Tips for Sponsoring an Early Literacy Workshop at Your Library

Sample objectives for parent workshops:

• To help parents better understand how their children learn to read.
• To provide resources and activities parents can use to support their children’s developing literacy skills.
• To increase library use among parents and caregivers of young children.

Set Up

We’ve found it works best to have two presenters when possible. Inviting a kindergarten teacher or someone from Head Start, for example, to present a portion of the workshop can help break things up for you.

Display age-appropriate children’s books and resource books from your library or check out one of ICFL’s traveling displays. If possible, provide some sort of refreshments for parents or caregivers. Even providing popcorn and soda can help create a welcoming environment. Provide name tags for participants. Have a sign-in list for participants to write their names and addresses (and e-mail addresses if you think you might be able to provide additional information about the library via e-mail).

Workshop Warm-Ups

1. Ask parents to introduce themselves and share the age of their child or children. Invite them to share memories of a favorite book, family story, or song sung by a relative from their childhood. Who read it or told the story? What made the book, song or story so special?

2. Another warm up we’ve used successfully is cutting old greeting or holiday cards in half. Estimate how many participants you may have and plan to have that many card pieces. Put pieces in a basket and have people take one when they come in. At the beginning of the workshop, ask people to match up with their puzzle piece and introduce themselves. Once everyone has introduced their puzzle partner to the whole group, the presenter can explain that even simple puzzles like old birthday cards cut in half can help children learn visual discrimination – a skill that will come in handy as they start to learn letter shapes, etc. and it’s a great, inexpensive make and take activity parents can do at home.

Workshop Activities

The guideline we like to follow for workshops is no more than 20 minutes of information from the presenter or a video without an activity. Activities help reinforce the workshop content and help participants process the information. Here are some sample activities:

• Draw on lessons from the past. After parents have discussed their favorite books in the warm-up, make two lists with them: “What Helped Me Learn to Read” and “What Was Not Helpful.” Reinforce that what worked for them may also work for their children.

• Take a look at the world. Have parents list words their children see frequently and may even be able to read already, such as stop, go, exit, and even McDonald’s. Ask them how their children learned those words.
• Rare word activity. Invite parents to look through some great children’s books and write down 5-6 rare words – words that children are not likely to hear at the dinner table. Give them time to browse through the books in pairs or by themselves. Invite them to share their lists with the whole group and write down 10 – 12 rare words on a flip chart.

  Share the following information: It has been estimated that children learn an average of 4,000 to 12,000 new vocabulary words each year in situations where they are listening to good books. This may be due to the difference in rare words – words they aren’t likely to hear in conversations – that they encounter reading as opposed to other activities. Children’s books contain 50 percent more rare words than adult prime-time television or the conversation of college graduate students. Ask participants to guess how many exposures children need to a new word to be able to use it effectively? (The answer is 12 times!)

Evaluating your workshop:

It’s a good idea to ask participants to evaluate your workshop so you know if you achieved your objectives. A sample evaluation form can be found here in PDF format or can be found here in Word format . You might wait to give people their free book(s) until after they turn in their evaluation form.

Getting participants to show up:

Make your invite as appealing as possible. Some libraries name their workshops “learning parties” and play up the refreshments, door prizes and fun. They have craft stations and include lots of make and take activities. Note that everyone will receive free books. Offer activities for children to do while their parents are in the workshop.

Post notices about the workshop in as many places as possible.

If possible, call everyone the day before to remind them about the workshop.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, not many people will show up. It can be disappointing to do so much planning for only a few, but it’s important to honor those took time from their busy schedules to come to your workshop. Give it your all and send those parents home excited!

Why should my library host early literacy workshops?

Recognizing the critical role that parents and caregivers play in developing children's early literacy skills, and as a result of the "Every Child Ready to Read @ your library" research commissioned in 2000 by the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), we've become more aware of the importance of reaching and teaching parents and caregivers.

Because of our intermittent contact with each child, we have limited direct impact. However, by reaching and teaching parents and caregivers about early literacy skills and how to incorporate them in their daily lives, we make a difference in the child’s development by supporting the parent/caregiver.

Why should libraries take on this role? “Societal circumstances and changes in academic expectations require that we reassess the library’s role in early childhood education. More families need information about what is expected for ‘school readiness.’ Information on early literacy is an important part of this information.” (Source: Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library: Partnering with Caregivers for Success, by Saroj Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz)

In 2002-2003, PLA and ALSC conducted a study of the impact of using research-based early literacy practices in public library programs and workshops for parents and caregivers to determine the effect public libraries have on parent and caregiver education for early literacy. Fourteen public libraries participated in the 2002-2003 evaluation.

Results from the evaluation, conducted by Sara Laughlin & Associates, show that parents—of every age, educational background, income level, and ethnicity—who participated in the public library early literacy workshops significantly increased their literacy behaviors. Especially notable are their dramatic gains in use of the library, the weakest area among all three age groups. Teen parents and low-education and low-income parents, who exhibited fewest of the literacy behaviors at the intake, showed significant improvement across all behaviors.

Recommendations in the report include:

• Continue to target teen parents and those with low education and low income.
• Target parents of 0-23 month-olds. Use non-traditional tactics to reach young, low-education, low-income parents who are not visiting the library.
• Include booklists and opportunities to browse for books in every session.
• Reach out to parents whose first language is not English and incorporate multi-lingual strategies and materials into programs.
• Continue to align library systems—training, collection development, policies, programs, and partnerships— to focus on supporting early literacy development of children of those most in need of this information.
• Reconsider library fine and card policies.
• Actively seek opportunities to partner with other agencies in the community who serve young, low-income, and low-education parents.
• Provide library services for your childcare community.