The Loudest Librarian!

Early Literacy Tip: Play the alphabet game, either while you’re out in the world, or reading books together. Challenge your child to find a particular letter, or look for each letter of the alphabet in order. This...

Today, I got to participate in a sound bath at a skilled nursing facility, led by Jane Gerughty, a facilitator from Music Mends Minds. If you’re not familiar with Music Mends Minds, it’s a nonprofit...

Early Literacy Tip: Find ways to incorporate your child’s name or the names of family members into favorite songs and rhymes, the sillier the better (For example: Justin on the bus goes Up and Down, or Suzy Had a...

Early Literacy Tip: Point out any sound effects or animal sounds written in the books you read together (the book Animals Go Vroom! has a lot), and have fun saying them with your child. Onomatopoeia (words meant to...

Early Literacy Tip: Before you read a book together, ask your child what they think will happen in the story. For example, for the book You Don’t Want a Unicorn? you could ask if they would like a unicorn, and why...

Early Literacy Tip: Ask your child to point out particular letters in the titles of the books you read (example: can you find the word that starts with S?). This is a great way to introduce the idea of how individual...

Early Literacy Tip: Talk about the sounds that individual letters make, and make a game out of coming up with words that start with that sound. Paying attention to the sounds that make up words is a critical part of...

Early Literacy Tip: Write simple action words on small pieces of paper (run, clap, jump, etc.), and put them in a bag (or attach them to a die that you throw, or a board game spinner that you spin). Have your child pick...

Early Literacy Tip: Write a favorite word on a piece of paper for your child to have. You can even make a game out of drawing a picture to go with it, and asking your child to guess what the word is. This is a great way...

Early Literacy Tip: In books that feature a particular pattern with only one word changed, ask your child to fill in the new word. For example, in Open This Little Book, each animal opens “a little _____...

Every now and then, there’s a picture book that works so perfectly for storytime that I know it’s going to be in my regular rotation for a long time. Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme by Betsy Bird and Andrea...

Early Literacy Tip: Point out words that share the same letters and sounds (like “La La La” and “Ma Ma Ma” in the book Noisy Night) to help kids learn to keep an eye out for patterns in the words...

Although I’m not usually involved with teen programming in my current job, I am one of volunteer coordinators for the two libraries where I work, so I do regularly work with teen volunteers. Volunteers in our...

Early Literacy Tip: Ask kids to point out the word or words starting with a particular letter in the titles of the books you read. (Example: Can you find a word starting with the letter M?”) Learning to recognize...

Early Literacy Tip: When reading books with predictable or very familiar text, try pausing before you say a word, and let your child fill in the blank (For example, “The cow said, “_____”. Using...