The Words Project, an Infant and Toddler Language and Literacy Project

An Overview…

The New Haven Early Childhood Council brings together community members who share a desire to improve the lives of young children and their families in New Haven.  Our mission is to ensure that all children come to kindergarten with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.  We are committed as a community that all New Haven children, birth through 8 are healthy, safe, thriving in nurturing families and prepared to be successful lifelong learners.

As the coordinator of the New Haven Early Childhood Council, I am thrilled to introduce the newly created, Council-sponsored and UWGNH-funded Words Project.  The Words Project, is a language-rich learning initiative that will be channeled through 10 center-based classrooms and 10 licensed family childcare programs.  Central to this project are: eager teachers, supportive Directors, an attentive audience of beautiful children, two infant and toddler coaches, two assistant Spanish-language coaches and the provision of quality children’s picture books. Children will develop early language skills through the reading of good books, hearing lots of words and listening and interacting with adults. Books provide experiential learning and help children acquire complex language and a rich vocabulary. Research strongly suggests that children learn new words from direct references in stories and that they gain new vocabulary after hearing a story read (Why Books Matter, Neuman 2003).  Each classroom will receive 4 visits as well as a pre and post visit.  Each visit will include four picture books, two for the classroom and two for the “Family Lending Library” to help promote reading at home. The project, which began in October, will have a Fall and Spring cohort, as well as an opportunity in mid-winter for teachers to share their knowledge with other infant and toddler teachers in a peer-to-peer exchange

September 21, 2010…

The Words, infant and toddler language and literacy project, is well underway. We kicked off the project with a spirited and well-attended Dinner on September 21, hosted by the always-creative Sandy Malmquist, the Director of the Connecticut Children’s Museum.  Twenty-nine early childhood teachers and Directors from licensed family childcare and center-based programs were in attendance. The evening began with a delicious dinner and a warm welcome from the New Haven Early Childhood Council.  Introductions were made to the Words language and literacy coaches, Sandy Malmquist, Director of the CT Children’s Museum and Creating Kids Early Childhood Program and Adrenna D’Orlando, an infant and toddler teacher from Yale New Haven Early Childhood program, as well as our two Spanish-language assistant coaches and translators, Melissa Rivera and Carmen Santiago. 

Sandy and Adrenna provided an overview of the project goals, including why conversation in the classroom matters and why reading books is central to language development. The evening also included a brief survey about current use of books in the classroom including perennial favorites, Goodnight Moon, The Cat in the Hat, Old McDonald had a Farm, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Love You Forever and many, many more. The evening concluded with everyone very excited and the teachers sporting their “t” shirts that said, “I love to read” in multiple languages, and the Words project began…