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Initial question mapping for exploration stage.

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How can a library program influence development of early literacy for children outside of the library?

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How can librarians work with families to teach early literacy?

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Public libraries provide families with a welcoming environment to learn, connect with other families and find community resources. Libraries also help families prepare for school success, even before the child enters kindergarten. The bonus is public libraries are free resources.

Inside a library you'll find books, media and activities that help children begin their literacy journey and promote a lifetime of learning.

Check your local library's website and social media pages to find a wide range of programming.

Here are some of the ways your library can impact your whole family:

Early Literacy Programs : We already know that literacy-rich early learning experiences contribute to the reading readiness of young children and help develop reading proficiency in K-3rd graders. Libraries play a key role in these ways:

Story time promotes early literacy skills in a fun, social environment.

The environment engages multiple senses and promotes self-directed, experiential learning.

Staff support parents and caregivers in learning simple early literacy practices to help children get ready to read.

School-Age and Teen Programs : Libraries provide older children a space to exist away from home and school and be immersed in a book or activity for a few hours. For example,

Children can participate in things like science experiments, art and crafts and fun games that offer a lighter side of learning since most school-age and teens are coming in after a long day at school.

Friendships among children at this age tend to bloom at the library. The library environment can help children build relationships easier than in school settings.

Technology is available for academics or personal interests. Computers are monitored by librarians and offer a safe place for internet use and schoolwork.

Homework help is offered at many locations staffed by volunteers who sit one-on-one with children.

Summer reading programs are offered to help a child's brain stay active over the break.

Public libraries offer a wide range of resources for adult learning and recreation. Consider these activities:

Book clubs offer a wide variety of genres to provide networking opportunities. Participating in these clubs is also a good way to form friendships.

Libraries have free classes on topics like resume writing, career navigating and more.

Adults can have access to technology for educational or personal purposes.

Additional Resources:

Events:

Learn Through Play Daily Activities: March

Help children learn through play by using one of the following age-specific monthly calendars that feature daily activities.
To receive our monthly tips via email, sign up for our Parent Source e-newsletter.

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Parenting Hot Topic: Lean into Literacy and Local Libraries

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Public libraries provide families with a welcoming environment to learn, connect with other families and find community resources. Libraries also help families prepare for school success, even before the child enters kindergarten. The bonus is public libraries are free resources.

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How does exposure to early literacy within libraries impact a child’s growth?

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Why are early literacy programs an important function of libraries?

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How can library programming create an interactive family environment for early literacy?

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When considering where I wanted to take my exploration, I decided to center my thoughts around the role early literacy plays within the library. With this at the basis of my questioning, I determined a few initial questions I wanted to explore. From there, I thought about how those questions could be shifted into thinking more about engaging with families while still considering what early literacy means to library programming. Specifically, programming for children 0-3.

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I started with five general questions that I had about the role early literacy plays in libraries and programming.

1. How can early literacy be incorporated for children 0-3?

2. Why is early literacy important?

3. How can families teach early literacy?

4. How can early literacy be used in library programming?

5. Who is responsible for teaching early literacy?

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This question was developed to determine how early literacy can be taught inside library walls, but also expand into being used everyday in the homes of our families.

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This question was developed to help determine how librarians and families can work as collaborators to help develop necessary childhood skills.

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This question was developed to determine exactly how the work of librarians, and their engagement with children in early literacy skills, directly impact the growth of children and their knowledge/skills.

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The purpose of this question is to determine what early literacy program does for the function of the library as a whole, as well as how it creates a relationship between families and the library.

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This question’s purpose is to find new ways to incorporate early literacy in a way that has the librarian interacting with children and their family members.

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Introduction

Head Start, child care programs, and public libraries partner to help meet the educational needs of young children and their families. Public libraries provide centers for learning in nearly every community in the United States. It is important for children and families to learn about and recognize public libraries as a valuable resource. Libraries offer rich learning environments for children and their families and caregivers.

