Infants & Toddlers @ the Library

Infants and Toddlers @ the Library:Partnering with Your Public Library to Promote Early Literacy : 

Infants and Toddlers @ the Library:Partnering with Your Public Library to Promote Early Literacy Bank Street Infancy Institute Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Rachel Payne, Coordinator of Preschool Services Brooklyn Public Library

Why early literacy? : 

Why early literacy? “Reading to children is the single most effective strategy to get your child go to school ready to learn.” - Susan B. Newman Professor of Educational Studies, University of Michigan “Babies know important things about language literally from the time they are born, and they learn a great deal about language before they ever say a word.” - Gopnik, Meltzoff, & Kuhl, authors of The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind “No one ever told me I should be reading to my baby. I consider myself an educated person, but I assumed I shouldn’t be reading to my baby until she was a year old.” - Brownsville parent, after a Brooklyn Reads to Babies event

Workshop overview : 

Workshop overview Introductions Review workshop agenda Why early literacy? The six skills of early literacy… Books, books, books… Other materials to promote early literacy Early literacy resources Library resources Library programs Songs & rhymes Library spaces for young children Libraries & early childhood programs: How can we work together?

Why Early Literacy? : 

Why Early Literacy? By one estimate the typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading, whereas a child from a low-income family averages just 25 hours. Source: Every Child Ready to Read, Association for Library Service to Children http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/projecthistory/researchearlyliteracy/ResearchEarlyLit.htm

Why Early Literacy? : 

Why Early Literacy? 35% of children in the United States enter public schools with such low levels of the skills and motivation that they are at substantial risk for early academic difficulties. Source: 1991 Carnegie Foundation report, Ready to Learn, A Mandate for the Nation.

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development : 

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development Economists are beginning to identify child development investments as the most cost effective strategies for long-term economic development. In one study, researchers from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank identified investments in early education as yielding a financial return that far exceeds the return on most state funded economic development projects. - Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development, Urban Libraries Council, 2007. http://www.urbanlibraries.org/files/making_cities_stronger.pdf

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development : 

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development Researchers at the University of Chicago identify early education investments as more efficient public investments because their benefits tend to compound, by establishing a solid foundation for later human capital investments in education and job skills training. They found that the return on investment decreases as investments move from early literacy and child development, to youth programs, to adult education and job training programs. - Cunha and Heckman 2003; Currie 2001; Karoly, et al. 1998. “Learning and motivation are dynamic, cumulative processes; skill begets skill; learning begets learning. Early disadvantages lead to academic and social difficulties later. Early advantages accumulate; just as early disadvantages do.” - The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children, Working Paper 51, Committee for Economic Development, October 2004

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development : 

Why early literacy?Early Literacy = Economic Development

Why early literacy in Brooklyn? : 

Why early literacy in Brooklyn? All of Brooklyn’s residents are not literate, highly-educated or speak/read English. Through Brooklyn’s demographics from the US Census 2000, we learned that the BRTB campaign was imperative because of the 2.5 million people in the borough: 40% were born outside of the United States. 31% (484,000) 25-years-old and older have not completed high school. 33% (825,000) have children under the age of 18 in their households. 25% (610,000) live in poverty (The National Assessment of Educational Progress has documented a correlation between the reading ability of children and the economic level of their parents).

Six skills children need to develop to get ready to read… : 

Six skills children need to develop to get ready to read… Print Motivation Phonological Awareness Vocabulary Narrative Skills Print Awareness Letter Knowledge

Slide 15: 

A child’s interest in and enjoyment of books Print Motivation

Slide 16: 

Phonological Awareness The ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words

Slide 17: 

Vocabulary Knowing the names of things ? ?

Slide 18: 

Knowing how we follow the words on a page Print Awareness Knowing how to handle a book Noticing print everywhere

Slide 19: 

Knowing that letters are different from each other, that they have different names and sounds Letter Knowledge

Slide 20: 

The ability to describe things and events, and to tell stories Narrative Skills

Brooklyn Reads to Babies : 

Brooklyn Reads to Babies Brochures in 6 languages available to community agencies free of charge. English Arabic Chinese Haitian Creole Russian Spanish

Brooklyn Reads to Babies : 

Brooklyn Reads to Babies 80 bus shelter ads throughout Brooklyn.

BPL’s Early Literacy placemat : 

BPL’s Early Literacy placemat English side

BPL’s Early Literacy placemat : 

BPL’s Early Literacy placemat Spanish side

The New York Public Library’s ABC Read to Me : 

The New York Public Library’s ABC Read to Me

Mobile Libraries for Children : 

Mobile Libraries for Children Hennepin County Library’s Readmobile Brooklyn Public Library’s Kidsmobile

West Bloomfield Township Public Library : 

West Bloomfield Township Public Library

First Five Years Spaces @ Brooklyn Public Library : 

First Five Years Spaces @ Brooklyn Public Library

Contact Information : 

Contact Information Rachel Payne Coordinator of Preschool Services Neighborhood Services Brooklyn Public Library Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY 11238 Tel: 718.230.2233 Fax: 718.230.2784 r.payne@brooklynpubliclibrary.org website: http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/first5years/