Early Literacy Calendars for 2018

Thank you to all the members who contributed to the YSS Early Literacy Calendars over the years! These calendars were designed to give parents and caregivers ideas and daily activities to incorporate early literacy practices into their day-to-day routine.

The YSS Board decided in 2017 that since there were other early literacy calendars readily available, YSS would concentrate its efforts and volunteer-power in other areas of value to YSS members and the youth and families they serve. One such calendar can be found here from Reading is Fundamental. It is also available in Spanish. There are also a variety of activity calendars produced by Demco including early literacy, children's, teens, and adults.

Summer is a Super Time to Share YSS Early Literacy Calendars

With all the additional patrons in the library, summer is a wonderful time to introduce your patrons to the YSS Early Literacy Calendars. Filled with easy activities emphasizing early literacy practices, the calendar is a terrific outreach piece and summer handout for parents, grandparents, and caregivers. Get your downloadable pdf file of the calendar on the WLA YSS Resources page right HERE. Each month was created by a different YSS member.

2017 Early Literacy Calendar Available Now

The 2017 Early Literacy Calendar is now available! This project is brought to you by YSS, and awesome librarians from all over WI contributed to it. The calendar offers caregivers 365 days of tips on how to raise a reader. It is a wonderful resource to provide to patrons at your library and to offer as a handout at outreach visits!

The Year in YSS - 2016

Time to look back at the year and the YSS board and member work. Hit the links for full information.

YSS Board Retreat - The board met at a retreat in January and came up with a values statement to guide our work:  YSS advocates for professional empowerment, collaboration, and innovative, inclusive, and intentional service. The values statement helped focus our work throughout the year.

Youth Services Shout-out blog – our blog is a strong voice for youth services in WI. Ably administered by Sarah Cournoyer, regular blog contributors include Aimee Schreiber, Dawn Wacek, Kelly Allen and Marge Loch-Wouters. The blog has over 200,000 views since it began over 8 years ago! 

YSS Powerhouse Presents webinars – We presented four great YSS member-panels: Beyond Storytime; All-in-the-Family Programming; Transforming Collections; Transitions and Transformations co-sponsored by various WI library Systems. 

WLA Conferences Youth Program Facilitating – We helped facilitate youth programming for both the WAPL and WLA conferences plus a great pre-conference on school-age services. Thanks to all our members and speakers who presented amazing programs!

Burr Worzalla Children’s Book Award - YSS coordinates this annual WLA award. Congratulations to John Coy, winner for his book, Game Changer and a huge thanks to the committee ably chaired by Karli Pederson. 

Early Literacy Calendar – Now in its 4^th year, the calendar gives YSS members a chance to develop a month of early literacy tips in each annual calendar. The calendar is free to download (2017 is coming soon!) 

What a Job! -  the board updated job tasks for individual board positions and committees to make being a YSS leader a snap!

Hello/Goodbye – Welcome to our new board members: Sarah Cournoyer (president elect), Sue Abrahamson (WLA board liaison) and Caitlin Schaffer and Elizabeth Timmins (directors at large). Continuing on the board with thanks are Terry Ehle (2017 chair), Leah Langby (2017 past chair), Emily Heideman and Susie Menk (directors at large), Julie Kinney (secretary) and Tessa Michaelson Schmidt (ex officio).  Leaving the board with thanks are Ashley Bieber (past-chair), Ashley Thiem- Menning and Katherine Elchert (directors-at-large) and Marge Loch-Wouters (WLA board liaison).

Ringing Out the Old Year

YSS brings down the curtain on 2016 with our last month of activities for preschoolers for 2016. This month, calendar co-coordinator Katherine Elchert of the Rice Lake Library shares her tips for great early literacy activities.

You can download this final 2016 month here at the YSS Resources page for free! And watch for the 2017 calendar in that same space - coming soon!

October Fun for Preschoolers!

October's early literacy calendar is full of tips not just for singing, reading, writing, playing and STEM but also for coding! YSS member Heather Holton  of Sheboygan's Mead Library brings her creativity to daily activity tips that help support the early learning of preschoolers.

It's easy to download the free calendar pages (is 8" x 11" or poster size) at the YSS Resource page.

And let us know how you use the calendar at your library!

September Early Literacy Activities

Here comes fall and here comes another month is YSS's 2016 Early Literacy calendar.

