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Austintown library, United Way promote literacy
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.United Way director of education initiatives Kathy Mock spoke at the beginning of the Every Child Ready to Read event at Austintown library.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Children's service specialist Mary Yee read to children as part of the Every Child Ready to Read event at Austintown library.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Monica Merrell (right) of Campbell brought her 3-year-old granddaughter Eva to the Every Child Ready to Read event at Austintown library.
By TIM CLEVELAND
On July 17, Austintown library teamed up with the United Way to give parents and grandparents the skills they need to read to their children and get them interested in reading, themselves.
The Every Child Ready to Read event lasted 90 minutes, with the adults in the library’s meeting room learning from educational initiatives and services liaison Lyndsay Cramer, while the children went into the story time room to be read to by children’s service specialist Mary Yee.
“It came about through Josephine Nolfi, our manager of children’s services, and the United Way just wanting to help kids get ready to read and enter kindergarten with all the necessary skills to do so,” Cramer said. “I’m going to be doing a presentation on helping little ones get ready to read, how to read with your child, and also to help them learn early literacy skills at the same time.”
Included in the 90-minute program were food for the attendees, with the final 5-10 minutes devoted to one-on-one time sharing books. There were also tips on how to share books, activities you can do through the day, such as sing, talk, play, read and write with your child. More than 40 people attended the event.
Cramer described the techniques she teaches that help parents get their children into reading.
“Not to just sit and read a story to your child and not have them engaged,” she said. “You want to do different activities, not just read the book word for word. Start out with doing a picture book walk. Talk about the book before you actually share it. Look at the cover, the illustrations. Have them guess what might take place in the story. Just focus on vocabulary, print, the structure of the story.”
United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley president Bob Hannon said children participating in the new program will also be eligible for free books.
“We just started a new program – the Imagination Library, where any child from birth to age 5 can receive a book in the mail for free through United Way,” he said. “We figured rather than just wait for parents to come to us, we’re going to go to them. We partnered with the library and talk to parents and grandparents about reading to their younger children. We really believe we need to go to the parents, the neighborhoods and let them know about this program. There’s no charge. You can get an age-appropriate book every month from birth to age 5 if you live in Mahoning County.”
Monica Merrell of Campbell attended along with her 3-year-old granddaughter Eva. She said she looked forward to Cramer’s presentation.
“It’s a great place to go for the kids,” Monica said. “[Eva] loves books. I’m sure Lyndsay will give us a lot of good ideas.”
Cramer said she hopes the program will have a positive impact on young children and their parents.
“Hopefully they’re going to be inspired to read to their children as often as possible,” she said. “We encourage 20 minutes a day. We’re just hoping they’ll be more passionate about reading and take the time during the day to do so.”