Competency 9-Internet

Every Child Ready to Read @ your library! (ECRR) is found at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/ecrrhomepage.cfm. ECRR is a joint program with the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC). ECRR is a series of programs and workshops for parents and caregivers based on the latest research about early literacy intervention. Public libraries can use these workshops teach parents and caregivers the tools they need to be their child's first teacher.
This website provides several different tabs with a variety of relevant information about early literacy. There are reports on early literacy, child development and brain development, in addition to research based on age levels. Under the ECRR in Practice tab, there are storytime applications using these early literacy tips. Downloads on what books to read to babies, two and three year olds, and four and five year olds are also available.
I chose this website because it's a very valuable resource for any librarian interested in promoting early literacy. The storytime applications and the downloadable handouts are things that librarians can incorporate into their weekly library storytimes. This website was located using Goggle.

Competency 8-Research Visual/Multimedia

This chart shows a child's reading level according to their age. The different colors represent different children who learned to read at different ages. The blue line represents the child who had early literacy skills taught from a very young age. The green line shows a child who learns to read at the age of five, which is the average age of children starting school. The red line shows a child who learned to read later in life, closer to age seven. Notice the child who learns early literacy skills from a young age has a higher reading level then the child who learns to read at age five, and the child who learns to read at age five has a higher reading level than the child who learns to read later in life.
This chart is one way to prove that children who acquire literacy skills early in life will have higher reading achievement later in life. This chart can be found in the article Research Related to Early Literacy: Early Readers Increase the Gap Over Other Students Over Time by R. Stainthorp and D. Hughes at http://www.yourbabycanread.com/images/reading-progression2.jpg.

Competency 7-Image

Books for Babies is a national literacy program than helps parents of new borns discover their important role in their child's development. This program provides parents with a Books for Babies Kit which includes a board book, baby's first library card, and different brochures with reading tips and early literacy information from nationally-recognized organizations.
I chose this image because it is a wonderful example of early literacy. This program is a perfect example of how beginning literacy early in a child's life is beneficial. The image is located at http://www.folusa.org/outreach/books-for-babies.php.
I discovered this image through Google images by searching for books and babies. I clicked on another image that took me to the Book Baby Kit page of Friends for Libraries U.S.A. (http://www.folusa.org/index.php) site. Upon further investigation of the site, I came across this image, which was a good match.

Competency 6d-Successive Fractions Search

Search Query:…learning early literacy skills and the effects on children’s reading development

Database: ERIC/Internet

Search Strategy:

First, I searched for each facet individually, with the following results.

45,121-(reading development) or (literacy development)

244,294-children or child or kids not (teen or teenager)

350,081-((early literacy) or literacy or reading) and ((skill or skills) or (strategy or strategies) or (method or methods))

S1=((reading development) or (literacy development)) AND ((children or child or kids not (teen or teenager))=14,570

S2=S1+((early literacy) or literacy or reading) and ((skill or kills) or (strategy or strategies) or (method or methods))=11,367

Because the number of results is still to large to work with, I limited the results to the last five years and to only books or journal articles.

Results: 38

Constructing Families, Constructing Literacy: A Critical Analysis of Family Literacy Websites (EJ798681)

Most of the first 10 results were very useful. However, a few of the results were studies done in other countries. I do not feel like these would be as beneficial.

A unique accession number assigned to each record in the database; also referred to as ERIC Document Number (ED Number) and ERIC Journal Number (EJ Number).
The name assigned to the document by the author. This field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers.

Competency 6c-Citation Pearl Search

Search Query: books about literacy and reading development

Database: BIP

Search Strategy:
First, I searched for keywords "literacy and reading development" in Books in Print. One book looked promising, Fast Start: Getting ready to Read: A Research-Based, Send-Home Literacy Program with 60 Reproducible Poems and Activities that Ensures Reading Success for Every Child by Nancy Padak. When I clicked on the title, it showed more information about the book, including the Bowker Subjects. Then I clicked on the EDUCATION/TEACHING METHODS AND MATERIALS/ READING Bowker Subject.

Here is a result from that search.
Literacy Growth for Every Child: Differentiated Small-Group Instruction K-6 by Dianne Lapp
Interactive Think-Aloud Lessons: 25 Surefire Ways to Engage Students and Improve Comprehension by Lori Oczkus

This was a successful search, with eight of the first ten results matching the search query. The results that did not match talked about the writing aspect of literacy rather than the reading aspect of literacy.

Competency 6b-Building Block Search

Search Query:…learning early literacy skills and the effects on children’s reading development

Database: ASC

Search Strategy:

S1=((early literacy) or literacy or reading) and ((skill or skills) or (strategy or strategies) or (method or methods))

S2=children or child or kids not (teen or teenager)

S3=(reading development) or (literacy development)

S1+S2+S3=9

Actual Strategy:

((kw: early and kw: literacy) or kw: literacy or kw: reading) and (kw: skill or kw: skills) or (kw: strategy or kw: strategies) or (kw: method or kw: methods)) and (kw: children or kw: child or kw: kids not (kw: teen or kw: teenager)) and ((kw: reading and kw: development)) or (kw: literacy and kw: development))

Mothers' literacy beliefs: Connections with the home literacy environment and pre-school children's literacy development.Preview By: Weigel, Daniel J.; Martin, Sally S.; Bennett, Kymberley K.. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Aug2006, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p191-211, 21p, 5 charts

Light-ness of Being in the Primary Classroom: Inviting conversations of depth across educational communities.Preview By: Witte-Townsend, Darlene L.; Hill, Anne E.. Educational Philosophy & Theory, Jun2006, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p373-389, 17p

Shared reading interactions between mothers and pre-school children: Case studies of three dyads from a disadvantaged community.Preview By: Morgan, Anne. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Dec2005, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p279-304, 26p, 1 chart

Although nine hits is a smaller number than I would like, all the results were very relevant to my topic.

