Stuffed Animal Sleepover

Check out the fun that the Bookmobile and the Swanton Public Library had with a simple idea! Five libraries in our county did this on the same night. It brought kids into our libraries twice in two days!
What did we do?
We invited kids to leave their stuffed friends at the library for a sleepover. They came back Saturday morning for breakfast, special certificates, and a power point story. Of course kids were happy to pick up their stuffed friends too! I'm not sure who had more fun. Look and see! http://swantonlibrary.org/

Dr. Seuss

This month the Fairfield Laboratory Preschool is delving into Dr. Seuss's rich literary canon. When we get back from February vacation, we'll celebrate his birthday a few days belated. While we read through some of Dr. Seuss’s old favorites, we can continue to build on important learning skills.

Rhyming
Dr. Seuss was a master of rhyme. There’s a Wocket in my Pocket will introduce the kids to “nonsense” rhymes. Fox in Socks adds rhyme to tongue twisting delight. Hop on Pop is full of simple rhymes that will help kids begin to see the patterns in words that sound alike. Being able to generate rhymes is an important pre-literacy skill that helps kids understand the connection to sounds and letters by changing only the first sound in a word. You can support this at home coming up with rhymes for everyday objects. Or choose a word (like “plate” at dinner) and see how many rhymers(real words or nonsense words) that you can think of together.

Imagination
Dr. Seuss likes to imagine new creatures and give them names. It is form him we know about Whos, Diffendoofer Day, Sneetches, Zax and other wonderful, imaginary characters. Reading about these creatures allows the kids to explore their own imagination and think up their own imaginary beings, places, and machines.

Socail Skills
The Sneetches teaches us to be kind to everyone no matter what they look like.

Yertle the Turtle teaches us to not be bossy, even if we are King. We need to be fair so that everyone can have a chance to be happy.
The Cat in the Hat teaches us to have fun, but to also be responsible and clean up after we play.
Getrude McFuzz teaches us to be happy with what we have and be careful of when we are jealous of others.
The Lorax teaches us to respect living things of all kinds and to take care of our resources responsibly.
Green Eggs and Ham teaches us to try foods, even if they look totally disgusting, because they might be delicious.
Horton Hears a Who teaches us that a "person is a person, no matter how small."

In honor of the master's upcoming birthday celebration, I invite you all to pick up your favorite Seuss and have fun sharing wordplay, whimsy, and humor with your children.

Family Literacy Night

On Tuesday January 20, the Franklin Central Early Education program held a Family Literacy Night. About 16 families participated. We shared a dinner of pizza and salad. As folks finished dinner, Deb Grennon, Bookmobile Librarian, read Ella Sarah Gets Dressed to an enthralled group of parents and children. They especially liked her fancy red hat. She demonstrated how to pull kids into a story, help them ask questions and make predictions, and how to voice different characters.

Then, families moved their way through seven different activities to reinforce early literacy skills in preschool age children. They support letter identification, sight word recognition, sound and symbol matching, and playing with words and letters. Activities included matching upper and lower case letters, writing in shaving cream and sidewalk chalk, finding letters in magazines and newspapers to make words, I Spy words and letters with items from the kitchen cupboards, cutting out pictures from magazines and catalogs and organizing them by their first letter, and putting letters together with clothespins on a hanger to form names and words. The parents and kids tried all of the activities and then received printed directions to take home. All the materials needed for activities would typically be found at home, or be very low cost. The idea was that parents would be able to do these activities at home with their kids to help build those important early literacy skills.

At the end of the evening, the kids chose a brand new picture book to take for their home library. We also made resources available for parents to take home about the importance of reading with their children and promoting their early literacy skills.
We were also happy to see the St. Albans Messenger sent a reporter to cover the event. Hopefully we’ll see a small blurb in next weeks paper.
We also wanted to thank Mimmo’s of St. Albans for the pizza donation and Pricechopper and Hannaford’s for the drinks and paper goods.

