Early literacy skills are essential to kindergarten readiness, but the positive influence of the public library continues long past kindergarten! Library programs, collections, and relationships promote student success through the school years and into college and career.
This section of the ORTR website is a guide for public librarians to learn about concepts in PreK-12 education and to assess, enhance, and promote library programs, collections, and relationships to support student learning.
Learn about Reimagining School Readiness, a multi-state initiative empowering library staff to help families prepare children ages birth to 8 years for success in school and in life.
Explore topics in Ohio education of interest to public librarians including:
- Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards which guide Ohio's early education system.
- Ohio's Learning Standards which describe the knowledge and skills Ohio students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 need to become ready for success in college and careers.
- Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment which measures a child’s readiness to engage with kindergarten-level work.
- Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee which identifies and supports students between kindergarten and 3rd grade who are behind in reading.
- Science of reading, a body of scientific evidence that informs how students learn to read and write proficiently.
Read expanded definitions and explanations of these and other topics in Ohio education.
Learn how your programs, collections, and relationships support student learning.
Resources:
Kindergarten Gear Up is a kindergarten readiness program developed by the San Diego County Library, designed to help both kids and caregivers prepare for kindergarten. It is especially targeted towards families whose children have not attended preschool. Kindergarten Gear Up is a series of ten one-hour sessions All the Kindergarten Gear Up content is freely available for any library to adopt into its programming. Content includes detailed lesson plans, a library of activities, booklists, caregiver handouts and discussion questions (in English and Spanish), posters, flyers, activity sheets, and more.
ReadOhio is a statewide effort to encourage improved literacy skills for all ages, including the implementation of curriculum aligned with the science of reading in k-12 schools. ReadOhio provides a toolkit for school leaders and resources for educators and families.
Ohio Department of Education Resources
Collections of resources for each of the areas of study in Ohio school curricula: math, English language arts, science, social studies, technology, computer science, world languages, fine arts, health education, physical education, and financial literacy.
Parents' Guides to Student Success
From the National PTA, these simple, clear, free guides include key items that children should be learning in English language arts and mathematics in each grade. They also offer activities that parents can do to support their children's learning. The guides are available in English and Spanish, and in several formats. There is a guide for each grade from K-8, one for high school English, and one for high school math.