Happy New Year !!!!

What a wonderful time. I

can‘t believe it‘s been a

whole year since the first

edition of this wonderful

newsletter.

It‘s that time of year when,

thanks to the calendar, we

look back at the events of the

past 12 months and look

forward to the new events

that lie ahead. Children‘s

Services Division has had an

outstanding 2011: we met

authors, created interesting

crafts, played with LEGOS

and puppets, had a book-

talking bonanza, chose the

2011 Blue Crab Awards and

learned how to use our story

time skills to improve the

education of children.

We began 2012 with the

Mock Newbery Workshop in

Denton on January 9. We

have two exciting workshops

planned for March 12 and

April 9, 2012 during which

we‘ll be learning how to look

at a picture book art and

picture books. And there are

many more great programs

planned for the MLA Confer-

ence, May 9-11.

Children's Services was

thrilled that Maryland was

awarded a multi-million dol-

lar federal grant that will

allow the State to further

strengthen its acclaimed

early childhood programs

which will give great mo-

mentum to the work of our

group. So come join us this

year and learn how to be a

kid again.

Eileen Kuhl

CSD President

BCPL

Parkville Carney Branch

Big Changes for the Blue Crab Award!

The Maryland Young

Reader Blue Crab Award,

in place since 2004, is going

through some big changes!

First of all, the chair for

the 2013 committee has

been selected. Let‘s hear it

for Marisa Conner from

BCPL!

Secondly, for various rea-

sons (timeliness, market-

ing, PR, etc) we have de-

cided to the change the an-

nouncement date for Blue

Crab Award winner and

honor books. Instead of

waiting until the October

Kids Are Customers, Too

conference, we are plan-

ning on announcing win-

ners in the spring, at the

Southern and Western con-

ferences! Even better, this

is happening this year.

Our plan is to invite the

winning authors to speak

that same year at the Kids

Are Customers, too confer-

ence.

So, get ready to hear about

the new and exciting books

that are being selected as

winners for this very spe-

cial book award. If you‘d

like to know more about

the award, or would like to

serve on next year‘s com-

mittee, check out the Blue

Crab CSD page OR our

new Wikipedia page!

Tara Lebherz

2012 Blue Crab Committee

Chair

CSD Newsletter

(Children’s Services Division of MLA)

Winter 2012 CSD newsletter

CSD Officers

2011-2012

Eileen Kuhl, President

BCPL

ekuhl@bcpl.net

Susan Modak, Vice President

MCPL

susan.modak@montgomerycoun

tymd.gov

Karen Hoffman, Secretary

BCPL

khoffman@bcpl.net

Carol Dean, Past President

AACPL

cdean@aacpl.net

http://www.mdlib.org/

divisions/csd/

Maryland

Mock Newbery

Winner!

We voted, and this is our

choice!

CSD committee

September 2011

Lexington Park Library

Hello from CSD!

Howard County Library System‘s new Charles E.

Miller Branch opened on Saturday, December 17,

2011!

As you walk toward the front door of the new

Miller Branch, you are greeted by a friendly reading

frog, enjoying the sunshine and a good book with

Baby Frog. Just beyond that one of the major archi-

tectural features of the new Charles E. Miller branch

catches your eye – a thirty foot high ―re-creation‖ of

the Thomas viaduct. The new 63000 square foot

building evokes Howard County‘s past as it prepares

for the future. The Howard County Historical Center

will share space on the second floor.

The children‘s area is more than twice the

size of the one in the old building, and will feature

many more computer stations and an enhanced col-

lection for young library customers. In addition, the

new Classroom area is colorful and friendly, with a

craft counter, sink and storage cabinets. There‘s

plenty of storage for puppets, flannel boards and craft

supplies, as well as extra tables and chairs and a ceil-

ing projection system in a room designed to hold up to

70 children.

Outside, the Enchanted Garden will provide

space for science, gardening and health classes.

-Irva Nachlas-Gabin

Howard County Library System

Did you know that Oc-

tober is Dollhouse and

Miniatures Month?

Folks in PG county

did, and they put up

this marvelous display

of miniature dolls.

New Howard County Library

Miniature Dolls in Prince Georges County

CSD newsletter

Page 2

-Wanda Nelson

Prince George’s County Memorial

Library System

News from Around the State

Woodlawn Library has a diverse

offering of storytime programs!

