Rise To the Challenge: Help Fund Early Literacy
This year at the Winter Park Library, we are investing in early literacy - growing and strengthening the minds of our little learners. Winter Park Library understands the crucial need for early literacy as we work daily to support children of all ages. Early literacy is more than reading books to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers – it includes interactive experiences to stimulate the development of learning, literacy, and language abilities. Melded with physical stimulation such as movement, play, and drawing, our librarians utilize linguistic techniques like rhyming, singing, and talking. Young children introduced to pre-reading skills catch on faster and excel in school compared to children without that exposure.
This year, we aspire to augment our abilities to support early literacy by obtaining certification through the Family Place LibrariesTM program. This national initiative expands the traditional role of libraries into community centers for early-childhood education, parent education, socialization, emergent literacy, and family support. Librarians will learn to better serve the needs of families through formal training and building partnerships. Winter Park Library’s Youth Services Manager Erin Collier-Plummer asserts:
“Early literacy is the foundation upon which success in school and life is built. The literacy skills children learn during the first three years of life help to support all other future learning. Children who don’t learn to read by third grade tend to fall behind and remain behind throughout their academic careers, which can lead to lower grades, lower test scores, and overall lower quality of life. It’s crucial we do everything in our power to help children develop those critical early literacy skills and nurture a love of reading that will last a lifetime."
Through participation in the Family Place training, we will embark on a journey to a collection that strengthens these practices, delivers intensive educational experiences, and connects us with the community through collaborations and partnerships to provide new resources. With this training, our staff will better guide in that critical time of growth and development for young learners.
For your part, we ask you to stand alongside us by helping meet our fundraising goals this spring as we use this time to focus on early childhood learning and earn our Family Place certification. After receiving a generous grant to establish our Family Place Initiative, the Central Florida Foundation has challenged us to raise $10,000 to support the initiative with supplies, equipment, and materials. So, we challenge you to join the giving and be the change in early readers’ lives through a donation of any size.
Thank you for your generous gift that will lift our littlest members, giving them the very best foundation for a life of reading and learning.
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