In September 2005, the Washington State Library received a $250,000 grant from the
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to promote early literacy. The Allen Foundation
recognized “the important role that libraries play in our community, and believe
strongly that libraries are instrumental in helping parents teach their children
to read," said Jo Allen Patton, executive director of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
Public libraries reach parents, caregivers and children all across Washington.
To learn more about The Paul G. Allen Family foundation go online at
www.pgafamilyfoundation.org
Implementation of the grant includes training in year one and year two. Community
Match Grants in year two.
Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library was developed as part of the Public Library
Association Early Literacy project. (See
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/)
Washington State Library modified the original training based on the work of Saroj
Ghoting and Pamela Martin- Díaz and their work Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library
Partnering with Caregivers and Success.
Training introduced the six early literacy skills and shared techniques with library
staff and child care providers on weaving the skills into story times and daily
activities. Training also included ways to share the new concepts and strategies
with parents and others providing services to the 0-5 population. Materials were
provided to libraries and community partners to support training.
YEAR ONE
Funding from the Allen Foundation allowed the State Library to offer regional training
at 21 sites in 2006. Over 440 library staff and community partners attended training
and 63 childcare providers received six hours of STARS training credit.
Training was held at these locations:
- Timberland Regional at the Timberland Service Center (April 6, 2006)
- Tacoma at the Pierce County Administrative Center (April 28, 2006)
- Fort Vancouver Regional at Regional Library Headquarters (May 4, 2006)
- Timberland Regional at Centralia Timberland Library (August 24, 2006)
- Moses Lake at Big Bend Community College (August 28 -- 31, 2006)
- Redmond (King County) at the Redmond Library (September 12, 2006)
- Burien (King County) at the Burien Library (September 12, 2006)
- Issaquah at King County Library Service Center (September 13, 2006)
- Port Hadlock at Jefferson County Rural Library (September 14, 2006)
- Yakima Valley at Yakima Service Center (September 19, 2006)
- Spokane at Spokane Public Library (September 20, 2006)
- Colville at Stevens County Rural Library (September 22, 2006)
- Colfax at Whitman County Library (September 25, 2006)
- Yakima Valley at Sunnyside Public Library (September 26, 2006)
- Bellingham/Whatcom County at Bellingham Public Library (September 28, 2006)
- Fort Vancouver Regional at White Salmon Valley Community Library (October 12, 2006)
- Spokane County at Spokane Valley Library (October 14, 2006)
- Timberland Regional at Hoquiam Timberland Library (October 16, 2006)
- Sno-Isle at Snohomish Library (November 3, 2006)
YEAR TWO
Due to such high demand for these fantastic workshops, the Washington State Library
added 10 more training workshops reaching two large groups in our state: migrant
and tribal.
In March 2007, the Washington State Library worked in partnership with the Washington
State Migrant Council to offer three workshops in eastern Washington adapted
to benefit the teachers of their daycares. During the three days we trained over
100 bilingual teachers, of which, 67 received STARS credits.
Then in May 2007, we collaborated with the Indian Education Office at OSPI
to bring seven more workshops to areas that reach Native American children in the
0 to 5 age group. Over 160 participants joined us from local tribal communities
across the state. Participants joined us at the following seven locations:
- Marysville at the Tulalip Tribal Center (May 1, 2007)
- Shelton at the Squaxin Museum (May 3, 2007)
- Port Angeles at the Port Angels Public Library (May 4, 2007)
- Spokane at the Northern Quest Casino (May 8, 2007)
- Toppenish at the Yakama Nation Tribal Center’s 14 Tribes Room (May 10, 2007)
- Bellingham at the Lummi Nation Tribal School (May 15, 2007)
- Seattle at the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (May 17, 2007)
On October 17, 2007, we trained 20 AmeriCorp and Vista members in
Ocean Shores. Discussions following the training opened the opportunity for libraries
to be included as eligible sites for AmeriCorps members. Please see
AmeriCorps Opportunities for more information.
TRAINING ATTENDANCE
|
NUMBER OF
PEOPLE TRAINED
|
PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING
STARS CREDITS
|
PARTICIPANTS
RECEIVING
CLOCK HOURS
|
YEAR ONE |
In Library Branches
(18 library branches visited) |
362
|
29
|
N/A
|
At Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake
(3 workshops) |
81
|
34
|
N/A
|
YEAR TWO |
Washington State Migrant Council trainings
(3 workshops) |
117
|
67
|
N/A
|
Collaboration with Indian Education Office at OSPI trainings
(7 workshops) |
162
|
8
|
27
|
Washington Reading Corp (AmeriCorps) |
20
|
|
|
TOTALS
|
742
|
138
|
27
|
AMERICORP OPPORTUNITIES
Funding for an AmeriCorps member in support of early literacy in public libraries
is available through the Washington Service Corps AmeriCorps program.
Washington Reading Corps began as a statewide initiative that helps K─6 students
improve their reading abilities through research based tutoring and effective collaborations
among schools, families, community members, National Service Programs, businesses,
and state partners. In 2005 the program was expanded to include early learning with
volunteers assigned to programs such as Head Start, ECEAP, and early learning centers.
Opportunities for libraries to be included as eligible sites for AmeriCorps members
became available in early 2008. Positions can be either full time within a single
library or shared between multiple libraries. Library staff is responsible for member
recruitment, hiring and supervision.
Possible duties include planning and conducting storytimes, one on one reading,
library visits to day care and child care centers, developing and/or maintaining
and delivering resource collections, and helping with the planning and execution
of family literacy programs. Duties must involve early literacy in some fashion and
cannot include clerical or shelving duties.
Learning Library Project Application
Early Learning Library Project Application
Instructions
For more information please contact:
Shannon Skye, Program Manager
Washington Service Corps
WA State Employment Security Department
P.O. Box 9046
Olympia, WA 98507
(360) 438-3245
(888) 713-6080 toll free
[email protected]
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Funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).