Early learning programs at Brooklyn Public Library.
All photos ©Philip Greenberg/Courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library.

How can we make smarter babies?  These days there seem to be brain building claims on almost every baby product. While many of these claims have been validated by research, what does the research say about educational apps for babies?  Earlier this week, the Campaign for a Commercial Free-Childhood (CCFC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission stating that there is no rigorous research to support Fisher-Price’s claim that their “Laugh & Learn,” apps  support language development and conceptual learning in babies. Is this Jean Piaget’s “American Question” for the 21st Century?

When Piaget, the renowned Swiss child psychologist, spoke to American audiences, he was often asked the same question: “What can we do to make children develop faster?”  Piaget’s answer: “Why would you want to do that?” He didn’t think that pushing kids to reach milestones before they were ready was possible or desirable. But this inquiry, often called the “American Question,” seems to continue to haunt the shelves of the baby aisle.

Back in 2000, when I first started working with a special early childhood collection at a public library, parents often requested the Your Baby Can Read kit. They seemed to be very excited about these flashcards, DVDs, and books that could “teach their babies to read” and get their child ahead. I was always tempted to respond with Piaget’s reply, but I held my judgment in check and encouraged them to read to their babies instead. The product has since been publicly discredited by the CCFC, but you can still find the kit online.

Fast forward to 2013. In Brooklyn, parents participating in an Every Child Ready to Read workshop asked the librarian leading it for some early literacy app recommendations. Apps for babies abound, such as “Baby Learning Card” or the aforementioned Fisher-Price “Laugh & Learn” apps (with 2.8 million downloads). Interestingly enough, the same watch-dog group that helped discredit the claims of the “Baby Einstein” DVDs and the Your Baby Can Read kit—the CCFC—is now questioning the educational claims of these very popular apps.

Are parents getting apps for their babies because they want their child to get ahead, learn letters, colors, shapes, and numbers? As a parent of a young child, I get it. There is always the feeling that you’re not doing enough as parent. Is my son getting enough breast milk? Do I read to him enough?  Do I play and talk with him enough? Parents use apps to keep track of feeding times and get baby care advice, why not get the hottest new tool to help baby learn? But is this the road we should be taking? Are learning apps right for babies?

Many, particularly the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), would say no. It recommends avoiding screens before the age of two years. The AAP made this suggestion based on the troubling results of research on passive television viewing and background television. While more research needs to be done on interactive screens, there’s no hard evidence that young children can learn much from a screen before the age of two.

I’ve heard parents say they would never let their baby look at TV or use an app. Some parents even baby-proof the house by getting rid of the TV. Avoiding screens completely is not very realistic in our screen-saturated world. If a baby is getting a rich diet of language and play with parents and caregivers, a little screen time distraction so mom can squeeze in a shower is not going to melt a baby’s brain.

Educational apps, videos, and flashcards, however well-meaning, do not take into account how babies learn. Babies learn through interaction, touching, feeling, grabbing, moving, and doing the same thing over and over again. A baby may drop a spoon out of the high chair repeatedly. However annoying this is to mom, he is learning how gravity works, what sound metal makes when it hits the floor, and may even be conducting a social science experiment (is mom going to pick it up again?). Babies learn through interactions with loving and trusted caregivers. When a baby points to a balloon and says “bah!” and dad gets excited because she has said a new word, she is going to repeat this trick again and again to please dad. Very young minds need a thoughtful, feeling person to help them make connections, encourage exploration, and adapt to their needs. These are all things apps and screens just can’t do.

So what is the librarian’s response when parents ask for “Baby Einstein” DVDs or app recommendations for babies?  Should we quote the APA guidelines and give parents the librarian evil eye for putting their little ones in front of screens? My first suggestion is don’t judge. Apps and videos have their place. I know one family that uses YouTube videos of trains to get their son through his nebulizer asthma treatments with fewer tears. Also, I would make sure parents are informed. Let them know that babies learn through play. Encourage them to come to library programs that model fun activities they can try at home. Show them where the board books are located. I think it is fine to recommend a few quality apps or videos, maybe even ones based on picture books, and encourage parents to play with apps and view videos with their babies and talk together about what is on the screen.

