Opening the Gift - Harford County Public Library

05/06/2026

The Opening the Gift – Preschool Traveling Library program is a free service offered to licensed family child care homes in Harford County. Since 1979, hundreds of family child care providers and thousands of children have participated in the program.

From October to May, the Early Literacy Specialist schedules story time visits to licensed home child care settings. We are excited about this opportunity to share books, rhymes, puppets, and music in a 45-minute program once a month during the next program year (October-May) at your location. By participating in the sessions, you as the caregiver will become acquainted with library materials and story time activities that can be used to enrich your child care experience.

Your participation in Opening the Gift-Preschool Traveling Library may be approved as required training by the MD State Department of Education, Office of Child Care (Approval -30714).

Visit https://hcplonline.org/openingthegift.php for more information.

05/01/2026

May is here, and this is our last newsletter for the year, but we invite you all to join us this summer for our Summer Reading Program, "Unearth a Story®." There will be many wonderful activities at all of the branches, and don’t forget that children that complete the summer reading program will earn a free book, while supplies last. In line with our summer reading theme, our Opening the Gift-Preschool Traveling Library theme is "Diggin’ Those Dinosaurs." Please enjoy the songs, fingerplays, art activity, and books in our newsletter, and have a great summer!

04/01/2026

April is here and this month Opening the Gift-PReschool Traveling Library is celebrating some favorite stories and authors. Please enjoy April's OTG-PTL newsletter.

03/18/2026

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Our Literacy Tip this month is about helping children learn about letters.
Children who go to kindergarten knowing the shapes and names of the letters of the alphabet have a much easier time learning to read.
By the time your child begins kindergarten, he or she should know many of the letters of the alphabet, especially those in his or her name. Your child should be able to identify letters in any order, not just in order from A, B, C, D, E …
There are many ways to learn the shapes and names of letters, which should be play-based rather than drills, like flash cards. Children should make connections with letters in meaningful ways.

03/02/2026

This month we are celebrating the coming of Spring with “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. Please enjoy the March Opening the Gift-Preschool Traveling Library newsletter.

02/14/2026

Happy Valentines’ Day!
Our Literacy Tip this month is about the early literacy practice of singing:

A word about the ABC song...
Parents often think their child "knows" the alphabet because they can sing the ABC song and/or recite the alphabet, or because the child can point to the letters in order while singing or saying the alphabet.
Being able to do those things can show that a child has some knowledge about the alphabet, but children with good letter knowledge can identify letters in any order.

Sing: Instead of singing to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” try singing to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
ABCDEFG
HIJ
KLM
NOPQRST
UVWXY and Z.
https://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/bookworm/bookworm-archives/ -December 2024

01/30/2026

Please join Opening the Gift-Preschool Traveling Library as we are "Movin' and Groovin" this February!

01/20/2026

Vocabulary is knowing the names of things and ideas. Most children enter school knowing several thousand words. Developing a strong vocabulary helps your child as they learn to read. When you think about it, you know that you are reading a word correctly if you have heard it before. The more words children hear, the more ready they will be to make connections between sounding out words, knowing they are pronouncing them correctly, and understanding what the words mean.
The best way to help your child build vocabulary is to talk and read with them.

The Bookworm Preschool Newsletter, January 2025, https://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/bookworm/bookworm-archives/

01/02/2026

Happy New Year!
Please enjoy the January OTG-PTL Newsletter and the Author Spotlight – Eric Carle.

12/10/2025

Happy Holidays! “The Bookworm” newsletter is a monthly publication from the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL) and it is for families, caregivers, and teachers. There is a babies and toddlers newsletter, a preschool newsletter, and a kindergarten newsletter available in both English and Spanish. This month’s issue of “The Bookworm” focuses on letter knowledge. Please visit “The Bookworm” newsletter’s site to find the newsletter for you and your children. https://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/bookworm/

The Bookworm is a monthly publication of the My First Books program. This early literacy newsletter is sent home to the parents of children receiving My First Books each month, and contains age-appropriate literacy information and activities. It can also be distributed by school and public librarian...