(http://www NULL.naeyc NULL.org/woyc)The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (http://www NULL.naeyc NULL.org/woyc). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. The 2012 Week of the Young Child™ is April 22–28 and the theme is Early Years Are Learning Years®.

Click here for a Calendar of Events in San Francisco (http://sfchildcareandearlyeducation NULL.com/week-of-the-young-child-calendar-april-22-29-2012/)

RAR staff will be celebrating this week at the following events:

Tuesday, April 24 : Children’s Council  Resource Fair (http://www NULL.childrenscouncil NULL.org/?q=community)
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Families and providers can learn about community services related to small business management, child care, credit management, financial support, support for special needs, early literacy, housing, health care and nutrition. The fair features snacks, prizes and cooking demonstrations. This is a free event

Thursday, April 26: Jumpstart (http://www NULL.jstart NULL.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WhoWeAre_OurLocations_San%20Francisco)for a Day
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Selected preschool children and teacher’s jump into this annual festival of fun at Civic Center Plaza, opposite City Hall. This event features many hands-on learning stations, each one inspired by a popular children’s book. Due to space limitations, this event is by invitation only.

Friday, April 27 : Head Start Day at Children’s Fairyland (http://www NULL.fairyland NULL.org/)
9:00 am– 3:30 pm
All families who participate in Oakland’s Head Start programs are invited to spend the day at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland in celebration of community, literacy, and school readiness.  Raising A Reader staff with be there leading interactive read alouds!

San Francisco Public Library Events

From scavenger hunts to music and movement, the San Francisco Public Library (http://sfpl NULL.org/index NULL.php?pg=0400000001) has an engaging list of events for April!

(http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Scavenger-hunt1 NULL.jpg)The scavenger hunt will take place from April 22-26 at the Merced branch, with prizes and a chance to win a raffle.  Librarians will give clues and hints to discover the answers to trivia questions and help children complete challenges in a quest to discover the library’s treasures.

For younger children, the library is offering a music and movement program for kids 4 and under at the Eureka Valley branch. The program will be held outdoors on the patio, weather permitting.

Other highlights this month include the program “Japan: From Silkworm to Kimono” and a showing of the movie “E.T.”

For more details and a complete listing of the library’s events for children, please click here (http://sfpl NULL.org/index NULL.php?pg=1010277901).

This week, April 8 -16, the American Library Association celebrates National Library Week (http://www NULL.atyourlibrary NULL.org/national-library-week). In particular we would like to highlight two special days this week.

Tuesday, April 10 ~ National Library Workers Day

While we are thankful for all the librarians who support our program, special appreciation goes to:

• Christy Estrovitz, Early Literacy Specialist, San Francisco Public Library
• Nina Lindsay, Supervising Librarian for Children’s Services, Oakland Public Library
• Laurie Willhalm, Children’s Outreach & Program Librarian, Oakland Public Library

These librarians and their coworkers help support our mission to promote family engagement and book sharing.

Wednesday, April 11 ~ National Bookmobile Day

San Francisco Public Library  has launched an online contest to Guess the location of the Green Bookmobile.
You may enter daily, April 6th – 16th, for your chance to win a bookmobile visit. Click on the bookmobile highlight on the sfpl.org (http://sfpl NULL.org/) home page and enter your guess.

Even if you don’t win a special visit from the bookmobile you can find the Early Library Mobile (http://sfpl NULL.org/index NULL.php?pg=0300021101)throughout San Francisco.

Poets, rejoice!

(http://www NULL.rarbayarea NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/poetry NULL.jpg)April is National Poetry Month, a time designated to read and celebrate poetry of all kinds.

Poetry for children is natural. Adults instinctively use poetry, in the form for nursery rhymes or lullabies, to teach children about literature, and books for small children are often written in rhythmic and rhyming language. This is because poetry helps children learn the sounds and cadence of language, while increasing their vocabulary and interest in literature.

The San Francisco Public Library is holding a National Poetry Month celebration for children of all ages on April 5, 3:30-4:30 p.m., at the Ocean View branch. The library also holds regular “Baby Rhyme and Playtime” programs for babies up to 18 months old and their caregivers. Some programs are bilingual English-Spanish. For more information on these and other programming for children, see the library’s calendar (http://sfpl NULL.org/index NULL.php?pg=1100000001&t=1).

For tips on how to teach poetry writing to children, check out poets.org’s educators section (http://www NULL.poets NULL.org/page NULL.php/prmID/6) and Giggle Poetry’s site (http://www NULL.gigglepoetry NULL.com/index NULL.aspx).