Specially-designed spaces accommodate diverse collections including books, multimedia (e.g., DVDs, CDs), and developmental and instructional materials. There are also computers with high speed internet access and online resources (e.g., databases, websites). Knowledgeable staff provide events and programs designed for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and their family members.

Libraries as Partners

It is important for early childhood programs to know that public libraries have developed a variety of early learning strategies. These strategies build on current scientific evidence about brain development, early childhood development, and school readiness. Services for young children and their families are designed with the recognition that the library may be the primary place in a community where parents and early educators can find specialized materials and programs.

Public libraries also create strong partnerships with community organizations to reach the children most at risk. Libraries offer critical intergenerational and interagency programs that educate not only children but their parents and caregivers as well.

Head Start and libraries have interacted since Head Start began in 1965. Much of the early relationship was between individual staff at the local level. From 1992 to 1997, the Library Head Start Partnership was administered after an interagency agreement was signed between the Center for the Book and the Head Start Bureau. This agreement set out to formalize these early relationships and elevate partnership. It highlighted more strategies on how libraries and early childhood programs could work together. Two areas that remain relevant today are:

Early childhood programs can use local librarians as consultants on such topics as extending lesson plans; aligning books with specific topics; providing material resources like puppets, music, and props; and providing ideas on expanding literacy throughout early childhood classrooms.

Libraries offer multi-generational programming and support literacy in the home. Libraries are a resource for families, providing programs and services for young children, parents, and caregivers. They invite parents to join their children in activities and can provide information on childrearing and ways to promote literacy in the home. Libraries also carry resources for people who are preparing to take the GED. They provide help with employment searches and have tools such as computers and copiers that can benefit adult learners.

Many early care and education programs connect with the public libraries in their communities to learn about successful ways to partner and enhance their work with the children and families they serve. Access the resources below to learn more about specific ways that public libraries and early childhood programs have partnered. Also, learn how to cultivate ideas based on the unique needs of your community and population. Review examples of projects supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Resources

Key resources include a handout and links to useful websites. The first resource is a handout, A Sampling of Public Libraries & Various Possible Benefits to Early Childhood Programs and the Children Families They Serve. It includes examples of programs and services within libraries of all sizes based upon the needs of their own unique community. Also find a sampling of both local and national websites sponsored by libraries and links to research articles.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services

The IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. IMLS encourages partnerships among libraries and community organizations. It also supports a wide range of early learning activities that engage children as well as their parents and caregivers. Visit the IMLS website at www.imls.gov for more information.

Nearest Public Library

The Library Locator tool provides a search to locate public libraries in your area. Enter your city and state (or zip code) and the tool will provide the address and phone number for local libraries.

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Supporting Children through Public Library Partnerships | ECLKC

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Recommendations to assist Head Start, child care programs, and public libraries to partner and help meet the educational needs of young children and their families.

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"Among the factors in health that lead to good health outcomes, clinical care is only 20%. So much is you and what you do in the community."

This was the message that pediatrician Dr. Dipesh Navsaria shared with a room filled to capacity with librarians, early childhood educators and even law enforcement at the Beloit Public Library in Beloit, WI recently.

With a background that includes degrees in public health and library science, Dr. Navsaria understands the importance of agencies integrating early childhood education with clinical health initiatives. Although those who serve young children in their community can't control some of the factors that affect a child's development, said Navsaria, they can help control other factors and counteract the effects of the ones they can't.

Libraries and other community organizations, along with programs such as Head Start, can have significant positive impacts on early development. These organizations provide opportunities outside the home for infants and toddlers to experience the positive effects of reading, talking, singing, and playing - activities that help build connections in a child's brain, which has an intense period of growth from birth to age 3. According to a recent study, children who are read to regularly exhibit higher activation in areas of the brain that support mental imagery and comprehension of narratives - key skills needed for independent reading comprehension.

