There are families in every community who do not have access to affordable preschool options.  Libraries are in a unique position to support school readiness by delivering a wide spectrum of activities that support the development of school readiness skills. 

Not only can we complement formal in-school academic learning, but we can help cultivate positive relationships between children and their caregivers.

Through intentional planning we can create programs and resources that support the five primary areas of school readiness: cognition and general knowledge, physical well being and motor development, approaches to learning, language and literacy, and social-emotional development. By providing events, programs, and spaces infused with informal learning experiences and developmental opportunities we can help set children up for success. In addition, we are modeling for caregivers examples of engaging experiences they can recreate and expand upon outside of the library, and connect caregivers with the resources they need.

Participants in this training will:

• Explore ways to apply the research to your existing storytimes and summer programming 
• Gain practical ready-to-implement activities to use with children and their caregivers
• Learn about the importance of mindset and how to easily incorporate this important school readiness skill into storytimes with books and activities.

A break will be provided for lunch on your own.

You do not need to attend the workshop to download and use the toolkit, but workshop attendees gain insights into the current research behind the skills and conditions that matter most for a child’s success in school and life. Workshop attendees also will receive practical ready-to-implement ideas for activities, and resources for parents/caregiver support.

This training is made possible through a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and a partnership between the Arizona State Library, the Bay Area Discovery Museum, the California State Library, and the Pacific Library Partnership.