"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children." *
We at the Welles-Turner Memorial Library believe that everyone is an early childhood educator, including parents, day care providers, nursery school teachers, and pediatricians. As librarians, we want children to share our love of books and reading because we know that the latest research shows that early exposure to language through face-to-face interaction with infants, especially singing nursery rhymes, is one of the building blocks for language and literacy development. Providing an enjoyable reading experience is another key to literacy and later success in school. The good news is that singing nursery rhymes and reading aloud to children is fun, easy, fun, free, fun, and you get to spend some quiet (but not too quiet!) minutes with a young child, free of the distractions of our busy world.
Through a generous grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Library has been able to implement REACH OUT FOR READING. This special program brings story times to your children in their day care setting. It has also enabled the Library to support your children's teachers and caregivers in their all-important roles by developing a collection of teacher resource materials, Stories to Go kits, and Book Boxes.
In all, the Welles-Turner Memorial Library offers:
Books, Books, Books:
The Children's Librarians are happy to help you find appropriate books based upon your child's interests and needs.
Teacher Collection:
The Library has available a special collection of materials of interest to parents, day care providers, and nursery school teachers. To find this collection, look for the big red apple marked J TEACHER at the beginning of our non-fiction area.
Stories to Go:
Theme kits containing picture books, rhymes and finger plays, games, puzzles, puppets, music cassettes, and suggested additional reading and activities, as appropriate.
Book Boxes:
A varied selection of fifteen paperback and board books in a box to supplement classroom libraries.
Parent Collection:
Resources to aid in that all-important job of being a parent.
Bedtime Stories
An evening family story time once a week.
Summer Reading Program:
This fun program encourages reading aloud by making reading a game. Many special events are also scheduled throughout the summer.
Preschool Art Show:
Every Spring the Library celebrates the Week of the Young Child with a display of art work from the child care centers and various nursery and preschools in Glastonbury.
Connecticard:
Once you have a library card from your hometown library, it may be used in any Connecticut library
*Anderson, Richard C., et al, Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading, (Champaign-Urbana, IL.: Center for the Study of Reading, 1985), p. 23.
We at the Welles-Turner Memorial Library believe that everyone is an early childhood educator, including parents, day care providers, nursery school teachers, and pediatricians. As librarians, we want children to share our love of books and reading because we know that the latest research shows that early exposure to language through face-to-face interaction with infants, especially singing nursery rhymes, is one of the building blocks for language and literacy development. Providing an enjoyable reading experience is another key to literacy and later success in school. The good news is that singing nursery rhymes and reading aloud to children is fun, easy, fun, free, fun, and you get to spend some quiet (but not too quiet!) minutes with a young child, free of the distractions of our busy world.
Books, Books, Books: