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Learning to read begins before children start school. Young children need to develop language and literacy skills before they can actually learn to read.

“Reading is important to school success,” said Julie “Miss Julie” Whittaker, youth services librarian and ECRR trainer at Davie County Public Library. “Children who start school ready to learn to read have greater success throughout their school years.”

Parents and other caregivers can start now to help their children develop these skills. A workshop at the library will demonstrate how parents can use five familiar and easy-to-use practices to develop language and other early literacy skills in children from birth to age 5.

The practices are talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing.

Participants will move through the five skills within an hour. Then for children ready for the more advanced skills, there will be information on creating stories with wordless picture books or props and dialogic reading, a method of question and response, using about 15 minutes for each of these skills.

Every Child Ready to Read @ your library was developed by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA), divisions of the American Library Association, with national reading and education experts. The second edition of Every Child Ready to Read offers research-based practices that adults and children can enjoy together while helping children learn early literacy or pre-reading skills.

Registration is open but limited for the workshop scheduled for Saturday, May 11 starting at 10 a.m. Attending couples will receive a free copy of the book, “Mousie, I Will Read to You” by Rachel Cole and Melissa Crowton, provided through funding from the Mebane Foundation.

For more information about this workshop, as well as other materials and resources for parents and caregivers, contact Miss Julie at jwhittaker@daviecountync.gov or 336-753-6038.