Early Literacy

The best story times are very interactive. You talk about and read the story, your child talks to you about the story, and conversation takes place between the two of you. This is what educators call dialogic reading.

You can use the PEER method to help you remember a few ways to talk while you read:

• P: Prompt your child with a question about the story. Prompting your child focuses attention, engages the child in the story, and helps the child understand the book. Point to something in the picture, for example, a balloon. "What is that?"
• E: Evaluate your child's response. "That's right! That's a balloon."
• E: Expand on what your child said. "That's a big, red balloon! We saw one of those in the grocery store yesterday."
• R: Repeat or revisit the prompt you started with, encouraging your child to use the new information you've provided. "Can you say big, red balloon?" Each time the book is reread, the expanded vocabulary words are verbalized again.

Each month we highlight community partners who work to improve literacy in Bulloch County.

Ferst Readers' mission is to strengthen communities by providing quality books and literacy resources for children and their families to use at home during the earliest stages of development.

Free books for 5-year-olds and younger:

Ferst Readers of Bulloch County partners with Bulloch County Schools to supply free books and literacy materials to families. Parents or adults may sign up any child who is five-years-old or younger. Multiple children within a household may participate. This service helps do the following:

• encourage reading
• improve literacy in preschool children
• increase a child’s access to books at home, and
• encourage families to read together

• Sponsor a child for them to receive free books at home ($36 per year)
• Register a child to receive free books at home (5 years old or younger)
• Donate to Ferst Readers of Bulloch County
• Volunteer to be part of the Community Action Team
• Participate or donate to Bulloch County Schools' two annual fundraisers for Ferst Readers of Bulloch County:
  • Elementary School Coin Drive
  • Jeans Fridays for School District Employees

To learn more, visit www.ferstreaders.org or contact Bulloch County Schools about its literacy fundraisers and initiatives at 912.212.8570.

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

The Statesboro Regional Library has a special program for pre-school children and their families. The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is free for children ages birth to five-years-old. Visit or call the library today to learn more, register, and pick up a starter pack. You can also register online

Communities across the state are working hard to ensure children are on track to achieve third-grade reading proficiency, and you are invited to join this effort.

• Statesboro Regional Library https://strl.info/
• DOLLY PARTON'S IMAGINATION LIBRARY - Sign up children by email at imagination@fpl.info

• Ferst Readers

The Early Literacy newsletter is a service of the Bulloch County Literacy Council. It is an online resource tool for parents, educators, volunteers, family members, and those who work in childcare to help them build literacy skills in preschool children from birth through age five. It is published and distributed by Bulloch County Schools on behalf of the community partners who serve on the Bulloch County Literacy Council.

• Early Literacy, Vol. 1, Issue 3
  
• Early Literacy, Vol. 1, Issue 2
• Early Literacy, Vol. 1, Issue 1

Email: webster@bullochschools.org
Website: www.bullochschools.org
Location: 150 Williams Road, Statesboro, GA, USA
Phone: (912) 212-8500
Facebook: facebook.com/bullochcountyschools
Twitter: @bullochschools