It looks like the “American Question” will always be with us, but librarians can be part of the answer. Our programs help parents connect the dots between learning and play. We model simple and free activities that stimulate early literacy development. Learning is a process and it happens for everyone at its own pace. Babies, with the help of parents, caregivers, educators, and librarians, are building learning one block, one book, one word, and one song at a time.
Highly interactive board books that are more fun than apps

• Bizzy Bear: Fire Rescue! illustrated by Benji Davies. Candlewick/Nosy Crow. 2013.
• The Finger Circus Game by Hervé Tullet. illustrated by author. Phaidon Pr. 2013.
• Peekaboo! by Taro Gomi. Chronicle. 2013. 
• Who’s Hiding? by Sebastien Braun. Candlewick. 2013.
• You Are My Baby: Safari by Lorena Siminovich. Chronicle. 2013. 

By Nell Coburn

“I want to know your top 10 best practices for storytime,” a colleague said to me a few months before I retired. “You’ve been in youth services four decades and you’ve long been a storytime trainer at Multnomah County Library (MCL). I bet you have some best practices I’ve never even thought of.”

This was an irresistible challenge, because it’s storytime that’s kept me in youth services for 40 years and storytime that I’ll miss most in retirement. Storytime is the premium service for children in public libraries across the country. For many youth librarians, it’s the most treasured part of our job. I’m sure my colleagues are aware of many storytime best practices, but I can suggest a few that might not be on everyone’s list.

I’ll start with something I’m passionate about: My longstanding belief that storytime is for children and adults. When I trained as a youth librarian in the 1970s in Prince George’s County, MD, storytime was a kids-only affair. As in most public libraries, parents and caregivers waited for their children outside the program room. A few of us encouraged them to join, but many librarians felt intimidated by the adult presence.

Back in those days, storytime was for three to five year olds. When we started offering programs for two year olds—and eventually, babies—we needed adults to accompany their children. It soon became obvious that everyone was benefiting from storytime. Now, most libraries make it clear that storytime is very much for children and their adults. I’ve underlined some key phrases from the MCL website’s description of storytime: “Parents learn how to foster early literacy skills to prepare their children for learning to read. Librarians answer questions about books and library services, and teach parents how to interest their children in books.”

How does that transfer into best practice? The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA) offer some effective techniques in their early literacy initiative, Every Child Ready to Read @your library, accessible online (everychildreadytoread.org). Since that venture began over a decade ago, MCL librarians have made it standard practice to make direct comments to adults during storytime.

Here’s an example: After sharing a book like Raffi and Nadine Bernard Westcott’s Down by the Bay (Crown) or Westcott’s The Lady with the Alligator Purse (Little, Brown, both 1988), a librarian might say: “Singing and rhyming help children learn that words are made up of different sound combinations. In songs, each syllable has a different note, so it’s easy to hear distinct sounds. Children who can do this are better able to sound out words when they are learning to read.”

Adults appreciate knowing that storytime materials and techniques are supported by research and boost early literacy skills. For many, this gives storytime more legitimacy and educational value.

Even more important than sharing such information with grown-ups is the ability to ensure active adult participation in storytime. The best storytimes are those during which adults are fully engaged—shaking out their wiggles, clapping, singing, dancing, and encouraging kids as they interact with the books.

This can be facilitated in multiple ways. I like to hang large-print copies of regularly used songs and rhymes on the wall, or have a collection stapled together in a take-home handout. It’s easier for grown-ups when the words are right in front of them. It helps storytime presenters, too: We don’t have to memorize all those songs! And a handout encourages parents and caregivers to share the songs and rhymes with their children later, further strengthening their early literacy skills.

