WARREN -- Staff in the Children's areas at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library have launched a

WARREN -- Staff in the Children's areas at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library have launched a new early literacy initiative, incorporating it into library story times.
Thanks to a charitable contribution from the Paige & amp; Byrnes Insurance Agency in Warren and a grant from Sam's Club in Warren, the Every Child Ready to Read early literacy program can be fully funded, with all of the necessary tools for success.
Every Child Ready to Read offers a strategy for providing parents the knowledge to introduce their children to six prereading skills that will help prepare them for school. They will provide children with building blocks to literacy.
Growing, changing
Ellen Finan, head of the main library's children's department, said that activities learned by parents and caregivers during reading sessions can support the six literacy skills necessary to turn children into readers. As the child grows, these support activities change.
"For example," Finan said, "from birth until age 5, parents should be aware of how to incorporate the following developmental skills when reading to their children:
ULetter knowledge: Knowing that letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds, and recognizing letters everywhere.
UPrint awareness: Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, learning how to follow words on a page.
UVocabulary: Knowing the names of things.
UPrint motivation: Being interested in and enjoying books.
UNarrative skills: Being able to describe things and events and tell stories.
UPhonological awareness: Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for the library staff to utilize our existing story times to model these skills for parents, helping them to make reading a fun and educational experience," said Amanda Murphy, branch services children's librarian.
Parent guides are available for easy reference as parents continue the story experience at home with their children. Library staff are also providing handouts at story times that help reinforce certain concepts.
"The challenge is to teach these strategies to adults involved with the children because the techniques don't come naturally: They must be nurtured and fostered," Finan said. "We've shifted our story time philosophy by encouraging the involvement of caregivers. In the past, they were not an integral part of the sessions."
Finan and Murphy attended special workshops to learn how to facilitate training using these innovative twists on traditional parent-child reading sessions.
Nationwide initiative
Every Child Ready to Read is part of a nationwide literacy initiative designed and implemented by The Public Library Association and the Association of Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association).
For information about the Every Child Ready to Read program, call (330) 399-8807, Ext. 401, or (330) 856-2011.