Talking IS Teaching

Leah Langy writes in the IFLS blog Keeping up with Kids about a collaborative effort in the Chippewa Valley to help address the 30 million word gap:

There's a group of early childhood professionals (librarians, teachers, family literacy providers, childcare consultants, and more) in the Chippewa Valley working on an initiative to address the 30 million word gap identified by researchers Hart and Risely in 2003.  What's the 30 million word gap?  It is the difference in the number of words spoken to children, depending on their family/childcare situation, by the time they reach age three.  Some hear 30 million fewer words by age three than their counterparts.  The research suggests that kids from lower income families are more likely to hear fewer words.

The group is using the resources, information and graphics from a website promoting talking with preschoolers to plan their work. 

To read more about the project and the links, click here.

Talking IS Teaching

Leah Langby writes in the IFLS blog, Keeping Up with Kids,  about an early literacy community of practice she is part of in the Chippewa Valley and an initiative they are working on:

There's a group of early childhood professionals (librarians, teachers, family literacy providers, childcare consultants, and more) in the Chippewa Valley working on an initiative to address the 30 million word gap identified by researchers Hart and Risely in 2003.  What's the 30 million word gap?  It is the difference in the number of words spoken to children, depending on their family/childcare situation, by the time they reach age three.  Some hear 30 million fewer words by age three than their counterparts.  The research suggests that kids from lower income families are more likely to hear fewer words.

They are using a valuable resource to help them get started: Talking is Teaching.

To read the rest of the KUWK blog post and link to resources, click here.

Resources for Growing a Reader from Frisco Public Library's Early Literacy Day

If you haven't seen the Grow a Reader post on the ALSC blog about early literacy training days, it is interesting. Even better is this wealth of materials linked to at the bottom of the post which includes the handouts from the Early Literacy Day from the Frisco Public Library:
http://www.friscolibrary.com/earlyliteracyday

There are some scalable ideas to implement in a small library or a large one about play, STEM-based learning for young children, enhancing talk with intentional activities, and storytime activities to enhance school readiness.

The librarians at Frisco Public Library have also put together a set of three online early literacy classes geared towards parents and caregivers of Babies (Birth to 17 months), Toddlers and 2s (18 months to 2 years), and 3-5s (3 to 5 years). The classes can be taken by anyone, do not require a library card, and may count towards continuing education credit for childcare providers. Find those courses and more information HERE.

Baby Talk Research and Resources

The Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators (CITE) puts out a newsletter called Baby Talk that anyone can subscribe to, and we youth services librarians as infant and toddler educators and parent/caregiver information sources can certainly benefit from staying abreast of current research and resources in the field of baby and child development.

Check out the March issue here. Or find CITE on Facebook or Twitter.

Growing Readers Early Literacy Event at Pewaukee Public Library

Brought to you by Jenny Wegener at Pewaukee Public Library

On February 6, the Pewaukee Public Library hosted a new event designed to provide early literacy training, library awareness, and encouragement to child care professionals. This program was made possible by an Early Literacy grant from the Waukesha County Federated Library System with some help from the Pewaukee Kiwanis Club. A total of thirteen people, plus several library staff members attended.

I promoted this event with letters sent to area day cares, emails, and personal invitations to child care providers who attend our programs. We also had information posted in the library and on our web site and Facebook page.

We began the evening with a delicious pizza and salad dinner delivered by our local Rosati’s. The dinner was free for participants and was very generously paid for by our local Kiwanis group. The library also provided beverages as well as Rice Krispy Squares (homemade) and chocolate for dessert. Most participants were attending right after work and really appreciated the meal.

After introductions, I gave a short talk that highlighted the six early literacy skills and five practices from Every Child Ready to Read 1 and 2. I also emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in setting the stage for future learning and the special place that day care professionals have in ensuring a child’s academic success. I did have some of my favorite books on display and modeled dialogic reading for the group. While I spoke, the participants enjoyed the meal.

The highlight of the evening was a presentation by Stuart Stotts. Stuart, who has done multiple keynote addresses at Early Childhood conferences, was absolutely marvelous! He gave a terrific presentation that had participants singing, laughing, sharing and learning together. Stuart shared information about brain development, the importance of singing with children, and the critical nature of quality care in the early years. We all learned some great songs to use in our work with children, and, best of all, came away eager to implement the ideas.

All the participants seemed to enjoy and appreciate the evening and I did have several ask if we planned to do it again next year. I would like to if the funding is available and I am hopeful that this year’s participants will “spread the word” to their coworkers. All children need quality early literacy experiences, not just those lucky enough to visit the library’s story times and I hope this event will make a difference.