The Essential Lapsit Guide: A Multimedia How-To-Do-It Manual and Programming Guide for Stimulating Literacy Development from 12 to 24 Months (How to ... (How-To-Do-It Manual Series (for Librarians)) - Softcover

Linda L. Ernst

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555707610 ISBN 13: 9781555707613

Publisher: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2015

Synopsis

Not just a sourcebook or a reference, but a complete multimedia guide, this innovative, comprehensive resource will help you stimulate the minds of your youngest patrons with rhymes, songs, fingerplays, books, and other creative activities. The engaging materials and methods in this book are equally useful for experienced children's librarians looking for new ideas and new librarians starting to build their own program for the very young. Through researching the latest in early learner and developmental theories, Ernst

• Carefully details the physical, mental, emotional, and social development of children 12 to 24 months
• Guides you through using Lapsit programming to perform effective outreach to all segments of your community
• Shows how to build and maintain effective partnerships with caregivers, child-care providers, early childhood educators, and others
• Offers tips for seeking funding for early childhood services

A detailed assortment of Web Extras, accessible through a companion website, provides further ideas and instructional techniques not featured in the book. Included are a bibliography of chapter resources, a list of rhyme lyrics that appear in the book, full-page sample handouts and templates, and 47 video clips featuring rhymes and activities that encourage audience interaction, performed by the author.

About this title

About the Author

Linda L. Ernst has been a children's librarian for more than 35 years, focusing on library service and programming for very young children. She has given training workshops for the King County Library, Seattle Public Library, Everett Public Library, and the Sno-Isle Library System in Washington. She has also given workshops in Kentucky, Michigan, San Francisco, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Conference programs include the Pennsylvania Library Association and the Washington Library Association. The Children's and Young Adult Services Interest Group of the Washington Library Association awarded her the 2004 CAYAS Award for Visionary Library Service to Youth. She has served as chair of the Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and was a member of the 2007 Caldecott Award committee. Her previous books include Baby Rhyming Time

Reviews

Ernst has updated and revised two of her older works: Lapsit Services for the Very Young (1995) and Lapsit Services for the Very Young II (2000, both Neal-Schuman) into this new resource. This is meant as a guide for youth librarians new to the field of early childhood programming, although it also stands as a solid refresher for those more experienced librarians who might have missed hearing about the latest research and developments in early learning and early childhood brain development. This new version is well organized and flows well. Ernst starts with offering a brief yet informative look at the facts of early learning and what we have learned recently via advances in research—such as the fact that "children's brains develop over time, with certain areas of the brain developing at different times and at different paces" or "at three years of age, the child has about twice as many connections in the brain as an adult does." She addresses the topics of in-library programming and outreach, as well as reaching out to special needs audiences and the adaptations that might make a traditional lapsit program more comfortable for children and their caregivers within that audience range. The book contains five chapters, and is broken into a section of "program foundations" and then the more practical section of "program building blocks" which lays out, step-by-step, what the staff member needs in order to put together a successful lapsit program. Included is advice on age breakdowns, whether to make the program registered or not, how to handle attendance issues, and proper pacing for a successful lapsit program. Chapter four is the bread and butter of the manual, offering sample programs, books that work in programs, thematic lists of ideas, and nursery rhymes. Some of the rhymes contain a video symbol; these selections are available as online videos at alaeditions.org/webextras. They feature the author performing the rhyme or fingerplay. Ernst is generous with her information, including bibliographies of additional readings and materials at the end of each chapter. A healthy appendix is filled with handouts and templates that are also available online for folks to customize and print out. VERDICT This is a necessary resource with a wealth of updated information and resources for public libraries to have available for staff use and training in the field of early literacy.—Lisa Kropp, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Edition details

• Publisher: ALA Neal-Schuman
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1555707610
• ISBN 13: 9781555707613
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288