Every Hero Has a Story: Who is your hero?

Ever since I took an early childhood related webinar through MLA about two months ago, I've been thinking about how to provide literacy building activities on every available library surface. I created our counting ramp, and am planning on adding a Lego board and a flannel board to the sides of our shelves. For summer reading I wanted to come up with a literacy building passive program that kids of all ages could enjoy.

I took advantage of our circulation desk and paper we had on hand to create a "Who is your hero?" board.

In addition to keeping kids busy while they wait to check out books, this board has many literacy benefits:

• When writing on the board the youngest kids are developing their fine motor skills.
• As the youngest children see words written down, they will develop the knowledge that print has meaning.
• Kids will most likely sound out the names of their heroes as they write them, developing their phonemic awareness.
• Developing readers will get valuable reading practice by reading the names of the heroes other children write on the board.
• As parents see the board they will most likely talk about it with their children (one of the literacy practices in ECRR2).
• Kids will probably explain why they chose their hero to parents or staff, therefore strengthening their narrative skills.

I'd love to hear any other great passive programming ideas you may have for the summer. As always you can comment here or reach me on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).