On a recent weekday morning, librarian Annabelle Blackman stood in front of a room full of young children at the Cesar Chavez Public Library in Oakland, Calif., singing a children’s rhyme and swaying from side-to-side. Her performance was more than mere entertainment; it was part of her weekly summer storytime that is designed to promote early literacy for infants and toddlers.
At a time when youth are increasingly tethered to electronic devices, Blackman and other librarians continue to promote the value of books by engaging children long before they become formal readers.
During the summer, dozens of libraries across California offer free programs for parents who want fun and engaging activities that promote early reading skills, such as open-ended creative playtime with blocks or puzzles. Though infants and toddlers are not subject to a loss of learning momentum that summer sometimes brings for older students, literacy experts say summer is an important period for children birth to age 5 to develop new vocabulary words and sounds.
[For more on this story by ASHLEY HOPKINSON, go to https://edsource.org/2018/baby...ve-of-reading/601079]
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