State Library: Every Child Ready to Read @ your library - Washington State Library

Every Child Ready to Read @ your library

In September 2005, the Washington State Library received a $250,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to promote early literacy. The Allen Foundation recognized “the important role that libraries play in our community, and believe strongly that libraries are instrumental in helping parents teach their children to read," said Jo Allen Patton, executive director of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Public libraries reach parents, caregivers and children all across Washington.

To learn more about The Paul G. Allen Family foundation go online at www.pgafamilyfoundation.org

Implementation of the grant includes training in year one and year two. Community Match Grants in year two.

TRAINING OVERVIEW

Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library was developed as part of the Public Library Association Early Literacy project. (See http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/)

Washington State Library modified the original training based on the work of Saroj Ghoting and Pamela Martin- Díaz and their work Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library Partnering with Caregivers and Success.

Training introduced the six early literacy skills and shared techniques with library staff and child care providers on weaving the skills into story times and daily activities. Training also included ways to share the new concepts and strategies with parents and others providing services to the 0-5 population. Materials were provided to libraries and community partners to support training.

TRAINING ATTENDANCE

	NUMBER OF PEOPLE TRAINED	PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING STARS CREDITS	PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING CLOCK HOURS
YEAR ONE
In Library Branches (18 library branches visited)	362	29	N/A
At Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake (3 workshops)	81	34	N/A
YEAR TWO
Washington State Migrant Council trainings (3 workshops)	117	67	N/A
Collaboration with Indian Education Office at OSPI trainings (7 workshops)	162	8	27
Washington Reading Corp (AmeriCorps)	20
TOTALS	742	138	27

COMMUNITY MATCH GRANT

There was $82,000 allocated for matching grants for public and tribal libraries. The purpose of the grant cycle is two-fold:

To encourage libraries to implement an early literacy program or activity in partnership with a community organization
To challenge libraries to raise funds within their local community to match the grant.

Libraries were awarded funds based on their community fundraising. For every dollar of match raised locally, two dollars of grant funds were awarded, up to $1,000. For example, libraries that raised $500 for the purpose of implementing an early literacy program or activity were awarded $1,000.

Awardees were announced in late June 2007:

Elma Timberland Library	This library will accomplish two projects. The first project, "Born Readers” will purchase books from the Timberland Regional Library’s 100 Books Every Child Should Hear before Starting School list for a traveling collection to the Elma preschools and daycare facilities. The second project will be to start a program for expectant parents and babies under the age of one year to receive a "Bundle of Joy” gift packet with information about reading to your baby, library information, and a complimentary book.
La Conner Regional Library	This project will be called, "Nurturing a Reading-Ready Child". It will focus on providing information on the "Six Skills", making reading fun, getting the most out of reading together, and other activities, which foster a reading-ready child. The hope is to reach preschoolers' parents, caregivers and pre-school personnel in Skagit County.
Puyallup Public Library	The "Baby Brain Boosters” project will partner with the Mom & Baby Support Groups at Good Samaritan Hospital to expose parents in the Puyallup area to many different aspects of early literacy. By bringing knowledgeable speakers to the Support Groups and the Puyallup Public Library, parents will learn about early brain research as well as early literacy skills to be used at home.
Liberty Lake Municipal Library	The Liberty Lake Municipal Library’s project, "Reading Readiness: When? Why? How?” will provide two workshops for local childcare providers and parents, focusing on six skills of early literacy. The project will include specific tips and techniques for developing the six skills with children ages 0-5, and will also provide parents and educators with free literacy resources, including pamphlets, children’s books, professional reference books and DVDs.
Roslyn Public Library	The "Ready to Read in Roslyn” project aims to bring together the community’s preschool educators with the Roslyn Public Library to promote literacy skills in preschoolers. To achieve this goal, the library and the two preschools will host a special autumn event. Storytelling will be scheduled, refreshments will be on hand, and special book bags will be given to the children and their parents.
Asotin County Library	"The Whole Kit and Caboodle” project is the assembly, promotion, and circulation of 15 interactive Story Time Theme Kits focusing on topics of interest to children 3 to 5 years old. The kits will include books, learning materials, videos/DVDs, finger plays and songs, as well as tip sheets for parents and caregivers on early literacy topics.
Sunnyside Library	The "Books to Grow On” project will purchase a collection of age-appropriate books to deposit in Head Start preschool classrooms serving children from 2 to 5 years. Teachers and aides will use the books to read to children, and material will be rotated monthly when public library staff visit to do storytime.
Shelton Timberland Library	This grant is called "PLANT THE SEED: Six Basic Skills for Reading Success”. The grant will enable library staff to incorporate training in the six basic skills for reading success into free book distributions conducted by First Book-Mason County for their recipient groups serving children birth through five. Parents/caregivers will also learn about the library’s resources for young children.

AMERICORP OPPORTUNITIES

Funding for an AmeriCorps member in support of early literacy in public libraries is available through the Washington Service Corps AmeriCorps program.

Washington Reading Corps began as a statewide initiative that helps K─6 students improve their reading abilities through research based tutoring and effective collaborations among schools, families, community members, National Service Programs, businesses, and state partners. In 2005 the program was expanded to include early learning with volunteers assigned to programs such as Head Start, ECEAP, and early learning centers.

Opportunities for libraries to be included as eligible sites for AmeriCorps members became available in early 2008. Positions can be either full time within a single library or shared between multiple libraries. Library staff is responsible for member recruitment, hiring and supervision.

Possible duties include planning and conducting storytimes, one on one reading, library visits to day care and child care centers, developing and/or maintaining and delivering resource collections, and helping with the planning and execution of family literacy programs. Duties must involve early literacy in some fashion and cannot include clerical or shelving duties.

Learning Library Project Application
Early Learning Library Project Application Instructions

For more information please contact:

Shannon Skye, Program Manager
Washington Service Corps
WA State Employment Security Department
P.O. Box 9046
Olympia, WA 98507
(360) 438-3245
(888) 713-6080 toll free
[email protected]