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| What libraries are doing |
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- Early literacy materials/collections
- Atmosphere/children's environments
Jump to Atmosphere
Jump to Children's environments/areas
Jump to Parent/caregiver handouts
Jump to Further ideas/resources
- Programming
- Training for staff and parents/caregivers
- Policies, partnerships, and outreach
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| Atmosphere/children's environments |
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You can also download the entire list of Early Literacy activities currently undertaken by Oregon public libraries as an RTF (word processing) document or a PDF document.
Atmosphere
- Highly trained staff, including early childhood educators, with speciality knowledge.
- Trained staff to conduct readers’ advisory – we help parents and caregivers select books that are age-appropriate.
- Redesigned web sites: links to Birth to 6 section (new).
- Links to various web sites for kids – accessed by library card: Active Kids Page @ The Library (Web) with links for parents, teachers, and kids; Zorro/Zeta – Children’s Web portal links to Kids Catalog.
- Long range plans that focus on Early Literacy: To do more outreach to those at risk.
- Training for volunteers, who visit parents of newborns with home visits and give group presentations at Wellness Center and other agencies. (outreach)
- We have teen volunteers (Reading Buddies) to read to kids.
- Children are our priority: We converse and greet all persons (little and others) who come into the room. We serve, converse with, and love kids! Children are the key value in our children’s room.
- We have a volunteer greeter in our children’s room – we also create theme- or author-based models.
Children's environments/areas
- Toys: Tabletop toys; Coloring tables; Legos, dollhouse, Brio train sets (all encourage narrative skills through pretend play); puppet theatres (our Puppet Theatre is sized to fit a 4-year-old. Kids go into the puppet theatre and do their own puppet shows and storytelling to build their narrative skills); coloring sheets, crafts; friendly staff, puppets; flannel boards; stuffed animals, BRIO toy sets, large pillows, fire truck; puzzles, Fisher Price toys, and marionette theatres; Clifford the Dog (huge stuffed animal, replaced 3 times, now tethered to desk); We have toys for cooperative play (like kitchen play sets); We have masks, plastic toys, rolling alphabet toys, and other things that are fun to play with; We have oversized stuffed animals for nesting with books.
- “Story Room” play areas – for social/emotional skill development.
- Child-friendly environments (colorful walls, posters, art, child-sized furniture, colorful carpet squares); age-appropriate restrooms; Beautiful mural in Story Corner (Foundation matched our Ready to Read grant and we hired a local artist to paint the mural).
- Computers and developmentally-appropriate software (e.g. Magic School Bus); We have installed Magic School Bus computer software on public access computers for preschoolers; also on Kids computers with Internet access.
- Wall displays that promote reading.
- Early reader collections and finding aids.
- Educational games and software.
- Family room in new library building.
- Displays with interactive props (e.g. reptiles, rubber snakes, and frogs), toys, puzzles, and card games – Library displays are changed monthly.
- We developed an Activity Center with age-appropriate learning materials.
- We have a ladder for young children to reach counter at book checkout time.
- We feature letter awareness on our painted patio, including blank sections for kid-made sidewalk art.
- We opened up a Children’s Discovery Room in 1986, a children’s space filled with hands-on interactive activities and exhibits (e.g. trains).
- Literacy Center serves all ages – teen parenting classes in the library (formerly funded through the school district); 1st-3rd grades, and parent education training. In the past, we’ve visited the County Fair with storytimes, etc. Our new building in La Grande will feature a large Literacy Center.
- We provide pictures and a media rich environment.
Parent/caregiver handouts
- Handouts – like Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library materials.
- Postings of parent information.
- Booklists; series of bibliographies and bookmarks on “Frequently Asked Questions” topics (e.g. new baby); packets of supplemental information for parents with age-appropriate tips, collections of CDs and books; emergent literacy handouts; birth-3 developmental stuff.
- Creating booklets with critical information for caregivers.
- Booklets for parents as handout with key points about Early Literacy – also bookmarks and free book giveaways.
- Rhyme sheets with tips for parents to help bring the gap between talking about the 6 skills during storytime, letting parents know what they can do at home.
- We create song sheets to handout after activities.
- Read for Joy book given to parents of newborns in both Spanish and English.
- 'Zine for teen moms in English and Spanish (MLS student project).
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| Further ideas/resources |
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Looking for more ideas on how to improve your library's atmosphere and children's area? Check out some of these additional resources:
- About the Initiative - Early Literacy surveys
The results of these surveys include ideas about what libraries are doing in Early Literacy.
- About the Initiative - Regional meeting notes
During the nine regional meetings that were conducted for this project, we asked libraries and community partners for ideas on how to promote Early Literacy. The notes include some great suggestions for how to improve your early childhood programs.
- About the Initiative - Environmental scan
This document includes pertinent research and facts, data sources and reports on Early Literacy, best practices, training materials, media coverage, Early Literacy toolkits, and more.
- What libraries can do - Atmosphere/children's environments
Practical suggestions that you can implement to make your library more inviting to young children.
- Additional Early Literacy Resources
Look into our carefully selected list of Early Literacy online resources.
- Additional Resources - Child development
Learn more about child and brain development so that you can include developmentally-appropriate toys, games, activities, and books in your children's areas.
- Additional resources - Public library programs and activities
Check out what these exemplary public library Early Literacy programs are doing.
- Ready to Read grant projects
See how other public libraries have been using their Ready to Read grant monies to improve services to children.
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