The Mayor's Literacy Initiative was launched in 2023 and aims to boost awareness about the importance of literacy and spread the love of reading throughout the community. In collaboration with Stamford Public Schools’ Birth to Five committee, Ferguson Library, and Stamford Cradle to Career’s Early Grade Reading Community Action Network, the Mayor Caroline Simmons’ goal is to assist children to read at grade-level by third grade.

Resources include community events, story time sessions by the Mayor, educational arts & crafts, parent workshops, free book giveaways, and educational campaigns.

Sign up for the Your City at Work newsletter for more information about upcoming Mayor’s Literacy Initiative events.

Literacy Activity Ideas

Talk to your baby.  

These activities aim to expose your baby to language, voice inflection, and sounds. 

Examples of how a caregiver may talk to their baby:  

• Sing songs to your baby. Songs could be nursery rhyme songs, your favorite song, or a song from the radio.    
• Narrate what you are doing - "I will give you a bath.  Let's put some bubbles in the bath." "It is dinner time.  Tonight, you are eating carrots.  Carrots are orange and sweet."
• "Let's look outside.  I see a bird. The bird is flying."  "Look at the car driving by. The car is red."
• As you are shopping: "We need milk, cereal, diapers, and wipes.  The milk is in the fridge.  It's cold in here." 

Read to your baby.

These activities aim to establish a routine for reading at home and while outside the home.  

Examples of how a caregiver may incorporate reading into the child's daily life:

• Create a reading routine (e.g., reading a book before bed, after bath time, before naps)
• Read Nursery Rhymes to your baby. 
• Read a book to your baby and assist your child in turning the pages.  
• When in stores or around town, read signs out loud to the child.  For example, "These are the things I need from the store. I need a new shirt. Look at this sign; it says the shirt is on sale."

Play with your baby.

Examples of how play may look when engaging with your child: 

• Lay on the floor with your baby and play with soft toys.  Give your baby opportunities to grasp objects with different textures and sounds.  Talk about the colors and textures of the toys with your baby while playing.  
• Sit your baby on your lap facing you. Sing interactive songs (e.g., "Wheels on the Bus") while assisting the baby with hand gestures.  
• When your baby is doing tummy time, play with puppets or a stuffed animal and pretend the stuffed animal is talking and interacting with the baby.  

Ages 2 - 3

Interact with your child.

The goal of these activities is to interact with your child through language. Through language, your child will continue to learn vocabulary, sentence structure, and how to interact with others.  

Examples of how to interact with your growing child to promote literacy outside of the school setting:

• Draw a picture and ask your child to identify objects in the drawing.
• Tell your child stories about your day and ask them to do the same.  For example, play "Two ups & a down."  You tell two things about your day that made you happy (little things!) and one that was not-so-great.  This will help spark the beginning of the discussion. 
• Play "I Spy" with your child, taking turns describing things around the room or in the car.  For example, "I spy something in the car that is reflective.  We use it to see the cars behind us. Can you guess what it is?"
• Continue reading rituals and routines with your child. When you have a set routine, your child may mimic your reading and will "read" back to you by talking about the pictures and the story.  
• Children also love to turn the pages of a book. Give them a signal or tell them to "turn the page" when you are ready. This will help them understand how books work and how they are read from front to back, left to right, etc.
• Show your child what their name looks like.  Write their name around the house in many different places so they see it often.  
• Do a name "hunt."  Write your child's name on a large piece of paper in many places.  Write 1-2 other names.  Have your child find and circle their name. Children will begin being exposed to the idea that letters come together to form words and hold meaning.
• Label items in your home on index cards or another type of small paper. For example, caregivers may label chairs, tables, doors, televisions, and cribs. This labeling helps children learn vocabulary for everyday household items while interacting with the caregivers. 
• Sing rhyming songs alongside your child.  Caregivers may search online for nursery rhymes or interactive songs to sing along to.  
• Count objects when there is an opportunity (count up to 5).  Some examples are as follows:

1. When playing with your child, count the toys you are playing with.
2. When feeding your child, count pieces of cereal.
3. When shopping at the grocery store, count the apples you purchase.  

Ages 4 - 5

Promote thinking, literacy skills, and language development

• Tell your child stories about your day and ask them to do the same.  For example, play "2 ups & a down."  You tell two things about your day that made you happy (little things!) and one that was not-so-great.  As they begin to speak more, you can ask clarifying questions or ask for more details.  
• Draw a picture and ask your child to describe what they see. 
• Ask your child to draw a picture and tell you about the picture.  
• Create a grocery list together - discuss what meals you will make and the ingredients. 
• When at the grocery store, ask your child to help you identify items on your list  (e.g., talk about the item's color, discuss whether your child likes the item and why, model describing an item, and ask your child to describe their favorite fruit).
• As you continue your reading rituals with your child, you can begin to track the print while reading with your finger.  Show your child how you are reading by pointing to the words and showing the return sweep (when you get to the end of a line, you return to the left and go to the following line.) 
• Play games such as charades, describing and acting out well-known favorite characters from movies and books. 
• Begin to talk about the sounds in words.  For example, "This mango is so yummy.  Mango starts with the /m/ sound.  I wonder what other things in the kitchen begin with "mmmmm."  Melon, macaroni, etc…” 
• When going to stores, restaurants, etc., point out the name of the place and have kids count how many times they can find the name in the store. For example, "This says Target. I wonder how many times we can find that word in the store." 
• Have your child "read" a book to you.  After a child is read to, over time, children mimic the reading habits and, in turn, "read" the story to their caregiver. 

Community Resources

Boys and Girls Club
Literacy is a critical focus area for K-3 youth at the B & G Club. The Yerwood Center offers regular story time while assessing reading abilities. As a 21st Century Learning Center, the B & G Club takes education seriously. Reading with their young members is also a popular volunteer activity. bgcastamford.org

CT Birth to Three
Birth to Three is a comprehensive program that offers a variety of local services in different communities across Connecticut. These services are specifically designed to provide support and assistance to families with young children from birth to three years of age. Referrals needed. birth23.org

Family Centers
Family Centers provides health, education, and human services for thousands of Fairfield County residents, including preschool, vocational support, and English language education. A growing sense of educational disparity is hindering a segment of Fairfield County’s children from succeeding in school and developing the skills necessary to lead productive and fulfilling lives. familycenters.org

Ferguson Library
With five convenient locations and a bookmobile, the Ferguson Library offers free and equal access to information, ideas, books and technology to educate, engage, and enrich the Stamford community. Register for a free library card or sign up for Babytime, Toddler Stay & Play, Bebés Bilingües, and more! fergusonlibrary.org

Read to Grow
Read to Grow is committed to making books a part of every child’s life from birth. Their Books for Kids program sends free books to CT families upon request. readtogrow.org

Stamford Public Education Foundation
Founded in 1996, the mission of the Stamford Public Education Foundation (SPEF) is to elevate student success by delivering educational programs and solutions that promote equitable access to quality public education in Stamford. spefct.org

Sparkler App
Literacy is a critical focus area for Sparkler is a mobile app that helps parents to check in on how their child is doing against key milestones — and provides activities to spark their early learning. It also has plus evidence-based and FUN do-together activities that you can play with your 0-5 year old to spark their growing heart, mind, and body! ctoec.org/sparkler

Free Literacy Resources for Parents and Professional

Free Literacy Resources for Parents and Professionals | Smart Speech Therapy