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Showing stories 1 - 15 of 131.
FL - Educator stresses benefits of early literacy training
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, February 20 @ 11:51:32 EST by emohan
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A child's mind is a blank canvas.
With help, it can become a Renoir.
Without help, it can become graffiti.
Chad Burns, manager of the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, says the earlier parents and educators begin to help children turn that blank canvas into a beautiful space, the better for everyone - them, their teachers and society.
He believes, of course, that early literacy is a big key to building a beautiful mind.
"Of course, literacy is the cornerstone to all other learning - science, math, everything," Burns said.
He says study after study shows the best indicator of how well a child will do in school is how well they are prepared to read when they enter kindergarten.
It is also, he said, a good indicator of how they will do in life.
He said it's important to expose even very young children to books, even if they can only begin to associate pictures with the blob of words they may not learn to decipher until much later.
"They're little sponges," he said. "Their brains are pattern detectors, and the earlier we give them stimuli, the quicker they begin to get the hang of ideas and the better they can do at learning later on."
How powerful are these young "pattern-detector" brains?
"Remember," Burns said, "this is the time period when children can easily absorb multiple languages, if they're exposed to them. So that's a pretty good indicator of how well their brains work at that early age."
Full text available at the River City News
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NY - Teaching Families Reading Skills
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Thursday, February 01 @ 10:01:14 EST by emohan
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Governor Spitzer said in his budget address that childhood education should start as early as possible, and called on more early literacy programs and universal pre-kindergarten.
Teaching a 4-year-old to love reading can take patience and creativity.
Cato Meridian Elementary School Principal Ann Marie Dillon says it's essential, though, to ensure they'll succeed in kindergarten. So she developed "the leap program," hoping to get kids prepared for next September, already.
In Cayuga County, the program could especially do a world of good: 20% of people there can't read beyond the 5th grade level, compared with 14% nationally. That got Ann thinking about a way to involve parents more involved in the program.
While the kids are being read to their parents are actually in the other room learning how to read to their kids and getting tips on how to teach their kids how to read.
Full text available at 9WSYR.com
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TX - Extra funding for state reading program will help local chidlren
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, January 02 @ 09:31:13 EST by emohan
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A $12 million infusion into a phonetically-based reading program will likely get more 3-and 4-year-olds ready for kindergarten, and hopefully keep them in school.
Quality Childcare Matching Funds totalling $12 million were approved in November to help expand TEEM, the Texas Early Education Model.
TEEM, the state-supported early childhood education program that prepares 3-and 4-year -olds for kindergarten already is used in Longview and surrounding communities, but expected to expand, said Sarah Cole, TEEM project coordinator for Region VII.
"The research says that the stronger foundation the children have early on, the better readers they will be later in life, and the longer they will stay in school," Cole said.
The new funding will go toward professional development for teachers, materials, and to pay mentors who work with the teachers.
TEEM is developed by the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development in the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. In June, an original $8.3 million was approved by the Texas Workforce Commission to help fund the program.
TEEM is a result of Senate Bills 76 and 23 begun in the 2003-2005 biennium and continued into the 2005-2007 biennium.
The latest monetary award will allow a substantial increase in the amount of children served by the TEEM program. Since the program's inception in Region VII two and a-half years ago, the number of teachers has grown from 10 to 88.
"Right now there are 2,014 classrooms in the state of Texas that are receiving this instruction, and about 13,000 children ages 3 and 4 who are actually getting services to become school ready," Cole said.
The program was initially geared toward low-income children to close the gap in education between income levels. With the new money, children across all types of early childhood settings will have access to the program.
Full text available at the News-Journal
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MD - Reading incentive program depending on pediatricians, parents to succeed
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Thursday, December 07 @ 15:26:25 EST by emohan
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If Reach Out and Read has its way, every pediatrician in the state will be handing out books to children at their 6-month checkups — and for the next five years of their lives.
