Encouraging the doodling in your pre-writer

Do you have an older sibling who can read and write along with a younger sibling who wishes they could read and write like the older one?  Here's the perfect picture book about a younger sibling who wished he would write words  and a story just like his older sibling.  In A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen and Mike Lowery (Kids Can Press, 2016), the little brother doesn't know how to spell, create words, or write a story.  BUT his older sister encourages him with how EASY it is by just writing one letter and a bunch of scribbles and doodles.  She then walks him through the process of a story arc, with the beginning, middle, and end.  While brother doesn't fill out an entire sheet of paper full of words, it is OK, because he "wrote" it in such a way that he could tell the story and it makes sense to him.  He then goes on to share his story at school during show-and-tell.  This picture book is spot-on to encourage writing and creativity in emergent writers and to help teach what words, writing, and print is.  And Watch the book trailer on youtube to get a sneak peek of what's inside!

Book Themed Baby Showers

Know someone in your life you need to throw a baby shower for?  Board books and children's picture books make great baby shower gifts...I gift those at baby showers all the time!  Can't think of a party theme to go with?  Check out this list of 17 book-themed baby shower ideas from HarperCollins Children's Books.  Of course all of the books have been published by HarperCollins, and that's OK because they publish great children's books!  Have fun and congratulations to the parents-to-be!

And, don't forget the library also offers Book Babies for ages 0-12 on Monday mornings at 10:15 a.m.  (However, we will be on a story time and program break staring August 22 and will resume on September 6.) PLUS, all new babies to the library (ages 0-12) can stop by the children's desk and pick up a Board Book Bundle courtesy of the Friends of the Library. It comes with a brand new board book, an early literacy book, and a rhyme booklet!

Yusuke Yonezu Board Books

While working on my last order of Board Books for the library collection, I came across an author who I was unfamiliar with.  After looking more into his works, I was very impressed with what I saw. Yusuke Yonezu from Japan is a very talented book illustrator for babies through two-year-olds.  His book illustrations contain simple thick line drawings with bold color contrasts.  This makes for the prefect combination for infants because their color vision is not well developed at birth.  Books with high-contract pictures are excellent choices for babies because it develops their interests in visual stimuli.

Infants are interested in looking at pictures of things they are familiar with.  Yusuke's books help to meet baby's needs though providing illustrations of familiar objects by pairing them with simple words so they can learn new vocabulary.  These "Concept Books" are perfect little instructional books that help youngsters learn to start labeling and identifying their world, while being entertained at the same time.

Here is a selection of concept books worth checking out. They are all fun books that will engage young children over and over!  They are all interactive and will both educate and entertain. Unfortunately, Tigard Public Library's board books are not available for placing holds, but are available on a first come, first serve basis.  There are some other libraries in the county that will fulfill board book holds and can send them to a library of your choice for pick-up.  And make sure you read to your baby today and everyday!

Fun With Shapes:


Circles
This perfect concept book teaches not only shapes, but also colors, numbers, and words all in one bright and colorful package. All the different sizes of circles in numerous different colors transform into a surprising array of objects when each page is turned.








Moving Blocks
What are you building? What can it be? An irresistible guessing game, this book asks simple questions for identifying objects that move. The vivid pictures can be reinforced through play with building blocks, allowing young imaginations grow.








Squares
Squares and rectangles are everywhere.  Here the shapes and colors found in everyday objects come to life when the pages of the book are turned.

Triangles 
Angles and triangles are everywhere, and the shapes and colors found in everyday objects come to life when the pages of the book are turned.









We Love Each Other
Love is everywhere! And it's not just us humans. From birds to elephants, rabbits to turtles, there is love and togetherness depicted on every page. Very young readers will enjoy the surprises in this cheerfully inventive little book. The bold, colorful illustrations reveal a surprise beneath the flap on every page, with a final delightful surprise on the last page!





