The following article was written by Susie Menk, a Youth Services Librarian at the Manitowoc Public Library.
Did you know that learning to read starts as soon as a baby is born? There are five basic pre-reading skills that all young children need to experience in order to learn to read—reading, writing, playing, singing, and talking. And where, you might ask, can young children learn these skills? At the Library, of course!
Manitowoc Public Library offers storytimes for children ages 0-5. There are so many stages to child development and the first five years of a child’s life are the most critical for learning (for more information on this topic, take a look at the CDC guidelines). Most parents know that children need to have “Well Baby Checkups” every few months following their birth. However, there are other milestones that babies need to meet beyond what happens during these medical checkups that help to track their development, both physical and cognitive.
One of the most important areas of development is reading. Children who are exposed to books and language at an early age become good readers and, in turn, good students (check out the BirthtoThree webpage for more pertinent info and statistics on this). These are skills which will help a child to be successful their whole life.
So, what does all this research about children and their development have to do with the Library? Simply put, Manitowoc Public Library is dedicated to serving our younger population. That’s why we offer multiple options for parents and caregivers to attend our storytimes.
Storytimes provide opportunities to share books together as a group while witnessing firsthand how trained library staff pass along these five early literacy skills. Storytimes are separated into “Baby Storytimes” and “Preschool Storytimes”. Children develop skills by leaps and bounds, and toddlers—as you may already suspect—are able to do so much more than babies. Therefore, we offer these two distinct storytimes based on developmental stages.
MPL’s Baby Storytimes consist of parents and caregivers being led through songs, fingerplays, lap bounces, and other activities designed for them to interact with their child. Books are read and shared, but in a limited amount since children 0-2 do not have much of an attention span. Keeping children this age moving and experiencing the world around them is the key to a successful Baby Storytime. Social interaction with other children their own age is also an important part of these storytimes.
Susie Menk
Preschool Storytimes are designed for children ages 2-5. By this age, children’s motor skills are more developed, their attention spans are longer, and they are experimenting more with language and sounds. These storytimes are focused on children participating by singing songs, learning actions to rhymes, answering questions posed by the storytime leader about the book being read, and connecting everyday experiences to books. Library staff will often ask toddlers questions during the reading of a book to have them identify or count items, tell what color an object on the page is, or ask if they have felt the same as a character in the book. All these life experiences help children relate to the world around them and build their knowledge base for when they start learning to read on their own.
Whether you’re a new parent or an old pro, whether you’re a caregiver or grandparent, we have a storytime perfectly suited to you and your child. Manitowoc Public Library offers Baby Storytimes on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 AM. Preschool Storytimes are offered both Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10:30 AM.
Come join us and help the children in your life develop a lifelong love of reading. Stick around afterward for social time with other parents and caregivers or just enjoy all the fun play areas in the Children’s Department.
Whichever version is better suited to your child’s needs, we hope storytime becomes a regular part of you and your child’s week!