The reading incentive program is currently in Baltimore City and is now ready to expand statewide, according to Virginia Keane, vice president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The goal of the ROR program is for pediatricians to provide age-appropriate books to children and parents during checkups from 6 months to 5 years of age, as well as train parents on early literacy guidelines.
Dan Levy, president of the AAP's Maryland chapter, discussed the program with a roomful of representatives from local health and education agencies at a forum Tuesday night.
Levy, a physician, said children are increasingly saturated with messages from television and the Internet, but often miss the messages available in a book.
“A book is less attractive for a child compared to other things that are moving,” said E.D. Menchavez, a local pediatrician. “Almost everyone knows “Dora (The Explorer).” How can you compete with Dora?”
Improving early childhood literacy was the central theme of the two-hour forum held at the Western Maryland Health System’s Braddock campus.
The forum opened discussion about a variety of ways local agencies can increase reading among children and their parents, including implementation of the Reach Out and Read program.
“This program ... really is a partnership,” Levy added. “Pediatricians, if nothing else, are taught we cannot act in a vacuum.”
As part of the forum, around 50 representatives from local agencies shared their efforts to increase early childhood literacy, as well as what obstacles they continue to face.
Full text available at the Pryor Daily Times
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PA - Growing With Books Early-childhood literacy project
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, October 16 @ 11:13:46 EDT by emohan
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Another Beaver County business has stepped forward in support of Growing With Books with a $1,000 contribution.
But the company is not interested in receiving accolades for its philanthropy. It merely wishes to help underwrite the cost of the early-childhood literacy project so that young children in Beaver County will have a solid educational foundation, thereby earning accolades for themselves in the classroom.
Thus, the business has requested anonymity.
In recent weeks, several corporations and individuals have contributed to Growing With Books, a program developed by the Beaver County Educational Trust, Heritage Valley Health System, Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit, Adult Literacy Action and The Times.
Starting in January, every newborn in the county will receive two free books each year through age 5.
Full text available at the Beaver County Times
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GA - New literacy program set for children
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, October 13 @ 09:23:06 EDT by emohan
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Families who register for a new literacy program set to start for Clarke County residents could receive books by January.
Under the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy program, already offered in 35 Georgia counties, parents with children up to 5 years old would sign up and receive a hardback book in the mail each month.
The program, managed by the not-for-profit foundation, is free to participants, but book deliveries stop when a child turns 5. Funding for books, which cost just under $3 each, is raised through local efforts.
"This is something that Clarke County needs," said Patty Wagner, director of the United Way of Northeast Georgia's Success by 6 program, which encourages programs for young children.
Organizers hope improving literacy in young children can lead to higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates in Clarke County schools.
"Part of our effort is to tell parents it's free and they are not going to get charged," Wagner said.
There are an estimated 5,000 children in Clarke County under the age of 5 and organizers should try to get 80 percent, or just over 4,000, to sign up for the program, a target that typically takes counties four years to achieve, said Shauna von Hanstein, executive director of the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy.
"Once we roll this out, it will be open to every kid in Clarke County," Wagner said.
Full text available at Online Athens
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MO - New funds boost preschool efforts to assist literacy
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Tuesday, September 05 @ 09:53:39 EDT by emohan
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A multimillion-dollar grant awarded yesterday should result in more Boone County children entering kindergarten better prepared in coming years.
First Chance for Children received $2.7 million in federal funds to overhaul the literacy program at early education centers around the county.
The money will be used for professional development and to hire speech pathologists, parent educators and support staff for centers in Hallsville, Harrisburg, Sturgeon, Midway and Centralia.
The funds will also be used to purchase a literacy curriculum developed by the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center in Kansas City. The Emerging Language and Literacy Project serves at-risk children with language impairments.
The curriculum "has recently been published and accepted as the national curriculum to support early learning," First Chance Executive Director Lana Poole said. "We may be one of the first agencies using this curriculum since it’s been piloted."
