More Than Cookies!

Keeping the Read to Me, Charlotte book shelves stocked is no easy task. With eight community book shelves in high traffic areas, we replace books often...but that is our goal.  We want all children to have access to books, especially in their home. Parents should have books on hand and read to their children everyday. One local Girl Scout Troop is helping to keep the shelves full. Troop leader Gina Brundick, led her Junior Troop in collecting 147 books. The scouts collection effort was in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts. They also collected an additional 200 books from scouts attending the Mother/Daughter Christmas Tea on December 3, 2011. We are thankful for the work of these scouts, their parents and all of our community volunteers. Calling all scouts, the challenge has been issued. To host a book drive for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library contact Amy Kukla, Family Literacy Coordinator at 704.416.4399.

Print is Everywhere!

Last Tuesday evening, Amy Kukla returned to Pride and Joy Daycare for a parent workshop, again focusing on the print awareness module of our Jump Start Reading at Home program. Amy explained that print awareness is knowing that print is everywhere and knowing how to follow print on a page. Parents learned tips on little ways in everyday life to help their children become more aware of print, such as making a list together with kids before going shopping, and pointing out the signs of different stores that you shop at, including the sale signs and the words on different items once in the store.

To help kids learn to follow print on a page, Amy shared tips parents could use when reading a book together with their child, including pointing out the words on a page as they are read aloud, and encouraging the child to help turn the pages, to teach him or her how to handle a book and that in English we read from left to right.

Amy encouraged parents to have fun as they explore the world of print with their children, and suggested fun print awareness activities to do together, such as making a photo scrapbook of pictures taken on a "scavenger hunt" of print in the community - photos of familiar street signs, the signage of neighborhood stores, etc. Print is everywhere - have fun exploring it!

Outreach for Refugees

Every Wednesday, Amy Kukla reads aloud to refugee children while Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas connects their parents to information about Medicaid, food stamps, schools, and other resources to help them become self-sufficient and empower them to thrive in the United States. But Amy has done more than just keep the kids busy. She has worked to teach skills to prepare them for school here in America, and has seen some remarkable transformations already.

The children were not always as engaged in the storytimes as they are now. According to Rachel Humphries of Refugee Support Services, when Amy first started working with them, the kids were too afraid to participate at all. They wouldn't go near or even look at her. In her first session, Amy sat down and sang sing-along songs by herself.

But gradually, both the children and their parents began to warm up to her as she began to gain their trust. At last week's storytime, little ones climbed in her lap as she read aloud. More than just a fun distraction, Amy's sessions teach the children concepts they'll need to know when they enter school, such as the names of colors, how to handle a book, and how to behave and participate in a storytime. Parents learn about the important role they can play in their children's education, and of the tools and resources the library offers to help them achieve success.

Of course, the kids also get to pick up some fun cultural knowledge along the way, including learning English words for the sounds animals make, classic nursery rhymes, and even how to do the hokey-pokey!