A better beginning with books and libraries for Western Australian babies.Early years research shows that that learning to read is the single most important factor in school success and that an early exposure to books and stories substantially contributes to success in early literacy. In response to this research the State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia consists of the State Reference Library and the J S Battye Library within the building known as the Alexander Library Building, in Northbridge in Western Australia. has developed Better beginnings, an early intervention ear·ly intervention n. Abbr. EI A process of assessment and therapy provided to children, especially those younger than age 6, to facilitate normal cognitive and emotional development and to prevent developmental disability or delay. family literacy This article has multiple issues: * Its factual accuracy is disputed. * It needs additional references or sources for verification. * Very few or no other articles link to this one. program that targets children aged 0-3 years. The program consists of a series of linked strategies developed to encourage parents to share books and stories with their babies and to establish lifelong links with libraries ********** All parents want their children to learn to read--they well understand how important this is to their child's success. What is often not so well understood is that reading to children from the day they are born helps them to develop the essential preliteracy skills needed for learning to read. Early years research shows that that learning to read is the single most important factor in school success and that an early exposure to books and stories substantially contributes to success in early literacy. In response to this research the State Library of Western Australia has developed Better beginnings, an early intervention family literacy program that targets children aged 0-3 years. Better beginnings recognises this early years research and best practice and focuses on working in partnership with families to support their children's early literacy and learning. The program consists of a series of linked strategies developed to encourage parents to share books and stories with their babies and to establish lifelong links with libraries. A fully evaluated pilot of Better beginnings was established in 11 Western Australian Australian pertaining to or originating in Australia. Australian bat lyssavirus disease see Australian bat lyssavirus disease. Australian cattle dog a medium-sized, compact working dog used for control of cattle. communities during 2004/05. This has produced a number of positive outcomes. A formal independent evaluation, conducted in partnership with Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (née Brown), OBE (August 2 1861–June 9 1932) was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament. University, also provides early evidence of the program's success. This success has paved pave tr.v. paved, pav·ing, paves 1. To cover with a pavement. 2. To cover uniformly, as if with pavement. 3. To be or compose the pavement of. the way for the program to be expanded statewide over the next four years. The Western Australian government's continued financial commitment along with that of local government and funding from the Rio Tinto Rio Tinto may refer to:
Supporting parents as their child's first teacher Better beginnings has a multifaceted mul·ti·fac·et·ed adj. Having many facets or aspects. See Synonyms at versatile. Adj. 1. multifaceted - having many aspects; "a many-sided subject"; "a multifaceted undertaking"; "multifarious interests"; "the multifarious approach that includes child centred activities for children in addition to a parenting skills component to foster emergent emergent /emer·gent/ (e-mer´jent) 1. coming out from a cavity or other part. 2. pertaining to an emergency. emergent 1. coming out from a cavity or other part. 2. coming on suddenly. literacy and lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the concept that "It's never too soon or too late for learning", a philosophy that has taken root in a whole host of different organisations. Lifelong learning is attitudinal; that one can and should be open to new ideas, decisions, skills or behaviors. . The program builds on parents' existing knowledge and children's experiences in the home to encourage and support the vital role of parents as their child's first and most important teacher. Evidence from the evaluation of family literacy programs overseas has shown that parents who are not used to sharing books often need ongoing support in selecting stories and in scaffolding interaction with their children. In response to this, Better beginnings has been developed acknowledging that it is parents' own literacy practices that determine opportunities for their young children to be exposed to literacy related interactions. The strategies that make up Better beginnings encourage children, parents and extended family members to read together, discuss new concepts and issues, learn new things, and share personal reminiscences reminiscences npl → reminiscencias fpl; recuerdos mpl reminiscences npl → réminiscences fpl, souvenirs mpl and stories. Public libraries provide community hubs where families are supported with practical strategies to build the confidence of adults in sharing stories and language with their children. They also foster