For the month of April, our Girl Scout Juniors (some of whom have attended and/or volunteered at Chocolate Storytime) went to San Francisco, California for the weekend to participate in the Golden Gate Bridging.  So our wonderful librarian, Rosa Cesaretti, led the reading for Chocolate Storytime!  Rosa has been at La Pintoresca Branch Library for 4 years, and we are fortunate to have her.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in history and two Mater’s degrees, with one in  Library and Information Science.  She is a great researcher and has so much knowledge about everything!  We are very fortunate to have her at our library.  She also helps to make the library a great place to be for our residents and children.

Librarians like Ms. Rosa concur with The National Commission on Reading’s assertion that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”  And that is why Chocolate Storytime and all of the other awesome storytimes get so much support.  Research shows that reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition and literacy skills.

As we embark upon our 4-year anniversary, it is good to take a look at all of the books we’ve read and to set goals for our new year.  One of the tools that you can use to help keep you and your child on track is the Reading Tracker from Read Aloud 15 Minutes.  The organization is in its 3rd year of this national 10-year campaign.  They are encouraging parents to read to their children for 15 minutes a day.  You just check off the days you read aloud with your child.

Why not set a goal and start today to see how many minutes you can do each month?Treat yourself and your young one with a special prize when you reach your goal.