Adult involvement has all sorts of positive outcomes beyond the educational ones. When grown-ups are engaged, we have fewer “adult behavior” challenges, such as chatting or cell phone use. This leads me to another best practice: Establish clear expectations for both adult and child storytime behavior. Effective instructions are positively worded and presented in simple, direct language. The focus should be on what storytime participants should do, rather than what they should not do.

Consider posting your expectations, briefly mentioning them at the beginning, or handing them out before a series of storytimes. For example, a clear, friendly statement may help adults realize that cell phone use during storytime is not appropriate. Here’s one to try: “Adults: Please help me make this storytime a good experience for all by turning off your phone, or putting it on vibrate. If you must accept a call during storytime, please step outside the room to do so.”

Help young parents understand that it’s best to take their child out of the room if he or she is disruptive, and that they are welcome back when the child is ready. According to MCL staff, this instruction is especially appreciated by immigrant parents with no storytime experience who may not know how they and their children should behave.

Likewise, a brief, straightforward statement can inform adults that we don’t expect their two year old to behave like a five year old: “Welcome! This is a storytime designed for two year olds, so please know that it will look different from some other storytimes you may have attended. Two year olds need to move, so we plan lots of movement activities and we don’t mind when they get up and roam around the room during the stories, as long as they don’t hurt themselves or disturb others.”

Adults who are actively involved and understand the educational value of storytime may be less likely to be chronically late. Of course, nothing is predictable where young children are involved, and there will be occasions when traffic, a child meltdown, or some minor home crisis will result in latecomers. The best practice here, I believe, is to welcome all attendees warmly and make them feel comfortable. Recently I observed a Spanish-language storytime during which families trickled in from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Everyone seemed fine with that, and the newcomers slipped into the group seamlessly. Spanish-speaking staff say that a relaxed regard for time is culturally appropriate, another factor to consider in our approach to latecomers.

I’ve always felt that one of storytime’s main purposes is to introduce children and grown-ups to the riches of the library’s collections. Adults often need a nudge in the direction of poetry and the fine information books available to children. To encourage them in these areas, I believe we should make it a point to feature poetry and nonfiction books in storytime.

Here are some suggestions. Byron Barton’s Building a House (Greenwillow, 1981) and Joy Cowley and Nic Bishop’s Red-Eyed Tree Frog (Scholastic, 1999) are fascinating and well-paced for storytime reading. A poetry book I’ve used again and again is Jack Prelutsky and Marc Brown’s Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young (Knopf, 1986), a gem containing a great selection of poems to match with picture books. The collection includes an assortment of poems about mud, puppies, and other ordinary things that delight small children and connect storytime to their immediate world. Try pairing Lillian Schulz’s “Fuzzy Wuzzy, Creepy Crawly” caterpillar rhyme with Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Philomel, 1969). The short poem nicely reinforces Carle’s simple science lesson.

If I have one pet peeve, it’s people who come for storytime and leave immediately after. In MCL storytime training, we encourage staff to invite participants to explore the collection and “find something wonderful to take home!” We also urge storytime presenters to accompany families to the shelves and offer assistance. Staff should not be expected to return to a public service desk right after their program. They can make themselves most useful by roaming the shelves with the participants they’ve just put under the storytime spell.

Often, adults like to linger and socialize after storytime. If you find that they aren’t also visiting the collection, set up a small selection of enticing materials in the program area. Encourage everyone to browse. You may even wind up doing quick booktalks about materials you’re encouraging families to check out. Include some cool materials for adults—a new cookbook, seasonal craft books, gardening books, magazines, or DVDs.

How do we stay fresh when we do storytimes week after week, year after year? We need to look for opportunities to continue our education in storytime techniques. Even after 40 years, I love learning new rhymes and songs from colleagues. I love seeing how someone else approaches a title and discovering which new titles work well for them. The best way to grow our storytime skills is through observation, an important part of new staff training at MCL. Veteran staff benefit from observation as well: We should all get out of our own libraries and observe our colleagues elsewhere several times a year. Managers can support this practice by incorporating it into yearly staff performance appraisals.

