Early Literacy

Sara Cujak hosted the annual Cujak’s Wine Market Holiday Wine Tasting at the Fond du Lac Public Library in November. Amid the wine sampling, chocolates tasting and hors d’oeuvres noshing, serious business was under way: early literacy.

Kids ages 6 to 12 who could benefit from practicing their reading are invited to participate in the Fond du Lac Public Library’s Paws to Read program. Kids read aloud to certified therapy dogs in a relaxed setting. Studies have shown that reading aloud to dogs helps put the child at ease. Kids benefit from the dogs’ patience, acceptance and comforting presence while they practice reading and build skills. The therapy dogs will be accompanied by their certified handlers and are from the group Healing Paws, Inc.

When it comes to Christmas wishes, kids know it’s smart to put them in writing. Kids who drop off their letters to Santa at the Children’s Room at the Fond du Lac Public Library by Monday, December 5, will get a personalized reply by Santa mailed to their homes before Christmas.

Every year the library encourages the whole community to participate in summer reading programs. Along with helping children hold onto critical reading skills through their break from school, the programs reinforce the importance of lifelong learning for all ages. The programs – for young kids, teens and adults – all encouraged reading with events and rewards.

If you’re a person who finds a room of smiling young faces undaunting and who loves to tell a good story, the Fond du Lac Public Library hopes you will consider applying to be a Storytime Presenter.

Over the years, the Storytime program has grown in popularity. Children are invited to come (with a grown-up) for 30-minute sessions of stories and play that instill a love of reading and a love of books. The library would like to expand the program, and needs help doing so.

Kids ages 6 to 12 who could benefit from practicing their reading are invited to participate in Paws to Read. Kids read aloud to certified therapy dogs in a relaxed setting. Studies have shown that reading aloud to dogs helps put the child at ease.

Kids ages birth to 12 who are enrolled in the Fond du Lac Public Library’s summer reading program need to turn in their completed reading records by August 20.

Children are keeping track of every day they read – or are read to – for 20 minutes or more, each time placing a sticker on the summer reading record they received when they signed up. A filled-in record – 41 days of reading – will earn every child a bag of goodies and a free book.

Kids should bring their completed records to the Children’s Desk at the library to receive their rewards.

Kids ages 6 to 12 who could benefit from practicing their reading are invited to participate in the Fond du Lac Public Library’s Paws to Read program. Kids read aloud to certified therapy dogs in a relaxed setting. Studies have shown that reading aloud to dogs helps put the child at ease.

The Fond du Lac Public Library has free events all summer in conjunction with its “Travel the World, Page by Page” themed summer reading programs. Programs coming up are: