Here are four of the CLEL 12 actions. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
Have you completed any of the activities on this page? Let us know what you are working on! Leave us a comment below and let us know about your challenges and successes.
Action 9: Contact your county's Early Childhood Council and introduce yourself.
Libraries can't do it all by themselves! A strong partnership can start with a single email. Reach out to another organization that has a commitment to serving young children in your community
- Find your local ECC representative on this list.
- Send an email introducing yourself, and explain that you are working to support early literacy and wanted to reach out to another community organization supporting young children.
- Consider your time and resources, and if you can, ask if there's anything the library can do to support an upcoming ECC initiative, workshop, or training. (For example, perhaps you can suggest great picture books to preschool teachers, or make a short presentation about the library at an upcoming training.)
Action 10: Make a presentation at a staff meeting about early literacy.
The process of educating your community about early literacy can start at your own library.
- Ask your supervisor or director for a few minutes on the agenda at your next youth services or team meeting.
- Prepare a five minute presentation. You could speak about:
- The new Every Child Ready to Read materials
- How storytimes build reading readiness skills
- Describe an early literacy blog post or news article that you've read recently
- How all library staff (including circulation and adult services) can support early literacy learning in the library
- Invite your colleagues to ask you questions about early literacy. If you don't know the answers, CLEL can help!
Action 11: Choose one of the CLEL Monthly Advocacy Tips and take action!
Every month the Advocacy Committee suggests a way we can take action for early literacy.
- Go to the CLEL Blog and read through the monthly advocacy tips.
- Choose one to complete.
- When you're done, comment on that blog post and tell us about it!
- How to comment:
- When you're on the advocacy tip post you've selected, click on “Add New Comment.”
- Fill out the subject box and the comment box, and then click “Preview.” You'll see your comment and have a chance to edit if you'd like.
- If it's ready to go, fill out the word verification box and then choose “Save.” Your comment will appear after moderation.
Action 12: Read about one piece of national or state legislation that has an impact on early childhood services.
The more informed we are about our world, the better we can serve our local communities. As you read, remember, as with any legislation, you may find that you may not agree with some or all of the proposed actions. It is still important to be aware of the range of political response to early childhood issues.
- Browse through the following websites, then choose one piece of legislation to read about in more depth.
- Lt. Governor Joe Garcia's Webportal: Links to legislation, official committees and their roles, and federal funding sources.
- Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy's Policy Page: A Denver University-affiliated source on early literacy issues.
- Children's Action Agenda: An envelope-pushing legislative agenda prepared by a coalition of children’s organizations and advocates.
- Bonus step: Do you have questions about what you've read? Send us your thoughts in an email, and we will post them to the CLEL blog to invite member discussion on your topic. Put "CLEL 12 Blog Post Idea" in the subject line.
Did you enjoy these activities? Would you like to keep going? Ask about getting involved with the Advocacy Committee!
Are you all done with your CLEL 12? Let us know about it!
Go back to the main CLEL 12 page, or keep reading about the other actions: Set 1, Set 2, and Set 4.