Library offering literacy programs for pre-school children
The Northville Public Library wants to “TALK” to parents of children younger than 5.
A new library program “TALK: Text and Learn” is an opt-in test messaging service that offers a variety of early literacy ideas for parents to enjoy with young children.
Registrants will receive about eight to 10 text messages per month that suggest fun activities parents can do with their children. Example texts include: PLAY: Show baby their face in the mirror, try to get them smiling or cooing at themselves. Baby can learn about their body and build social skills.
READ: Babies like to open and close books, hand them to you, or stack them like blocks. This makes books fun and trains baby's eyes and muscles to work together.
SING: Put on a concert with your toddler. Invite all of the stuffed animals. Use spoons as your microphones and sing your favorite songs.
TALK: As your child washes up ask, “What sound does sss-oap start with? What else starts with the sss sound?” Work together to list words like sock and silly.
These activities were developed by librarians, reviewed by staff from Washtenaw Literacy and parents from the Washtenaw County Success by 6 Great Start Collaborative, and are based on the Every Child Ready To Read program that encourages families to read, write, sing, talk, and play together. Recipients may also receive text notifications for local library storytimes and other free, children's events.
The program was developed in 2017 with the intention of helping parents get their children ready for school success and make any time learning time. TALK helps build pre-literacy skills, including hearing letter sounds, building hand muscles and dexterity, and recognizing letters and numbers. Activities also encourage the building of STEM and social-emotional skills. There are currently 205 libraries participating across Michigan and Indiana, and more libraries are joining daily.
TALK has a helpful FAQ section on its website, located online at: textolearn.com. TALK is also active on Facebook, which can be found online at: https://bit.ly/FBTALK
TALK will not share registrant's information with anyone and is stored on secure servers. TALK only asks for the child's birthday to make sure activities are tailored to their age and the family zip code to send relevant local event information. TALK is an optional service.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
For more information, visit Northville District Library on Facebook at: https://fb.me/e/1tmeL5Nyb, visit our website at: northvillelibrary.org, email our Head of Youth Services: Caryn Bartone at cbartone@northvillelibrary.org or telephone the library at (248) 349-3020 ext. 212.
