• Talk to your child. Begin talking and singing to your child from birth. Play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. Recite nursery rhymes. Repeat sounds. Sing songs.

• Let your baby know that you hear her babbles, coos and gurgles. Repeat the sounds she makes. Smile back.

• Read to your child. Make reading a pleasure. Read in a comfortable place. Show your child that reading is fun and rewarding.

• Show enthusiasm as you read to your child. Read with expression.

• Read to your child often. The more you read, the better-- as long as he is willing to listen. Reading times can be brief.

• Talk about the story you read.

• Give your baby sturdy books to look at, touch and hold.

• Read favorite books again and again! Children love hearing the same stories again.

click here to jump to early learning neighborhood opportunities for your child

Information about
Help Me Grow Literacy Links:

LINKING FAMILIES TO READING ACTIVITIES

Long before an infant babbles or says his/her first word, he/she is developing skills needed to communicate and eventually to read. Research shows that children who were regularly exposed to reading materials at a very young age are those who most often achieve early school success. Parents and caregivers are their child’s first teacher and can set the foundation for reading by providing activities even to very young children. The Literacy Links project, supported by a grant from the Early Learning Opportunity Act, offers Help Me Grow families an opportunity to do just that!

Our Help Me Grow Early Learning Literacy Specialists, from seven community agencies, working with the family’s Service Coordinator, provide examples of a variety of learning activities and games that support communication and literacy development. Parents/caregivers are given the tools to enrich their child’s early literacy experiences.

Literacy Links offers Help Me Grow Families:
· In-home Literacy Support
· Free Books
· Free Literacy Materials
· Free activities for families at local community events

Through this exciting new program:

Help Me Grow parents/ caregivers can help their child develop a love for reading through everyday experiences and routines during the most important years of life.

For more information,
please call Help Me Grow at:

(216) 736-4300

Coming soon:
Help Me Grow Early Learning Projects.

Achievement Centers for Children
Achievement Centers for Children is offering early literacy programs at various locations including their Highland Hills and Lakewood sites, neighborhood public libraries, and recreational community centers. Programming includes Summertime Storybook Picnics for children 18 months to 5 years old and their parents, and “Sing With Me” sessions to be held in the fall for children 18 months to 3 years old and their parents.

Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities activities will be held at the Arbor Park Community Center. Activities include Parent/Child playgroups that emphasize fine and gross motor skill development, reading, and learning through play. They will also be taking field trips, offering informational sessions twice monthly, and providing one-on-one home visitation.

Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities (CCBMR/DD)
The CCBMR/DD early Childhood Program provides intervention services to children with disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities, ages birth through five, and their families. Children involved in the CCBMR/DD summer programs are not enrolled in a formal early care setting.

Thirty-one literacy projects will be offered at the William Patrick Day Early Childhood
Center and satellite centers, which are in city and suburban community buildings. New programming will include three summer camps:
1.) “After School Kids’ Club Summer Camp”, which has a combined focus of literacy and social emotional development;
2.) “Toddlers and Literacy”, which involves helping parents to obtain library cards and attend storytimes with their child and
3.) “ABC and Rhyme with Me" which will foster phonemic awareness and letter familiarity using movement and music. In the fall, two after school programs will be held that are enhanced with literacy learning. The remaining CCBMR/DD programs provide early literacy experiences in a multitude of settings providing diverse early learning opportunities from cooking, to Games Day with Parents, storytelling, gardening and literacy and even parent-tot swims.

Cleveland Reads
Cleveland Reads will be using “The Three R’s: Raising Real Readers” and “Learning Games” as the basis for their programs. They will offer programming at clinics where parents normally bring their children, as well as at community based agencies. They will be incorporating trips to the library and inviting children’s librarians to their sessions. Services will be offered at many locations throughout Cleveland and East Cleveland, including Metro Health.

Heights Parent Center
The Heights Parent Center is a non-profit family support, education and resource center. Currently they provide three literacy programs: Play-A Day; Even Start and “Little Heights”. The literacy program will be expanded during the month of August, to provide bi-weekly interactive literacy services at “Little Heights” to Heights Even Start families with children under the age of six. “Little Heights” Playroom consist of different everyday contexts (such as Laundromat or Grocery Store) and provides opportunities for parents to teach and play with their children in a way that promotes literacy building skills.

Kids Health 2020
Kids Health 2020 is a neighborhood organization dedicated to working with Mt. Pleasant families. Four new programs will be implemented under this grant funding: Storytime; Preschool Playhouse; Family Game Night and Watch-A- Book. Programs will focus on active listening; oral language acquisition; reading tips and encouragement for parents; social literacy through group projects, rhymes and songs; and helping parents identify and appreciate literacy through supportive, age relevant video resources. Programs will be enhanced by the guest appearance of a performing artist and the planning of four family field trips.

Merrick House
“Partners in Literacy” programming provided by Merrick House will focus its services on families who participate in Help Me Grow, Moms First programming at Merrick House, families at the Merrick House and Spanish American Committee daycare centers, families who receive free meals at area churches, and families who attend appointments at Neighborhood Family Practice. A new opportunity to be implemented with this literacy grant will be a Preschool Summer Camp. Programs will be offered at a variety of sites on the near west side of Cleveland.

Shaker Family Center
Shaker Family Center is a non-profit organization that provides and sustains opportunities and resources that help all families meet the challenges of raising young children of all abilities, ages 0-5. Shaker Family Center will serve non-English speaking families and special needs children and their families in literacy based activities at the Shaker Family Center. They will hold monthly early literacy activities at the New Life Community, which provides transitional housing.