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YMCA Expands Early Learning Readiness Program
Thanks to a $1 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Y is expanding its Early Learning Readiness Program to a 19 more YMCA sites nationwide, bringing the total number of participating...
View ArticleIMLS Awards More than $14.6 Million in Federal Grants to U.S. Libraries
Projects in 27 states and the District of Columbia received IMLS funding. After the news release (below) which highlights a few of the grants awarded today we’ve also point out a few more (of many)...
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STEAM, a Pinterest Board
SLJ’s STEAM-themed page on Pinterest. We’re all for hands-on learning, and libraries, both school and public, are uniquely suited to host activities around STEAM, a concept incorporating arts into STEM...
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Head Start Gets $10 Million Donation During Government Shutdown
Philanthropists Laura and John Arnold have donated this week $10 million in emergency funding to support the National Head Start Association (NHSA) during the government shutdown, allowing more than...
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YMCA Survey: Early Learning Program Improves Kids’ Kindergarten Readiness
A new survey by the YMCA of its Early Learning Readiness Program reveals “impressive” school readiness results for participating preschoolers, the organization announced on Tuesday. The Y’s program,...
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IMLS Grants $4.3 Million for School Readiness, Summer Reading Programs
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced that it is awarding $4,329,567 in grants to 20 museums and libraries in 17 communities in order to support the emerging role of these...
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Chew That Book: Why Babies Belong in Libraries | First Steps
It’s 1993, and I’m terrified. Heart pounding, sweaty palms. What was I thinking when I agreed to do this? I’m preparing to lead the rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to a group of smiling, drooling babies and...
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Pictures of the Week: White House Honors Librarian; CPL Bookamania
Send your pictures of the week to sdiaz@mediasourceinc.com “Champions of Change” connected educators were honored by the White House on November 21. (l. to r.) S. Dallas Dance, Misa Gonzales, school...
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CLEL Announces Shortlist for 2014 Bell Picture Book Awards
Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) has announced the shortlists today for its 2014 CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards. The Awards were created earlier this year to celebrate books that foster...
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Providence (RI) Community Library Launches New Early Learning Program
As much of the country has been bracing for a historic cold snap, staffers at Rhode Island’s Providence Community Library (PCL) have been hard at work preparing to bring some much-needed warmth to the...
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A Literacy Lesson from China: What an Exuberant Culture of Reading Can Teach Us
An elementary school in Shanghai. It was a long, cold ride at 7 a.m. from central Shanghai to a rural elementary school in Hefei. I had come to China to visit seven schools participating in an...
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School Libraries May Benefit from Congressional Budget Deal
The $1.012 trillion spending bill unveiled last night by House and Senate leaders, if approved, will restore most of the critically needed federal education funding—including that for Head Start, Title...
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Goal: 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten | First Steps
Lately, I have become obsessed with numbers—and with good reason. Across the country, educators are looking to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to increase the level of students’ knowledge by...
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AASL, Head Start Praise Federal Budget’s Focus on Early Learning
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the National Head Start Association (NHSA) are praising the inclusion of significant monies for early childhood education in the $1.012 trillion...
View ArticleNew Report: “Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America”
Here’s a new report released today by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. From the JGCC: What do parents really think about the educational value of their children’s screen media use? A national survey of...
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Marvelous Math Books for PreK and Up
Math isn’t something that one doesn’t often purposefully think about outside of a classroom setting, but it can be found everywhere in our lives. Take notice: research shows that math skills at...
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Be a Player! Ten Tips for Building Your Library’s Toy Collection
As an early childhood specialist at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, I find that buying toys is one of my favorite tasks. While it may sound like child’s play, building and maintaining a toy...
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How Wordless Picture Books Empower Children | SLJ Day of Dialog 2014
Wordless picture book creators Bob Staake, Raul Colon, Aaron Becker, and Molly Idle. Wordless picture books allow children to project their own imaginations upon a story and “own it,” as...
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Why Your Library Needs Music
Two librarians lead high-energy sing-alongs at the Cambridge (MA) Public Library.The event routinely fills to the venue’s 130- person capacity.Photo by Luke Kirkland/Cambridge Public Library More music...
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Too Soon for Technology?: The latest on digital use by preschoolers
Illustration by Francisco Caceres More on digital use: In Praise of Print It’s been a long time since libraries were paper-only domains. Computers, from laptops to tablets, and digital content are...
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