There’s still time left to RSVP to Raising A Reader San Francisco and Alameda Counties’ first holiday party and fundraiser! In addition to enjoying some delicious snacks, cocktails, and great company, guests will also be able to kick-off the holiday season by packing their own red RAR bags to be delivered to classrooms across the Bay Area. For more information, check out the message from our Executive Director in the video below:

Celebrating Indigenous People’s Day

Part of Raising A Reader’s mission is to provide culturally and linguistically relevant books that reflect the communities we serve and respectfully portray diverse peoples.

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day, Oct. 8, below are two books from Raising A Reader’s collection on Native American culture and beliefs.

“Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message” is written by Chief Jake Swamp, and illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr.

This story illustrates an Iroquois-Six Nations message of gratitude for nature, nourishment, and shelter. The act of giving thanks is presented in a tangible way that children and families can relate to their daily lives.

“How the Stars Fell into the Sky” is written by Jerrie Oughton, and illustrated by Lisa Desimini.

This story shares the Navajo legend of the stars as a guide for people. The main protagonist takes on the meticulous task of placing the stars in order, however an impatient friend changes her plans.

Click Clack Moo: The musical

The children’s book, Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type , has been adapted into a fun musical for pre-kindergarteners. The story centers around a group of rebellious cows who refuse to give milk until they get electric blankets to keep warm.

Directed by Erin Merritt, the play is presented by the Bay Area Children’s Theatre (BACT), which aims to “enrich children’s lives, inspire imagination, and open the curtain on lifelong enjoyment of theatre.” The theater group was founded in 2004 and features theater productions for pre-kindergartners year-round.

The play runs now through Aug. 5 at the Children’s Fairyland in Oakland with morning and afternoon shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

For more information, check out BACT’s website at www.bactheatre.org.

Summer Library Activities

This summer, the San Francisco Public Library and Oakland Public Library have many exciting events planned for young children.

In San Francisco, this week’s programs include: songs by Asheba (June 19), Yoga Kids (June 20), juggling with Doug Nolan (June 23), and much more! For a complete calendar of events, click here.

In Oakland, this week’s list of events include: Baby Bounce (June 19), Preschool Storytime (June 20), Toddler Storytime (June 23), and many other terrific programs. For other programs or more information, click here.

Happy learning!

It’s ‘Blue Bag’ Season!

Raising A Reader’s Blue Bag program marks the transition of a RAR preschooler into kindergarten. The Blue Bags are distributed as a keepsake for the children to remind them of their progress in Raising A Reader and to encourage the children and their families to keep up shared reading routines. This year, RAR will give away approximately 4,800 Blue Bags full of library card applications, reading tips, toys, and stickers!

Many of the schools that partner with RAR plan Blue Bag events to connect the children and families with local libraries and to celebrate the students’ progress in early literacy.

Blue Bag events vary from site to site, and this year’s festivities are already off to a great start.

This year’s Blue Bag highlights in Alameda include:
-Brookfield Head Start involved the whole community by including a family potluck with their celebration.
-Karen Freeman of Fruitvale CDC included blue snacks and craft tables based on the story read during the event.

San Francisco highlights have been:
-Teacher Lynn Yagle-Snead at Bernal Heights Preschool invited parents and caregivers to attend the Blue Bags celebration. Families listened to a RAR read aloud, and children learned how to borrow books from the library.
-At Whitney Young Masonic, site director Cornell Cobbins invited the families for a potluck dinner and Blue Bag celebration.
-ABC Preschool had a great event where parents could come to watch their children participate in a special library-themed read aloud, receive their Blue Bags, and share a blue snack!

Summer: Time to Read to Achieve

Summer reading is essential to maintain and expand a child’s literacy skills. Recent studies show that summer reading loss plays one of the most significant roles in the widening achievement gap. If students are encouraged to “relax” all summer and they don’t have access to books, reading levels are negatively impacted.

These studies show that the solution to summer reading loss is to provide children with access to a variety of books and set shared reading times or routines. Below are some great tips on how to make reading an integral part of your child’s summer.

Visit the Library. Engage in storytelling activities and borrow children’s books, music, and books on tape.

