Covid-19 Early Literacy Resource Toolkit
This is a stressful time for parents and uncertain for children, but it can still be an opportunity to engage with your child in at-home early learning and literacy activities that will help them grow, progress, and discover the joys of reading. Here are useful resources for parents, caregivers and educators:
Free Resources for Families
Literacy Resources
- 50 Fun Activities (Eng./Spanish)
- Building Blocks to Developing a Reader (Eng./Spanish)
- Continuum of Effective Literacy Practices: A Guide for Practitioners
- Dyslexia Guide for Families (English)
- Dislexia Guía de Recursos Para Familias (Español)
- Early Literacy Guide for Families (Eng./Spanish)
- Haskins Global Online Literacy Resource Library (free and high quality): Designed to help parents and educators easily navigate through information available online on promoting literacy development in children of all ages
- Smart Talk Resources (Eng./Spanish)
- Social Emotional Learning & Early Literacy Age Continuum (English)
- Virtual Family Engagement Center Resources for Parents and Practitioners: Partners in the AZ Family Engagement Center provide these free resources to support parents and practitioners
E-Books for Children
- Association of Library Services for Children: A list of where to find free children’s e-books
- Coronavirus: A Book for Children: Helpful children’s free downloadable e-book, activities, discussion guides, educational materials, videos, and more!
- First Book: Their Open e-books gives kids from low-income families access to a digital library of thousands of popular and award-winning eBooks for free.
- Make Way for Books App: Unlimited access to high-quality books to share with your child and online story times (bilingual)
- Storyline Online: Award-winning website streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books.
- Unite for Literacy: Digital books that provide audio narrations in more than 40 languages
Online Story time & Activities
- Arizona PBS At Home Learning: free educational resources for families and on-air programming
- Atlanta Speech School Cox Campus: Your child can continue to learn and grow with a “live” preschool that is a safe destination for free learning experiences and lessons for you and your preschool-aged child
- Attendance Playbook: Smart Strategies for Reducing Chronic Absence in the Covid Era: helps educators target supports to groups of students who need additional help to overcome barriers to attendance and participation
- Avondale Library: Virtual Story Times
- Book Nook: Online free remote one-on-one reading tutoring program
- Camp Wonderopolis: Helping kids and their families learning together throughout the summer
- City of Phoenix Library: Story times online & more
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Reading a series of Imagination Library books all carefully chosen for their appropriate content at this moment in time.
- Flagstaff Library: Youtube channel of online storytime and book club activities for all ages.
- Make Way for Books Online: Bi-lingual livestream story time mornings M-F as well as additional resources and activities for families.
- Read Better Be Better Guide: Steps to work on reading comprehension with your child at home
- Reading Rockets: reading guides and resources to improve children’s reading
- Ready, Set, School (Pima County Library): free 8 week program on Facebook Live designed to help kids (ages 4-5) get ready for school.
- Scholastic Learn at Home: Projects to keep kids reading, thinking and growing
- Southwest Human Development: Birth to Five Helpline and at-home lesson plans and activities for parents and caregivers
- StoryPlace: Digital story time library and activity website in English and Spanish
- Story times with Thuy: online story time from the Gila County Ibary District San Carlos Apache, stories in English and Apache.
- Tempe at Home: virtual programs and activities for all ages
- Thrive to Five Classes: (Funded by First Things First) Google meet up online classes for families with children 0 to 5 years old.
- We Are Teachers: Favorite authors are offering online read-alouds and activities on social media
Apps
- Common Sense Media: Apps range from skills essential to life and traditional academic subjects
- ChatterPix Kids: Children can create cards with voice messages to send to their families and friends
- Khan Academy Kids: Fun educational learning and discovery for children ages two to seven
- Special Needs Students: Apps for Special Needs Students compiled by National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement
- Vroom: Everyday learning activities and tips appropriate for all ages
ELL Resources
- ¡Colorín Colorado!: Offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs)
- Common Sense Media Latino: Family engagement resources with articles, videos, and ready-made presentations in Spanish
- StoryPlace: Provides children with the virtual experience of going to the Library and participating in the same types of activities the Library offers at its physical locations
- Abriendo Puertas: Expansive list of resources in Spanish
COVID-19 Crisis Support
- Arizona Department of Education: COVID-19 Guidance to schools
- Arizona Together: (#AZTogether) Resources and COVID-19 information
- Conscious Discipline: COVID-19 helpful responses for families
- First Things First: Parenting during Coronavirus
- Healthy Children: Information for families COVID-19
- National Center for Learning Disabilities: COVID-19 Resources and tools
- Sesame Street in the Community: Resources that can help your families cope during challenging times
- Turnaround for Children: Podcast on how to address the fear, stress and disruption cause by the pandemic
Social Media
- Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems: Follow on Facebook each day at 1pm ET. Mo invites us in to his studio, grab some paper a pencils and learn, draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing.
- Read Aloud with Melinda: Read aloud and activities from Melinda Long, author of “How I Became a Pirate”
- Operation Story time: (#OperationStorytime!) favorite authors and celebrities recording themselves reading
- Pete the Cat: Join Instagram Live each day at 12pm ET @Petethecatofficial for a reading and drawing tutorial with Pete the Cat creator, James Dean
- Tempe Pre Facebook Page: familiar songs and activities for preschool age children