Wordless Books! Wordless Books! Wordless Books!

Did you know...wordless picture books are a GREAT way to help your child with pre-reading and reading skills.  When you share a wordless book with your child, try taking turns telling the story.  This helps children learn how stories work AND helps teach new words!  Pictured on the left are some of my favorite wordless books -- click on them to find their availability in the library's catalog.

Do you have favorite wordless books?  Click here for a list of more titles!

Rainy Day Destination!

It's cold outside, and rainy and gray. Here in Children's Services, though, we're warm and cozy and colorful! When you and your little one can't go outside and discover the world, we invite you to make the Main Library a destination of discovery! We have one gaztrillion facts to soak up, stories to read and places to learn and play!

Come visit us any time! Find a comfortable spot with a delicious book and read until your heart is content.

Helping Your 1 to 2-Year-Old Get Ready to Read

Parents and caregivers -- you've heard you should read to your toddler, do you feel you have no idea where to start?  Are you wondering how you can get your active little person to sit down and read a book?  Come to the downtown library Monday night, and learn how simple and fun it is to get your child ready to read.   You'll learn more about the Five Practices:

• Talking
• Singing
• Reading
• Writing
• Playing

...and how they can teach your child about letters and language and sounds and books -- and get them ready to read!  All attendees will receive a free gift and certificate of completion, and door prizes will be given away.  At the end of the program, we'll do a brief tour of the Children's Department and the Early Learning Center. 

Ready to Read -- Toddlers!

Monday, October 10, 2011

7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

(Next month, November 14, from 7-8:00 p.m., there will be a session for parents & caregivers of preschoolers, ages 3 to 5.  Feel free to come to both sessions!)

Floor-etry!

There's something big and bright in the Children's Services Department! It's poetry on the floor!

Grown-ups, this is a fantastic way for little ones to interact with words!

Come on down to the Main Library, walk around the circle and enjoy some "floor-etry"!
A librarian would be delighted to direct you to our wonderful poetry collection for kids!

Letter Play Day with Letters Q and U

Visit the downtown library this Wednesday with your preschooler!  We'll have storytime in the morning -- 9:30am for daycares and other groups; 10:30am for families -- and we'll have extra-special activities set up in the Early Learning Center, all about Letter Q and Letter U.

Learning about letters is an important pre-reading activity.  Click on the links for more Letter Q and Letter U fun!

Exciting Improvements in the Early Learning Center!

Have you visited the Early Learning Center recently? We've made some changes in the books that "live" there.... Instead of having a hodgepodge of picture books, we are being much more selective in deciding what books go in this special space. All the books are designed to reinforce specific fundamentals of Early Literacy. Six color-coded types of picture books are available:

• Counting Books
• ABC Books
• Favorite Stories
• Rhyming Books
• Books about Shapes
• Books about Colors

And, of course, all books are available to be checked out so you can enjoy them with your child at home.

Visit us soon and check it out!

It's Letter T Playday!!

Tickle ten toes!

Tame that tiger!

How many letter T words can YOU think of?



Come visit us at the downtown library today for some Letter T fun in the Early Learning Center!

What Did YOU Do Today?

In Baby Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, a baby goes about the normal activities of her day, eating, getting dressed, playing and napping.

Try making up a story with your young children about their day -- what color shirt did they choose to wear? What did they eat for lunch? Did they go for a ride in the car?

Activities like these help develop narrative skills, which include the ability to tell and understand stories.

Movin' to the Music: An Early Literacy Workshop for Adults

Parents and caregivers of young children -- make plans to attend our next early literacy workshop, Movin' to the Music.

We'll talk about what researchers have to say about song, music, and rhyme, and how these activities help young children develop language skills. We'll also introduce you to some of the wonderful resources available at the library, and you'll take home a music CD chock-full of rhymes and songs.

Movin' to the Music: An Early Literacy Workshop for Adults
Monday, November 15, 2010
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

From the New Book Shelf...

Here's a fun new picture book for your preschooler! Bright and bold illustrations highlight each letter of the alphabet, and fun rhymes describe animals that go along with each letter.

What a fun way to help develop your child's letter knowledge and their vocabulary!