MCL youth librarians also enhance their skills through a practice called “storytime highlights.” During several monthly youth services meetings, a few librarians share a favorite song, rhyme, puppet story, or activity. They also meet periodically for “circle of practice” sessions before the meeting. Each session focuses on supporting skills in a specific area, such as toddler time, family storytime, or songs and rhymes for babies.

I’ll close with one of my strongest beliefs about storytime. Perhaps it’s more of a “best concept” than a best practice, but it affects everything else we do. This is something I learned from the wise Marjie Crammer, who for decades headed the children’s department at the New Carrollton (MD) Library. Marjie would tell her staff: “Storytime is not about you; it’s about the children.”

Over the years, I’ve adjusted that a bit: “Storytime is not a performance; it’s an interactive experience between you and the people in front of you on any particular day.” Staff attending MCL storytime training say this is what they remember most. It takes the pressure off and keeps the focus on the children. Come to think of it, let’s move that to best practice number one. I don’t doubt it will hold for another 40 years.

Nell Colburn served as a children’s librarian for over 40 years at Multnomah County Library in Portland, OR, and at public libraries in Maryland, Virginia, New York, and Washington. She is the 2013 recipient of the Oregon Library Association’s Eveyln Sibley Lampman Award for significant contributions in library service to the children of Oregon. She also cowrote SLJ’s “First Steps” column with Renea Arnold from 2004-2012.

Roger Mastroianni Photography

A design revolution is reinventing the children’s room in public libraries and changing the way young children learn.

The movement involves colorful spaces with mirrors, soft edges, and things to climb on. There are items to play with such as “sentence makers” and audio-based toys. A farmer’s market, cash register, automobile, or airport may be involved. Most importantly, the areas are embedded with tools and features that get kids ready to read.

This new breed of literacy-packed play spaces in libraries is inspired by children’s museums and the developmental theories that drive them. “You can call it interaction, you can call it theme design,” says Sharon Exley, a designer and president of Architecture is Fun, a firm that has conceived spaces for both libraries and children’s museums. “We’re creating architecture in a way that children understand,” she adds. “The underlying story or framework is always literacy, and how you make it fun and playful.”

Bite-sized children’s museums

Tracy Strobel strived for a rich learning experience that would keep patrons coming back when she was conceiving new children’s areas for the Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library (CCPL), now in the midst of a system-wide rebuilding and renovation project. Strobel, deputy director at CCPL, imagined “bite-sized pieces of a children’s museum” that kids and their caregivers or parents would visit weekly or once a month. They would be “destinations for families much in the way that a children’s museum is a destination,” she says.

The garden-themed toddler area at the Evanston (IL)
Public Library has ample seating for caregivers.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

While planning the nine new children’s areas, each at roughly 8,000 square feet, Strobel zeroed in on what they needed to offer children educationally. The designs, she notes, had to be “related to the six early literacy skills” identified by literacy experts and adapted by educators: developing vocabulary, print recognition, print awareness, narrative adeptness, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness. Strobel handed potential architects and designers a sheet outlining these and other key requirements. At the same time, she adds, “we try really hard to have a variety of elements at the different spaces.”

Enter the design firm RedBox Workshop, which is conceiving, fabricating, and installing some of the new areas at CCPL. “You’re basically teaching experiential learning through play,” explains Tony LaBrosse, partner and director of design and project management at RedBox. The company has also created play areas at museums, zoos, and hospitals.