When children are not given opportunities to experience language through books and other interactions, a disparity develops. The 30-Million Word Gap Study, which focused on vocabulary acquisition, found that children in families on welfare were exposed to 30 million less words by the age of 3 than children in affluent families - a striking imbalance in a skill that helps to ensure later reading success.

There are many factors that influence a parent's ability to help his or her child develop vocabulary and other early literacy skills, including a parent's own educational level and access to basic needs, a stressor for many families living in impoverished circumstances. While all children experience stress, many children in low-socio-economic environments are subject to extreme negative stressors, including some form of neglect.

Stressors can be categorized in 3 different levels, explained Navsaria, and while a limited amount of stress is tolerable and could even have positive effects, it's the third level below that affects a child's development.

Positive: For example, a parent leaving on the first day of preschool. This produces a normal short-term response, which is alleviated by a strong support system and strengthens a child's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Tolerable: For example, a death in the family. These are serious stressors, but when they are buffered by strong, supportive relationships, long-term effects are not necessarily significant.

Toxic: For example, child abuse or homelessness. Much like tolerable stress, these are major events; however, they are prolonged stressors that have limited or no supportive relationships to combat them.

The toxic stress that many children in poverty experience has "persistent effects on the neurological and endocrine system," said Navsaria. The myriad negative outcomes include decreased coping skills, poor memory, anxiety, impulsivity and changes in the brain that lead to a chronic state of fight or flight response.

Traumatic childhood experiences affect not only the brain, but also a child's overall health and have long-term consequences into adulthood. As the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study shows, these negative health effects are not specific to children in poverty; all populations broadly experience them. The study included 17,000 participants from (notably) middle-class backgrounds and provided overwhelming proof that traumatic childhood experiences are directly linked to developmental delays, chronic diseases, depression, IV drug use, alcoholism, adult heart disease and early death.

An Ounce of Prevention

But what role do libraries play in helping to combat the consequences of adverse childhood experiences?
"We can't influence genes (much), but we can mold experiences," said Navsaria. "Good experiences lead to good brain development."

Practitioners who interact with young children can influence powerful change in a child's life in a number of ways.
1. Building a Foundation for Learning
Libraries provide free, safe environments that offer repeated exposure to positive interactions during those critical years from birth to age 5. Diverse storytimes, access to books, art activities, family areas with opportunities to role play, build and discover - all of these things foster brain development and early literacy and math skills.

One of the most important experiences that libraries provide is an opportunity to develop a love of books and reading. Why is reading so important? Because "it's the fundamental skill for learning," said Navsaria.

As with medical health initiatives, "early childhood interventions need to start early to have the most profound effects," said Navsaria. "One-third of children enter school unprepared to learn. We can fix the achievement gap if we figure out how to intervene in the first 1,000 days of life and continue to support it later." That's why library programs such as 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten are so significant - these simple interventions in the earliest stages of life can help prepare children to enter school with the skills they need to succeed.
2. Parent Education
We often think of reading to a child as a natural skill, but many parents are reading to their very young children the way they've been taught to read aloud in grade school, causing them to struggle with the contrast between the child's natural curiosity and their belief that the child should sit quietly and listen. The more impoverished the family, the more likely they are to be authoritarian in their interactions with their child, said Navsaria.

"Explain to parents that they can read, talk and explore the book even if their child doesn't pay attention," said Navsaria. It doesn't have to be about finishing the book so much as about prompting a dialogue with the child. "The act of reading becomes a conversation; they can be a listener, questioner and audience for their child. Reading should be fun!"

Parents' perceptions of themselves as learners also lie at the root of many literacy issues; if a parent has trouble with his or her own literacy, often the parent will have the same expectations for the child. It's a matter of changing those perceptions, said Navsaria, and helping parents understand that things can be different for their child. "If a parent struggles with reading, that doesn't mean the child will. It's not strongly genetic - it's environment, and it's changeable."

