It’s that time again! Children are back to school and so are we! Raising A Reader is a fun, interactive program for parents and children ages 0-5. It’s absolutely free! We are starting Raising A Reader sessions at neighborhood schools throughout Tucson.

Check out our latest family newsletter to find out more about where you can join us for Raising A Reader! And while you’re at it, be sure to subscribe to our Family Newsletter. We share great information about our free programs and resources each month!

 

 

 

Being ready for kindergarten matters!

In fact, research shows that children who enter kindergarten with basic math and literacy skills are more likely to thrive academically, go further in school, and find secure jobs as adults. Make Way for Kindergarten is part of our Neighborhood School Readiness Project that began in Fall of 2014 with the generous support of The Helios Education Foundation. The program teaches children the skills they need to thrive in Kindergarten. Through focus groups with local educators, we determined which skills teachers want their new students to have when the begin kindergarten.

Make Way for Kindergarten helps children develop the specific skills that teachers want them to have on the first day of school.

 

Families learn what they can expect in kindergarten, from daily routines to how to communicate with new school staff. Parents gain knowledge, resources, and confidence they need to support and advocate for their children in school!

 

 

Through Make Way for Kindergarten, families receive books and literacy resources. Families in Make Way for Kindergarten receive Ready4K! text messages through our partnership with Stanford University Center for Education Policy Analysis. Ready4K! sends texts to help families maximize regular family routines and help prepare young children for kindergarten.

Find out where  our innovative programs are happening around the community!

 

There’s a a certain excitement about discovering a new favorite book – a book that you know you’ll want to enjoy again and again. It’s one of our greatest joys to share our new favorite books at Make Way for Books. In fact, our staff have our own Book Chats so we can introduce great new books to each other! If you’re looking for a new children’s book to share with your child, your class, or just to read yourself, check out some of our new favorites (and some activities you can do with each book):

Art for Baby Author: Yana Peel

Containing stunning high-contrast artwork by contemporary artists, this beautifully-designed book is as enjoyable for adults as it is for babies! The high-contrast images are perfect for babies’ developing eyesight during the first few months of life, and it’s never too early to expose them to modern art!

The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water / El cocodrilo al que no le gustaba el agua Author: Gemma Merino

This crocodle wants to like water just like everyone else, but he just can’t seem to do it! This book reminds us that we all have strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes even hidden talents! You can help build your child’s comprehension skills by asking them what they think will happen next in the story.

Maria Had a Little Llama / María tenía una llamita by Angela Dominguez

In this beautiful twist on the classic Mary Had A Little Lamb,  we see village musicians playing traditional Peruvian instruments. Have fun with your child making homemade instruments. For instance, an empty oatmeal container makes a great drum. Pots, pans and wooden spoons make wonderful sounds too!

 

Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales

Bright vivacious colors, an adorable hero, eccentric characters, and elements of Mexican culture are featured in this lively story. This action-packed book is a wonderful celebration of open-ended play and sibling team work! In Mexico, luchadores design their unique costumes to reflect their personalities. Get creative with your child and work together to design your own luchador masks! Then, engage your child in imaginative play by retelling the story wearing your masks. Don’t forget to test out our favorite lucha style – the Tickle Tackle!

 

You can find all of these books, activities you can do around each book, and more on the free Make Way for Books app! Check it out today! 

Make Way for Books had the incredible opportunity to host grammy-nominated children’s author and recording artist José-Luis Orozco for a special concert! José-Luis Orozco’s bilingual (English and Spanish) music is fun and engaging and focuses on building language and literacy skills through meaningful interactions and singing.

 

 

Children, families, and home-based care professionals gathered in our building for a night filled with singing, dancing, laughing, learning, and joy at Make Way for Books.

José-Luis Orozco’s empowering words about the importance of educators, the important role of parents, and the strength of bilingualism is very much connected to our own mission and work. We are so grateful he could share his message to the children, families, and educators we work with! And at the end of the night, we were able to send home a CD with each family and educator so they could continue to share his songs!

 

 

Be sure to check out José-Luis Orozco’s music and learn more about him on his website!

 

 

We can’t believe that Tucson Festival of Books is already here!

This wonderful event is filled with books, stories, life-sized characters, and visits for incredible authors from all over the nation!

Please bring family, friends, and children to the Tucson Festival of Books at The University of Arizona on March 12-13! Stop by the Tent for Tots, where we will bring stories to life for young children throughout the weekend. And be sure the visit our Book Bus and booth at the corner of Cherry Ave. and the mall where you can buy shirts, hats, raffle tickets, and other merchandise!

And once you’ve had your fill of fun at the Tucson Festival of Books, we will be hosting a special event at Make Way for Books!

We are so excited once again to welcome José Luis Orozco, Grammy-nominated bilingual children’s musician, to Make Way for Books for a free concert on Monday, March 14th, at 6pm! Families, educators, and children are welcome!

