The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County presents a new Kindergarten Readiness Workshop with Saroj Ghoting:
“Strengthening School Readiness Support to Families and the Community through the Public Library”

The workshop is funded by an LSTA grant and is open to any Ohio librarian, with attendance at each session limited to 30.

The workshop will be offered on these dates:
Wednesday, April 17, 9:00-4:30, Michael Kusalaba branch (2815 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown)
Thursday, May 23, 9:00-4:30, Canfield branch (43 W. Main St., Canfield)
Tuesday, August 13, 9:00-4:30, Poland branch (311 S. Main St., Poland)

Saroj Ghoting, Early Childhood Literacy Consultant and national trainer on early literacy, will provide you with information and resources necessary to become a more intentional support in your community on school readiness.  You will gain an understanding of Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards: Birth to Kindergarten Entry and the five domains of early learning (Approaches Toward Learning, Cognition and General Knowledge, Language and Literacy, Physical Well-Being and Motor Development, and Social and Emotional Development).  This knowledge will empower you to intentionally support these domains in storytimes and other programs, to talk comfortably one-on-one with parents and caregivers about kindergarten readiness skills, and to assess your library environment so that you can model interactions and activities for families to support language and literacy development and all kindergarten readiness domains. 
 
In order to make the most of this one-day workshop, you will be asked to complete a series of six assignments prior to the workshop.  These will include readings and written assignments.  For each set of readings you will be applying the information to storytimes or other settings you already are doing or that you could do.  By requiring this advance work, participants will come to the workshop with a common understanding and knowledge of Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards and the five domains of child development.  This will allow the workshop to build on what has been learned and provide participants more time to practice articulating that information and experience to parents, other staff, and community members.  Each assignment is estimated to take no more than 1 to 2 hours. 
 
Register by emailing your contact information and which date you would like to attend to pbrockway@libraryvisit.org.  Attendance at each workshop is limited to 30. 
 
 
These workshops are supported by the State Library of Ohio with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.