On the road to reading takes books to Indy’s littlest readers

(MIRROR INDY) — The kids at Little Blessings of Solid Rock Preschool can hardly wait their turn as Lisa Anderson with the Indianapolis Public Library system flips through the pages of “Is There a Dog in this Book?”

With each page, she stops in front of a different child.

“I’m going to go around the circle, and everybody’s going to get a turn helping me turn some pages,” Anderson says in a singsongy voice. “There is a dog in this book, isn’t there?”

Anderson specifically chose the picture book for this group of about 20 young readers. Flaps nested across the pages encourage the kids to engage with the story, waiting their turns and reaching out to touch the book as Anderson approaches. It’s an element of interaction the library outreach associate looks for when crafting her story times.

Next, she’ll get students out of their seats by playing the aptly named “Freeze Dance” song.

“I just really hope that they are associating the books and reading at the library as something joyful and exciting,” Anderson said.

Putting books in kids’ hands

Anderson is a part of a team of four with the library’s On the Road to Reading program. Since 2009, the program has crossed Marion County helping emerging early-learning and child-care centers boost their educational offerings.

The program focuses exclusively on supporting babies, toddlers and preschool-age kids, stepping in at a pivotal time when children are developing their first interactions with reading before entering school.

Their work has only grown in relevance in recent years as Indianapolis grapples with a statewide literacy crisis and looks to grow the number of high-quality early-learning centers accessible to families.

In monthly visits to the preschools, library associates spend about half an hour reading to different age groups, singing songs and even performing finger plays — anything to keep the kids engaged and exposed to different forms of storytelling.

When she visits partner preschools, Anderson brings with her Bunny Book Bags — a tote bag with 10 to 15 books handpicked for the kids she plans to see that day. She allows day care centers to hold onto the books and replaces them with a fresh supply at her next visit.

At Little Blessings, kids took to familiar titles such as “Where the Wild Things Are” and a book from the Flat Stanley series. In the bags, Anderson also likes to include resource materials with literacy tips to distribute with families and art and craft activities that child care providers can work on with kids between On the Road to Reading visits.

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On Anderson’s July visit, each Little Blessings kid also got their own book and a small prize to take home with them as a part of the library’s Summer Reading Program.

On this particular Monday in July, Anderson is thinking ahead to the start of school, which aligns with the program’s annual prep time for the coming year. Her teammates in the library’s outreach department use this time to survey the needs of their nearly 60 early childhood partners and plan out where their help is needed most.

Helping preschools level up

On the Road to Reading works with early-learning centers and preschools that want to increase their standing in the Family and Social Services Administration’s Paths to QUALITY child care rating system.

That means the library outreach team focuses specifically on supporting centers that could use more resources to take their education programming to the next level. And, once they do, Anderson said, On the Road to Reading scales back its involvement and moves on to another program looking to level up.

The effort comes at a time when Marion County is in need of more high-quality child care providers. About 31% of program providers in the county are rated as high quality, according to data from Early Learning Indiana. That means only about half of Indiana’s children up to 5 years old are afforded seats in high-quality programs.

The library’s work also is a building block for young readers at a time when state officials are stressing the importance of early literacy. Data this year shows nearly 1 in 5 students are not passing the state’s third grade reading exam.

Anderson said she’s optimistic about the state’s move to require curriculum rooted in the Science of Reading, a method of science-based reading approaches that emphasize strong phonics, vocabulary and reading comprehension skills.

At the early-learner level, Anderson, who was a preschool teacher before joining the library outreach team, said she likes to prepare kids for school by focusing on visualizing words on a page and reading comprehension — skills that may sound complex for toddlers and preschoolers made easy through arts and crafts.

Something as simple as scribbling on paper can be the first step toward writing, Anderson said, and sing-alongs can help kids identify syllables and rhythm. Anderson said she tries to incorporate several of the American Library Association’s five components of early literacy — talk, sing, read, write and play — into every storytime she leads.

“In the winter, I might do books about snowmen and then have little snowmen crafts,” Anderson said. “The point of the craft is to try to do something where the kids are able to begin to use their fine motor skills.”

Keshia Day, assistant director of Little Blessings, said she sees results among the kids she teaches. The kids read Bunny Book Bag stories every day. Not only are her kids learning to read, Day said, but they’re also learning soft skills like patience from activities like taking turns in Anderson’s reading circle.

“The kids love it,” Day said. “I think every program should do it.”

How to get involved

Anderson said the library outreach team evaluates its programming every year and uses the FSSA’s Child Care Finder to look up area day care centers and invite them to participate in On the Road to Reading. The program works with centers of all sizes from small, home day cares to larger preschool settings.

The outreach team is coming up on its August window for reaching out to new partners and encourages interested groups to contact the outreach team at 317-275-4025 to learn more.

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.