New Education Secretary to Focus on Early Education

Duncan Vows Focus on Early Childhood Education, Innovation
Arne Duncan, President-elect Barack Obama ’s pick for Education secretary, promised a new emphasis on early childhood education at his confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Sen. Tom Harkin , D-Iowa, who chaired the hearing at the request of ailing HELP Chairman Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., said he wants to see a partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, and the Department of Education to boost early childhood education programs.
“So many of these kids, we get them in kindergarten . . . and we have a tough time,” Harkin said. “Somehow, we have got to make sure that every child comes to school ready and able to learn.”
Duncan said he would work to do something “dramatically better” in early childhood education, and he said Obama was committed to the creation of a commission on early childhood education.
Duncan, outgoing Chicago school superintendent, spent last week on Capitol Hill visiting members of the committee, and during Tuesday’s hearing, he won praise across the board, from both sides of the aisle.
“President-elect Obama has made several distinguished Cabinet appointments – I think you’re the best,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn., who served as Education secretary under President George H.W. Bush.
“I think you’re a high-altitude, high-achieving guy,” said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski , D-Md.
For a full version of this story and the latest coverage, please visit CQ Politics.

Reading is Fundamental

I am looking forward to working with local schools and other Vermont-based Reading is Fundamental Programs! Happy New Year!

NEWS

Contacts: Deb Grennon 802-868-5077 fgibookmobile@yahoo.com
Layla Wright-Contreras 202-536-3528, lwright@rif.org

Debora Ann Whitney Grennon of Franklin, Vermont named
Reading Is Fundamental Ambassador for VERMONT
Volunteers in 50 states to expand reach of nation’s oldest and largest
children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization
Franklin, Vermont, December 19, 2008, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) announces that Deb Grennon of Franklin Grand Isle Bookmobile will represent Vermont as a RIF Ambassador.

The RIF Ambassadors initiative, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, bestows a working honor on RIF volunteer coordinators in 50 states, recognizing the valuable role of committed local volunteers in advancing RIF’s mission of a literate America in which all children have access to books and discover the joy and value of reading. The initiative will also provide a structure of support for selected ambassadors to promote children’s literacy and RIF in their communities.

Each RIF Ambassador will be responsible for three activities through 2009, allowing them to select an option best suited to their interest and the region they work in. Activities include blogging, children’s letter writing or collage campaigns, congressional member site visits or meetings, organizing a local gathering, outreach to a new group, photojournalism, publicity of their local RIF program, or engaging children in summer reading.

Locally, the Bookmobile has been a RIF program for three years. During this time, they have nurtured fruitful partnerships with Building Bright Futures Council, Early Childhood Programs, Head Start, Childcare Provider groups, Vermont Start with the Arts, and many local businesses to serve 652 children annually with RIF programming.

“RIF is able to help over 4.6 million children in the U.S. discover the joy of reading, thanks to engaged and committed volunteers,” said Carol H. Rasco, RIF president and CEO. “The RIF Ambassadors program will allow us to further connect will all coordinators in all states.”

Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), founded in 1966, motivates children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.6 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources each year. For more information and to access reading resources, visit RIF’s website at www.rif.org.
Discover the Joy!

Hanen: It Takes Two to Talk

I attended the Hanen: It Takes Two to Talk workshop December 11-13. It was a training for SLPs to lead parent groups, targeted towards parents of young children who have language delays. There were lots of great tools I can use in my work individually with families. I love the idea of helping parents to facilitate communiation effectively in everyday interactions, and taking language development out of the speech-language therapy bubble. It would also be great to get a parent group together, but there will be logistical things to consider. One thing is need/interest- are a lot of you working with families whose children have language skills at the 2-word level or below, and who would be interested in parent training?

Here's a picture of me and the instructor, who was great.



I have the parent workbook and a DVD. Let me know if you want to have a look!

NY Times: Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education

Positive news for Early Ed programs in this article.