Navsaria recalled a memorable clinic visit with a woman and her child who were living in a homeless shelter. After handing the infant a book to play with, Navsaria observed, "Look how much he's loving that book!" The mother's face broke into a smile as she exclaimed, "My baby's smart!" Simple interactions such as these, notes Navsaria, can help alter expectations and break the cycle of underachievement.

Through storytimes and programming, librarians also can educate parents and caregivers on the value of encouraging free play - allowing their baby to follow his or her natural curiosity instead of correcting or directing their child. By verbally responding to babies during playtime and allowing them to explore their world safely, infants develop curiosity, persistence, fine-motor skills and vocabulary - important skills that build a foundation for later academic success.
3. Literacy and Healthcare
In his role as medical director of Reach Out and Read Wisconsin, Dr. Navsaria is helping to integrate early literacy practices into doctor visits. Reach Out and Read is a national program focusing on children in poverty that trains and supports health care providers in how to give books to children at every well-child visit and observe and provide effective advice. Along with using them to educate parents on simple ways they can promote early literacy skills, clinicians also use the books as diagnostic tools during the visit. By observing how the child and the parent interact with the book, doctors can learn about the relationships and connections being made in the home. "I would rather walk in without my stethoscope than without a book," declared Navsaria. "It's an incredibly valuable tool."

It's making these connections between community resources - libraries, welfare and early childhood programs, and clinics - that can make real-world differences, stressed Navsaria.

It was clearly a message that resonated with his audience, as spontaneous discussion broke out among the attendees about ways they could connect with other organizations in their communities to best serve the youngest population, including connecting early literacy with adult literacy programs, working with healthcare to send books home with new mothers, collaborating with universities and education students, and utilizing current volunteer programs.

What are some new ways you can leverage resources in your community to make a difference in the lives of children? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments below.

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The Little Engineers That Could: Adding STEAM to Preschool Storytimes

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"Play is really the work of childhood." Fred Rogers was right - incorporating STEAM into preschool storytimes sets a strong foundation for future learning.

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What is emergent literacy?

Emergent literacy is a term that means getting ready to read.

Newborns come into the world ready to process language! In the first 3 years of a baby's life, they become more aware of the language we use. Each time we read, talk, and sing with them, we help build their understanding of language. Reading aloud helps them learn how text works and helps to increase their language and literacy skills as they grow.

This early phase, before children are reading on their own, is called the emergent literacy phase. Emergent literacy leads to early literacy.

Emergent literacy skills

Children learn many important things during the emergent literacy phase, including:

Vocabulary building

Learning how our language works and how to use language to tell stories, share ideas and ask questions

Learning how to hold books

Learning to identify different types of books like storybooks, fact books, poetry, cookbooks, etc.

Learning to write by drawing and scribbling

Playing with the sounds of language through songs, rhymes and tongue twisters

Building knowledge of the world around them

Understanding letter-sound connections

Developing a love of literacy (reading and writing)

Why is emergent literacy important?

Reading aloud to babies is the single most important thing we can do to help prepare them for reading and learning. That's because emergent literacy is the foundation on which all future learning happens. The stronger a child's literacy foundation, the stronger all future learning will be.

Every time we read, talk, and sing with babies, we are creating strong bonds and building their foundation for learning and understanding. These connections have a positive impact on children for the rest of their lives!

What we already know:

Reading aloud to children, starting at birth, helps build brain connections during the first 5 years of their life. This is the time in which 90% of a child's brain development happens. (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University)

The number of words a child knows when they start kindergarten is a predictor of their future success in school and in life. (Read Aloud 15 Minutes)

More than 1 in 3 American children start kindergarten without the skills they need to learn to read. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Reading aloud to children helps associate books and reading with people they love, which motivates them to read more. (Healthy Children)

Reading, talking, singing, and playing with young children helps to improve their language, literacy, social skills, and emotional skills. It also helps to secure the bond between parent/caregiver and child. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

A person's ability to read lowers their risk of poverty, improves their chances of employment, increases social inclusion, and leads to a healthier life. (The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)

Adults with low literacy skills often struggle to access and use the healthcare system for themselves and their young children. This can cause risks of developmental and health issues. (Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy)

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This early phase, before children are reading on their own, is called the emergent literacy phase. Emergent literacy leads to early literacy.