First Chance officials say all of those changes should equal better academic performance among low-income students.
"If we can intervene in those early years, in the earliest years, and prepare children for school - whether it be social or behavioral issues or literacy issues - when they get there, they’re ready to go," said Eleanor Farnen, past president of the First Chance board. "That will last a lifetime."
Research shows that children who receive such intervention before starting school outperform those who don’t get that help. And language skills are the building blocks to academic success, Poole said.
Full text available at the Columbia Daily Tribune
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RI - Education chief spotlights early literacy
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, September 01 @ 10:04:18 EDT by emohan
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U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings came to Providence yesterday to deliver almost $7 million to a local organization that helps childcare workers prepare preschoolers to read and write.
The two grants were awarded to Ready to Learn Providence, which makes professional training available to early education providers. The organization's goal is to make sure that young children have the literacy skills they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.
"I'm thrilled to brag on you," Spellings said in a distinctly Texan drawl. "I'm always interested in programs that can be great models around the country. The eyes of the world are on you."
Spellings delivered the checks in person because Ready to Learn, an initiative with The Providence Plan, is the only organization in the nation to receive an Early Reading First grant and a professional-development grant in the same year.
"We are pleased with the progress we've made," said Joyce Butler, director of Ready to Learn. "In 2005, the children in our current Early Reading First sites doubled the number of letters that they could identify -- a key forerunner of their future success in school."
The $3.6-million Reading First grant will be used to train childcare workers at four Providence daycare centers: Federal Hill House, West End Community Center, Genesis Center and John Hope Settlement House. The grants will also help the centers buy books and other materials to prepare children for kindergarten and first grade. The $3.3-million professional-development grant will pay for 250 hours of training in early childhood literacy for 200 childcare workers.
Full text available at the Providence Journal
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University Launches Program for Reading Skills Of Spanish-Speaking Kids
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, August 28 @ 08:56:09 EDT by emohan
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One of the challenges facing teachers of children whose first language is Spanish is figuring out if those who need extra help learning to read are having trouble with English, or if they have larger problems with literacy development. Thanks to a program developed at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, teachers and kids can get the answers they need before it’s too late to make a difference.
“We get calls every day from schools about how to assess students who are English language learners,” said Curry School of Education professor Marcia Invernizzi, primary author of the PALS assessment program and Web-based resource she created 10 years ago. PALS — the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening — is used throughout Virginia and in more than 40 states and six countries.
PALS español, developed by Karen Ford, a bilingual reading researcher, was piloted on a small scale last year and is being field-tested this fall in several school districts in Colorado, Texas, New York, Oklahoma, Kansas and Rhode Island, and locally in Virginia. The need for the program is clear: according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are almost 4 million Hispanic children in this country, ages 5 to 9 — the ages children are learning to read.
Ford concurs that “schools are clamoring for it,” the “it” being a good assessment of early literacy development for children whose first language is Spanish.
And now the U.S. Department of Education is working with a number of states, including Virginia, to help them design effective testing programs for students who are not proficient in English. The states have to come up with plans for improving their assessment of these students.
“PALS español would distinguish between children not reading well because their English isn’t adequate or because they have problems in literacy development, which would show up in both languages,” said Ford, who taught Spanish for 25 years.
Youngsters are often misdiagnosed as having a reading disability, she said, when they simply haven’t learned English well enough yet. Ford commented that PALS español would help younger students learn to read in English more quickly and be better prepared for the third grade, when they have to take the standardized tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act.
Full text available at News Wise
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Reading to toddlers pays dividends
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, July 14 @ 12:05:44 EDT by emohan
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English-speaking and Spanish-speaking mothers who begin reading to their children at a very early age have toddlers with greater language comprehension.
The researchers studied 2,581 families in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project and a control group in 17 communities across the United States.