In the libraries, at least, books still reign, but the heart of the project was “applying an aesthetic wrapper to early literacy objectives,” says LaBrosse. Many CCPL spaces are built around themes from children’s books. The Warrensville branch environment, for one, was inspired by Ashley Bryan’s book Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals (Atheneum, 2007), with its vibrant, cut-paper illustrations. The library walls, decorated with dancing silhouettes like those in Bryan’s book, do indeed create a vibrant sense of play that riffs on the heart of the literature in the room.

An Evanston patron with cushions
that double as a classic stacking toy.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

A centerpiece of the new features is an enclosed “crawler space,” as Strobel calls it—a safe, enclosed play pit for the littlest patrons, stocked with stimulating, brightly colored motifs. Nearby, a light board allows pre-literate kids to assemble stories with different Colorform shapes, honing narrative adeptness. A sound board spells out words broken into syllables. When a child pushes a button, he hears an individual syllable pronounced. In a nearby mirror, he can watch himself forming the syllables.

A “sentence maker” also builds print awareness with elements that kids can spin or move up and down to reveal random words forming “wacky sentences,” says CCPL marketing and communications director Hallie Rich.

Elements like these, LaBrosse explains, are about “meeting the individual or group where they’re at on any given day.” He says, “We don’t try to set up an experience that is ‘you will learn this today when you go do that experience.’ We’re not here to judge their learning experience. We don’t have an outcome. We’re not grading.” The designs also “try to create age-appropriate risk” such as exploring—and probably taking a tumble—without getting hurt.

The children’s area at CCPL’s new Mayfield branch takes inspiration from Denise Fleming’s Caldecott Honor book In the Small Small Pond (Holt, 1993). Adopting the idea of wetlands exploration,the space incorporates “science work related to tadpoles or microscopic science with early literacy,” says LaBrosse. There’s a microscope, an insect observation center with large bugs on view, and a soundboard.

Other spaces are purely thematic. At Garfield Heights, it’s all about cars. There’s a garage and a gas pump, levers and pulleys to play with, and toy spark plugs, all of which can be manipulated to boost STEM skills, a priority of the local school system, says Strobel. The Fairview branch takes on the concept of travel, with world landmarks, a play airplane hangar, and control tower. There’s a ticketing and baggage area, along with places to sell food, and a cash register. The environment “allows kids to do all this imaginative play with time, tools, and small motor skills,” says Strobel.

Lamaze and play-based pavilions

The best way to engage early learners, says Exley, is through “literacy-rich and play-based pavilions that allow children to explore” and navigate the world of reading.

She and her partner at Architecture is Fun, husband and architect Peter Exley, kept these child-centered questions in mind while conceptualizing a renovation for the 14,500-square-foot children’s area for the Evanston (IL) Public Library in 2007 and a new, nearly 16,000-square-foot space for the Fountaindale (IL) Public Library in 2011.

Developmental theory is always at the forefront of Exley’s mind. While dreaming up spaces for very young children, she thinks about psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” a theory of psychological health. The basic idea is that a fundamental feeling of safety and security enables relationships, esteem, and creative potential.

For Exley, this translates into crawler spaces offering stimulation and security. “Sensory gardens, little padded landscapes, things on the ceiling to focus on” are key elements for the youngest library patrons, Exley says. The soft, colorful elements also offer “Lamaze-style iconography.”

At Evanston, the “garden of early learning,” like Warrenville’s crawler spot, is such a place. It is an enclosed area with playful plant and flower motifs—gingko leaves and stylized roses based on a Charles Rennie Macintosh design. Inside, oversized cushions function as a “classic stacking toy, but we’ve done it as a giant soft sculpture,” says Exley. “If a child is learning to walk or stand, it gives them something to hold on to.”

Elsewhere at Evanston, where the Exleys’ elements were fabricated and installed by RedBox, is a little collection of “storytelling sticks,” resembling garden signs, that can be written on. “Very often preschoolers tell a little story to teachers who write it down and parents get this at the end of the day,” says Exley. To build on kids’ articulation skills, “parents can jot down a thought shared by their child.”

