Many local libraries offer children’s story time, but at the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library in Broomfield, one program goes a step beyond a simple reading hour.
Its Family Early Literacy Time program strives to provide young children with six essential skills that will help them learn to read and write once they enter school.
“Our goal is really to educate parents and caregivers, and give them ideas and tools they can use at home to promote reading skills,” says Sarah Johnson, a children’s librarian who is heading the new series. “It’s extremely important to prepare kids for kindergarten, and these activities can be mimicked at home for little to no money.”
Kicking off today and continuing on the first Saturday of each month, these free classes begin at 11 a.m. and last approximately 45 minutes. Participants should arrive 30 minutes early to pick up tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each month through May, one of the six essential prereading skills will be highlighted through stories, songs, finger plays, art projects, puzzles, playtime and take-home ideas for additional learning.
The six skills are adapted from the Every Child Ready to Read Project of the American Library Association. This includes: letter knowledge, which teaches children how to recognize the shapes of letters; vocabulary, or learning new words; narrative skills, to learn how to describe events; phonological awareness, to learn the sounds that words and letters make; print awareness, which teaches children how books and letters work; and print motivation, which is the enjoyment of books and reading.
Each month, the program will focus on one of the six skills. For example, this month’s focus is on shapes, which relate to letter knowledge and recognition. “By learning about circles, squares, ovals and other shapes, kids can learn to recognize letters,” Johnson says.
One book that helps illustrate shapes in a fun way is “Shape by Shape,” by Suse MacDonald. Each page introduces a shape — circles for eyes, triangles for teeth — and page by page, the book reveals a friendly dinosaur.
Kids can sing songs and participate in simple games about shapes, and then continue to explore with an art project. Toddlers and preschoolers will build pictures from precut squares, circles or triangles of construction paper, while parents of babies can create age-appropriate art with bright, high-contrast shapes that infants easily can distinguish.
After the art project, the program continues with playtime activities in which children can use shape-sorting toys, puzzles and matching games to further explore the concept of shapes. Together, the activities make a visit to the library a treat for young children, and help encourage a love of books and reading.
“If you make reading interactive and fun for kids, they’ll want to learn more later on,” Johnson says. “Just 20 minutes of reading a day makes a huge difference for kids’ future success in school.”
Family Early Literacy Time is 11 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month — this month’s schedule shifted back one week because of the New Year’s holiday — at the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, 3 Community Park Road, Broomfield. Details: 720-887-2300 or .