Within a subgroup of 1,101, they explored in-depth relations between reading and child outcomes for English- and Spanish-speaking families. The children were evaluated at ages 14, 24 and 36 months.
English-speaking mothers who begin reading to their children at a very early age have toddlers with greater language comprehension, larger, more expressive vocabularies and higher cognitive scores by the age of 2.
Meanwhile, Spanish-speaking mothers who read to their children every day have 3-year-olds with greater language and cognitive development than those who aren't read to.
Full text available at United Press International
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MI - Literacy video being sent to childcare providers
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, July 10 @ 09:47:42 EDT by emohan
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It’s never too early to read to a child. And now Michigan policymakers and MSU literacy experts are teaming up to promote reading to our youngest citizens in childcare settings.
A project led by Nell Duke, associate director of MSU’s Literacy Achievement Research Center, has produced a DVD and 20-page booklet designed to help educate childcare center staff to improve children’s learning experiences from birth through 5 years old.
The video and booklet, presented to Marianne Udow, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, during a June 19 press conference, will be distributed to 20,000 licensed childcare providers across Michigan.
The effort is a result of a Michigan policy that requires all licensed childcare centers to include developmentally appropriate literacy activities for a minimum of 30 minutes per day. Typically, safety and staffing rather than curriculum have been the focus of state requirements.
Duke, an associate professor in MSU’s College of Education, narrates the video which features video clips and photographs from childcare settings throughout Michigan, along with short commentaries by early childhood literacy experts, childcare providers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
“One of the challenges was to help childcare providers understand ways to foster emergent literacy development – for 30 minutes and beyond,” Duke said. “How do you introduce books to infants, toddlers and preschoolers? How do you make print a part of everything from mealtimes to pretend play?”
The Department of Human Services will distribute the video and booklet through its Child Day Care Licensing Division. “As our knowledge and understanding of brain development continues to grow, the critical connection to the quality of young children’s emotional relationships becomes even more apparent,” said Udow.
Full text available at MSU Today
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NY - $15M project aims to improve preschoolers' literacy skills
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, June 16 @ 12:05:33 EDT by emohan
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Nearly 40 percent of Elmira's kindergartners began school this year without the early literacy skills educators say are critical to future success.
Officials from the Chemung County School Readiness Project -- a group of educators, health care providers, social service representatives and government officials committed to preparing children up to age 5 for school -- want to cut that number in half within five years.
The group outlined a five-year, $15 million plan Tuesday during a meeting at Elmira's Steele Memorial Library.
They want to increase student success in Chemung County through home visits, quality early care and education, parent education and health care services.
"If a young child comes to school healthy, loved and literate, he or she will always succeed. ... Unfortunately, the reverse is also true," said Carl Hayden, an Elmira attorney, former state Regents chancellor and chairman of the School Readiness Project.
Some components of the project are already in place, such as extended-day Head Start at Booth School, said Randi Hewit, program officer for The Community Foundation of the Elmira-Corning Area. The School Readiness Project is expected to be fully operational in September.
Funding for the project -- of which $6 million is new -- comes from the Community Foundation, Chemung County, New York state and the Elmira City School District.
Every parent, regardless of their circumstances, needs help at one time or another, Hewit said.
Among the services the School Readiness Project will offer are nurses whom parents can check in with when their children are 3, 6 or 9 months old and educational activities for parents at convenient locations, such as their church or workplace. Training also will be offered to child care providers.
Readiness project officials said they wanted to make sure children have the support they need to succeed in school.
"The Community Foundation understands how important our youngest citizens are, and that the future of our community rests on their shoulders and those of their exhausted parents," Hewit said.
Increasing student success is the group's ultimate goal, School Readiness Project officials said.
In the 2005-06 school year, 39 percent of all kindergartners in the Elmira City School District did not meet early literacy standards and, at the same time, 38 percent of district fourth-graders did not meet state standards on the English language arts test.
