Chapter 2
EDUCATION PROGRAM
All activities directed towards classical learning within institutions, for example schools, are part of the Education Program. As a library, we offer expertise when it comes to reading enjoyment, language development and 21st century skills. We do this by organizing and providing activities for associated partners and for individual users. Together we can then learn, grow, and develop each other’s expertise. Below you will find more on our activities within this program in 2019.
BoekStart in de Kinderopvang (Book Start in Childcare)
All children read for 15 minutes per day! That is the basic principle of Book Start in Childcare. Children aged 0-4 years can enjoy books together with their parents in the Book Start Program. Book Start in Childcare is an extension of this with the goal to professionalize story telling in childcare. More childcare centers have also collaborated with the Kennemerwaard Public Library in 2019. As a result, the team of reading consultants has grown with one extra reading consultant. All six reading consultants visit the childcare centers weekly. They focused mainly on training pedagogical colleagues in 2019. Interactive reading and the promotion of reading aloud to small groups of toddlers were the central focus points so that educational staff would also be able to do this independently should a reading consultant be unavailable. And this always with a view to motivating children about books and increasing their vocabulary. In 2019, 111 educational staff completed the Interactief Voorlezen training. Twenty-three educational staff were trained as reading coordinators and this qualifies them as being the most important link between the library (reading consultant) and childcare (pedagogical staff).
Staff development
The reading consultants trained in 2019 by doing an update of the Train de Trainer Voorleescoordinator; participating in the Landelijke IKC dag and the Het jonge kind congress; and a visit to the Clavis Conceptwinkel in Alkmaar.
In brief
Highlights from the Education program in 2019
Book Start in Childcare
Reading Corners
The library and the reading corner partnership was celebrated with parents, children, educational staff and management at eight branches in 2019. There is now a total of 37 participating childcare centers that have a reading corner. Children can choose a book themselves here and quietly read. The books are used by educational staff too, and parents can borrow these at ten of our branches. Twelve branches provide story bags for parent and child.
Moments of inspiration for educational staff
There were two so-called moments of inspiration for educational staff in 2019. The first, in January, focused entirely on the Nationale Voorleesdagen. Three workshops on the book ‘Waar is Harry?’ were given: music on my lap, dance, and creative. A total of fifty-one educational staff and thirteen library workers participated in the workshops.
Network conference Book Start in Childcare
In April, nineteen reading coordinators from various childcare centers participated in the Network Conference Book Start in Childcare. The goal was to touch base, determine needs, learn more and to motivate each other. The participants came from all the affiliated foundations. The theme for the Children’s Book Week and the book for the Nationale Voorleesdagen was also announced during the conference. A guest speaker spoke on the topic of ‘awareness identifying low literacy parents’ and there was information on courses, the education plan and the Monitor.
Be counted for language
With funding from Kunst voor Lezen and Tel mee voor Taal, Book Start in Childcare was launched in four branches in the Egmonden and Schoorl: Berenboot en Troetertjes (Forte) Egmond-Binnen; Branding en Zeesterretjes (Forte) Egmond aan Zee; and ’t Josefslotje (Blosse) Egmond aan den Hoef. In addition, we also began at the Molgen(Forte) in Schoorl. At the moment there is one location in the Municipality of Bergen where children are able to borrow books. We have begun by installing a collection of books for pre-school toddlers at the primary school de Branding with a subsidy from Tel mee voor Taal. Pre-school toddlers are now library members and once a month a reading out loud morning is organized in the school library. If this pilot is successful, we hope to roll this out to other primary schools in the Egmonden.
Festive Opening of @Book Start in Childcare at playgroup Parapluutje @BiebKennemerwrd #Heerhugowaard with Alderman @JohnDoes6 and Book Start coach @danoontje_daan
– Jan Kaldenbach @jankaldenbach, 11 October 2019
Hanneke Idema @HannekeIdema First loan pre-school toddler library@BiebKennemerwrd with Alderman #Bergen @antoinetromp
– Hanneke Idema @HannekeIdema, 11 October 2019
The Library at School and Book Start in Childcare together!
Students from grades 7 and 8 at primary school Helmgras read at the childcare centers de Vuurtoren and ‘t Zandkasteel van Forte in Castricum in 2019 on a regular basis. They worked here to improve the continuous reading line of 0 to 12 and gave reading out loud a prominent position. The Helmgras students received a short training on reading to toddlers beforehand. Both the reading out loud students and the toddlers enjoyed these sessions.
Sinterklaas reading out loud morning in Blosse
There was a Sinterklaas storytelling morning on Friday 29 November at the childcare location at Zevensprong (Blosse) in Heerhugowaard. The morning was organized together with the library. Neighbourhood children and parents were welcome. It was a very successful morning and clearly the library contributed to its success.
