Family literacy lesson plan
Pennsylvania Center for the Book
Since January 2000, the Pennsylvania State University Libraries have been home to The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, one of fifty-one state centers throughout the United States. Created to study, honor, celebrate, and promote books, reading, libraries, and literacy, the center, under the direction of Dr. Steven Herb, provides services and resources to citizens and residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to expand their knowledge. Herb, head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library and a national leader in children’s literature and storytelling, has focused his considerable talents and those of his colleagues on Web resources for family literacy.
Herb states, “After food, water, and shelter, there is nothing as important as reading in a young child’s life. It is the foundation for all future learning and the difference between a life of opportunity and one filled with difficulty.”
The center’s Family Literacy Activities section of its Web site is devoted to ensuring that every Pennsylvanian becomes a reader while making it as much fun as possible. The research-based literacy resources are designed for parents and educators working with parents and young children. The online resources include:
- -The Research Foundation for the Objectives and Resources
- -Guides for Parents and Caregivers: Getting Started offers tips on how to read to young children, Stepping Into Books is a guide to literacy learning for toddlers, and Growing Into Books is a similar guide for three- to five-year-olds
- -Family Fun Night Programs based on the children’s books The Furry Animal Alphabet Book, Little Penguin's Tale, and Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse
- -Book-Centered Integrated Lesson Plans for adult education, parenting education, early childhood education, and interactive literacy, all based on children's books—dinosaurs: Catch Me If You Can!, sports: Clifford’s Sports Day, community: Katy and the Big Snow, and fantasy: Good Night, Good Knight
- -Annotated booklists containing hundreds of recommended books for young children
- -The Baker’s Dozen—the annual list of the thirteen best books published for family literacy in the preceding year
- -Web resources for the whole family
- -Professional resources for teachers, caregivers, and interested parents
- -Downloadable activities based on high quality children’s literature. These fun pages for young children are both entertaining and a great learning opportunity.
The ability to read is one of the most important skills anyone can have. It leads to success in school, satisfying jobs, and a lifetime of entertainment and information. Until illiteracy is defeated, a focus on literacy is always an important education strategy, but perhaps there has never been a time of more importance in the battle to defeat illiteracy. The Internet has brought into sharp focus that the need to read is absolutely critical to life’s success. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book isn’t just about people who already read and care about books. The center believes it is essential that the next generation also loves books, and the only way to do that is to make literacy a critical part of its service mission.
Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book alcove is located in 201B Pattee Library at University Park. Hours are Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Wednesdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and by appointment (call 814-863-2141). Book collections include a reference collection pertaining to books and Pennsylvania; Penn State University Press titles about the Commonwealth and books; and collections representing Pennsylvania writers connected to The Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania. This unique resource is an online interactive map with links to county histories, geographic atlases, a sampler of historical newspaper articles, and nearly 600 biographical profiles of famous Pennsylvania writers and cultural figures. See if we have your favorite Pennsylvanian already posted. The Map won a Daniel Boorstin Award for Innovative and Creative Reading Promotion Projects from the Library of Congress last year.
The Penn State University Libraries and Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications Nancy L. Eaton sponsor the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Visit the center’s home page at http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/.