• San Francisco Public Library summer reading page: http://ca.evanced.info/sfpl/sr/homepage.asp?ProgramID=12.
• Oakland Public Library “Kids’ Word” page: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/links/kids/index.html.

Read outside. Enjoy a picnic in the park with snacks and games. Afterward, read books together before heading home.

Build vocabulary. Visit festivals, fairs, museums, and parks. Describe what you saw, heard, and felt at the event on the way home.

Create a fun reading journal. Draw a picture together related to the book of the day. If your child is willing, have her/him dictate a brief caption for you to write under each drawing. If your child gets excited about keeping a daily log, keep a running list of all the books she/he read over the summer.

Reader’s theater. Read your child’s favorite book, and the following day act out the story. Invite family members to participate as fellow actors, or use puppets made out of paper bags to illustrate the story.

The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. The 2012 Week of the Young Child™ is April 22–28 and the theme is Early Years Are Learning Years®.

Click here for a Calendar of Events in San Francisco

RAR staff will be celebrating this week at the following events:

Tuesday, April 24 : Children’s Council Resource Fair
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Families and providers can learn about community services related to small business management, child care, credit management, financial support, support for special needs, early literacy, housing, health care and nutrition. The fair features snacks, prizes and cooking demonstrations. This is a free event

Thursday, April 26: Jumpstart for a Day
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Selected preschool children and teacher’s jump into this annual festival of fun at Civic Center Plaza, opposite City Hall. This event features many hands-on learning stations, each one inspired by a popular children’s book. Due to space limitations, this event is by invitation only.

Friday, April 27 : Head Start Day at Children’s Fairyland
9:00 am– 3:30 pm
All families who participate in Oakland’s Head Start programs are invited to spend the day at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland in celebration of community, literacy, and school readiness. Raising A Reader staff with be there leading interactive read alouds!

San Francisco Public Library Events

From scavenger hunts to music and movement, the San Francisco Public Library has an engaging list of events for April!

The scavenger hunt will take place from April 22-26 at the Merced branch, with prizes and a chance to win a raffle. Librarians will give clues and hints to discover the answers to trivia questions and help children complete challenges in a quest to discover the library’s treasures.

For younger children, the library is offering a music and movement program for kids 4 and under at the Eureka Valley branch. The program will be held outdoors on the patio, weather permitting.

Other highlights this month include the program “Japan: From Silkworm to Kimono” and a showing of the movie “E.T.”

For more details and a complete listing of the library’s events for children, please click here.

This week, April 8 -16, the American Library Association celebrates National Library Week. In particular we would like to highlight two special days this week.

Tuesday, April 10 ~ National Library Workers Day

While we are thankful for all the librarians who support our program, special appreciation goes to:

• Christy Estrovitz, Early Literacy Specialist, San Francisco Public Library
• Nina Lindsay, Supervising Librarian for Children’s Services, Oakland Public Library
• Laurie Willhalm, Children’s Outreach & Program Librarian, Oakland Public Library

These librarians and their coworkers help support our mission to promote family engagement and book sharing.

Wednesday, April 11 ~ National Bookmobile Day

San Francisco Public Library has launched an online contest to Guess the location of the Green Bookmobile.
You may enter daily, April 6th - 16th, for your chance to win a bookmobile visit. Click on the bookmobile highlight on the sfpl.org home page and enter your guess.

Even if you don’t win a special visit from the bookmobile you can find the Early Library Mobile throughout San Francisco.

Poets, rejoice!

April is National Poetry Month, a time designated to read and celebrate poetry of all kinds.

Poetry for children is natural. Adults instinctively use poetry, in the form for nursery rhymes or lullabies, to teach children about literature, and books for small children are often written in rhythmic and rhyming language. This is because poetry helps children learn the sounds and cadence of language, while increasing their vocabulary and interest in literature.

The San Francisco Public Library is holding a National Poetry Month celebration for children of all ages on April 5, 3:30-4:30 p.m., at the Ocean View branch. The library also holds regular “Baby Rhyme and Playtime” programs for babies up to 18 months old and their caregivers. Some programs are bilingual English-Spanish. For more information on these and other programming for children, see the library’s calendar.

For tips on how to teach poetry writing to children, check out poets.org’s educators section and Giggle Poetry’s site.