Early Childhood Literacy, Display Ideas; "Mother Goose Rhyme Time--Night"

News March 7, 2008 (mp3 file: 5 MB, 5:22 min.)

I hope you were able to attend the Saroj Ghoting workshops last week--Saroj's knowledge and energy and enthusiasm inspired us all to go back to our libraries and continue to do story hours, but with just a tweak or two to make them especially useful in young children's early literacy development. We want to remind you that the Library Service Areas have resources to help you with those story times--kits, books, and other materials--as well as materials to help you spread the word about the importance of early childhood literacy. The ECL website has posters and flyers to download and give to parents and caregivers, There are several versions of table tents, to put on tables, tops of bookshelves, tables in cafes...and any other place you can think of, both inside and outside of the library. There are bookmarks that were originally designed for library trustees but actually work very well for parents and caregivers. A colleague told me this week that a local library's Friends group is going to include the bookmark in each of their "Books for Babies" packets. The materials are in Word doc format so you can add you library's name and contact information, where that is appropriate.

Some of the kits being developed by the LSAs as part of this initiative can be downloaded from the website, as well. (Or, you can borrow them from the LSA.) In addition to the usual story time resources each kit also contains a "take home" sheet for parents with ideas for how they might continue their child's preparation for learning at home, and short "asides" for librarians to say to the parents during the story time, about the particular skill being highlighted that day. (If you aren't familiar with these "asides" and their purpose, check the book co-authored by Saroj, Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library: Partnering with Caregivers for Success.)

Check out the website and the resources--and check back with it frequently; we keep adding to it. --Karen

Links from today's podcast:
Early Childhood Literacy website, from Iowa LSAs
Display Ideas:
Earth Day
SWILSA Current Announcements
SWILSA Sites of the Week

Reviewed by Marcia:
Mother Goose rhyme time--night," by Kimberly K. Faurot.