Developing reading readiness/early literacy skills has a long term impact on children’s reading and academic success (Santamaria, 2010). Early Literacy and Reading readiness programs serve the important role of assisting educators and parents. In this assignment, I have evaluated a variety of tools ranging from website, kit, to periodical.
Although the majority of these tools are available online, the most beneficial and convenient tool is your local library. With the books, activities, and story times, there are plenty of hands on tools available for parents and educators.
With two editions already out, Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) is an early literacy program that provides information and materials to help parents and educators develop early literacy skills in children from birth to age five. The updated edition of ECRR provides librarians, educators, and parents with research based practices that develop important skills before they are ready to read (ECRR, 2011). The website and manual provide information via different workshop presentations, handouts, and strategies to get children ready to read.
From the librarian perspective, ECRR has been a great asset. We’ve used both editions to promote early literacy skills. The first edition focused on the six early literacy skills:
Print motivation, print motivation, narrative skills, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and vocabulary. The second edition uses simplified terminology. The six skills have been simplified into five practices: talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. As a parent, the second edition’s five practices are much easier to integrate into everyday practice. The language is much easier to remember which is more important. Although the language for the second edition is more parent friendly, it lacks the credibility that the “big words” had in the first edition.
The handouts include various activities to promote talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing, book lists promoting the early literacy skills, and information about milestones for the different age groups. Each handout ends with a suggestion to go to your local library for more ideas. The manual provides information to provide workshops for educators, staff, and parents. The most valuable part of this program is that the practices are supported by research. Each practice and skill can be directly linked to research, explaining its purpose and how it will promote reading success in the future.
PBS has a history of providing educational material for children and adults. PBS Parents: Reading and Language is a sub section of PBSkids.org. The introduction provides information about how children become readers and writers. The site provides information by age group to accurately describe milestones in development as well as tips and activities to promote literacy.
The page is visually appealing and very user friendly. Directly below the introduction, there is a bar with illustrations of the different age groups that serve as links to additional information. Each age group section contains a quick preview, milestones, and activities. As a parent, this site would be ideal to find everyday ways to incorporate literacy activities. The right side of the page has box for quick literacy tips for everyday activities like at mealtime or at home. The main body of the page provides featured articles and PBS Parents Bookfinder, which suggests age appropriate literature for their child. The text is clear and concise, using simple language. The activities vary but are also simple enough to integrate into daily activity. Throughout the site and in various PBS resources, simple slideshows and tip lists are provided. PBS Parents is a valuable resource for parents and also for librarians looking for a way to simplify talking about reading readiness with a credible resource. ECRR may have the research to support it, but the user friendly interface that PBS provides may make its features more marketable.
Get Ready to Read! is a national initiative to build early literacy skills of preschool age children. The initiative is designed to assist educators, parents, and their children with developing the literacy skills before they learn to actually read and write.
The website provides screening tools, transitioning to kindergarten toolkit, skill building activities, and early & childhood basics. The color scheme and layout are much like the Hooked on Phonics website but without the push for product purchase. Early learning news and resource list are available in the center of the main page, promoting other early literacy programs from across the nation. To the right of the home page image, there are links to educational online games, webinars, checklists, and tips for parents. Get Ready to Read! also provides a variety of YouTube videos with examples of dialogic reading and a multitude of tips for different literacy promoting media. For a librarian, this website is beneficial with its wide variety of sources. The most valuable part is that it provides tips about various types of media rather than only books. For parents, this site may be overwhelming. The languages and choices of articles seem to be targeted for library professionals or educators. PBS Parents and Leapfrog may be a better tool choice for parents.
Leapfrog is most widely known for their selection of DVDs, kits, and handheld learning devices promoting literacy via technology. The company provides both passive and interactive methods of promoting literacy. The product target audience ranges from birth to 8 years and up. The DVDs, kits, and handheld devices are meant to provide an interactive learning experience.
Leapfrog’s website also serves as a literacy tool. It provides information for both parents and teachers. The site is easy to navigate with its bright green menu bar along the top of the page. The parents section provides school readiness checklists, articles about “hot topics”, family literacy activities, quick printables, education Q & A (like Why read to baby?), and online games for children. Much like the PBS Parents site, it provides information about development milestones and activities to promote reading and writing. Leapfrog also encourages getting connected via social media. Facebook, twitter, and YouTube banners are shown along the right side of the page to promote participation. The teacher section is not as helpful. The link directs you to the product catalog to encourage purchase of their products.
The Leapfrog website serves as a great easy-to-use tool for parents, but educators may not find it as useful or welcoming.
5. Ready, Set, Kindergarten! Kit (No Link available. Pictures to follow)
Las Vegas Clark County Library District (LVCCLD) received these kits via a grant two years ago. Since 2010, LVCCLD has provided Kindergarten readiness workshops promoting the use of these kits to help children get ready to read in school. Parents attend librarian led workshops describing the different components and the benefit of developing these skills before their kids head to kindergarten.
Each kit includes a flannel story kit, large magnetic letters, board books, flash cards, music CDs, and a list of activities to do with your child to promote early literacy. The flannel story kit serves as props to encourage your child to retell well known fairy tales and folk tales. The magnet letters promote letter knowledge by allowing the child to identify each letter and perhaps put them in order. The board books, flash cards, and music provide tools for parents to promote print awareness and phonological awareness.
Combined with story time, the materials provided serve as great tools to develop the skills necessary to become a successful reader.
Scholastic Parent & Child was first published in 1993. The list of topics covered include: activities and crafts, lesson plans, development, children's health and wellness, birthday parties, family recipes, daycare, school (nursery, preschool, elementary school), reading, testing, friendships, and family time. Although not primarily focused on literacy, this periodical provides valuable information for parents about early literacy. I found this source while searching for early literacy articles for the previous assignment. A quick search in the King Library database produces several useful articles pertaining to early literacy.
Scholastic Parent & Child is available in print and online. As for reading readiness, the website provides additional resources for activities as well as an archive to past issues.
As you have probably noticed, there are six tools listed. I had intended to include this last one as part of the five, but decided to remove it because the actual site was down when I wrote this review. Although I had looked over the site beforehand, I could not remember the layout to describe how useful it would be to a parent versus an educator.
References:
Ash, V., & Meyers, E. (2009). Every Child Ready to Read @ your library. Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children, 7(1), 3-7.
Santamaria, A. (2010). Raising A Reader Gets Children Started Early. American Libraries, 41(8), 11-12.
