Boone County Public Library has been awarded a $12,000 grant from the Boone County Early Childhood Fund to assist with school readiness in Boone County.
The library will use the money to develop and pilot a STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) story-time program. The STEM-based story-time will be designed around the Kentucky Early Childhood Standards, and will address several big ideas in math and science while supporting language and literacy skills.
Weekly STEM story-times will be offered to families of children, ages 3-5 years, at the Main Library in Burlington over the course of 12 weeks. The STEM-based story-times will also be delivered to two early care and education centers or public preschools serving 3-4 year-olds, once a month, for 11 months. Impact will be evaluated using pre and post assessment measures and informal early childhood documentation tools.
“We are thrilled to receive this grant, said Jennifer Timmerman, the Library’s Youth Services and Outreach Coordinator. “We’ve been hoping to add a STEM element to our well-attended story-time program and this grant gives us the dollars to do that. A big part of our plan is to teach parents and childcare providers how to incorporate STEM into playtime with their children and students. We’ll be able to leave books and materials with the centers to continue this practice as well as offer some to parents at the library’s STEM story-times.”
The library plans to begin work on this project immediately.