a mutually rewarding experience that creates a bond between family members, builds community and promotes social capital. The gift of a book, supplied by the participating local government, is the first step in Better beginnings. Community health nurses present a toolkit An integrated set of software routines or utilities (tools) that are used to develop and maintain applications and databases. There are toolkits for developing almost anything. See tool, developer's toolkit, library, class library and CASE. , containing the gift book, a growth chart, poster poster, placard designed to be posted in some public place for purposes of commercial announcement or propaganda. Advertising makes wide use of posters, as do charitable and political organizations. , booklist and information about reading, to new parents. Families visit family reading centres in libraries with parenting information, children's books and a range of resources that promote early literacy. Parenting workshops and storytime sessions are presented in collaboration Working together on a project. See collaborative software. with other agencies in the community. Story kits containing books, puppets and other resources are available for loan from the library to childcare centres, playgroups and other community groups serving babies, toddlers and their families. Practitioners delivering the program are supported through training and program handbooks. Together this builds a comprehensive, ongoing and sustainable model for early literacy that supports parents and their young children, promotes connectedness between families and their communities, and encourages an ongoing relationship between families and libraries. The role of libraries in supporting family literacy Early years research clearly shows the value of building strong foundations on which children can learn and develop later skills in reading. What is often not recognised is the vital role that public libraries play in this area. Research conducted in the UK for Sure start has shown that introducing a young child to the library is one of the most significant things a parent can do to make a difference to their child's later education. Developing a library habit early in life gives children a head start. In Better beginnings, libraries are the key link between initial intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. and continuing support for parents. The independent evaluation of Better beginnings identified one of its greatest strengths to be 'coordination ... by the State Library that has the potential for long term followup followup - On Usenet, a posting generated in response to another posting (as opposed to a reply, which goes by e-mail rather than being broadcast). Followups include the ID of the parent message in their headers; smart news-readers can use this information to present Usenet news in activities'. Public libraries involved in the pilot have established strong new partnerships as well as building on extensive existing networks to extend initial contact with parents in order to sustain literacy development over time. An excellent example of this is in Camarvon, a regional centre 900 km north of Perth Perth, city, Australia Perth, city (1991 pop. 1,018,702), capital of Western Australia, SW Australia, on the Swan River estuary. Fremantle is Perth's port. , where library staff have used Better beginnings to establish a story sharing program for children and mothers from the Mungallah Aboriginal Community Playgroup playgroup Noun a regular meeting of infants for supervised creative play playgroup n → jardín m de infancia playgroup play n . Shirley Shir·ley , William 1694-1771. British colonial administrator who was governor of Massachusetts (1741-1749 and 1753-1756) and commanded British forces in the French and Indian War. Slatter Slat´ter v. i. 1. To be careless, negligent, or aswkward, esp. with regard to dress and neatness; to be wasteful. , the regional librarian (1) A person who works in the data library and keeps track of the tapes and disks that are stored and logged out for use. Also known as a "file librarian" or "media librarian." See data library. (2) See CA-Librarian. , initially used the resources in a Better beginnings outreach Outreach is an effort by an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences or the general public. toolbox See toolkit and toolbar. to take storytime to the community. Having established a rapport The former name of device management software from Wyse Technology, San Jose, CA (www.wyse.com) that is designed to centrally control up to 100,000+ devices, including Wyse thin clients (see Winterm), Palm, PocketPC and other mobile devices. with the parents, she invited them to the library. Now, each fortnight fort·night n. A period of 14 days; two weeks. [Middle English fourtenight, alteration of fourtene night, fourteen nights : Old English f , the playgroup coordinator makes up to three trips to the library in her car to bring eager participants from the community to the library. Many parents have joined themselves and their children as library members, and are regularly borrowing resources. Best of all, library staff have noticed that the young mothers from Mungallah are becoming more confident in coming to the library, sharing books with their children and talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to staff. A further benefit has been that staff have noticed an increase in the number of Aboriginal people visiting and using the library. Population and community health workers who have at times had difficulty in reaching young Indigenous Indigenous may refer to:
How Better beginnings works Better beginnings provides a series of linked strategies that supports parents in providing strong language and literacy development practices for their children as well as facilitating ongoing communication between early childhood service providers and families. The program aims to * introduce children to developmentally appropriate books and language related activities * encourage and support the vital role of parents as their child's first teacher in modelling excellent early literacy practices in the home * raise awareness in the community of the value and pleasure of reading and sharing stories with children * link families to the resources and services that libraries offer people of all ages Literacy toolkits for parents At the heart of Better beginnings are the literacy toolkits for parents. Each kit contains a board book chosen especially for babies as well as a growth chart with well known nursery rhymes nursery rhymes, verses, generally brief and usually anonymous, for children. The best-known examples are in English and date mostly from the 17th cent. A popular type of rhyme is used in "counting-out" games, e.g., "Eenie, meenie, minie, mo. , a colourful colourful or US colorful Adjective 1. with bright or richly varied colours 2. vivid or distinctive in character Adj. 1. poster featuring parents sharing books with their children, information on reading to children and a list of the best books to share with babies. Each participating local government funds the purchase of the book, based on the projected number of babies to be born within their locality 1. locality - In sequential architectures programs tend to access data that has been accessed recently (temporal locality) or that is at an address near recently referenced data (spatial locality). This is the basis for the speed-up obtained with a cache memory. 2. . Libraries add their own brochures with membership information and details of storytimes and parent workshops. Because Better beginnings is a universal program, the aim is to present the parents of every baby born with one of these kits. Libraries partner with community health nurses who give a kit to parents when they bring their baby for their six week health check or at home visits. This provides nurses with an opportunity to talk to parents about establishing solid early language and literacy practices and encourages parents to participate in other parts of the program. In Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie (kălg  r`lē), town (1991 pop. 25,016), Western Australia, SW Australia. It is the chief mining town of the state and the center of the East Coolgardie Goldfield. , 650km east of Perth, the library has established a
very successful partnership with the local hospital in which library
staff visit each week day and present a toolkit to new mothers. Library
staff continue these visits once the mothers and their babies have
returned home. Depending upon the need, they may make three or four
visits bringing with them a range of library resources for both parent
and child. These visits have proven popular with new mothers and also
mothers with older children.
Story sessions and workshops Libraries host story and rhyme rhyme or rime, the most prominent of the literary artifices used in versification. Although it was used in ancient East Asian poetry, rhyme was practically unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. sessions and workshops to build on the impact of the toolkits and link families to the lifelong learning opportunities offered by public libraries. Community health nurses pass on contact details of families receiving the toolkits and libraries use these to invite parents and their children to free sessions that introduce them to stories, rhymes and games for their baby as well as workshops conducted in partnership with other agencies covering speech and language development, play and nutrition. These sessions also offer adults and children the opportunity to play together, meet new people, learn about the best books for young children and share their own parenting experiences. Public libraries are ideal hosts for these. They provide friendly, easily accessible venues that are seen as good places for young children as well as offering a range of resources free of charge. Workshops and storytimes also give library staff and others presenting the sessions an opportunity to talk to parents individually to discuss issues and help those who have no experience of using a library feel more comfortable. Outreach story toolboxes Outreach toolboxes have been developed to travel outside the library to reach families who are not library users and have little experience with books. The books, puppets, felt boards and accompanying activity and ideas pack provides everything that is needed to share stories with children. Toolboxes can be used by library staff or lent to playgroups, child care centres and community health centres. In Kalgoorlie, Bega Garnbirringu Health Service (Bega), a local health organisation providing a health care service to the Aboriginal people of the Goldfields n. 1. A small slender woolly annual (Lasthenia chrysostoma) with very narrow opposite leaves and branches bearing