Seeing the Difference



Writing activity



Every time a library staff member visits one of our Jump Start Reading program sites, we are amazed at the progress the children are making with early reading skills. We target program sites in low income, high risk neighborhoods and many of the children we serve cannot demonstrate any pre-literacy skills. However, after only two in a half months of working with the children, caregivers and parents, there is a recognizable change in the children's knowledge and interest towards books and reading.



Connie Ellington facilitating parent workshop



JJ is a three year old student at one of our Jump Start Reading Sites. He was very reluctant to participate in the library program and he was always the last child to sit down for story time. When Connie Ellington, the "Library Lady" (the name the children use affectionately) came to visit on this particular day, JJ had a surprise. JJ asked if he could read a book to her today. He selected three books from the books shelf. He demonstrated several of the pre-literacy skills used in the Every Child Ready to Read curriculum. He modeled reading, he held the book and turned the pages properly, he pointed to the words on the pages and he talked about the illustrations. Through our department encounters, we learned that many students enter kindergarten without the ability to demonstrate these pre-literacy skills. Since JJ's daycare teachers and parents are learning these skills with him, we hope he will continue to learn long after the program ends. The Jump Start Reading program supports the long term learning experience by giving JJ books to take home to begin or enhance a home library and the daycare center that JJ attends will receive fifty books to continue the reading experience. The parents and children also participate in a library tour allowing parents to see all the free resources offered at and through the library. They can have tools and support to continue to be their child's first teacher.



Learning that print represents words



JJ is one of many children who receives literacy support form the library. Child care providers and parents are learning the five simple activities (talking, singing, reading, writing and playing) that they can use to help children get ready to read. Most importantly, JJ is receiving skills and tools that will help him succeed in school and beyond!

Guess Who’s Coming to Día?

This year’s featured author for “El día de los niños / El día de los libros” (Day of the Child / Day of the Book) celebration is Alma Flor Ada. Ms. Ada is an internationally known speaker and the author of numerous children’s books such as Gathering the sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English, The Gold Coin, The Lizard and the Sun and many more. This year’s Día celebration is focusing on families reading and the five best practices to get children ready to read. Given Ms. Ada’s gifts as both a prolific children's book author and a respected scholar of bilingual education, she is the perfect featured guest for this year’s celebration.

 

Ms. Ada will have several appearances in Charlotte:

April 26, 2012  3:30 UNC-Charlotte (Black Box)

April 27, 2012  4:00 Black Forest Books and Toys
April 28, 2012  12:00 ImaginON 
 
Visit Alma Flor Ada’s website at http://almaflorada.com.  For more information on “El día de los niños / El día de los libros,” visit http://dia.ala.org.
 

What's New In Outreach

The Outreach Department has just begun two new community projects. We are starting a three-year project with Reid Park School. The purpose of the project is to help kindergarten students increase their reading skill and to support the educational success of all students at the school. In addition, the library will also be able to capture and share our impact on educational success, based on the experience we will have at this school. The Library's efforts is part of the Family Involvement Student Success Network Team; a County led effort to support Reid Park School.

The second project is the Job Center on the Go! Once again, thanks to funding from the Crossroads Charlotte Initiative Grant, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library can expand it workforce development activities into the community. As in the Job Help Center, patrons will receive support for job exploration and career transition. They will also have the opportunity to participate in computer workshops and get the individual assistance needed to conduct successful job searches.

Stay tuned! Information and outcomes regarding each program is forthcoming.

Welcome Back

DSC_0180, a photo by CMLibraryInAction on Flickr.

Welcome Back Faye! Faye Brown is back with her library and outreach friends...at least for a little while. Faye Brown retired from Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in March 2010 after many years of service. Faye is bringing her expertise and experience to our early literacy and adult programs while outreach staff members are on leave. Faye's efforts are appreciated and needed and we commend her for the fabulous intergenerational program she planned for Veteran's Day.

Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library...Again

The American Library Association researched based curriculum, Every Child Ready to Read at Your Library® has been updated. The expanded 2nd version; ECRR 2 incorporates simple practices designed to help parents and  caregivers develop early literacy skills in children from newborns to five. The curriculum has changed form six building blocks to five simple practices, which includes talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing and developing  language and pre-reading skills in children.
The new edition also includes fun with science and math. ECRR 2 still stresses the importance of parents being their child’s first teacher and it promotes the library as a resource for developing early literacy skills in children from birth to age five.
The new ECRR 2 will be used in our Spangler, Jump Start Reading at Home Program. The curriculum is scheduled to be used with our third group of Spangler participants beginning June 2011.  Outreach staff Jump Start facilitators participated in a day-long workshop and webinar on the new curriculum and they are prepared for the roll out! Check us out soon, we will have information and pictures on the new curriculum a long with parents and caregivers reaction to the new curriculum.

Second Phase of Spangler Grant Begins

In January 2011, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Outreach Department began the second round of the Spangler grant program. From January through June 2011, we've added twelve preschool locations to the program and we are working with staff from three of our library locations. We are looking forward to 100% of our participants understanding and demonstrating the six building blocks of reading, which will open the doors to reading. We are also anticipating our parents and teachers increasing reading activities with the children involved. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is a relevant part of our community. This program will not only help children be successful when entering school, it will also connect children and families with their neighborhood libray promoting a lifetime of readers. Stay tuned for more stories and pictures and first hand comments from the staff delivering the program.

