While the program may be new to some, it has a history that began 24 years ago as a collaboration between Family Connections and Shaker Library. Designed with the idea that parents and caregivers are children’s first teachers, it was one of the first literacy playrooms of its kind in Ohio. In 1994, Family Connections met with a committee of school administrators, teachers, and preschool educators to talk about the problems resulting from a wide range in the quality of readiness among incoming kindergartners. Shaker Library was invited to participate and to help discuss ways to level the playing field for children who were not as ready as others. @ Shaker Library The next year, Martha Bays, then the Outreach Children’s Librarian (now a retired minister), and Joanne Federman, director of Family Connections, participated in Library Partnerships for Preschools at Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Science. The focus was on emergent literacy – the concept that learning to read and write begins at birth. Family Connections and the Library committed to developing a program that would use emergent literacy to tackle the school-readiness gap. They used Family Connections’ playroom model, added a strong literacy component, and established it at the Library where parents and children would have significant access to books and other material and information. Turning the concept into a reality required time and effort. The Library offered the use of its space, janitorial services, staff planning time, and, of course, information resources. Family Connections’ board of trustees committed significant staff time to oversee the project, handle finances, and supervise the personnel and planning. The TRW Foundation funded the pilot program in the summer of 1998. Since then, Play and Learn has received support from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Abington Foundation, Thomas White Foundation, Ameritech, and Friends of the Shaker Library. Additional support came from an Early Learning Opportunity grant, a Library Services and Technology Act grant, and from Help Me Grow of Cuyahoga County. Currently, for health reasons, preregistration is required to keep the group size small. Families may register through Family Connections, which is linked on the Library website’s events calendar at shakerlibrary.org. WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | SUMMER 2022 19 The Play and Learn Station on the second floor of the Main Library has re-opened after being closed during the renovation and the pandemic. Staffed by preschool teacher Ellen Barcus, this free literacybased program is for families with children up to age six. Its purpose is to help close the school-readiness gap among preschoolers.
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