Atalanta Christmas Lunch
The annual Christmas lunch for children and their parents was celebrated at the Atalanta toddler care in Heerhugowaard on Thursday 19 December. A special new Christmas book was read with the children, together with foldouts and Christmas carols, before the parents arrived. It was very relaxed with great snacks and a free flow of conversation. There was ample time during lunch to talk to the parents on teamwork between toddler care and the library.
Fotografie: Noor Rezelman
Babbels Peuter- en Kleuter Festival (Babbels’ Toddler and Pre-schoolers Festival)
It was party time again on Sunday 3 November in Theatre Cool Kunst en Cultuur with Babbels Peuter- en Kleuterfestival. As well as the many shows, there was also a chill space designed by the library’s reading consultants, together with Babbels Childcare. Parents received information as well on digital picture books. There was considerable interest, and this was a perfect way once again to show how much pleasure reading brings.
Parent involvement and reading encouragement
A reading consultant is available four hours per week at the playgroup ‘t Parapluutje in Heerhugowaard for the Parent involvement and reading encouragement project. The consultant read Betty Sluyzer’s picture book Kinderboerderijk to the children in various ways in May last year. Children and parents were invited to visit the children’s farm afterwards. The children took photographs of the animals here which they could later use to make their own picture book at playgroup.
Book Start in Childcare statistics
Municipality of Alkmaar
Total no. of childcare centers
54
Childcare centers with Book Start
9
No. of children in contact with Book Start
682
The number of foundations that participated in Book Start
Rollebol child centers in Alkmaar and Forte childcare center in de Rijp
2
Municipality of Bergen
Total no. of childcare centers
11
Childcare centers with Book Start
6
No. of children in contact with Book Start
293
The number of foundations that participated in Book Start
Forte childcare and Blosse
2
Municipality of Castricum
Total no. of childcare centers
18
Childcare centers with Book Start
3
No. of children in contact with Book Start
410
The number of foundations that participated in Book Start
Forte childcare and Blosse
2
Municipality of Heerhugowaard
Total no. of childcare centers
28
Childcare centers with Book Start
19
No. of children in contact with Book Start
1082
The number of foundations that participated in Book Start
Forte childcare, Blosse, childcare Langedijk, Childcare Babbels and Vila Kakelbont
5
Foundations that participated in Book Start Blosse, Forte childcare, Childcare Langedijk, Childcare Babbels, Rollebol child center, Villa Kakelbont. Source no. of childcare centers in the municipalities: national register childcare
The Library at School
Our service to primary education is based on three disciplines. The first is the proven successful concept of the Library at School. This is an intensive, long-term association between primary schools, libraries and municipalities. Efforts are being made on the quantitative improvement of education results in the field of reading and language skills, and information and media skills. The second discipline is the school activities and projects that schools implement independently. For example, it may be a basic introduction to programming or the ten-week project Scoor een Boek! In this last project we link reading to the most popular Dutch sport, football. In the third discipline we offer extra training to teachers, such as a research skills workshop or the Open Book to Reading Coordinator course. We support schools, for example when updating the school library and the policy on digital literacy. Eventually, the goal is to eradicate low literacy from an early age and to contribute to media intelligence for all. In doing so we continue to use our expertise for citizens, for example by exchanging ideas with children or initiating a sustainability project across schools.
fotograaf Chris van Houts
In brief
Highlights from the Education Program in 2019
The Library at School
Reading from AZ
This year sixty primary school classes participated again in ‘Scoor een Boek!’. The project is in association with AZ to motivate children to enjoy reading more. The children did their best to read books as much as possible (‘scoren’) for a period of eight weeks. Video clips from Pantelis Hatzidiakos, an AZ football club player, helped as an extra incentive. There was also a home edition with a special home poster so that the whole family could ‘score’. Four different library branches were also transformed into a football Valhalla with all sorts of football activities.
The last edition again of #scooreenboek in #Alkmaar and surrounds. More than 1800 students participated! Thanks to @AZAlkmaarm, @pantelis_hat, colleagues @BiebKennemerwrd and all those fantastic kids!
– Jan Kaldenbach @jankaldenbach, 17 May 2019
Level Up!
Kennemerwaard Public Library developed the LevelUP! project together with AZ - a series of lessons for grades 5 and 6 on positive gaming, where parents are also involved. A pilot was carried out with De Hasselbraam and De Zeppeline schools in Heerhugowaard and De Windhoek in Egmond-Binnen from May to July. Responses from the children, parents and teachers were very positive. The municipality of Heerhugowaard received a subsidy for LevelUp! As a result, 15 classes from Heerhugowaard will be able to take part in this program for free in 2020.