solitary golden-yellow flower heads; it grows from Southwestern Oregon to Baja California and Arizona; - it is often cultivated. , conducts Fun in the park playgroup sessions. These sessions are held at different parks to promote the value of play to parents. A Bega coordinator travels around the area in a van to announce, with the help of a megaphone, that Fun in the park is happening near by. Library staff use their toolbox to run story sessions for the families, who enjoy the open air venue. The library service's association with Bega and the women who are part of the group has greatly assisted in developing relationships between families and library staff and has led to more families becoming library members. Family reading centres Libraries mean different things to different people. Parents with young children sometimes view them as quiet places where noisy Noisy is the name or part of the name of six communes of France:
capitalize on the fact that public libraries are open family friendly hours, including evenings and weekends, making it easy for families to visit and use the resources. A number of libraries running Better beginnings have been able to use their involvement in the program to leverage funds to establish family reading centres. Midland Public Library established a centre with an early years development grant from the Department of Community Development. The centre was launched in May 2005. It is becoming very popular with local families as indicated by the following comments in the library's visitors book. We saw the article in the local newspaper regarding your FRC and it even surpassed our high expectations! My children didn't know what to explore first ... the exciting books, gorgeous puppets, colourful toys or fun dress up clothes. And we didn't even get to the felt and magnetic stories. I can't wait to tell all the mothers in my playgroup all about the new addition to your library. What an amazing place! My grandchildren and I could have stayed to play all afternoon. Such colour, so much stimulation. I loved it! My children are 5,4,3,1, 6 months and it caters to them all, whilst I am able to spend time with each one! Great. Thanks. Handbook
This article is about reference works. For the subnotebook computer, see .
To deliver the project depends on very busy people to do even more so it is made as easy as possible for them. A handbook and training package provides a complete guide to the program with background information on early brain development, literacy and language development as well as promotional material. It clearly outlines the responsibilities of all partners working with the project and provides checklists and templates for the program strategies. Evaluating the impact of Better beginnings A team from Edith Cowan University has undertaken an independent evaluation of two communities involved in the pilot. This was funded as a result of a joint submission from Edith Cowan University and the State Library for an Edith Cowan University industry collaboration scheme grant. Researchers have combined qualitative qualitative /qual·i·ta·tive/ (kwahl´i-ta?tiv) pertaining to quality. Cf. quantitative. qualitative pertaining to observations of a categorical nature, e.g. breed, sex. and quantitative methods of investigation to assess the impact of the program on early literacy practices and to identify processes that help or hinder hin·der 1 v. hin·dered, hin·der·ing, hin·ders v.tr. 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. v.intr. its implementation. The quantitative data was collected through two surveys and qualitative date via interviews, focus groups and case studies. Findings from the evaluation indicate that Better beginnings is raising awareness Raising awareness is a common phrase advocacy groups use to justify a particular event, brochure or even the entire organization. Raising awareness refers to alerting the general public that a certain issue exists and should be approached the way the group desires. by parents of the importance of reading to their baby as well as demonstrating the importance and potential of public libraries to improve outcomes for preschool aged children and their families. What the practitioners think Librarians This is a list of people who have practised as a librarian and are well-known, either for their contributions to the library profession or primarily in some other field. have found the Better beginnings initiatives successful in reaching families who have not previously used the library, by collaborating with other agencies and working together. Librarian It's great when it can be done in a coordinated way rather than just one person getting burnt out doing it there. The only way it's going to be a success and sustainable is doing it this way and I think it's really exciting to be involved in it. It's terrific. Community health nurses played a critical role in reinforcing the read aloud message to parents. The nurses commonly said that Better beginnings complemented their work in giving parents an improved understanding of early literacy. The message is getting around, probably because also in all of our groups we talk about reading to the babies as well. They are at least aware now that the babies are able to see the pictures and the pages. What the parents think I started reading to my baby at one week. My husband thought there was no need. Now our baby is three months old and I think he really