A running total of about 12,000 books have been shipped out to families in Phoenix to support online pre-kindergarten learning in a new and engaging way.
In a presentation she named ‘Making Lemonade in a Pandemic’, the Library Advisory Board’s Children and Teen Services Coordinator Wendy Resnik shared the importance of maintaining virtual early literacy programs in Phoenix at a public board meeting on Thursday.
Though she mentioned the ‘lemons’ brought on by last year, she also described how successful the programs have been since the early months of 2020.
Early Literacy Programs themselves focus on teaching preschoolers the foundations of reading, including activities that reinforce the Early Learning Messages (ELMs) in the stories. Usually, this is covered during the pre-Kindergarten Bootcamp offered by the City of Phoenix. But in 2020, all educators had to adapt.
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Gretchen Pierce, the City of Phoenix’s literacy outreach librarian known online and to students as Miss Gretchen, became popular after she recorded herself in her backyard reading a picture book called “Not Quite Snow White” by Ashley Franklin, a children’s story about a young Black girl who wants to play Snow White in her school play, and has to handle comments from her classmates who don’t think she looks the part.
Pierce’s read-aloud format was well-received by parents in the community, said Resnik. So when early literacy programs were first adapted for the pandemic, teachers and librarians in Phoenix also recorded themselves virtually reading to students.
Pierce trained teachers and librarians in the skill of mindful reading, the practice of reading with purpose. The intention is that through the reading and exercises, preschoolers will retain ELMs at a higher rate.
Over time, early literacy programs transitioned to a live classroom setup, where up to 25 children and their parents can do activities with educators in real-time. These smaller sections of the program can serve 500 to 700 preschoolers at a time and are offered in English and Spanish, in the mornings and evenings.
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Since making the switch, “roughly 4,000 kids” have gotten access to the programs, said Resnik.
The program provides parents and caregivers with tools to “help prepare their children for success,” according to the Phoenix Public Library Foundation website. This is in the form of a book bundle sent out to Phoenix families, a collection of texts, tools and handouts tailored to follow the specific program.
The link to a catalog of live online early literacy/school prep programs can be found here.
Contact the reporter at aaankrah@asu.edu.