Fun With Objects:


5 Little Apples
Here's a lift-the-flap counting book! The flaps reveal the creature that eats an apple in this board book that helps teach little ones about counting backwards. An elephant, a rabbit, and a caterpillar are some of the hungry critters who take apples away. But when there are none left, a surprise awaits!







Bottoms Up!
Name that bottom! We all recognize these creatures, but not from the back. Here's another charming and funny lift-the-flap book. Each flap reveals a new view of the creature whose bottom is featured on each page, with a friendly hello. Duck, monkey, pig, zebra. elephant--each page creates an amusing guessing game for readers young and old.






Guess What?--Flowers
Familiar flowers become surprising creatures with the help of lively lift-the-flaps. Blossoms turn into animals with the lift of a flap. Young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed. A tulip becomes a yellow cat; a white daisy turns into a sheep. What will become of a cherry blossom, a dandelion, and a pansy? This book makes for a good conversation starter too!




Guess What?--Food
Carrots, chestnuts, and cheese turn into animals with the lift of a flap. Young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed.  Here's another book that will make for good conversation too!








Guess What?--Fruit
Images of different fruits transform into animals with lift-the-flaps. The irresistible guessing game encourages children to imagine the possibilities.









Guess What?--Sweets and Treats
Familiar sweets become surprising creatures with the help of lively lift-the-flaps.  Sweet treats turn into animals with each lift of a flat.  Here's another book where young readers are encouraged to use their imaginations to guess what animal will be revealed. A sweet bun becomes a squirrel's tail, while a chocolate bar transforms into a tortoise's shell. What will the lollipop turn into? 

Calling all parents of children ages 0-6!

Parents of children ages 0-6: please take this survey!

Do you use your library with your child(ren) ages 0-6? Washington County Cooperative Library Services wants to hear from you!  Please complete this quick 5-question survey for Parents and Caregivers of Ages 0-6.

Vroom Your Child's Brain Building!

Science tells us that the more we engage with our children, especially ages 0-5, the better they'll do later on in school and in life.  That's why SINGING, TALKING, READING, WRITING, and PLAYING with your child is so important to build early literacy skills.  Needing some extra suggestions to go along with these five early literacy practices?  Vroom is a mobile app you can download onto your phone that provides you with daily activities that you can do with your child to help build their brain!  You are the number one teacher in your child's life...and Vroom will help give you easy ideas and suggestions that you can incorporate into your daily schedule.  Go to http://www.joinvroom.org/ to sign-up for the FREE app today! 

AAP Screen Time Guidelines Update

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is updating theirscreen time guidelines in 2016. The updates are science-driven and come from work done by leading social science, neuroscience and media researchers, educators, pediatricians, and other partner organizations to evaluate the available data, identify research gaps, and provide practical advice to caregivers based on evidence.

Below are the key messages for parents that emerged from their work (copied and pasted from here). The updated AAP screen time guidelines will be available in 2016.

Digital life begins at a young age, and so must parental guidance. Children who are “growing up digital” should learn healthy concepts of digital citizenship.

*Media is just another environment. Children do the same things they have always done, only virtually. Like any environment, media can have positive and negative effects.

*Parenting has not changed. The same parenting rules apply to your children’s real and virtual environments. Play with them. Set limits; kids need and expect them. Teach kindness. Be involved. Know their friends and where they are going with them.

*Role modeling is critical. Limit your own media use, and model online etiquette. Attentive parenting requires face time away from screens.

*We learn from each other. Neuroscience research shows that very young children learn best via two-way communication. “Talk time” between caregiver and child remains critical for language development. Passive video presentations do not lead to language learning in infants and young toddlers. The more media engender live interactions, the more educational value they may hold (e.g., a toddler chatting by video with a parent who is traveling). Optimal educational media opportunities begin after age 2, when media may play a role in bridging the learning achievement gap.

*Content matters. The quality of content is more important than the platform or time spent with media. Prioritize how your child spends his time rather than just setting a timer.

*Curation helps. More than 80,000 apps are labeled as educational, but little research validates their quality (Hirsh-Pasek, K. Psych Science 2015; 16:3-34 Google Scholar). An interactive product requires more than “pushing and swiping” to teach. Look to organizations like Common Sense Media (www.commonsensemedia.org) that review age-appropriate apps, games and programs.

*Co-engagement counts. Family participation with media facilitates social interactions and learning. Play a video game with your kids. Your perspective influences how your children understand their media experience. For infants and toddlers, co-viewing is essential.

*Playtime is important. Unstructured playtime stimulates creativity. Prioritize daily unplugged playtime, especially for the very young.

*Set limits. Tech use, like all other activities, should have reasonable limits. Does your child’s technology use help or hinder participation in other activities?

*It’s OK for your teen to be online. Online relationships are integral to adolescent development. Social media can support identity formation. Teach your teen appropriate behaviors that apply in both the real and online worlds. Ask teens to demonstrate what they are doing online to help you understand both content and context.

*Create tech-free zones. Preserve family mealtime. Recharge devices overnight outside your child’s bedroom. These actions encourage family time, healthier eating habits and healthier sleep.

*Kids will be kids. Kids will make mistakes using media. These can be teachable moments if handled with empathy. Certain aberrations, however, such as sexting or posting self-harm images, signal a need to assess youths for other risk-taking behaviors.

Summer Story Times

Now that we've been on a two-week story time break, it's time to get back into the game!  Our summer story times will resume on Monday June 8th.  We will continue to keep our regular Monday through Friday schedule as follows:

Book Babies Ages 0–12 months
Mondays, 10:15–10:45 a.m.

Fun for Ones Ages 12–24 months
Tuesdays, 10:15–10:45 a.m. AND 11:15–11:45 a.m. (Two sessions) 

Toddler Time Ages 24–36 months   
Wednesdays, 10:15–10:45 a.m. AND 11:15–11:45 a.m. (Two sessions) 

Family Story Time Ages 0–6 years
Fridays, 10:15–11 a.m. AND 11:15 a.m.–Noon (Two sessions) 

Last Chance for Early Literacy Workshop

There is still time to register for the early literacy workshop from 6:30 to 8:30 on February 2, but not much. Call 503-718-2673 now if you are interested in attending, and don't forget to get a babysitter, because this is a grown-ups only kind of night. I will make an exception for non-mobile babies.

Early Literacy Workshop

Do you have kids under 6? Would you like to help prepare them to read? Then leave the kids with a babysitter on Monday, February 2 and join me from 6:30 to 8:30 in the Puett Room for a workshop on early literacy.

Early literacy does not mean that your young child should already be reading. In fact, I most certainly will not be teaching you how to teach your baby or your 2-year-old to read. Early literacy is the set of skills your children will need to develop in order to learn how to read once they are a little older.

Call the Children's Desk at 503-718-2673 to register. Grown-ups only, please, but I will make an exception for babies that are not moving around on their own yet.

Swamp Chomp!

Down in a Cypress swamp, all the animals are preparing for their lunch in Swamp Chomp by Lola M. Schaefer.  The insects are buzzing, the fish are slithering, the mosquitoes are flying and the turtles are gliding throughout the wetlands...all to the end where the chomping alligator awaits!

Short sentences on each page describe what animals are doing in the swamp, this is followed by a single action verb to reinstate the description.  As the book moves forward, the action intensifies by using only verbs.  This fun cheery book is a great way to introduce verbs to pre-readers, in addition to teaching them about the food chain.  Plus, it's an excellent choice for building vocabulary!

Two new early literacy bird books

I just read two picture books that are great for building early literacy skills.  And what is interesting about these two new bird birds, they are both by first time authors!
 Nest by Jorey Hurley provides one word descriptions of the day to day activities of a robin, as she builds her nest and hatches her baby chicks.  Beautiful and clear pastel images provide meaning to the descriptive word being used, making it perfect for vocabulary development.

