A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Getting an Early Jump on Literacy

Few things give children a better start than teaching them to love reading. That occurs most frequently when children are read to on a daily basis. That's why libraries and schools set aside special story times for children. Now the Miami-Dade Public Library System is helping daycare centers do the same thing for Dade County's at-risk preschoolers.

Project Jump Start provides Head Start and HUD child care workers with library resources and training to conduct on-site, quality story time programs. In FY 92, the Miami-Dade Public Library System received an $82,000 state-formula grant from OERI under the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), Title I. FY 93 funding of $82,000 will support the program for a second year.

Jump Start kits are furnished on request to daycare centers. Each kit contains everything needed for children's story time: books, finger plays, a flannelboard story, songs, and a musical cassette. All materials reflect the kit's theme--subjects with kid appeal such as "Bears," "The Family," "Trucks," or "Pets." The kits are geared to the 3 to 5 age group, with enough variety for daily 20-minute story times. Project Jump Start materials are also available in Spanish and Creole in order to serve the multi-ethnic, multi-language population of Dade County.

In Project Jump Start's first year, it has reached more than 3,000 at-risk preschool children from 100 daycare centers and trained 569 center staff in the use of story kit materials. Project Jump Start demonstrates the important link between children's librarians and local preschools and daycare providers in helping to achieve National Education Goal #1: "By the year 2000, all children will start school ready to learn."

For information about other LSCA state-formula grants, contact OERI/Formula Library Programs at 202-219-1303. For information about Project Jump Start, contact:

Sylvia Mavrogenes,
Youth Services Administrator, 
The Miami-Dade Public Library System, 
101 W. Flagler St., Miami FL 33130-1523, 
phone 305-375-4108.