Early Literacy Beyond Circle Time- Integrating Language & Literacy into Play, by Melissa Depper and Laurie Ann Armstrong

This session is part of the Follett Growing Readers Series

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”  --Fred Rogers

Children are non-stop learners, and are constantly growing their awareness of language and building the skills they will need to become good readers, not just when they are sitting and listening to a book, but also when they are negotiating with classmates, acting out a story, singing a new song, or drawing, painting, or scribbling.

How do you create robust literacy-based experiences for your children beyond sharing books in circle time? What are some road-tested activities that will reinforce their language and literacy learning in playful and age-appropriate ways?

 In this webinar, Melissa Depper, an experienced children's librarian and Chair of the Selection Committee for the new CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards for Early Literacy, will introduce the five winning picture books of the 2014 Bell Awards. The Bell Awards books are selected because they provide excellent support of early literacy development in young children.

Then Laurie Anne Armstrong, a veteran early childhood educator who designed, developed, and runs the Reading Readiness Outreach program at the Arapahoe Library District, will describe how she has used each title to create create and integrate related classroom activities that she brings to high-need area preschools.

You will learn:

• How reading, writing, singing, talking, and playing together with children supports early literacy development.

• Book-based and literacy-based activities appropriate for a variety of classroom centers.

• Titles of twenty-five high-quality picture books published in 2013 specifically selected for their potential to support early literacy practices.

Attend this session and you will be entered to win a CUSTOM Door prize from Follett Early Learning!

When you attend the Growing Readers Series webinars, you will automatically have a chance to win a collection of books and/or other resources customized to your specifications with the personalized expert guidance of the literacy specialists at Follett Early Learning.

All sessions are 1.5 hours long, and include a brief announcement from our sponsor.

2:oo PM – 3:30 PM Eastern Time.

Can’t participate in our webinars at the appointed time? Never fear! All of the webinars are recorded. To view the recordings, simply register now and you will receive an email with a link to the recording when it is ready to be viewed. You can still download the certificate by watching the recording to the end when the certificate link is announced and displayed on the screen.

*Please be advised that you will only be eligible for the great door prizes if you participate in the live session.

See the schedule of upcoming webinars.