The other is Early Bird by Toni Yuly.  Here, Early Bird likes to wake up early every day so he can catch his worm.  Flaunting through the yard in search of breakfast, simple text describes his actions.  Then when he realizes he would much rather share his breakfast with the worm, the story takes a turn to a happy ending.  Large bold illustrations and font make for a perfect opportunity for little ones to practice narrative skills where they in turn can tell their grown-ups the process of the story from beginning to end.

13 Things Babies Learn When We Read with Them

Babies learn so many things when they are read to such as: knowing that letters, words, and pictures all have meaning and that everytime they hear words, they learn about language.  What else may they be learning?  Here's an article from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, entitled 13 Things Babies Learn When We Read with Them.  Check it out.  You may be surprised all that's going on in their little brains!  And....keep on reading to your baby!

Early Literacy Workshop

As you know, it is never too early to share books with your child. Kindergarten may feel like a long way off (or it may be approaching very quickly), but there are many things you can do to help prepare your child to learn to read in kindergarten. Kids are not expected to know how to read upon entering kindergarten, but things you do at home can prepare them to be ready to learn.

On Monday, March 31 from 6:30 to 8:00 in the Puett Room, I will be offering a workshop on how to prepare your child to read. Babies who are not yet mobile are welcome, but if they are crawling or walking, please hire a babysitter and join us. So, if you have or work with children under 6, you may call the Children’s Desk at 503-718-2673 to register. Space is limited. It’s a fun, interactive workshop, and I’ll look forward to meeting you!

5 Assumptions You May Have Regarding Screen Time & Your Child

In case you missed our guest speaker last week, Lisa Guernsey, author of Screen Time: How Electronic Media—from Baby Videos to Educational Software—Affects Your Young Child, here is a recap of some information from her presentation. 

Lisa’s talk was based upon an article she wrote for the National Association for the Education of Young Children titled How True Are Our Assumptions About Screen Time?  It can be found online here: http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/how-true-are-our-assumptions-about-screen-time
 
I was surprised to learn that there's over 700,000 apps available online and most of them are geared towards children!  Many parents just handover their phones to their kids, thus exposing children to screens without any knowledge of the app or product that their child is using.  What the child is looking at may not be all that bad, there are the “Three C’s” that parents must take into consideration when having their children look at any type of content on a screen, no matter the device (iphone/smart phone, ipad, e-readers, computer, TV, etc.). They are:

1. The content (What is the child really looking at?  What are the features?)

2. The context (What is happening around the child at the same exact time they are looking at the screen?  Are there other kids around playing?  Is no one else around?)

3. The child (What is their needs?  Do they have any stressors in their life?)

Regarding those “Three C’s”, Lisa presented five assumptions that adults have regarding screen time with young children. They are: 

Assumption 1: As long as the content is “educational,” it is good for children.  What research shows is that children don’t always learn what the program creators intend.  Sometimes they learn the opposite.

Assumption 2: The TV may be on in the background, but children aren’t affected.  Research shows that the TV may be impacting a child more than one would think, such as child-parent interactions and how children play.

Assumption 3: All media for children under age 2 is damaging.  Research shows that if parents use media with children under the age of 2, they should make sure that screen time leads to social interactions with their babies and toddlers, instead of replacing those interactions.  This is a good reminder as to why dialogic reading is so important!  Ask your child open-ended questions.  This will help with their vocabulary development!

Assumption 4: Scary movies and TV shows just go over children’s heads.  Research shows that scary programs influence children’s sleep and more, such as their sleep routines/schedules.

Assumption 5: E-books are distracting to young children.  Research shows that it’s all about how they are used.  Some data shows that e-readers can have too many distractions (such as swiping) and they keep the child from understanding the content.  Often times it leaves the parent saying to their child, “don’t touch that” or "don't click that".  These types of responses can feel negative to the child, leading them to have an undesirable reading experience.  When compared to reading a print book, it allows for more positive parent and child interaction, such as dialogic reading because all the fancy places to tap on the e-reader aren't there to get in the way; pages can be turned together too!   The adult who is with the child while using screen media matter—there needs to be guidance in place while operating the device. 