Full text available at the Star-Gazette
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PA - Libraries Excel at Facilitating Early Childhood Learning
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Wednesday, May 10 @ 13:35:45 EDT by emohan
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Learning can be an amazing experience, especially for young people and their families who benefit from award-winning library programs offered throughout Pennsylvania. In the Pennsylvania Library Association's third annual Best Practices Awards for Programming and Services to Children under the Age of Six, Their Families and Caregivers, 19 libraries won awards for exemplifying the best in fun and innovative learning experiences.
The winning libraries were honored at the recent third annual early learning forum and best practices luncheon, Pennsylvania Libraries: Learning Starts Here!, at the Hilton Harrisburg and Towers. Several hundred librarians, policymakers, and advocates celebrated these statewide winners in a program that involved education experts and Pennsylvania author and luncheon keynote speaker Lindsay Barrett George.
"We're delighted to honor these winning libraries, although all Pennsylvania libraries do two things very well," said Pennsylvania Library Association President and St. Joseph's University Librarian Evelyn Minick. "Our libraries get kids excited about reading and collaborate with partners that echo their excellence and enthusiasm."
Full text available at Yahoo Finance
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Education initiative aims to increase Latino literacy
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, April 28 @ 13:30:12 EDT by emohan
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A new initiative aims to increase Latino students' literacy by teaching families how to enrich their home environment to help prepare their children for school.
Lee y Seras — Read and You will Be — is a collaboration by Scholastic Inc. publishing company in Danbury and the National Council of La Raza to respond nationally to concerns about low literacy levels among some Latino children.
In Danbury, the initiative will be sponsored by Scholastic Inc., Danbury Children First, Danbury Library, Danbury public schools, and the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury.
Families in the program will be taught techniques to improve their children's literacy, from learning new words to encouraging story telling and songs.
"We know that parental involvement is key to their child's success in school,'' said Linda Kosko, director of Danbury Children First. "When parents know how to support their child's education it can carry them through and have a lifelong impact."
A breakfast Wednesday at Scholastic, 90 Sherman Turnpike, set the stage for the program, which begins May 2 with the first of six workshops at Danbury Library.
Lee y Seras was implemented nationally last fall and is used in New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles.
The program grew from a need to address a gap in the preparation of some Latino children for school, said Karen Proctor, vice president of community relations for Scholastic.
The program taps into Latino culture and demonstrates how it can be used for effective literacy lessons for children.
"We look at what are the things that families do culturally and what they can do with more attention,'' Proctor said.
Lee y Seras was built upon several principles: that early literacy skills are critical in helping to prepare children for school and life; that materials must be accessible in English and Spanish and grounded in a Latino cultural context; that valuing practices intrinsic to the Latino culture offers the greatest opportunity for success; and that any program must adapt to the cultural, demographic and literacy needs of the local Latino community.
Full text available at News Times Live
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CA - San Francisco Library introduce babies to literacy skills
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Friday, April 07 @ 16:41:32 EDT by emohan
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As part of San Francisco's celebration of Week of the Child this week, San Francisco Public Library has launched a program designed to help introduce literacy skills to children as young as a few months old.
"Every Child Ready to Read" is a national project of the American Library Association. Its six early literacy guidelines for parents, caregivers, childcare professionals and community organizations will be incorporated into the San Francisco Public Library's existing programs for children.
Early literacy programs help promote brain growth and prepare children for reading readiness, according to the library.
The "Every Child Ready to Read" guidelines include introducing children to books at libraries; encouraging awareness of the printed word, letters, and phonemes, the smaller sounds in words; teaching children the names of objects and encouraging youngsters to describe things and tell stories.
Some of the library's existing programs for children include "lapsits" for babies, toddlers and their caregivers, which introduce children to books and songs. At the library's preschool story times, children listen to stories, "learn fun fingerplays and explore musical play with instruments," according to the library.
Full text available at The San Francisco Sentinel
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