This will be my third year hosting a literacy night with one of our community partners, the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA). ReWA has a few sites located throughout our city and they run one of their preschools a short walk away from my branch. I have the joy of leading a monthly story time to their four multilingual classrooms on site during the school year. When I started in this position back in 2023, ReWA’s hope was to get families excited about reading, as this declined during the pandemic. They invited me to come talk to their families about the library’s services as well as provide any tips on raising lifelong readers. Here is what I have planned for this year’s literacy night.
The Presentation
Aside from going over the different services our library provides, I also take the time to talk about the Five Activities to Raise a Reader. These activities are:
- Sing to or with a child in any language to help them learn word sounds.
- Read (and reread) to a child to help them learn to love stories.
- Write with a child to help them create and see words and symbols on a page.
- Talk with a child to help them learn to communicate and be ready to read.
- Play with a child to help them use words to express themselves.
(The Seattle Public Library, 2020)
During the early days of the pandemic, our Youth and Family Learning Services department worked with The Seattle Public Library Foundation to create a booklet of early literacy activities for preschoolers and their families that focused on these five activities. Not only were they available in English, they were also translated into our 8 priority languages: Amharic, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Oromo, Somali, Spanish,
Tigrinya, and Vietnamese. The booklets also came with alphabet and animal cards (in English only). These booklets continue to be popular and have proven to be a great source for families. Since many of the families at ReWA speak English as a second language, it is incredibly helpful to be able to provide activities for them in their native language. During the presentation, I also go over how to choose a “just right” book with the five finger rule for reading.
The Books
What’s a literacy night without books?! I am grateful that we’ve been able to provide families who attend literacy night books in their native language! I placed a book order in September from Ingram, focusing on languages that ReWA requests based on current enrollment. This year, those languages are Amharic, Arabic, French, Mandarin Chinese, Oromo, Russian, Spanish, and Tigrinya. And of course, I bring a few books in English as well. Seeing the families pick out which books they want to take home is my favorite part of the night. It also helps me learn what types of books and languages families want to see more of in our branch.
Picture by Maria Leon-Roman.
The Swag
What’s outreach without some swag? I bring along branded tote bags (perfect for placing their brand-new books!), pencils, bookmarks, and stickers. My favorite bookmark is one I sent in as a request to our marketing department: “Finding a ‘Just Right’ Book”. This specific bookmark was inspired by a purchased bookmark a parent had shown me back in 2023. They had picked one up at another library system and wanted to see if we offered something similar. Our marketing department has the option for us to send in requests for new projects, so I sent them a photo and a blurb on how awesome I thought it would be if we had something similar in our prioritized languages. A few months after my submission, the bookmarks appeared in our delivery! They’ve been a hit since.
Somali, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, English, Vietnamese, and Amharic.
Picture by Maria Leon-Roman.]
Overall
While the literacy night we jointly host focuses more on library services and the 5 activities to raise a reader, we hope it encourages the children and their families who otherwise might not come into the library to further develop their literacy skills.
I have a few other colleagues who also work closely with the ReWA site closest to their branch. Having this cross regional outreach ensures that we’re meeting community where they are at.
Have any questions about hosting a literacy night? Do you have a similar experience working with a community partner? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
Maria Leon-Roman is a Children’s Services Librarian at the Seattle Public Library (SPL). Her childhood love of books and libraries inspired her to try to apply for a library job at the age of 8. She eventually got hired as a Student Assistant at age 17 and has spent the last 11 years working through the ranks at SPL. She is currently serving as co-chair of the ALSC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. Outside of work, Maria loves to play video games, bake, and obsess over her dog, Simón.