Some libraries print off their fall storytime on one side of the calendar so parents can access the great daily ideas and provide a link so parents can download the rest of the calendar themselves.

However you use it, it's a great shared resource!  This month's contributor is Karen Wendt, the Youth Services Coordinator at the Monona Public Library. Enjoy!

Tips for Tots - August Early Lit Calendar

How many times do you have parents coming in looking for ideas on easy-to-do activities for preschoolers?

YSS has the answer! Our 2016 Early Literacy Calendar contains a daily idea on play, read, write, talk sing, science and math activities that parents can easily incorporate into their day.

You can share these activities yourself in your storytimes and work with parents and caregivers.

And it's all so easy - you can download the calendar at the YSS website for free and share with your public as well!

Our August calendar is brought to you by YSS member Katrina Dombrowsky, formerly Youth Services Director at Columbus Public Library and now working as a Youth Librarian at the Eden Prairie Library in MN

Print is All Around Us

Pixabay image

Environmental print is what all the words, letters, and numbers that surround us in daily life are called. From street signs to cereal boxes, there are abundant sources of environmental print for emerging readers to use. Parents and other caregivers can foster a child's awareness of and interest in recognizing them in a multitude of ways because print awareness and letter knowledge are key components of early literacy. Two short articles that offer tips and ideas for using environmental print to support emergent literacy and struggling readers are linked below:

Environmental Print by Reading Rockets
and
Helping Struggling Readers with Environmental Print by John Funk, Educator and Teacher Trainer

The YSS Early Literacy Calendar (available HERE) is another excellent resource full of tips expressly for increasing early literacy activities in fun ways as children and their caregivers go about their days. This free resource is a project of the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association.

May-June-July Literacy Calendars

We're all in the thick of school visits promoting the library and last minute preparations (or vacations!).

Now is a great time to download your May- July early lit calendars to have them available for family fun this summer! YSS members Elizabeth Timmins, Abby Bussen and Ashley Thiem Menning have a host of easy day-to-day activities to support summer preschool activity!

You can download the entire calendar in either small 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" poster size free at the YSS section of the WLA website. Feel free to make it available to your patrons or post around your library!

Early Literacy Calendars - April and 2017 Contributors

The 2016 Early Literacy Calendar authored by youth services librarians like you is full of activities and ideas that foster early literacy skills. They inspire parents, grandparents, and caring adults of all kinds to interact with babies and children in intentional ways to support literacy development. These calendars are free to use and distribute. Some Wisconsin librarians use them in their storytimes, some put them in their newsletters, and some share them with their library patrons as a handout. We'd love to hear how you use the Early Literacy Calendar at your library and we'd love to have you participate in the creation of the 2017 calendar if you are a member of the Youth Services Section, and if you're not already then please consider becoming one. The benefits are many!

Contribute to the Early Literacy Calendar 2017

Interested in being the author of your very own month in the 2017 Early Literacy calendar? YSS needs a few more contributors, so this is your chance!

Don't be shy! We want to tap the talents of the amazing librarians we've got all around the state, and this is a perfect, low-stress way to get involved with YSS. Nervous you don’t have great ideas to bring to the table? Nonsense! Previous calendars are available for inspiration, and if you’re working with kids and families at your library, we want you!

Please contact Katherine at katherineelchert (at) ricelakegov (dot) org or Kelsey at kelsey (at) lacrosselibrary (dot) org to volunteer. Thanks!

YSS Board Meeting Minutes from March 10, 2016

Here are the minutes from the most recent YSS Board meeting.  This is what is happening behind the scenes when your board gets together. Also, you're invited to the Youth Services Section (YSS) Membership Meeting/Meet and Greet at WAPL 2016 on Thursday, May 12 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm to learn about what the Youth Services Section is up to, meet fellow members and board members, and share your ideas of things you'd like to see us do! Prospective and new members welcome, too.

YSS Meeting Agenda

March 10, 2016 12:30 

YSS advocates for professional empowerment, collaboration, and innovative, inclusive, and intentional service.

Members present: Kelsey, Katherine, Leah, Marge, Emily, Ashley, Ashley, Terry, Julie

Approve Agenda

Leah asked for a motion to approve. Katherine motioned, Terry second. Agenda was approved.