We incorporate José Luis Orozco’s wonderful music in most of our programming, so you may already be familiar with some of our favorite songs of his, including “Chocolate” and “Juanito”!

To find out more about special events and programming for families, please check out our latest family newsletter!

Here at Make Way for Books, we work in an organization of imaginative and masterful storytellers. We love finding fun and creative ways to make story come alive for children. Often this includes making the story life-size and interactive. The following ideas are ones we used to give educators props and strategies for making a book come to life for children in their care.

In Dog’s Colorful Day (by Emma Dodd), the character, Dog, has a very messy day as different things (grass, chocolate, juice, etc.) stick to his fur. Throughout the book children count the messy spots that cover Dog.

To bring this story to life, we created:

• A felt board with Dog cutout
• 9 colored felt spots
• A shower loofah to give Dog a bath

To encourage children to interact with the story as well, we also prepared items for the children to use and take home after.  We provided:

• Papers with a drawing of Dog (complete, of course, with the black spot on his left ear)
• Sandwich bag containing one small construction paper square for each color that ends up on Dog
• A color copy of the two pages in the book showing all the spots that end up on Dog

And now to make the story come alive…

Before we read, we gave each child the paper with the drawing of Dog and the color squares.

As we read the story, the children put the spots on Dog and counted along with the story.  At the end, they wiped them off their paper to give Dog a bath (we used the loofah for our feltboard).

After the story, we gave children the color copy of the spots summary and encouraged them to retell the story at home with their families.  We also encouraged the children to make the story their own and cut the squares out into whatever shape they wanted!  This is a great way for the children to retell the story themselves!

 

 

What part of yourself do you wish was represented more in the books you read? Is it your family, where you grew up, your culture, or even an experience you had?  Is there an aspect that you have never seen in a book before or wish was portrayed more often?

It is especially important for young children to see themselves reflected in books.  Children find interest in relatable experiences and are typically engaged and interested in books that reflect their family, home, culture, etc. For example, children in Tucson may not find books regarding building a snowman and sledding very relatable.  However, reading and learning about the seasons in the Sonoran Desert is more applicable to them.  Likewise, this is true when reading books about different cultures.

It is important to have books that children can connect with in libraries, classrooms, and homes.  These books help children learn about themselves and build acceptance toward others.

Make Way for Books is committed to finding books that reflect the cultures, families, and languages of the children and families we serve. Sometimes this is easier said than done. There is certainly a lack of diverse books:

Published in 2014, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (based in the University of Wisconsin-Madison) published a study of around 3,200 children’s books they received in 2013.  This is the breakdown of their findings:

•  93  books had significant African or African American content
•  67  books were by Black authors and/or illustrators
•  34  books had American Indian themes, topics, or characters
•  18  books were by American Indian authors and/or illustrators
•  61   books had significant Asian/Pacific or Asian/Pacific American content
•  88  books were by authors and/or illustrators of Asian/Pacific heritage
•  57   books had significant Latino content
•  48  books were by Latino authors and/or illustrators

As you can see, books written about or for culturally diverse characters represent a mere percentage of what is published each year, making these books more difficult to find!  Keep in mind this study does not include non-ethnic cultures such as the LGBTQ community or those with differing abilities.

There is a lot that goes into selecting these books.  Here is a look at some of the factors that go into selecting these books:

• Authenticity

Once you find a culturally diverse book, will it be authentic?  In other words, does it properly reflect the values and beliefs of the culture it is portraying?

• Accuracy

Are the details of the book accurate?  Aspects such as the proper language and dialect spoken by the characters and the parts of their everyday life need to be correct. A book can be authentic but not accurate.  Likewise, a book can be accurate but not authentic.  It can be a definite challenge to find books that are both!

At Make Way for Books, we are dedicated to promoting all aspects of early childhood literacy.  We are passionate about making sure the books we share and provide are representative of the children and families we work with. We also provide workshops to support educators in promoting cultural diversity through children’s books.

 

For book suggestions including multicultural book lists, please check out our booklists!

 

 

Our latest round of Raising A Reader sessions start this week and we can’t wait to welcome new families! Five days a week, Make Way for Books staff go out to elementary schools throughout Tucson to providing one hour of fun, engaging early literacy programming for families. Each
week, children and families participate in activities and storytimes developed to help children develop specific pre-reading skills they need to arrive to kindergarten “ready to read.”

The program increases children’s access to books over the course of six weeks. A 20-year study found that having books at home has a greater impact on children’s future academic achievement than their parents education level or job. Through Raising A Reader, children and families receive a bag filled with 5 books to take home and share and return the following week for a new set of books to share.

One parent shared,”Our family has participated for about 6 months, and in this 6 months we have read over 50 new books and we were also gifted with five books to keep. We are so impressed with the level of attention and activiesthat make way for books provides us. Can’t wait to keep participating.”

 

Find Raising A Reader near you!