First Sememster of Jump Start Reading Ends

The first semester of the Jump Start Reading program has ended and the results are in! Our surveys and evaluations indicate that parents and caregivers gained valuable information regarding the importance of early literacy and children's success when entering school. By the end of the six months, our program coordinators, Veronica Corral, Amy Kukla and Emily Little stated that children were able to demonstrate the six pre-reading skills and parents and caregivers were able to implement these skills when reading to children. Below our program coordinators share some of the highlights from the program:

• ALL of the children at this site (even the 2 year old's) now know what letter their first name starts with!
• All the parents have been extremely appreciative of the meals and incentives. I do not think there was ever a leftover piece of pizza with this group! Everyone was very excited about the books and the children continue to talk about them when I go back to visit.
• I just wanted to mention that the highlight was definitely taking seventy program participants and their families on the bus to the Library. For many of them it was the first time going to the library. They all seemed to enjoy it and many checked out books for the first time.

Families participating in the program were connected to their neighborhood library. This will allow them to continue the learning experience after the formal program ends. In addition, each child participating in the program (approximately 105 children) received a home library consisting of 15 books, which will support their current and growing reading comprehension level. Parents participating in the program received all the program incentives, which included book bags for each family, meals at each of the parent workshops, gift certificates from a local store and certificates of completion.

The next semester for Jump Start Reading begins January 2011. Staff from three of our branch locations will be assisting the department with program implementation. During this session, we will be offering three workshops instead of six. Our parents, caregivers and staff indicated that this would be practical while still being effective. We will keep you posted as we continue to, "Jump Start Reading at Home!"

Visit to the Library

We are now three months into our six month Jump Start Reading at Home program. Our teachers, children and families have been introduced to Vocabulary; knowing the names of things, Print Motivation; being interested in and enjoying books, and Print Awareness; noticing print, knowing how to handle a book and knowing how to follow the words on a page. In addition, all programs participants received fifteen books to begin their at-home library. (The 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study states that students from homes with more than ten children's books had significantly higher average reading scores than scores of students from homes with ten or fewer books.)

To continue to expose families and teachers to reading, books and literacy, all program participants will tour their neighborhood library. This is a very important element of the program. By taking our families and teachers to the library, we are given them tools and resources to be self-sufficient and empowered to continue to support their child's early literacy education.

To make this experience possible, we have to identify and remove barriers that will allow all families to participate in the library visit and tour. During a recent visits to Plaza Midwood library, the transportation barrier was removed by purchasing bus passes for all program participants. Over fifty people took the bus to the library. The pictures below illustrate the Bilingual Specialist, Veronica Corral organizing the group to board the bus as well as the library visit and tour. Follow the link below to view all the photos of this library experience.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/libraryinaction/sets/72157624725999301/

Jump Start Reading at Home Print Motivation

When the county car pulls into the parking lot of the Park Apartment Clubhouse, parents and children know it is time for Miss Veronica and the library program. Twenty-three children and their mothers gathered in the activity room to hear stories and participate in music and reading activities that encouraged interest and enjoyment of books. The building block for this session was “Print Motivation.” According to the American Library Association, Every Child Ready to Read program, “Children who enjoy being read to will want to learn how to read.” It is a challenge to measure enjoyment but the clapping, smiles, laughter and program participation lets Miss Veronica know that her audience enjoyed the stories.

During this session, families enjoyed the stories; The Squeaky Door by Margaret Read McDonald, Whose Nose? by Jeannette Rowe and Jump Frog Jump by Robert Kalan. Parents also received information on Spanish language computer classes offered at our Hickory Grove location. As the program ended, parents and children helped Miss Veronica carry her material to the car and they prepared for their next session, which will include a visit to their neighborhood library.

Storytime in Spanish

Every Wednesday morning our Bilingual Outreach Coordinator, Veronica Corral, goes out in the community to hold a storytime in Spanish, focusing on early literacy. As you can see, her sessions attract quite a crowd! Last week drew over 30 participants including several moms and kids of all ages, although Veronica’s focus is on children ages birth through 5.

It might sound like no small feat to keep the attention of so many children, but Veronica was quite the entertaining storyteller and the kids were eager to participate.

This session focused on the early literacy building block of vocabulary, or knowing the names of things. As she read aloud, Veronica explained certain words the children might be unfamiliar with, using synonyms that might be more familiar.
 
Another way to build your child’s vocabulary is just to talk to your child more, using many words and a variety of words and explaining words that might be new. Also, you can expand on things your child says, encouraging him or her to speak in complete sentences. Reading books with different vocabulary from normal conversation helps, and remember, language skills grow faster if your child hears positive feedback, so be encouraging while keeping things fun!

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!

Jump Start Reading at Home

Last week, Amy Kukla read for two storytime sessions at Pride and Joy Daycare. This time, the focus was on print awareness. Reading to a group of 1-2 year olds (above), Amy tracked her finger under the words as she read them aloud - this is to help children begin to understand that the words printed on a page have meaning. At the end of the session, she passed out books to the children just to build their experience in knowing how to handle a book and turn pages.

During her session with the 3-4 year olds (right), Amy began to open a book upside down. The kids caught her right away - a great sign that they have an understanding of how books work. Reading logs were passed out at both sessions - children can keep track of the hours they read or are read to, earn points and redeem them for prizes at the Library.

Both sessions were kept fun and exciting by starting and ending with a sing-along, as well as short playtimes with toy rattles and a flannel board that tied in to one of the stories. Above all, reading should be FUN!

Stay tuned - later this week, Amy will share more print awareness tips at a parent workshop at Pride and Joy, to show parents how to jump start their children's reading at home. For more on Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Jump Start Reading at Home program, visit the program blog at cmlearlyliteracy.blogspot.com.