Starting them early

Moses Lake literacy programs try to instill a lifelong love of reading

MOSES LAKE — Some things are worth starting young.

That is why parent Ryan Austin brings his infant son Keegan to the "Babies and Books Storytime" every Wednesday at the Moses Lake Public Library.

The purpose: To begin a lifelong ability and love for reading that today many adults have managed to go without.

"I bring him because of the interaction with other children," Austin said, who also reads to his son at home.

In the "Babies and Books Storytime" room, children's books and sing-a-longs are brought to life as Barbara Gallaway, assistant librarian at the MLPB, reads with Austin and several other parents who bring their children.

"It's just more important than anyone realizes," Gallaway said of parents taking time every day to read to their children. "Brain development starts young," she said, which means the more parents read and sing with their children, "the more and better and faster their brain develops."

If there is one thing Gallaway believes can further that development, it is consistency.

"Routine works the best," Gallaway said, who every Wednesday, starts "Babies and Books Storytime" with 15 minutes of reading, placing blankets and chairs around the room, often times starting the session with books read from the week before. After that, Gallaway said the children always know what comes next: "it's time to play with toys," she said.

That interaction is what some literacy specialists consider to be part of the process of becoming literate.

"Literacy is more than being able to read and write; it is the foundation of skills that make people a larger part of their community," said Terry Kinzel, director of family literacy at Big Bend Community College.

Literacy programs offered through BBCC include Evenstart, Migrant Evenstart and WorkFirst, which Kinzel said in the last five years have expanded not only in duration, but intensity of programs in an effort to increase public exposure to literacy resources.

However, improving literacy inside as well as outside of the home is equally important, Kinzel said. "Read, read, read," she said of what parents can do at home to help children's literacy. "Tell stories to their children, provide print matter for children," she said.

That is exactly what local youth in conjunction with Moses Lake Kiwanis members are doing through "The Dictionary Project."

Starting this week, more than 700 dictionaries will be distributed to all third-grade students in the Moses Lake School District as a way to promote literacy.

"It will empower them and connect them so that their worlds will be better," said Philomine Lund, Moses Lake Library Board Treasurer and Kiwanis member, in a recent interview. "It will just open up the world to them."