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| What libraries are doing |
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- Early Literacy materials/collections
- Atmosphere/children's environments
- Programming
Jump to Storytimes
Jump to Special events and programs
Jump to Outdoor activities
Jump to Further ideas/resources
- Training for staff and parents/caregivers
- Policies, partnerships, and outreach
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| Programming |
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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.
Storytimes
- Baby Lapsits (at least 1x/week); Storytimes for babies (currently have Baby Lapsits; thinking about adding one for babies walking) – free for all environment is appealing to parents; our biweekly Baby Lapsit programs includes 1:1 parents and infants, with music, rhymes, rhyme sheets, activities (e.g. baby’s eyes).
- Storytimes for Tiny Tots-12-24 months old (at least weekly in English & Spanish)
- Storytimes for toddlers, and preschoolers (at least weekly; in English & Spanish).
- Outreach programs to children in childcare centers (including storytimes in English & Spanish).
- Intentional focus on 6 literacy skills during storytimes to teach parents and caregivers.
- Bilingual storytimes for families (all ages); outreach to Latino community, translated materials (library cards and brochures); classes to parents and caregivers in Spanish; other outreach in Spanish – storytimes, partnerships, parents, child caregivers – bring bags of materials without due dates; bilingual staff, celebrations like Dios de Los Ninos.
- Family Night programs: Trained volunteers model storytimes.
- Incorporating more physical activities into our storytimes, such as stretching and handling manipulative toys – encouraging one hour playtimes with parents to follow storytimes.
- Bedtime storytimes.
- Fiesta bilingual celebrations & storytimes.
- Storytimes in Korean and Spanish.
- Storytimes offered at Creswell Community Center on a drop in basis (usually 30 per session); also sign language for babies classes, car seat giveaways, and brain research talk.
- Vocabulary building during storytimes (V is for video).
- Free books, music, rhyming and alliteration – one of the six early literacy skills is featured in each storytime program.
- Evening monthly family storytimes (glow in the dark stars)- includes teens with their babies and features a story and a craft.
- Monthly meetings of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) – 10 minute storytimes at all levels (2,3, and 4 year olds) offered to mothers to show them the difference in developmentally appropriate storytimes.
- Baby Steps – 2 storytimes in English and 1 in Spanish (for all ages).
- Weekly SOAR (Sisters of Active Recreation) storytimes to 3-4 year olds.
- Lunch time storytimes for children in kindergarten and younger – Have lunch at the library and listen to stories weekly.
- We offer “open registration” storytimes to all ages 5x/weekly, and have a creative and frisky staff (storytimes are mandatory for all staff).
- In our baby storytimes, we teach parents bouncing rhymes and fingerplays (many mothers don’t know these things, so we’ve printed handouts to reinforce their experience).
- We have an “Active Space” in our library to encourage more parental involvement during storytimes.
- We offer Baby Times three times a week to HUGE crowds of 75-100 people (and they work!).
- We started a Saturday Family Storytime for all ages, with activities and a parent support group.
Special events and programs
- Special events and programs: author celebrations; puppet shows and other special children’s programs; game afternoons; storytellers, puppet festivals, Los Dios de los Ninos Weeks, storytelling festivals; monthly evening Pajama Parties (3-5); Saturday Storytimes for all ages; Multicultural performers and workshops; Our Special Saturday weekly events include videos with popcorn, performers (like Science Man), and books combined with other media, to encourage family time at the library for all ages.
- Bilingual Family Celebrations (English & Spanish).
- Winter Reading Programs: For children 0-8, sharing reading all winter long plus a party.
- Free book giveaways during Summer Reading Program – books in English & Spanish are also given away during National Childrens Book Week Celebrations.
- Special activities for preschoolers (e.g. stories featuring guinea pigs with live animals or firefighters reading books about stories featuring fires).
- Prime Time Family Reading Time -- a humanities-based program targeting at risk children, complements efforts of the Oregon Commission for the Humanities – for 2nd/3rd graders and their younger siblings and parents in English & Spanish.
- Special evening events: Super Tuesdays with magicians and puppet shows.
- Hosting the 27th Annual B.E.A.R. Month – a winter program (Be Eager About Reading) that culminates in a teddy bear parade.
- Read & Romp programs: Age-appropriate books and toys during storytime hiatus
- Daily Story Stops in which library staff offer a casual brief storytimes for 15-20 minutes; includes a casual conversation with parents about early literacy.
- Building Blocks program: A five-week basic skills program at the library (e.g. colors, special development, etc.)
- Year-round special programs like puppet shows and outdoor nature programs
- Read to the Dogs program: reading encouragement for the reluctant reader; Programs reading or listening to someone reading to certified dogs – Read to the Dogs on Saturday mornings (regular dogs and therapy dogs).
- Music programs for children.
- Kickoff for summer reading includes music, rhymes, and songs.
- Older children read to younger children for Summer Reading Program credit.
- After school program – visit first-graders for a library-based program of books, snacks, and crafts. “Non fiction focus” is part of the library card campaign (In Wallowa County, a similar program occurs in the libraries on Fridays, with the snacks provided by the local elementary schools).
- Storytelling events at summer free lunch program sites (includes book giveaways).
- Elks Christmas Party & Food Bank event -- partnerships to distribute books and free food to needy families.
- Participating in school carnivals – handing out library cards with balloon animals.
- Community Connections program – Family nights where parents are invited to learn more about early literacy.
- Celebration of the Family event.
- Family Nights – games, puzzles, and dramatic play.
- “Pizza After Work” programs (plus root beer) – used as a way to get kids signed up for Summer Reading Program and includes free book giveaways.
- Summer Reading Programs: Read to Me component to encourage parents to read to their very young children.
- Summer Reading for Child Care (whole classrooms signed up by mail and prizes sent by mail).
- “At risk” summer program: grandparents (patrons) read to kids every morning 4x/week – schools provided training and the library provided “foster grandparents” who are paid a modest $2.50/hr to read books and play games.
- W.O.R.M.S. club– free books, buttons, card pouch – part of the Smartest Card campaign. Local grant started the program (teachers supply m&ms).
- As a coast guard community (Astoria), we make a special effort to have kids bring their dads when they come back after a long ship rotation – Bring Dad to the Library programs.
- Every May Cherish Every Child Festivals cosponsored with Educational Service Districts – free book giveaways at the library (community-wide event).
- Music & story combination programs, plus physical activities.
- Physical music times (ages 2-6).
- Read to Me tee-shirts (part of summer reading program).
- Teddy Bear Valentine Tea (special event).
- Teddy Bear Picnic (Corvallis – makes front page news annually) – The Preschooler Social Event of the Season. 350 kids in Central Park and a dressed up Pooh Bear – last Thursday in June.
- Free Annual Storytelling Festival (includes young storytellers) – 1st weekend in February
- Summer Reading Program outreach to child care home providers, encouraging them to read to their children throughout the summer. The statewide theme drives the packets of ideas we create for providers who read, keep track of reading times, plus a CD and book they can use. The kids get the same certificates those enrolled in the library-based summer reading program receive.
- SRP toddler/lapsitter reading logs are kept (by time read - 15 minute days consistently logged in the calendar). This log makes reading 15 minutes each day a habit; you can color in the days. Calendar allows for environment print – for example, reading the road signs counts.
- We have a Carnival each year: Summer Reading Program is the hook – we give away 10 free tickets for games at the Carnival to our SRP participants.
- We offer Bookie Wookie – a concert by professional musicians for bouncing babies.
- We sponsor a mini-book group for pre-readers and their caregivers. We all read the same book and talk about what it means (e.g. Caps for Sale), use props, have a snack, do a physical activity together, and assign a title to read for next time (we have between 9-30 kids who attend).
- We participate in Latino Night at our elementary school.
- We have Picture Book Book Clubs (Princess Club) - volunteer-led book clubs for parents, and preschoolers. Kids dress up (pretend play nurtures narrative skills).
- Support groups for new moms (before/after Lapsit programs for babies).
- Various orientations to the library: Introduction to the Library; Teen Parents program.
- Amnesty Day – fines are forgiven to remove barriers to use by families.
- We teach fingerplays.
- We offer social interaction opportunities.
- Foster Grandparents in the library, providing storytimes 1x/weekly for preschoolers.
- A Birthday Club – for books to storytime participants. Name plates have the child’s name – older children share their books with their younger siblings.
- We offer DIAL-A-STORY – story changes every two weeks. These stories are recorded and saved on voicemail.
Outdoor activities
- Park & Read events in the park during the summer (and at other outdoor environments).
- Planning to offer storytelling at Farmers Market (maybe with a volunteer).
- Our Mobile Fun Unit visits neighborhood parks (wagon of storytimes and activities).
- Bookmobile visits free lunch program sites at 2 elementary schools – we offer books without library cards, twice weekly (1x/week at schools). Unusual use of the bookmobile in the summer within Baker City. Less bureaucratic access to books without the use of library cards via bookmobile visits; Our bookmobile stops at in-home child care providers and preschools with Storytime on Board; our bookmobile makes 22 stops at 14 area preschools, Head Start, and child care centers – all receive storytimes, plus sheet with titles, songs, fingerplays, action rhymes as “leave behinds” for parents.
- Lunch & Learn program (Bend & LaPine) – special bookmobile visits.
- Joint programs with Central Oregon Parks & Recreation includes visit with bookmobile and SRP book giveaways.
- Outreach to summer camps, Title I schools (Summer Reading program also offered in Spanish), visits to parks (Parks & Rec partners).
- We have a Summer Bookmobile that stops at places where free lunches are served to children. We do sign up for Summer Reading Program (SRP) and preschool storytimes.
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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 - Programming
Get new ideas for designing library programming for young children, parents, and caregivers.
- Additional Early Literacy resources
Look into our carefully selected list of Early Literacy online resources.
- Additional Resources - Activities, handouts, and library programs
Find lists of suggested activities and games, handouts for parents and caregivers, and websites for several exemplary public library programs in Early Literacy.
- 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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