A game pavilion at the Fountaindale (IL) Public Library.
Photo by Doug Snower Photography

For older children, the Exleys conceived tables with built-in bins for art supplies and play items such as LEGO. Branching columns rise from the tables, a nod to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The overhanging limbs are outfitted with holes that librarians can suspend things from—origami, artwork, globes, or whatever else may be related to the project of the moment. The art area has a built-in sink for washing up. This place is made for action.

The Fountaindale children’s area took its cue from a children’s book, Dragon Tree by Jane Langton (HarperCollins, 2008). With lots of room to move, the team created a “mini-park” with stylized trees arranged to “call out these areas of adventure or discovery,” Exley says.

Those areas include a spot for playing global games, with real globes and one painted with blackboard paint, so kids can draw their own world. A “garden of technology” has informational monitors suspended from trees. There’s a crawler area here, too, and a space for the chess club. In the art area, the trees are equipped with clips for displaying completed art projects.

Exley stresses that libraries considering play-centered areas should be mindful of designing one they can manage. You want an area that “the staff can afford” and maintain. Fountaindale manager of children’s services Wendy Birkemeier says that because of graffiti issues, she doesn’t usually leave chalk out in the library. Her staff puts out washable crayons instead.

More conceptually, Exley returns to the central exploratory aspect of such early learning areas. “You don’t want to have an interactive environment that’s push-button,” she says. “You need something open-ended.”

“Family Play and Learning Spots”

The Hennepin County (MN) Library (HCL) launched its first early literacy play area in 2010, when the Minnesota Children’s Museum received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to explore the idea of designing early literacy play spaces within libraries. HCL has adopted two of these spaces so far, geared to children ages two to six, at the Hopkins and North Regional branches, with another opening this fall.

“The idea was that children’s museums have great ideas about exhibit design and ways for parents and children to interact around play,” says Maureen Hartman, coordinating librarian, youth programs and services at HCL, of the new 400- to 700-square foot areas. “That’s a really different direction for libraries.” She adds, “We have supported our staff with play training that the children’s museum has offered us.”

On any given day at one of these play spots, you’ll find children busily working in a fabricated garden, made of two pieces of leather with cotton underneath, planting imaginary seeds in a row. One might plunk an illustrated sign reading “carrot” into the ground, cook toy carrots in a play kitchen, and serve them up at a mini café table. Nearby, at a toy farmer’s market, children can sort, count, and identify more vegetables. All this fun is bolstering their vocabulary and reading and honing narration and numeracy abilities.

To inform and support caregivers, “directions and cues to parents” are posted at the early literacy spaces, Hartman says. HCL also produced a document for adults outlining five simple things that they can do to help get kids ready to read, based on the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) principles issued by the Public Library Association (PLA): “talk, sing, read, write and play together.”

A play kitchen and mini theater at the North Regional branch of the Hennepin County (MN) Library. The Hennepin system’s early learning spots are oriented to children ages two to six and resulted from a collaboration with the Minnesota Children’s Museum.
Photo Courtesy of Hennepin County Library

“Playing is how kids learn,” the document tells readers. “Playing in a space like this helps kids use their imagination to solve problems—it also helps them learn to work with others and prepares them to learn and read.”

For now, HCL is calling these new areas “Family Play and Learning Spots,” according to Hartman. HCL is working with the Minnesota Children’s Museum and the Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development on an evaluation of the impact these types of areas have within libraries. “I’m really interested in a pre- and post- test,” says Hartman. “What does engagement look like between parents with children in a regular library vs. one that’s more thoughtfully planned?”

Answers to that question, and others, will be revealed when the study is completed this fall. Hartman says she will use the findings to leverage support for more play spaces.

In the meantime, the people who help conceive and build these educational hot spots never stop wondering how spatial design can better support literacy and development. “Some designers look at things in two dimensions, like how long you want your desk to be,” Exley says. “We like to think in a four-dimensional way. We come in to add the experience level—in 4D.”