Going back to “The 3 C’s”, Lisa reinstated that content and context matters, and that every child is different in their reactions, temperament, and language development.  Children with lower vocabulary levels have a harder time understanding what is being presented on the screen.  Plus children who are engaged in a lot of gaming don’t have enough of an ability to describe the world around them due to lower vocabularies. 

Next week, Holly will post important information on WHAT to look for in screen media and how to evaluate it's appropriateness for using it with your child.  Stay tuned!

Fingerplays on Fridays!

Did you know that WCCLS (Washington County Cooperative Library Services) has a kids page?  They sure do!  And our good friends there have been posting Fingerplay Fun Fridays on their blog every Friday!  Check out the blog every Friday to learn the words to a fun finger play rhyme, complete with a short video on how to do the actions yourself.  Using these rhymes with your little ones up through age six are a great tool you can use to teach them language, vocabulary, and how words are broken down into syllables/different parts, which are all important skills to develop before they start reading on their own!

PUPPET PLAY TIME!

 Let you imagination RUN WILD with a puppet from the library!

Thanks to the continued and generous support from the Friends of Tigard Public Library, we now have a new, exciting assortment of puppets available for check-out!

Our Puppet collection contains a fabulous assortment of all shapes and sizes sure to delight and inspire imaginary adventures and conversations galore.

The puppet collection is quite durable and will last through many fun adventures.  Help us keep them looking fresh by following the guidelines below:

If you puppet gets messy, please bring it back to the library with a note.

Please do not put your puppet in the washing machine or dryer.  They can't swim.  Thanks!

Rock Stars! The building blocks of the earth beneath your feet!

 Ages 5 and up are invited to join us in the Puett Room from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 18 to meet some REAL rock stars!  The Rice NW Museum of Rocks and Minerals will be on hand to answer your questions about rocks and minerals and tell you how to start your very own collection!
Participants will get to choose their very own rock pal to take home along with some great handouts.

Calling All Families with Preschoolers!

Do you want to spend a fun morning singing, reading, and creating projects with your child?
Do you want learn playful ways to help your child get ready to read?
Join us at the library for Fun With Letters, an early literacy workshop designed for parents and children ages 3-5.
Sound interesting? Call the Children's Desk to register: 503-718-2656.
Workshop will be held Saturday, May 18 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Puett Room

Studies Say Students MUST Learn More Words!

According to this study, Students Must Learn More Words, Say Studies, published in Education Week, children need to learn more vocabulary words before they enter Kindergarten.  That is why it is so important to provide opportunities for your child to be exposed to literature, books, and reading.  How does this relate to you and your young children?

• It is important to talk, sing, read, and play with your child because it provides excellent opportunities for him or her to hear and learn vocabulary in the context of their lives.  Come visit one of our many story times to help expose your child to reading, singing, and play!

• If your family struggles with reducing media usage and TV watching, watch TV with your child and play games together on the iphone or ipad and talk about what is happening on the screen.  Kids learn through social interaction and doing and talking, not just sitting and watching silently.

• Think about how you provide context for the rare words in board books and picture books while reading with children. Picture Books provide wonderful opportunitites to introduce words and new vocabulary that isn't necesarily used in every day conversation.

• Try not to dumb down your vocabulary when talking with children, add explanations of challenging words and real world context to develop meaning.  A good example would be the book, The Napping House. It provides multiple definitions for the word "sleeping".

Washington County Cooperative Library Services also has lots of resources on their Ready to Read page that you will find very helpul and easy to do with quick tips, web resources, and fingerplays and songs you can do with your younster!

Apps for Young Children

The Fred Rogers Center, who's mission is "to advance the fields of early learning and children’s media by acting as a catalyst for communication, collaboration, and creative change" has published this post regarding selecting apps for young children.  It stresses the point that parents, teachers, and media creators are responsible for making sure the apps children play with are optimal for their development.  And after perusing the Fred Rogers Center Blog some more, there are other posts of note that cover ebooks, digital media and other topics regarding early childhood learning and development.  I highly recommend taking a look at their blog today!