GRTR - Family Place Libraries™

Family Place Libraries™ is a network of children's librarians nationwide who believe that literacy begins at birth, and that libraries can help build healthy communities by nourishing healthy families. A joint initiative of Middle Country Public Library and Libraries for the Future, the Family Place Libraries™ network currently includes more than 220 sites in 24 states and continues to grow.

If you need more information on Family Place Libraries™, please visit their Web site.

Get Ready to Read! and your library are a perfect combination. The Get Ready to Read! Web site is full of resources and information to help young children build the early literacy skills that they need to be ready to learn to read.

By sharing these resources with families that visit your library, you will provide them with early literacy experiences that will build skills and build a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

The Get Ready to Read! Web site is full of free resources that can easily be accessed on library computers. Families can use these resources online and librarians can print out activities and information that parents can use with their children. All materials on our Web site are free to print out and distribute.

Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool
Families can use the Get Ready to Read! screening tool online in English or in Spanish.
Early Literacy Activity Cards
Our early literacy skill-building activity cards are engaging, child-friendly activities for preschoolers that are free and easy to print. You might also consider having these activities available for patrons to use in the library. Some librarians have found it helpful to include activity cards in their newsletters or Web sites.
Online Games
Families can play the three online interactive games that involve children in entertaining stories and engaging activities that explore a variety of essential early literacy skills.
Early literacy checklists
Early Literacy checklists can help parent and teachers create a literacy-friendly environment. We have checklists for the home, classroom and family child care that are easy to print and fun to use.

About the Get Ready to Read! Literacy Activity Kit
Get Ready to Read! and Family Place Libraries™ have developed a literacy activity kit that patrons can use to help their children develop the literacy skills that they need to become successful readers and writers later in life.

This kit contains activities that are meant for a four or five-year-old child, and directions are included for each activity. In addition, many of the different materials needed for the activities have been included in the kit.

By the beginning of 2008, this Web page will have links to all of the documents and resources that are in the kits so that librarians can print and replenish the kits as needed.