We have a monthly Korean Story

Time, a monthly American Sign

Language Story Time presented by

the Maryland School for the Deaf,

and a monthly World Language

Story Time with stories and songs in

English and another World Lan-

guage, which changes every pro-

gram. So far we've had Spanish,

Swedish, Japanese, French, Ger-

man, Hebrew, Russian, Ghomala

and have

Tamil up-

coming!

demonstrations from some of the

islands in the Pacific including Ha-

waii, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, and

Samoa. You also have the option of

including the amazing Samoan

fireknife dance! We include lots of

audience participation throughout

the program. We would love to

share our ohana (family) with your

library ohana! Please contact us at

ourpacificrhythm@gmail.com.

-Abigail Andrews

Washington County

Free Library

For anyone who is interested, this

performing family has put together a

program in keeping with the 2012

SRC theme. Read the blurb below

for more information!

Pacific Rhythm presents Legends of

Polynesia for 2012 Summer Reading

Program. The family of six will

share legends, dances, and cultural

Washington County gets Polynesian

Page 3 CSD Newsletter

Multiculturalism in Baltimore County

Here are some

photos from

Korean Story

Time, World

Languages

Story Time

(Japanese and

English) and

World Lan-

guages (French

and English).

Additionally, we have a bimonthly

Spanish and English Storytime, Fies-

tas and Siestas, for ages birth-two.

Recently we've started Sense-

sational Story Times, which is a story

time for children with special needs

and their families.

-Christine Kamt, Storyville Coordinator,

Woodlawn Library

News from Around the State

Press here

by Herve Tullet

(preschool)

When you ―press here‖

a yellow dot becomes 2

yellow dots, then 3,

then a red dot, then

blue and then 5 taps

becomes 5 dots… And

on and on. No electron-

ics, no flaps. Just sim-

ple artwork and imagi-

nation. A great parent/

child read and do to-

gether.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: a Dickens of a

tale

by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright,

drawings by Barry Moser

(Grades 4-6)

At Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub, Skilly, a cat and

Pip, a mouse become

unlikely allies as they try

to save Maldwyn, the

mysterious resident of the

upper room, for on his safe

return the fate of the

kingdom rests. There

really is a Ye Olde Chesh-

ire Cheese pub, off Fleet

St in London and Charles

Dickens, as well as Arthur

Conan Doyle and other

literary lights frequented

it (but probably not Queen Victoria). Mr Dickens and

Her Majesty do appear in this story as Skilly and Pip

overcome mistrust and common enemies to save Mer-

rie Old England.

Mars

(the worst-case scenario ultimate adven-

ture series)

by Hena Khan and David Borgenicht with

Robert Zubrin; illus by Yancey Labat

(Grades 5-8)

I thoroughly enjoyed being taken through the steps it

will take to survive on the envi-

ronmentally hostile but fascinat-

ing red planet. The format is

plot your own story and your

choices, which you begin to

make on the 6 month flight from

Earth, lead to heroic success;

mediocre survival; being a liabil-

ity on the team or (worst case

indeed) death. Some of the

choices are based on science,

some on common sense and

some on character. Very inter-

esting!

Witches: the absolutely true tale of disas-

ter in Salem

by Rosalyn Schanzer

(Grades 5-7)

Only 144 pages long, this small

book lays out the events that

began in February of 1692 and

had run their course by Octo-

ber but during that time, 19

people were wrongly hanged as

witches and one was killed by a

barbaric punishment called

―peine forte et dure‖. Besides

the religious fervor that

brought the Puritans to the

New World, Ms Schanzer also

describes the political and fi-

nancial reasons that may have influenced the accusa-

tions and the verdicts. She lists the fates of many of

the principal accusers and victims.

-Sophia VanSchaick

Harford County Public Library

Page 4 CSD Newsletter

Book Reviews

A good definition of early literacy

comes from the Multnomah County

Library website: ―Early literacy is

everything children know about read-

ing and writing before they can actu-

ally read and write.‖

Early literacy skills begin to develop

in children in the first five years of

their life—before they start attending

school. In fact, a child‘s success in

school is largely dependent upon a

foundation of early literacy skills that

are built in the years prior to kinder-

garten.

You might be wondering what these

early literacy skills are. There are 6

basic skills, most of which you have

probably heard of but perhaps haven‘t

made the formal association.

These are:

1. Print Motivation: a child‘s in-

terest in and enjoyment of books.

A kid with print motivation will

enjoy being read to, will pretend

to read and write, and will want

to visit the library.

2. Phonological Awareness: the

ability to hear and play with the

sounds in words. Rhymes, silly

songs, and word games are good,

fun ways to build skills in this

area.