Competency 6a-Specific Facet Search

Search Query:…learning early literacy skills and the effects on children’s reading development

Database: World Cat

27,828- (reading development) or (literacy development)

Specific Facet Search is where the searcher chooses the facet that will draw the fewest results. I guessed that the facet about early literacy would result in the fewest hits, and I was wrong. Here are my results.

27,828- (reading development) or (literacy development)

73,976-((early literacy) or literacy or reading) and ((skill or skills) or (strategy or strategies) or (method or methods))

2,227,841-children or child or kids not (teen or teenager)

Since the number of results was very large, I would continue with a building block search or a successive fractions search to narrow the results.

Competency 5-Tagging/Indexing

Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to 5 by V. Susan Bennett-Armeitead is a book all about early literacy research, skills, and strategies for early education teachers. Since studies show that literacy develops earlier than when a child enters elementary school, this book provides educators with literacy-rich activities and ways to create a literacy environments early on in a child's life. It also has photographs and examples of student work.
This is the tag cloud for the book Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to 5 by V. Susan Bennett-Armeitead.
(1) early and family literacy(1) Early Childhood(1) ECE Literacy(1) Education(1) homeschool(1) homeschooling reference(1) Infants(1) Kindergarten(1) literacy(3) preschool(2) professional(1) Reading Instruction(1) reference(1) teacher resource(1) teaching(1) toddler(1) tricia(1) Writing(1)
I chose this book because I feel that it would be a wonderful resource for my blog's topic, early literacy skills. Although, at first glance, literacy is not the highest tagged word, it is actually tagged three times: early and family literacy, ECE literacy, and literacy. Unlike many other books I found on this subject, it has tags of infants, toddler, and preschool, along with early childhood. It is also tagged as being professional.
The tag cloud information can be found at LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/work/2542070/book/36343122
The description information can be found at Amazon.

Competency 4-RSS Feed

Every Child Ready to Read @ your library! (ECRR) is an early literacy program used by many libraries across the country, including the library where I work. I chose an RSS feed for ECRR in order to keep up with the latest information about this project, the most current research into early literacy skills, and to gain valuable tips on how to continue to use this program at my library. I feel that any librarian who works with children should have a good knowledge of the information ECRR provides.

Competency 3-Podcast

St. Tammany Parish Library produced a series of podcasts discussing early literacy skills. The first podcast Children's Podcast - Episode C002 - 10/18/07 is about the early literacy skill, print motivation.

During the sixteen minute podcast, the importance of early literacy skills for children ages birth to five years old is discussed. Early literacy skills mean providing young children the skills they need to make learning to read easier later on in life; it does not mean teaching them to read. Children's brains develop connections during age birth to five, which is why teaching literacy skills at a young age is important. The early literacy skill print motivation, or a love for reading and books, is also a topic of discussion.

This podcast fits my blog because it explains why early literacy skill development is important to brain development using easy-to-understand language. It also explains how reading skills are affected later on in life if early literacy skills are not acquired at a young age. I located this podcast by using Google. You can view the other five early literacy skill podcasts at http://www.sttammany.lib.la.us/podcast.html.

Competency 2-Related Blog

ALSC Blog
http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/

The ALSC Blog had a variety of useful information. This blog is coordinated by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), and all regular contributors are members of the ALSC. The purpose of this blog is to provide information on news and current events in the field of children's librarianship. It is also used to post conferences, resources, programs, and activities for ALSC members and others interested in children's librarianship. I chose this blog because of it's association with the national, professional organization of the ALSC and because of my interest in children's librarianship.
The following excert, titled School Talk, is from the ALSC Blog webpage located at http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/?p=412
I chose this excert because it discusses early literacy and how librarians can work with school reading/literacy specialists to help promote literacy.

Yesterday I met with the reading coordinator of our local school board. I met with her because of a session I attended at PLA in Minneapolis; the presenter encouraged us to learn how reading is taught in our local schools in order to support young readers. We do so much to encourage early literacy, and we really should be helping those young readers as well. Learning to read is a difficult process for about 80% of children. I’d be willing to wager that a large group of that other 20% end up as teachers and librarians. As a result of my 90-minute meeting, I’ve already made changes... So with two simple changes to an upcoming program that reaches a large amount of students, I’ve been able to extend what the schools are teaching.

I discovered this blog by searching Yahoo Blog Directories: http://dir.yahoo.com/news_and_media/blogs/.

Competency 1-Introduction and Purpose

This blog is created to fulfill an assignment requirement for LS5013.
My area of interest is elementary school library. I would like to learn more about early literacy programs, specifically how early literacy skills can help children become accomplished readers later in life.