Old Business:

YSS Powerhouse Presents report

·         Kelsey and Katherine will be giving a webinar on changing children’s collections April 1^st (IFLS is sponsoring)

·         On May 9 from 10-11 am, NWLS is hosting Transitions and Transformations with Sharon Grover, Dawn Wacek and Sue Abrahamson."

·         Then there are two more in fall. One is set the other Ashley T-M will be working on setting up.

·         Other general discussion about YSS Powerhouse Presents webinars

Early Literacy Calendar report

·         Five people have committed to contribute to the Early Literacy Calendar. 

·         There will be a blog post follow up to request more contributors. Tips are due May 15.

·         There will be a direct email sent to SOIS and SLIS about having students join YSS. 

Task lists, job descriptions and plans

·         Leah, Ashley, Terry and Marge will meet to go over these documents and revise as necessary. 

·         The Board will discuss and final drafts will be uploaded to the Dropbox.

WLA Conference Committee report/update

·         Marge will be the contact point for all program proposals. All proposals will be submitted by the Unit Reps.  There will be a Google Form for this.

·         We are considering ways to promote the books by the author coming to the YSS Luncheon (Bill Konigsburg) and to promote the winners of the Burr/Worzolla Children’s Book Award, with some virtual stuff before the conference and/or in-person discussions at the conference.

·          

WLA Pre-Conference Committee report/update

·         Terry, Tessa and Kelsey are working on an outline for the preconference.

·         They are thinking of using a “TED” talk format for the presentations, followed by discussion and a take away activity.

·         82 librarians responded to the survey and the top three most requested topics included programming, embedded librarians and partnerships.

·         Similar to the Teen Pre Conference, there would be a passive program display during the snack break.  The CCBC will also have a display for school aged children. 

·         The price has not currently been set for the preconference.  WLA recommended the 100% increase for nonmembers. So if the cost is $20 for members it would be $40 for nonmembers. 

WLA Board Rep discussion

·         Leah mentioned that there have been a few things related to the system redesign process that have made her concerned that youth services issues still have the potential to be forgotten and we need to consider this when thinking about changing the way the WLA board representation is handled.

·         General discussion regarding possible board representative nominees was held.

·         Marge reminded everyone that she is planning on completing her term as board rep and that this subject doesn’t need to be decided immediately; we have three years to think it over and decide if and how we wanted to change the way the Board Rep position works.

·         There was some general discussion regarding the position and how it might be changed and who the stakeholders are.  Marge suggested that this be a discussion at a board retreat.

·         This discussion was tabled until the next meeting. This will be an ongoing topic of discussion, but may not be discussed at every monthly meeting.

·         Discussion was added to the September agenda.

New Business:

WAPL Welcome Wagon/Membership Committee

·         Dawn Wacek (current WAPL Chair) suggested that this be done to welcome new librarians and help them get a foothold and to recruit new members.

·         Discussion was held and it was emphasized that we are just at the beginning and will be taking small steps to make this happen.

Ashley B. moved to adjourn and Kelsey seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM.   

Call for Contributors: Early Literacy Calendar 2017

YSS is still looking for a few members interested in being the author of their very own month in the 2017 Early Literacy calendar! Early literacy calendars are developed by YSS member librarians and feature excellent early literacy activities for every day of the year. Best of all, they’re downloadable and free!

Don't be shy! We want to tap the talents of the amazing librarians we've got all around the state, and this is a perfect, low-stress way to get involved with YSS. Nervous you don’t have great ideas to bring to the table? Nonsense! Previous calendars are available for inspiration, and if you’re working with kids and families at your library, we want you!

Interested? Please contact Katherine at katherineelchert (at) ricelakegov (dot) org or Kelsey at kelsey (at) lacrosselibrary (dot) org.

Early Literacy Calendar 2017

It may only be February, but it’s already time to start thinking about the 2017 YSS Early Literacy Calendar! Early literacy calendars are developed by YSS member librarians and feature excellent early literacy activities for every day of the year. Best of all, they’re downloadable and free!

We’re looking for twelve YSS member volunteers to share their amazing early literacy ideas by taking on one calendar month. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s a perfect way to get involved with YSS. Nervous you don’t have great ideas to bring to the table? Nonsense! Previous calendars are available for inspiration, and if you’re working with kids and families at your library, we want you!