understands my language and looks from left to right across the page. We are reading all the time ... Of those surveyed during the evaluation, 97 per cent of mothers shared books with their babies after being involved in Better beginnings. Parents who did not see sharing books with babies as important before Better beginnings saw it as important once involved. Many mothers commented that they would never have considered reading to babies and very young children if they had not received their Better beginnings kit. Others said that whilst they had previously believed that reading to babies was important this opinion had been 'refreshed' or 'consolidated' by Better beginnings. The role of libraries Linking families to library services and resources is a fundamental aim of Better beginnings and the evaluation clearly shows that the program has been successful in changing the views of parents on joining their library. Comments such as that below show how effective the toolkit has been in leading parents to join the library. [The Better beginnings toolkit] gave me a start. Before I didn't have a library membership Figures from the surveys show that 46 per cent of mothers were already library members when they received their toolkit. Of those who were not, 24 per cent joined the library and 29 per cent had not joined the library The value of partnerships Better beginnings has been designed using a strong collaborative col·lab·o·rate intr.v. col·lab·o·rat·ed, col·lab·o·rat·ing, col·lab·o·rates 1. To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort. 2. approach. The evaluation found that cross agency cooperation has been a key factor in the successful implementation of the program because Interagency collaboration is seen as a strength, as the aims of the program are reinforced, support is offered at many levels and agencies develop an integrated approach to the provision of services. The report also comments on the shared goals of health and library professionals in reaching and communicating with families and concludes that the Better beginnings pilot project shows that overall the program was well designed, carefully coordinated and extremely well received by parents. The full report of the evaluation, Better beginnings: an evaluation of two communities, is available on the State Library website www.liswa.wa.gov See .gov and GovNet. (networking) gov - The top-level domain for US government bodies. .au/bb/pdf/Report20Sept.pdf A Better beginnings gateway on the State Library of Western Australia website is www.liswa.wa.gov.au/bb/index.html. This provides information and activities for parents and children as well as support for libraries and other agencies involved in the program. Where is Better beginnings heading? In 2005/06, 36 local governments will participate in the first year of the program's expansion and reach more than 15,000 families in communities as far north as Kununurra, 3200 km from Perth and as far south as Albany Albany, town, Australia Albany (ăl`bənē), town (1996 pop. 14,590), Western Australia, SW Australia. It is a port on Princess Royal Harbour of King George Sound. The town has woolen mills and fish canneries. 400 km from Perth. The three way alliance between state and local government and private enterprise will enable the program to continue to grow and develop to reach the family of every baby born in Western Australia. The universality of Better beginnings has been one of its major strengths. However it is also recognised that it is crucial to further develop targeted strategies to support families that are both hard to reach and have special needs. Other areas identified by the evaluation of the pilot program are also being worked on. Partnerships are being pursued to provide training and professional development for those delivering the program as well as developing a marketing strategy to raise awareness of the value of the program's aims in the wider community. Discussions are also being held with local publishers to encourage more board books for babies with local content. Better beginnings has shown itself to be a strong, sustainable and effective family literacy program. Over the next four years it will continue to evolve to provide new initiatives and opportunities that take advantage of the window of opportunity that presents itself in a child's first years--and to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to realise their full potential. Sue North and Nola Nola (nô`lä), town (1991 pop. 32,613), in Campania, S Italy. It is an agricultural center with food-processing industries. An Etruscan stronghold as early as 500 B.C., Nola flourished after passing (c.316 B.C. Allen Al·len , Edgar 1892-1943. American anatomist who is noted for his studies of hormones and for the discovery (1923) of estrogen. are library consultants at the State Library of Western Australia. They have worked in Western Australian public libraries for a number of years, mainly specialising in the area of children's and young adult services. Sue and Nola and have a long held interest in the delivery of public library services, particularly those to young people and their families. Address: State Library of Western Australia Perth Cultural Centre Perth WA 6000 sue.north@liswa.wa.gov.au Sue North and Nola Allen Library consultants State Library of Western Australia Received October October: see month. 2005 |
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