3. Print Awareness: understand-

ing that the squiggly lines on a

page mean something; noticing

print everywhere and knowing it

has different meanings in differ-

ent contexts (i.e. books vs. menus

vs. signs)

that "how" you share a book with

children impacts their literacy

growth almost as much as "how

often" you read to them?

that active listening is better than

passive listening?

that sharing songs and nursery

rhymes with young children con-

tributes significantly to their lit-

eracy development by helping

them "tune in" to the sounds in

words?

that young children need to ex-

Did You Know...

that what a child knows about

language and literacy before en-

tering school is the most impor-

tant variable for school success?

that simply talking with children

and having conversations contrib-

utes significantly to their vocabu-

lary growth?

that reading aloud from quality

picture books on a daily basis,

both fiction and non-fiction, is the

most important way to contribute

to a child's success in reading?

plore letter shapes and experi-

ment with writing in order to

learn the alphabet in a meaning-

ful way?

Dorothy Stoltz

Outreach Services Manager

Carroll County Public Library

CSD newsletter

Page 5

Make sure to check out

Dorothy’s new book,

available this sum-

mer!

What Is Early Literacy, Anyway?

Spotlight on Early Literacy

4. Letter Knowledge: Knowing

that letters have names and can

look different from each other,

and that letters are related to

sounds.

5. Vocabulary: Knowing the

names of things. Most two-year-

olds have vocabularies of 300 to

500 words. Most children enter

school knowing between 3,000

and 5,000 words. (from Loudoun

County Public Library website).

6. Narrative Skills: the ability to

describe events and tell stories.

Being able to tell ―what hap-

pened‖ in a story leads to good

reading comprehension.

We, as librarians, play a HUGE role

in encouraging children to want to

learn to read and also in instructing

parents on how to help their children

learn/want to learn to read. The fol-

lowing articles put the spotlight on

what different Maryland counties are

doing to promote early literacy.

-Tara Lebherz

Frederick County Public Libraries

Emergent Literacy Tips to Share with Parents and Caregivers

Early Literacy Stations at the

Thurmont

Regional Library

During the past few months we have

been working on building activities for

an Early Literacy area in a quiet corner

of our children‘s room. We began the

project with the assistance of a teacher

volunteer working on her master‘s de-

gree as a reading specialist. She worked

closely with us as part of a required

class project and gave us valuable in-

sights into the games and activities that

would help build necessary literacy

skills. Our literacy area is focused on

print awareness, letter recognition,

rhyming, and sound awareness skills.

We have also included activities with

color matching, counting,

and a flannel board with

rhymes and pieces to help

develop narrative skills.

We began very simply by

making many of the center

activities and printing

skills games from the inter-

net. We chose to focus on

one letter or seasonal

theme at a time and cre-

ated fun skills games to go

with them. Our original

hope was to change the

area every two weeks but

we found that, realistically,

we are only

able to get the activities and

theme changed once a month.

Our area was decorated inex-

pensively with ABC and num-

ber vinyl window clings, a big

alphabet strip and banner

flags with the ABCs above

the area to define it. In late

October we began with Ap-

ples and the Letter A as our

focus. We had foam worms

and apples for matching up-

per and lowercase letters, a

―Letter A‖ item jar, apple

rhymes and songs for the

flannel board with a large felt tree and

apples to accompany the rhymes. We

had rhyming cards, a large laminated

nursery rhyme where the children were

to search for the letter A, and lots of

apple and ABC books.

Parents and children began to use the

area almost immediately and parents

tend to congregate there often assisting

their children in the skills games pro-

vided. We made clear simple directions

for the folders and games including a

contents list to help keep the proper

items together. (This also helps other

staff members assist in keeping things

tidy.)

In November we switched out with the

Letter T—turkey, trains, trucks and in

early December we went to Letter C for

Christmas and colors. We added a mag-

netic board with nice wooden letters and

had a clothesline to hang assorted

clothes in ABC order where even the

skill of pinching a clothespin gave the

children needed fine motor practice.

Parent response to this area has

been wonderful and numerous posi-

tive comments have been made about

how much they appreciate our hard

work and efforts in providing this

literacy area and, of course, the chil-

dren love it! Children are often lured

away by their parents with the prom-

ise that they will come back soon to

play in this area again. We are de-

lighted to see the children ―play‖ at

learning important skills!

-Shelba Bollinger

Frederick County Public Libraries

Early Literacy in Frederick County

Page 6 CSD Newsletter

Spotlight on Early Literacy

Harford Co is planning a series of sto-

rytimes for April that are modeled on

the Rubber Ducky Club reported in

the ALSC newsletter. We‘re calling

ours ―Puppy Tales‖ because our mas-

cot is a dog called Tales.