Interested? Please contact Katherine at katherineelchert@ricelakegov.org or Kelsey at kelsey@lacrosselibrary.org. 

March Early Literacy Calendar

Read! Sing! Talk! Play! Write! Add math and science to these five early literacy practices and libraries give preschoolers a jump start on literacy.

With March just a hare's jump away, you can download for free the whole year of early literacy activities developed by the Youth Services Section of WLA.

This March calendar page of preschool activites was developed by Jenny Wegener of the Pewaukee Public Library.

You can download the entire calendar in either small 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" poster size free at the YSS section of the WLA website. Feel free to make it available to your patrons or post around your library!

Early Literacy Calendars in Use

 Wondering about ways to use or distribute the YSS Early Literacy Calendar? Here are some ideas collected by Holly Storck-Post, Youth Services Coordinator, at Monroe Public Library.

• I'm thinking about printing copies of the full calendar on cardstock, binding them with rings, and setting them out on the children's desk. Or I was also thinking about just giving out one month at a time, maybe stapling them to our library newsletter each month.
   
• I use the Early Literacy Calendar to read the tips on the local radio.
   
• I use it during storytime "Today's Early Literacy Tip for parents is....."
   
• I have it on our website.
   
• I put it in our eNewsletter, now and then.
   
• I print out one month at a time and set it out at storytime and have it available in the children's room (we have a spinny thing with book lists) and I put one up on the wall too.
   
• I highlight them in Storytime and try to do a couple of the activities in Storytime each month.
   
• We’ve added the YSS Early Lit Calendar to the back of our monthly themed children’s newsletters.  We have copies of these available at our Youth Services Information Desk and patrons can freely take them.

If you have other tips to share with your youth services community, please send them along to me at scournoyer (at) mwfls (dot) org.

Here Comes February - Share Early Lit Tips

We hope you are using the great YSS Early Literacy calendar brought to you by a rotating group of YSS members who design a month for you each year!

The February calendar page was developed by Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser from La Crosse Public Library. 

You can download the entire calendar in either small 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" poster size free at the YSS section of the WLA website. Feel free to make it available to your patrons or post around your library!

It's January! Share This Month's Literacy Tips

For the past three years, YSS members have been developing monthly tips focusing on the five practices plus math and science for the annual WLA YSS Early Literacy Calendars. Each month features a different set of tips written by one of our WI colleagues. They are practical, fun and unique.

This free downloadable calendar is great to share with caregivers or to post as a large poster in your youth area. You can download either the 8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17" size to share with the caregivers in your community.

Stop by the WLA YSS resources page or the DPI YS Growing WI Readers website to download your free copy today!
http://wla.wisconsinlibraries.org/yss/resources/useful-links-for-librarians

2016 Early Literacy Calendars Available

The 2016 Early Literacy Calendar is now available! This project is brought to you by YSS, and awesome librarians from all over WI contributed to it. The calendar offers caregivers 365 days of tips on how to raise a reader. It is a wonderful resource to provide to patrons at your library and to offer as a handout at outreach visits! 

 

NEW for 2016: Your choice of 8.5x11 or 11x17 pages!*

*The 11x17 pdf is not posted to the WLA website yet, but will be available soon.

Calling all YSS Members!

 

Oh, hello fellow members of the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association! We may be looking for your help:

• Do you love working with preschoolers?
• Do you share early literacy tips with your families and parents?
• Are you willing to help contribute to our cool YSS project from the comfort of your own library?

Then get in touch with us!

We are about to start work on the 2016 YSS Early Literacy Calendar and we want you!

Each month of the calendar is filled with ideas and activities to bring alive the 5 ECRR (Every Child Ready to Read) practices  - PLAY, TALK, READ, SING, WRITE - plus math, art and science ideas for parents and their preschoolers. Suggestions for activities, ideas and books fill each unique month.

We have twelve YSS members each provide one month of content. It's fast, easy, fun and quick.

If you think you would like to be part of this fun crowd-sourced project, please get in touch with project leaders Betsy Bromley at bbromley@cooney.lib.wi.us  or Katherine Elchert, katherineelchert@ricelakegov.org before  March 31 to express interest. We'll be tapping folks immediately to meet a May 15 deadline!

Go YSS folks!!!!