The children have become aware of the advantages and disadvantages of gaming. It is very addictive. They often pay more attention if someone other than a parent is able to explain it in a fun way. – Parent
It is absolutely necessary to highlight this topic in grades 5/6 because children are often exposed but not all children know how to deal with this. The program was perfect. It included everything!
– Teacher
Kick-off Level UP, @AZAlkmaar en @BiebKennemerwrd applause for the project on responsible gaming. Informative meeting for parents and teachers and a series of lessons for grades 5/6 students. – Jan Kaldenbach @jankaldenbach, 22 May 2019
Perspective on media games
The Slim met Media visual game is a board game that you can play at schools in an interactive way on the subject of digital literacy. This game was played at ten schools in our district in 2019. We were hired as co-trainer to play the vision on media game seven times at schools outside our work zone. And we played the game once with iPabo students as well. A version of the vision on media game has also been developed for library staff. This has been played once in 2019 with a team of enthusiastic colleagues.
Today we are with our co-trainers Jolanda and Femke from @BiebKennemerwrd to play 3 vision board games at one of the @Tabijn #mediawijsheid #digitalegeletterdheid schools.
– Slim met media @SlimmetMedia, 29 May 2019
Project Frog
A library reading consultant organized a major project for Kikker’s 30th birthday at the Kerkuil in Limmen. It was a team effort by grades 7/8 and grades 1/2/3 where the older students also helped make ‘book boxes’ and read to classes of younger children. There was a genuine ‘Frog box exhibition’ in the library next door.
Living Proof
The primary school ‘t Baeken in Alkmaar and the Kennemerwaard Public Library developed the ‘Living Proof’ project to help fight discrimination through mutual understanding. Grade 5 students discussed the many differences people have together. This was to prepare for Rosanne Botman’s visit to talk about the taboo that still surrounds having a disability. Afterwards, the children discussed how Rosanne’s talk affected their ideas about people with a disability.
Safety in puberty in the municipality of Bergen
DFunding has been made available to the Bergen municipality for classes on Safety in Puberty in Primary Education. It was not only aimed at students in 8th grade in 2019, but also those in 7th grade at primary school. A parent evening was also included in the program together with the classes for the students. All 14 schools in Bergen, Egmond and Schoorl could take advantage of this program during the 2019-2020 school year.
The Library at School statistics
Municipality of Alkmaar
Total no. of primary schools
45
Primary schools that have Library at School
20
Range of coverage - no. of students
3136
Municipality of Bergen
Total no. of primary schools
14
Primary schools that have Library at School
6
Range of coverage - no. of students
827
Municipality of Castricum
Total no. of primary schools
14
Primary schools that have Library at School
3
Range of coverage - no. of students
971
Municipality of Heerhugowaard
Total no. of primary schools
20
Primary schools that have Library at School
13
Range of coverage - no. of students
3757
High School
Many responses were received that resulted from a presentation made by the Kennemerwaard Public Library staff on the Safety in Puberty project held on a ProBiblio (Provincial Library of North and South Holland) project day. That is why another publication was later made to motivate other libraries. A great deal of attention has been paid to the development and form of cooperation in which this project has taken place in the municipality of Heerhugowaard. Ample consideration has also been given to the services the Kennemerwaard Public Library provides for schools.
“The success of the project #SafetyinPuberty is in cooperation with the many parties within the district.” Presentation by Rob Smit @BiebKennemerwrd on #ProjectDag2019.
– Probiblio @Probiblio, 20 June 2019
Mosque
In the framework of Safety in Puberty, contact was sought with the Mosque in Heerhugowaard. This resulted in a workshop on Opvoeding (Parenting) and Media, given by the library’s reading consultant, who also works as a consultant at the An Nasr primary school in Alkmaar. Eight women participated in the workshop. They all indicated that strict rules were in place in the home for internet use. It was an inspiring and positive experience for everyone.
Parent Evening Dalton College
We once again had a successful parent evening at the Dalton College in Alkmaar. More than sixty parents attended that evening and our library consultants explained the children’s media usage and the effects of this at school. It led to interesting discussions.
Berger Scholengemeenschap and Citizenship
The Media Literacy classes were increased to four per first-year high school group at the Bergen Scholengemeenschap in 2019. Topics included dealing with social media and image manipulation. There were discussions about statements relating to the use of the smartphone and students were asked to monitor their screen time. This material was also used as input for the discussions during the Media-Ganzenbordspel.