Harford County Public Library‘s

‗Puppy Tales‘ club was created to help

parents and caregivers realize the

importance of early literacy and en-

courage participation in five practices

-Singing, Reading, Writing, Talking

and Playing- that strengthen early

literacy skills. Research has shown

that babies who are read to have lar-

ger vocabularies and have an easier

time learning to read.

The program is designed for babies 0-

35 months. Running during the

month of April 2012, parents can sign

up and commit to participating in sev-

eral skill-building activities with their

child. An activity log that marks off

the completed activities can be re-

turned at the end of the month for a

certificate.

Related story times and other pro-

gramming in the branches during

April will explain why the skills are so

important, demonstrate how to help

children learn the skills, provide titles

of high-interest books that are age

appropriate, and send parents and

caregivers home with early literacy

activities they can incorporate into

their family‘s daily routine.

The Five early literacy practices that

will be highlighted are taken from

Every Child Ready to Read® was de-

veloped by the Association for Library

Service to Children (ALSC) and the

Public Library Association (PLA), di-

visions of the American Library Asso-

ciation, in conjunction with national

reading and education experts. The

program offers research-based prac-

tices that adults and children can en-

joy together while helping children

learn early literacy or pre-reading

skills. Handouts developed by Every

Child Ready to Read® will be avail-

able in the branches to offer further

information and tips on at-home ac-

tivities to continue building the foun-

dation for reading and learning.

-Library staff from

Harford County Public Library

Asking a child ―What will hap-

pen next?‖ in a story develops

predicting skills, which relates

to scientific thinking

Asking a child to retell a story

from pictures or words devel-

ops comprehension

*********************************

Research shows that engaging a

child in dialog while reading is an

easy and effective way to provide

opportunities for practicing lan-

guage.

Cari Gast,

Head of Chil-

dren's and

Teen Curricu-

lum in Howard

County, offered

the following

tips to pass on

to parents dur-

ing storytime:

Reading to children and point-

ing out letters and words

teaches language as they con-

nect the sounds, symbols and

words

Try some of these things:

Ask ―what‖ questions to involve

a child and make a personal

connection.

Let them turn the pages.

Point out things in pictures.

Point to text occasionally show-

ing the flow from left to right.

-submitted by Irva Nachlas-Gabin

Children's Instruction and Research

Supervisor

Howard County Library System

Early Literacy in Harford County

CSD newsletter

Page 7

Spotlight on Early Literacy

Early Literacy Tips from Howard County

The Children's Services Division (CSD) of the Maryland Library Association promotes library services, storytel-ling, reading, book appreciation, librarianship with chil-dren and opportunities for professional development. If you‘re interested in CSD, come and check out a meeting!

February 13, 2012 - C. Burr Artz Library, Frederick County March 12, 2012 - Charlotte Hall Branch, St. Mary‘s County April 9, 2012 - Urbana Library, Frederick County

Meetings are from 10-12:30, unless otherwise noted.

If you have something you‘d like for us to

include in the newsletter, contact us:

Editor: Tara Lebherz, FCPL

tlebherz@frederickcountymd.gov

Sophia VanSchaick, HCPL

vanschaick@hcplonline.org

Heather Leonard, AACPL

hleonard@aacpl.net

Newsletter Staff

http://www.mdlib.org/divisions/csd/http://www.mdlib.org/divisions/csd/

Do you “like” us yet?

Save the Date:

Southern/Western Conferences

Southern: March 12, 2012 @

Charlotte Hall Library (St. Mary‘s

County)

12:30-4:00

Western: April 9, 2012 @ Ur-

bana Library( Frederick County)

1:00-4:15

Save the Date:

Annual MLA Conference

May 9-11, 2012

Clarion Resort, Ocean City, MD

Once again, we‘ll have lots of

great programs at the confer-

ence!

What’s Coming Up?

A team of Children's Librarians in

Edgewood and Aberdeen branches of

Harford Co. are working on Families

Read & Succeed, the Barbara Bush

Family Literacy Grant that was

awarded this past spring. Each pre-

school student has received a green

tote bag with a "happy flower" grant

logo on it.

As a part of the grant we are encour-

aging the families to come to special

evening story times at Edgewood and

Aberdeen branches or just to visit us!

Tidbits

Details were sent home to the

students about an incentive pro-

gram involving prizes at our 2

branches to reward those that

come in with their tote bag.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

On December 19, 2011, there was a

dedication ceremony at Bel Air

branch and the HCPL Foundation

Board of Directors presented Direc-

tor Mary Hastler with a cheque for

$50,000 for an Early Literacy Inter-

active Space to be created in the li-

brary.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$