By Lisa G. Kropp

Do you know STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)?  From hosting “parties” with traditional building blocks to using science kits with young children, ideas for STEAM programming in libraries were discussed at a recent panel at the ALA (American Library Association) annual conference.

The panel, “What’s Hot in STEAM Education: How Using ECRR2 Supports Literacy, Common Core, and School Success,” also honed in on using hands-on activities to build skills outlined in the updated Every Child Ready to Read initiative.

At the packed, standing-room-only event, moderator Christy Estrovitz, early literacy coordinator of the San Francisco Public Library, hosted panelists including Dr. Judy Cheatham, vice president of literacy services at the organization Reading is Fundamental (RIF), along with Eva Mitnick, coordinator of children’s services at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and Susan Anderson-Newham, early learning supervising librarian at the Pierce County (WA) Library System, and a 2013 Library Journal  Mover and Shaker.

Judy Cheatham of Reading is Fundamental: Resources for teaching STEAM and ECRR

What does STEAM programming mean to public libraries and early literacy services? According to Cheatham, STEAM has the potential to help position public libraries at the forefront of language and literacy development, particularly when working with parents, young children, and teachers.

Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest, and largest, children and family literacy non-profit in the US. Its mission is to motivate young children to read by working with them, their parents, and  community members to make reading a part of everyday life.

Cheatham noted that the RIF site offers a multitude of resources to use when planning library STEAM programs. RIF’s 2012-2013 Multicultural Book Collection focuses on books that enhance STEAM education, and related four-page resource guides feature a wealth of information and suggested activities for parents, librarians, educators, and community coordinators.

The resource guides suggest simple ways to add STEAM activities to literature-based projects. “Teachers don’t have to be Albert Einstein’s offspring to do STEAM activities,” Cheatham noted, challenging the audience to infuse more STEAM into their programming.

Why focus on STEAM education at such an early age? Cheatham explained that in order for U.S. students to compete in a global economy and job market, we needs to improve their math and science skills. Middle School is the wrong time—too late—to introduce complex science and math terms and vocabulary, she said. Research shows that young children’s brains are like sponges, she noted: eager to absorb information on a wide variety of topics.

Cheatham cited statistics showing that 75 percent of students who are poor readers in third  grade remain so in high school. After third grade, cognitive demands increase yearly, as does the pressure to master  the new Common Core State Standards. If we don’t start introducing scientific vocabulary to kids at a younger age, she argued, we are going to lose the war on literacy and set students up for failure down the line.

Children’s librarians can serve their communities by creating STEAM programs for parents with young children, and by offering educators access to STEAM-rich materials and activities, Cheatham noted.

RIF recommends using Z is for Moose with STEAM activities.

She also stressed the need to target learners earlier through workshops incorporating ECRR best practices: talking, singing, writing, reading, and playing. One book that RIF recommends for STEAM activities is Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinksy (HarperCollins, 2012). RIF’s suggested related activities for the book listed included all five STEAM subjects.

Books that encourage STEAM allow librarians to teach complex vocabulary to parents, teachers, and young children in a fun way, Cheatham reiterated. Ending her inspiring talk, she reminded the audience that vocabulary needs to be heard, used, and practiced.

STEAM at the Los Angeles Public Library: Partnering with the California Science Center

During Mitnick’s presentation, she described a new STEAM program hosted by LAPL in partnership with the California Science Center. LAPL has 72 branches and a central library, all of which follow ECRR practices. Their recent collaboration with the California Science Center introduces preschool children to science concepts using the ECRR principles.

“Preschoolers are natural scientists” because they question everything, Mitnick noted. The goal of the  project was to create a program promoting STEM activities across the curriculum and referring to the California Preschool Curriculum framework. Also, she said, parents were provided with resources to support their child’s STEM experiences.

In January, four LAPL branches began working with preschoolers and their parents, using science kits created by California Science Center. Librarians received training during workshops at the Science Center, whose staff created six kits around the following topics:

• Rocks and Minerals
• Insects
• Habitats
• Seeds to Plants
• Balls, Ramps, and Rollercoasters
• Build It!

Each kit contained plenty of manipulatives and tech devices including iPads, digital scales,  microscopes, and a mini projector.

Mitnick created a Preschool Science Program Form for library staff to fill out  when utilizing the kits. This way, they could keep track of materials and equipment used, including books. The form features a description of the program and its learning activities along with examples of ECRR activities and skills. Finally, Mitnick asked staff to include anecdotal information and comments on the program by children and parents, feedback to keep in mind while the pilot prepares to expand to three more LAPL branches in the fall.

Mitnick said that reading the RIF-recommended STEAM books prompted LAPL librarians create additional booklists. The preschool science series involved a lot of dialogue among parents, librarians, and preschoolers: “What is an inclined plane? Can you find one at the library?” Librarians introduced science topics in other fun ways, like singing songs related to the kit’s theme. Library staff used the downloadable site Freegal Music to search key science words in children’s songs.

The young learners “wrote” their hypotheses by drawing their thoughts and ideas out on large pieces of paper. There was also lots of playing with the kits’ manipulative devices. Preschoolers created art using scientific principles, such as gravity painting. “The paint always goes down!” Mitnick deadpanned.

Librarians and parents used vocabulary terms such as observe, predict, and check, knowing that the kids, modeling adult behavior, would start using them too. Wrapping up, Mitnick said that LAPL hopes to expand their science programming with another grant next year for elementary age kids.

Block Play at the Pierce County Library System

Anderson-Newham started her talk by exclaiming, “Block parties are completely addictive!” She was referring to once-a-month events in which reps from the local Head Start center came to co-lead play sessions, using traditional maple blocks, with trained librarians.

Like Cheatham, Anderson-Newham emphasized that STEM activities should start in early childhood settings, when children are at their most inquisitive. During the block parties, librarians announce two simple rules: participants cannot throw blocks or knock down anyone’s structure.

She went onto explain the seven stages of block play:

• Carrying blocks
• Stacking–both horizontal and vertical
• Bridging
• Enclosures
• Patterns and Symmetry
• Early Representational
• Later Representational

Anderson-Newham noted that once each stage is mastered, youngsters move backward and forward through them during play. The different block units feature labels—arches, columns, squares, rectangles, triangles, cylinders, and circles, as well as the basic, half, and double unit blocks—to teach children this vocabulary.

Each block party starts with a brief story time with picture books such as Christy Hale’s Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building (Lee & Low, 2012) or Shape Capers by Cathryn Falwell (HarperCollins, 2007). There are also pictures of famous structures from around the world to inspire the kids.

After some time, librarians add more elements to the block play–transportation vehicles, farm and zoo animals, scarves, and clothespins. “Library meeting rooms are perfect for blocks,” noted  Anderson–Newham, because they are large spaces easily emptied of furniture, offering ample room for big structures.

Participating Head Start teachers said that the sessions enriched block play back in the classroom as well. Students began looking around the room wondering, “‘What else can we use with our blocks?’” said Anderson-Newham.

Some Head Start sites invited parents along, many of whom were not previously library users. Spanish-speaking staff gave library tours. Many parents applied for library cards and are now coming to the library on their own, Anderson-Newham said.

Every participating child receives a free set of 100 wooden blocks to take home, along with information sheets explaining what children learn while playing with blocks. Participating libraries have added blocks into their existing Lego building programs for older students.

Anderson-Newham ended her talk by quoting Frank Lloyd Wright, whose mother once gave him a set of wooden blocks for his birthday. “‘The feeling of those simple maple blocks is in my fingers to this day,’” he said.

The event was sponsored by PLA (the Public Library Association) and ALSC (the Association for Library Service to Children) ECRR Oversight Committee.