Families, caregivers, educators, and librarians can use the Maryland Day By Day Family Literacy Activity Calendar at home, library, or in the classroom. This calendar is a "forever" calendar, meaning it can be used over again, year after year. In addition to suggesting activities using materials found at home, this calendar provides lists of books and music found at your local public library.
The Hatchlings program is an early literacy program developed in Maryland through grant funding from the Maryland State Department of Education and in partnership with Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Mother-Goose-on-the-Loose and Carrie Sanders, Youth Services Coordinator, Maryland State Library AGEncy. Hatchlings is designed to reach expectant parents and families of newborns in the early stages of parenthood to plant the roots of early literacy development, offered as an in-person library program as well as an outreach program, in collaboration with a community partner. Families learn the importance of daily early reading (sharing books), singing, and bonding with their babies in Ready to Hatch (before the baby is born) and in In the Nest (after the baby arrives). Through these interactive programs, families learn that literacy begins before birth and continues in the earliest months of life and that as parents, they are their babies’ first and most important teacher. The Hatchlings program also helps families discover how librarians and library early literacy programs can support and engage expectant families and families with newborns through their preschool years. More information about the curriculum and Facilitator training for Hatchlings is available by contacting Carrie Sanders at the Maryland State Library Agency.