ABC Animal Jamboree
by Giles Andreae
illustrated by David Wojtowycz

Pre-Reading Skills

There are six early literacy skills that your child must master before beginning school in order for them to become proficient readers. Once you know what the skills are, incorporating them into your daily interactions with your child is easy!
Bringing your child to the library for storytime is one easy way to reinforce those pre-reading skills. We explain briefly what the skills are and then we model using them in fun and exciting ways!
Join us every Wednesday morning and Friday morning for storytimes at the downtown library!
Our storytimes are fun and they really will help prepare your child for reading!
Please join us!

Smart Start Storytime for Preschoolers
Wednesdays at 9:30 am for preschools, daycares and other groups
Wednesdays at 10:30 am for children and their adult caregiver
Storytimes for Babies
Fridays at 10:00 am
Storytimes for Toddlers
Fridays at 10:30 am
Fridays at 11:00 am

Language and Literacy Begin at Birth!

Children begin learning about language and literacy from the moment they are born -- and these early experiences affect their ability to learn to read as they get older.

Check out this 5-minute video, provided by Zero to Three, that demonstrates some of the ways early experiences affect children's language and literacy development.

Storytimes at the library are developed to reflect these important experiences. We offer storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers as a fun experience for young children, but more importantly, to provide adults with ideas and information to help them provide these experiences for their children when they are not at the library.

Questions? Ask us -- we'll be more than happy to help!

Babies, Books and Brain Development

Does reading to your baby really make a difference? YES!
Come to this informative and interactive session for adults and find out what researchers have discovered about brain development and how books, rhymes, and other simple, everyday language activities affect the way your baby's brain develops.
All participants will receive a free gift and a certificate of completion.

Monday, August 23rd
7:00 pm
Globe Room at the downtown library

Back to School Worries

Parents, are you a little anxious about back to school time? Are you worried about what your child will experience while out of your care all day? Do you have a child starting school for the first time? Check out Clayton Early Learning Center's blog for a great post about back to school parenting.

Looking for books about going back to school? Check out our booklist.

babies and toddlers storytimes today

There are six early literacy skills that your child must master before they begin school in order to become proficient readers and literate adults. By bringing your child to one of our storytimes, these skills are being introduced, modeled and reinforced. All while we are dancing, singing, rhyming and reading! Come join us for a FUN-FILLED storytime every Friday morning!

Babies 10:00 am
Toddlers 10:30 am
Toddlers 11:00 am

New Picture Book: Sleepover at Gramma's House

Sleepover at Gramma's House
by Barbara Joosse
illustrated by Jan Jutte

Bright, bold illustrations and lively text work together in this fun picture book about a young elephant who goes to visit her Gramma.

This is one your child may want to read again and again -- and repetition is GREAT for early literacy development. Before you know it, your child may be telling the story to YOU!

Der Tooth Feree

"Der tooth Feree
i luv you
fum Zelle"

This kind of writing practice is an EXCELLENT way for a child to work on early literacy skills. Zelle used phonological awareness & letter knowledge to write this letter. Her well developed print motivation inspired her to put pen to paper to let the Tooth Fairy know how she feels.

Sit your child down to write letter to a friend, a relative or even the library. The writing center in the Early Learning Center is a great place to practice early literacy skills. Visit today!

Babies and Learning

There are many ways to help children thrive in their earliest years of life. Babies in the Rain explains the theories behind the best practices for infant and toddler care as well as preferred methods for doing so. In a personable, humorous voice, Jeff Johnson shares his own stories about the amazing ways infants and toddlers learn. He offers valuable information on how to spend quality time with young children by building strong emotional environments, nurturing meaningful relationships, and promoting child-centered, age-appropriate learning.

There are six early literacy skills that your child must master in order to be a proficient reader.
Exposing your child to stories and books from birth on, is one sure way to set your child on the path toward literacy.
Our library storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers are designed to focus on the six early literacy skills. We even give you ideas for incorporating early literacy into your daily routine.
So join us for storytime, where you and your child will have fun together and learn valuable skills in the process!

Babies and Books 10:00 Friday Mornings
Toddler Time 10:30 and 11:00 Friday Mornings
Smart Start Storytime for Preschools and Daycare Programs 9:30 Wednesday Morning
Smart Start Storytime for Preschoolers 10:30 Wednesday Mornings

Literacy Connections

Those interested in literacy -- parents, teachers, caregivers and tutors -- will want to look at the resources available at Literacy Connections. Practical advice, activities for babies, preschoolers, school-agers and adults, recommended books and links to other sources can all be found at this website.

For more literacy resources, see our Everybody Reads page:
http://www.acpl.info/children/everybodyreads.html .