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4S Ranch - Meet Your Neighbor Laura Zuckerman - 4S Ranch Library's Mrs. Z.
Watch Laura Zuckerman work her magic during Preschool Story Time and Craft with "Mrs. Z." and its hard to tell who is enjoying the experience more - the kids sitting cross-legged on the carpet eyes fixed on their favorite instructor or the adults along the side of the room thankful to see their kids so engaged in a fun activity. Every Friday at 10:39 and 11:30 am at the 4S Ranch Library, "Mrs. Z" leads young kids through a series of engaging, entertaining and educational activities that have them learning skills needed to prepared them for kindergarten while also making friends and laughing. For the former elementary school teacher, this is a big part of what makes her job at the neighborhood library so enjooyable and rewarding.
"My favorite grade to teach was second grade," Zuckerman shared recently. "I love curriculum development for younger kids. The zero-to-five-age range -early literacy really -is my passion. I know how important these first few years of life are. I like being able to focus much of my work on the little ones."
Zuckerman spent six years in a classroom as an elementary school teacher before following in her father's footsteps as a librarian. She has now been working among the bookstacks and in several San Diego County libraries for 12 years. As the coodinator of the 4S Ranch Library's Youth Service, Zuckerman is proud of the diverse and wide-ranging schedule available for area youth at the local library. She works hard to bring in new programs - such as yoga and music classes - but she remains partial to preschool story time.
"I'm most proud of story time because I see the children grow through the program," the Youth Services Librarian and mother of a 19-year-old daughter said. "I see the curriculum come alive with the children through the activities we do. It's also very rewarding when parents come up and tell me how much their kids have been looking forward to story time. This matters to kids in their lives."
Although "Mrs. Z. and Preschool Story Time have taken a brief break this summer, the popular story times will begin again in September. As always, the activity will begin with a good morning song that follows a pattern that the kids can identify qickly and use throughout the day. "Mrs. Z" then guides the children into kindergarten readiness skill building with a preschool concept song and chart follwed by the first read aloud book. "Mrs. Z" uses a lot of sing-songy language to keep the kids' attention and constanly works to bring them into the sotry. Near the end of the session, children have the opportunity to complete a craft activity.
"Our Preschool Story Time curriculum is driven by the California Department of Education, California Preschool learning Foundations and Curriculum Frameworks, which all of our district schools follow," said Zuckerman, who writes her own programs for each weekly session. "Parents are concerned with getting their child ready for kindergarten. We make sure we include time for ABCs, 123s, knowing the letters of the alphabet, the sounds the letters make and units of money. But we also have lots of activities designed to develop social skills - like how to wait in line and share.
"Our goal with story time is that we want to be able to support parents and caregivers with the early literacy development of their children birth to five years."
To view a list of great activities taking place at the 4S Ranch Library, including Preschool Story Time and Craft with "Mrs. Z.", go online to www.4sranchlibrary.blogspot.com or call (858) 673-4697.
http://www.backattheranch-online.com/ SEPTEMBER 2012 ISSUE
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