Every Child Ready to Read second edition shipped last week and here it is, on my messy desk! I haven’t read it cover to cover yet (I had to share with my staff right away), but I did read enough to fall in love.
Now the six skills are great and they transformed the way I spoke to parents and the way I presented storytimes, but when pressed I could only ever come up with five skills…thankfully there was always a poster or a handout nearby that I could refer to when I got stuck. And the six skills haven’t gone anywhere, they are just backstage.
What I love about ECRRII:
- The simplified language – and only five practices to remember – five is my limit
- Constrained and unconstrained skills – I am still learning new vocabulary!
- The Learning Spaces presentation – what a wonderful way to convince funders that these spaces are important.
- Focus on community partnerships – libraries can’t do it alone, but we need to be viewed as key players in early literacy education!
Two short sentences stood out for me more than anything else: “Consistently communicate messages about the importance of developing early literacy skills in children from birth to age five. Repeat messages at regular intervals for the greatest impact.” (p.11)
Librarians need to live and breathe early literacy. We need to tell every parent (at the reference desk, in storytime, out in the community and in workshops): play, sing, read, write & talk with your child! It is a recipe for success!
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