“I’ll teach my dog 100 words. The first six words I’ll teach my pup are: Dig a hole? And fill it up!” My 75-year-old husband can still recite this book by Michael Frith by heart from the years and years of reading it to our three children during his nightly duty of bedtime stories. If your kids are like mine, they enthusiastically demanded the same book over and over again until you could read it on autopilot.
Brain research shows that reading aloud to children develops many skills essential for reading readiness. Phonological awareness involves exposing children to rhyming and alliteration – working with the sounds in spoken language. Picture books are also great for exposing children to “rare words.” These are words that you don’t regularly use in conversation. This equips them with the background and vocabulary knowledge so critical for comprehension when they begin to read.
A study released by The Ohio State University in 2019 concluded: Young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to. This ‘million-word gap’ could be one key in explaining differences in vocabulary and reading development.”
Many libraries across the country have introduced a program called: 1000 Books Before Kindergarten. These programs encourage parents to keep track of the books they read to their children and offer incentives along the way. With a sponsorship from Tri Kappa and the GPL Foundation, the Greenwood Public Library provides an attractive canvas bag, logs, books, and stickers as children progress through their 1000 book goal. When children reach the goal, they have their picture taken with their certificate and a special chime is sounded on the speaker system celebrating this milestone.
Children take pride in acquiring their own library cards and lanyard and enjoy using the self-checkout station located in the Kid’s Department to process their own books. A trip to our library may include: a visit to the fish tank, a heroic adventure in the fire engine, an engineering feat with the ball wall, an entrepreneurial experience with the ice cream shop, and a creative color design with the light bright wall. Our department also offers a Sensory Room equipped with toys and manipulatives to aid in sensory regulation and an Exploration Station full of preschool developmental activities. No matter what age your child is, the Greenwood Public Library has something for everyone.
Anne Guthrie is a kid’s librarian at Greenwood Public Library. GPL staff members share in writing this twice-monthly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
