Early Literacy Challenge: Counting
March 15 , 2013 by Georgia ColemanChallenge yourself to read, sing, talk, play and write with your child in new ways this week!
Early Literacy Challenge: Get Moving
March 5 , 2013 by Georgia ColemanChallenge yourself to read, sing, talk, play and write with your child in new ways this week.
Early Literacy Challenge: ABC Mix-Up
February 27 , 2013 by Georgia ColemanChallenge yourself to read, sing, talk, play, and write with your child in new ways this week!
Valentine's Day
February 12 , 2013 by Rebecca KolbI love you. I think you’re grand. There’s none like you in all the land.” - from Sleepytime Rhyme by Remy Charlip
I, Too, Am America
February 5 , 2013 by Ashley WarthenThe Coretta Scott King Award is given by the American Library Association (ALA) annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators. This year’s recipient was Bryan Collier, an artist whose work is no stranger to the ALA. The winning illustrations are presented in the book entitled I, Too, Am America, a short but powerful poem written by Langston Hughes, in which Collier beautifully portrays strength in the face of adversity with his watercolor washed collages. Collier has illustrated more than 20 books in his career, collecting several Coretta Scott King awards as well as three Caldecott Honors.
Rare Words Are Key for Child’s Success in Reading
January 24 , 2013 by Leslie TetreaultWhat are rare words, where can you find them, and why do they matter?
Rare words are those beyond the 10,000 words known as our Common Lexicon used in most daily conversation with each other.
You can find a great many rare words in children’s books. Children’s books have 30 rare words per thousand, while conversations between an adult and 3-year-old child typically include 9 rare words per thousand (JimTrelease: The Read-Aloud Handbook.)
Quality children’s picture books are filled with rare words. Consider Byron Barton’s I Want to Be an Astronaut, a picture book for toddlers and preschoolers. It includes words like shuttle, mission, and gravity. These are words you might not use in everyday conversation with your young child. When you read this book aloud, you introduce him to these words, and they become part of his growing vocabulary.
Why is this important? Studies show that a child’s vocabulary upon entering school is the number one indicator of whether he will be a good reader. Trelease reminds us that by the time a child is 5-years-old, he will know 90% of the words he will use for the rest of his life. The eventual strength of your child’s vocabulary depends on how many of these rare words he knows. And the child who has heard thousands of picture books before he reaches school will have a larger vocabulary than the child that experiences very few books during his early years.
There are thousands of vocabulary-rich books for young children. Check out the below sampling, but know it is the tip of an enormous iceberg. Visit the library often, attend storytime, and let us help your child develop a rich vocabulary through picture books.New Arrivals - Documentaries for the week of 1/7
January 10 , 2013 by Allison T.Check out these Documentaries just added to the Library's DVD collection
Look! Look! Look! Hands on Art
January 2 , 2013 by Heather McCueIf your preschooler can't get enough of cutting, drawing and painting, check out Hands on Art at the Main Library this Friday at 11 am. This program features simple art for the very young (ages 2-5) plus stories and songs. Hands on Art focuses on activities that, not only encourage creativity, but also build the skills children need for kindergarten. The books below will also increase your child's knowledge of art and the world around him. So check them out and head downtown on Friday, January 4th at 11 am with your own pint-sized Picasso for free, fun, Hands on Art!
Getting the Picture
December 7 , 2012 by Melissa ThigpenOne of my favorite things about children’s books is and has always been the wonderful art that accompanies the text and enriches the story. Now that my son is older, he is usually curled up in bed with a novel before lights out, rather than next to me as we read a picture book together. Our collection of these books was like having a mini-museum full of fine art sitting on a bookshelf right in our own home. We loved talking about the pictures as much as we loved the stories.
Things That Go!
December 28 , 2012 by Rebecca KolbZoom! Vroom! Chugga, Chugga, Choo Choo! Beep! Beep! Beep!