News in Youth Services

It’s time for a new round of storytime sessions here at the library and we are excited to see all of our storytime friends again! 

If you have ever attended a storytime, you may have noticed that there is more than reading happening. There is singing, talking, and playing too. All of these components add up to a robust experience for your child’s developing brain.

By experiencing language in a variety of contexts, your child learns how language works. 

When we sing, the language slows down. This makes it easier for children to hear the sounds that make up words. 

When we talk, children learn how to move words around to communicate their ideas. 

When we play, we connect children to language in a joyful way and provide them an opportunity to try out language through narration and role-playing. 

Sing, talk, and play: These are three of the five methods to building early literacy skills. 

What are early literacy skills?

Early literacy skills are the building blocks for learning to read and write. They include concepts like alphabet knowledge, understanding that written words represent real-world things, and knowing how books function (this is the front, these are the words, you read the words to make a story). These are skills you build when you talk, sing, read, write, and play with your babies and children.   

At the library, we have storytimes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.  Each storytime is tailored to the audience’s age level and developmental stage.

In Tots & Tykes (for 6-19 months) storytime, your child will experience music and books surrounded by other babies and caregivers. 

In Toddler Tales (for 20-25 months) storytime, your child will get the opportunity to create hands-on crafts in addition to being exposed to books and music.

In Preschool storytime, we have recently incorporated more kindergarten readiness skills into the basic early literacy component.  

If you have never attended a storytime, we invite you to attend an all-ages drop in storytime. We have a Tuesday night session from 6:30-7:00pm and a Thursday morning session from 10:30-11:00 am.