Success Before School

• The development of language and literacy skills begins at birth.

• Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first three years of life, when their brains grow to 90 percent of their eventual adult weight.

It is because of these startling facts that early literacy programs have exploded across the country. With an estimated 12,000 births in Kent County each year, we have an abundance of babies who will require the skills and resources to learn to read before they even take their first steps onto a school bus.

The Kent District Library has developed a plan to improve childhood literacy at birth, where they can make the greatest the impact. The plan -- "Play. Grow. Read." -- is a parent's resource kit that is distributed through the OB/Delivery departments of our region's three largest hospital systems. The kit includes a book, ideas to interact with your baby, a certificate for your baby's first library card and a refrigerator magnet. 

In just the few months that the program has been in existence, they have given away nearly 700 kits to first-time parents and parents under the age of 25. The library system even has plans to create the kit in Spanish, as well as other languages as needed this year.

It's important for parents to foster early literacy by providing an atmosphere that's fun, verbal and stimulating. It's not a teaching environment -- there will be that soon enough in the school systems -- but the tools children need to be successful in pre-school, kindergarten and first grade must be given at birth. With grants from local foundations, Kent District Library is ensuring that is possible for our city's youngest citizens.

To be a do-gooder:

• Learn more about the Play. Grow. Read. Program 

• Follow the Kent District Library on Facebook 

• Visit your local library by finding a branch near you

• Make a donation to the Kent District Library

Source: Janice Fonger, Kent District Library

Writer: Jennifer Wilson, Do Good Editor