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Interactive reading between you and the young children you're reading to is essential in supporting children's early literacy skills. You can use interactive books to help engage infants and toddlers and capture their interest and natural curiosity. Interactive books typically feature different textures, lift-the-flap activities, moving parts, pull tabs, or die-cut pages, which also helps support young children's sensory development. In Time for a Story, Amy Brooks Read and Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting offer the following tips on using interactive books to support the early literacy skills of the children in your care:

1. Play

Infants and toddlers will most likely treat books as toys-they'll want to put them in their mouth, pull them, or tear them. It is okay to let young children explore and play as they learn how to handle books, but use positive redirection if they start to get too rough. When you're not reading the books, you may want to put them up out children's reach until the next time you read them.

As you read and play with books that have flaps and tabs, encourage children to look for what is hidden. Be sure to reinforce their actions with excitement. Once they understand that the picture will be under the flap, move on to guessing games. Encouraging children to make predictions about what might be under the flap or behind the tab will help them with their narration skills as they learn about story structure. Make sure you keep this activity fun and positive-incorrect answers are learning opportunities for young children.

2. Read

Pay attention to babies' cues and gestures as you read with them-batting at a page, kicking their legs, or pulling the book to their mouth are indications that they are engaged in the reading activity. Having fun with books as you read has a positive influence on babies' budding relationship with books. Here are a few ways you can have fun with infants and toddlers as you read:

Laugh

Give characters different voices

Make positive statements, such as, "I love this book," "This is a funny story," and "The pictures are so pretty."

Change the inflection of your voice-avoid reading in a monotone voice

Make the books come alive by adding different voices and movements

Get excited about what is under a flap or behind a tab

Talk about the textures in a touch-and-feel book

Remember, children who enjoy books and are comfortable with them are much more likely to stick with learning how to read in preschool and elementary school.

3. Write

In addition to building a foundation of prereading skills, helping young children learn how to handle books also helps them develop prewriting skills. Infants and toddlers will first touch textures in books with their whole hands, but they will eventually be able to touch them with just a finger as they gain more physical control. Pulling tabs, lifting flaps, and turning pages are all examples of motor activities that help children develop the hand-eye coordination and dexterity needed for writing.

4. Sing

Since the text in infant/toddler books is short, you can add rhythm to your voice and turn the story into a song, which will capture young children's attention. Singing songs helps them hear words being broken up into smaller sounds and increases their phonological awareness. It's important that you find ways to reinforce the ideas, themes, and concepts found in the book you're reading. For example, if you were reading Where Is Baby's Belly Button? by Karen Katz, you could sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" while touching those parts of the body to reinforce the concepts young children are learning.

5. Talk

How you talk when you read books to children can help them build their vocabulary and increase their background knowledge. When you read interactive books to children, try to add information about what you see in the pictures and use positional words (under, inside, beside, and behind). Even if they only babble, be sure to give children opportunities to respond to the book. Pause for about five seconds after asking children a question. If the child is too young to respond, answer the question yourself. Raising your voice at the end of a question can also help young children learn that a response is expected. All of this helps children learn about the patterns in conversation.

Be sure to browse our selection of children's books and the Language Skills category in our Infant and Toddler Care section of the website for a variety of materials and tools you can use to support early literacy skills in infants and toddlers.

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Using Interactive Books to Support Early Literacy Skills | Kaplan Early Learning Company

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Learn how you can use interactive books to support the development of early literacy skills in infants and toddlers with this article from Kaplan Early Learning Company.

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A guide to what children should know and do in five central developmental domains

Select any item to see the associated subdomains, goals, developmental progressions, and indicators. Find related resources for frontline staff, professional development, and for families.

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Interactive Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five | ECLKC

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Explore the Interactive Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five.