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!)

Have You Read To Your Child Today?

Reading aloud to your children -- at any age, from birth on up -- is one of the most important thing parents can do to help your children's reading development.  From sharing short, simple board books with your infant or toddler ... to sharing picture books with your preschooler...to reading snippets of chapter books with your school-age child ... reading aloud has been shown over and over again to be beneficial, in many, many ways.  Just a few minutes a day is all it takes, but you may find you're enjoying it so much, you'll be spending more time reading together!

Checkout Reading Rocket's Top Ten Resources on Reading Aloud for some great tips.

One of my all-time favorite resources on reading aloud with children is the The Read-aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.

Of course, you can always visit us at the library, where your friendly children's librarians will be happy to share their favorite read-alouds with you!  Happy Reading!

Those Stuffed Animals Kept Us Up Late...

...but we all had so much fun!  Thanks to everyone who came -- we thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet and play with you and your stuffed friends.  Below are some photos we took of our adventures in the library.

It's Time for Another Stuffed Animal Sleepover at the Library!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Turn around!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Touch the ground!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Turn out the light.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Say "Goodnight".

Kids are invited to bring their stuffed animals to the Main Library in downtown Fort Wayne on Friday evening, July 22.  Wear your pajamas!  We'll have a bedtime storytime, and then we'll tuck your stuffed friends into bed for the night.  Stuffed friends may be picked up anytime on Saturday during library hours, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., along with a memory book of their overnight adventures.

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!

Roz Puppets are Coming to the Main Library!

This morning at 10:00, the Children's Services department of the Main Library will have a special puppet show featuring the Roz Puppets. The program will be repeated at the Main Library at 2:00 this afternoon and 7:00 tonight. Come and enjoy this creative interpretation as the puppets bring the classic story, The Emperor's New Clothes, to life.

Roz Puppets are traveling around the Allen County Public Library system as part of this year's Summer Reading Program. Want to know dates and library locations for all of their performances? Click here.

We're Counting Down the Days...

...till June 6. That's the day we've been waiting for! The day the Summer Reading Program starts!! Woo hoo!! We can hardly wait!!

Have you checked out the


Summer Reading Program website yet?
You'll find lots of great info there, like WHO can participate, HOW to get started, WHEN things are happening, and WHAT gifts kids and adults can receive. Coming soon, kids will find some fun interactive games and online stories, as well as a place to submit their own stories and artwork!

Gifts? Did I mention gifts? Yes, I did, and here's the scoop:

At Sign-up, children will receive a voucher for a FREE Tincaps baseball ticket.

Upon completing Level One, pre-readers (babies, toddlers and preschoolers) will receive an FREE egg shaker toy; readers (kids who can read on their own) will receive a FREE throw-yo toy!

Upon completing Level Two, children will receive a FREE tote bag!

Upon completing Level Three, children will get to pick out their own FREE book!

Adults may participate as well. Starting Monday, June 6, adults 18 and older may pick up a Reading Partners bookmark, complete 6 of the 14 reading activities with a child, and fill in and return the bottom portion of the bookmark to any library location for a chance to win a FREE $100 gift card to Walmart, Meijer or Target.

It's all about reading! It's all about fun! And it's all happening at the Allen County Public Library this summer! We hope to see YOU and your family!

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!

World Book Online for Kids

Recently, the library added a great new online resource for children: World Book Online for Kids. Published by the same folks who bring us World Book Encyclopedias, this collection of kid-friendly databases is a great source of info for school reports, but also so much more!


Early World of Learning provides help for beginning readers, as well as games and activities that help teach numbers, shapes, colors, and more.


World Book Online for Kids offers easy-to-read articles and engaging videos, games, science projects, and activities for younger students.


Info Finder is tailored for students in elementary and middle schools & includes all the articles from the print versions of the World Book Encyclopedia, plus thousands of additional articles, learning resources, and research tools.


World Book Discover includes engaging reference resources for students reading below grade level because of language or learning difficulties.


Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos is a beginner's Spanish language reference tool. The site offers World Book's editorial content, rich media, and engaging features in Spanish.

You may access World Book Online from any computer at the Allen County Public Library OR on your home computer by entering your ACPL library card number. Links are available on the Children's Services web page or under the Reference section of the ACPL Research Databases page.

Preschool Puppet Show Registration

We still have a few openings available for preschool and daycare groups to register for our Preschool Puppet Show coming up next month.

Performances are scheduled Monday through Thursday, March 7 - 10, at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Each show lasts about 30 minutes, and includes plenty of interactive fun!

Families do not need to register for the puppet show. Just mark your calendars, come when you can, and enjoy!

Mischief -- Stuffed Animal Style

Have you ever wondered what your stuffed animals do at night? After storytime yesterday evening, we tucked all of our friends into bed for the night. They didn't do much sleeping, but it does appear that they had plenty of fun! Check out the photos of last night's Stuffed Animal Sleepover!



Owners may pick up their friends anytime today between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Celebrate the Imagination!

I just picked up Antoinette Portis' Not A Box to use in a presentation that I am preparing. I am glad that I did because I had forgotten how wonderful this book is.

The dedication is enough to stir the imagination (and the memory) of any grownup: "To children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes". From there it only gets better as the cute little rabbit takes the reader through several amazing transformations of his plain, brown cardboard box.

Share this book and a cardboard box with your favorite child today!

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!

Smart Start Storytime Fun Fun Fun

Check out the fun that was had at our Smart Start Storytime last Wednesday ~ we sing, we dance, we read, we laugh, we rhyme and we have fun!
Please join us tomorrow or any Wednesday for our Smart Start Storytime!

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Letter D Play Day

Today is Letter D Play Day!
Our storytime will feature books and rhymes about DUCKS and our Early Learning Center will have activities that will feature the letter D.
Please, join us in the Children's Services at the Main Library for some delightful, daring, dynamic, dazzling, divine and ducky fun today!

Storytime for Preschools, Daycares, and other groups is at 9:30 am today
Smart Start Storytime is at

10:30 am today

Summer Reading Program: Babies and Toddlers and Preschoolers - Oh My!

Do you have a baby, toddler or preschooler in your home? Are they participating in the Children's Summer Reading Program? If not, bring them in today to get started! That's right - little ones can join in the reading fun when a grown-up or older child reads to them.

Need some book suggestions? Check out our Baby Boosters Kits for Kids - they're full of great books to share with babies and toddlers.