Families with children ages 0 to 5 will soon be able to take free early literacy classes at the Springfield Public Library.
The program, a partnership with nonprofit Parenting Now, will include 6 sessions in as many weeks focused on different themes, like bedtime routines and parenting playfully.
Abigail Craig, a youth services librarian at the Springfield Public Library, said the classes will combine teaching parents how to help their kids read, and involving the children themselves.
“It’ll be interactive, but it will also be with an expert who’s going to give the families resources,” she said, “They’re going to bring the children in at the end and they’ll do some activities together and just be modeling things to do with your children at home.”
The program is part of the library’s early literacy programming, supported by the Ready to Read Grant from the Oregon State Library.
The classes will also include free childcare and books to bring home, something Craig said she hopes will help bring in more families.
“Like everything at the library, we really want things to be accessible to everyone and free,” she said. “Especially this way, we might be bringing people in who aren’t familiar with the library. So it’s a way to connect them to more free resources and to learn about how the library can help them on this journey.”
Craig said, eventually, the library hopes to do classes in Spanish as well.
“Getting books in the hands of children is so important. And having parents be there, learning…engaged in reading to kids, telling stories, interacting with their children, that’s a big part of it,” she said. “We’re just really excited to have a partnership like this and to be exploring a partnership where we can support the Spanish-speaking families in the community in the ways that they need.”
Registration is currently open for each class, the first of which is on Sept. 19.
