- Smokey Bear Reading Challenge
- Early Literacy Award Book Discussion
- Teen Internship Grant Opportunity
- Recommended Books by Indigenous Creators
- Teen Success in Amery
Smokey Bear Reading Challenge
The USDA Forest Service is sponsoring a Smokey Bear Reading Challenge in celebration of Smokey Bear’s 80th Birthday in 2024. This is a national challenge, meant to complement the CSLP Adventure Begins at Your Library theme, is designed for 4-10 year olds.
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction registered as the state participating library, and will be distributing incentives to all Wisconsin libraries in January. These incentives include:
- 1 roll of 500 Smokey stickers
- 50 Smokey cards
- 1 Smokey stamp
- Libraries do not need to register individually for this, everyone will receive the incentives
- The Smokey Bear Reading Challenge Toolkit is available now, it includes posters, bookmarks, reading lists, reading logs, and activities.
Early Literacy Award Book Discussion
The CLEL (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) Bell Picture Book Awards are an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support of early literacy development in young children. The 10th Annual CLEL Bell Award Shortlist has been announced! The shortlist of 25 titles, five for each early literacy practice (READ, WRITE, TALK, PLAY, SING) was chosen from 91 nominations from committee members.
Wouldn’t it be cool to discuss these books with your colleauges? Join us on January 17, 2-3:30 pm to do just that (via Zoom). Register by January 12. You can read five books or all 25.
Here’s what we’ll do at our discussion:
- Think about how to support emerging readers and families with excellent new titles
- Practice your book evaluation skills in a safe and not-too-overwhelming context
- Have a good time talking about books with colleagues from around the system (and state)
- Get prepared to vote for your own favorites by January 30
Because this check-in has more structure, directors needing contact hours for certification can count 1.5 hours.
****Note: there are a few books that no library in IFLS owns. Please consider purchasing one or all of the following books that have received accolades from librarians interested in early literacy!
- The Wheels on the Bus: Touch and Trace Nursery Rhymes Illus. by Emily Bannister. Silver Dolphin Books
- I Love You Mucho Mucho. By Rachel Mas Davidson. Beaming Books
- Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar by Mojdeh Hassani, Samira Iravani, and illus. By Maya Fidawi. Dial Books.
- 1,2,3 Merengue! By Delia Ruiz and Graziela Andrade. Soaring Kites Books
Teen Internship Grant Opportunity
Save the Date for an informational webinar to help you understand more about the 2024 Teen Internship program, which will award 5 libraries with a grant to enable them to hire a teen intern for the summer. For more information about the informational webinar and about the program in general, check out the post in the Wisconsin Libraries for Everyone blog.
Recommended Books by Indigenous Creators
Check out the Year in Review book list from American Indians in Children’s Literature!
Teen Success in Amery
Emma Novak has had an increasing number of teens attending a teen after-hours event, and last week had a record number of teens attending. Eighteen teens at any library event in any size town is a noteworthy event. Here’s Emma’s secret: “The pizza helped get them in the door at first, but the reason why they came back with their friends was to play Grog. They love scaring each other and exploring the library with the lights dimmed.” Next month, she’s hoping to introduce them to Zombie Tag and Hide and Seek, but she’ll also have some crafts and board games for those who like calmer activities, too.