Every Day Literacy: South Carolina’s Toolbox for Library Centered Intergenerational Literacy Programs

The South Carolina State Library’s goal is to improve literacy throughout the state and provide a model for others, especially libraries serving rural areas. Low literacy is often a multi-generational issue. To build capacity for intergenerational literacy programs, SCSL developed the South Carolina Day by Day Family Literacy activity calendar as a comprehensive resource to support the EveryDay Literacy initiative. Building on basic family literacy concepts and incorporating SCSL’s signature GrandFamily resource program, the calendar provides a year’s worth of activities and other age-appropriate educational and support information to be used at home or in a classroom. Day by Day helps to further early skills that help young children become prepared for or do better in school. Available in print in English, Spanish, and online (www.daybydaysc.org), the calendar became the foundation for the State Library’s literacy toolbox. The calendar along with other materials, such as booklists, portable activity booklets, reading success recipe cards, growth charts, and STEM resources are presented along with training resources to help librarians and educators use these models in their own, especially rural, communities. All of these items can be found online and are available to access or print at home from this link: http://tinyurl.com/ybht689v. The poster’s original design displays children developing a love of reading which grows big and multi-branched like a tree, with the strong roots of teachers, community, library, and the family unit. Children can build their literacy skills through all these different tools a meaningful way that keeps growing stronger which also strengthens our communities’ foundation. The items in the toolbox are created or supported by the South Carolina State Library to provide many different activities and training opportunities to build literacy skills in a diverse, fun, and interactive way.