every year YSAC selects a book title for March that encapsulates the 5 practices of early literacy from Every Child Ready to Read®, a parent education initiative from the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children. 

Since RTRM began in 2018, the Library of Michigan’s YSAC group has selected a picture book targeted for young children, ages 0-5, that public library staff can use to demonstrate the early literacy practices of Talk, Read, Sing, Write, and Play to caregivers and parents. Now, this is where the parade through your library comes in, as the 2020 selection is nationally award-winning author and illustrator Kevin Henkes’ A Parade of Elephants. In this story readers follow five colorful elephants and explore counting, are introduced to prepositions, such as “up” and “down,” and act out the motions of the elephants. Infants, toddlers and preschoolers will have the opportunity in storytime to play around with the story, create crafts, sing themed tunes such as “If You’re Marching on Parade, Swish Your Tail!”, and be encouraged to read more as a family, thanks to this year’s engaging selection.


Community Partner Feature

hand prints

WIC – Women, Infants, and Children is a federally-funded Special Supplemental Nutrition Program of the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and is administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.  WIC provides food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and a Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program for Women and Children.  To find a local WIC agency near your library to start a community collaboration or to ask for flyers and information for the public you serve, go to: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_4910---,00.html.  


Best of the Best Books!

Book Covers

Every year about this time organizations, publications and others start releasing their "Best Books of 2019" lists.  Here's a few of our favorites:


Free RTRM Reproducibles

Alphabet mat

FREE Ready to Read Michigan (RTRM) reproducible materials are up on our website, www.Mi.gov/ReadytoRead. Download, print, and use in storytime or make available in your library. Items include the following:

*Please note that some pieces above require 11"x17" paper


With an Early Childhood Program or School?

librarian checking out kids' books

Are you with a school or early childhood program such as Great Start or Head Start? Ready to Read Michigan began in 2018 to assist your local library in better serving you and children 5 and under.

Contact your local public library this winter to schedule a visit or in-library storytime during March is Reading month, or a time before the end of the school year. Your students will love marching along with the elephants, at your library!