Albuquerque - Official City Website

The ABC Libraries want every child in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County to develop a life-long love of reading and learning.

Children who are strong readers have a much greater chance of success at school, and research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school.

To help children and families develop these critical early literacy skills, ABC Libraries has adopted Every Child Ready to Read®, an early childhood literacy program developed by the American Library Association.  

All of our storytimes incorporate elements of the Every Child Ready to Read® program.

We also have one-hour long Every Child Ready to Read® workshops, that provide parents and caregivers tips on how to give young children a head start on a life of learning.

The Every Child Ready to Read® workshops will take place at various locations throughout the City of Albuquerque. To request a workshop at your location, please call Kathy Barco at (505) 768-5103.  

Monthly Literacy Tips

Singing and Rhyming help your child get ready to read.

Singing songs– and saying rhymes – are natural ways to learn about language. Aside from being fun, singing and rhyming help your child hear words broken up into smaller parts. They also teach vocabulary and introduce new ideas and concepts.

Baby Hop is an action rhyme that babies love. Hearing the rhyming words and the repetition helps children to identify the small sounds that make up words. This will help them later when they begin to sound out written words. Have fun!

Snuggle up together Baby’s in your lap Snuggle up together And clap, clap clap (clap Baby’s hands together) Snuggle up together Don’t you nap Snuggle up together And tap, tap, tap (tap Baby’s feet together) You’re working out together Baby don’t stop You’re working out together Now hop, hop, hop” (pick up Baby and “hop” Baby up and down)

Choo-Choo Train Two and three year olds love trains. This action rhyme tells the story of a train through words and actions, helping children to understand opposites—forward and back.

This is the choo-choo train (Bend arms at elbows.) Puffing down the track. (Rotate forearms in rhythm.) Now it’s going forward. (Push arms forward; continue rotating) Now it’s going back. (Pull arms back; continue rotating.) Now the bell is ringing (Pull bell cord with closed fist.) Now the whistle blows. (Hold fist near mouth and blow.) What a lot of noise it makes (Cover ears with hands.) Everywhere it goes. (Stretch out arms.)

Dinosaur Rhyme This is a rhyme about dinosaurs, a very popular topic for your kids in the pre-reader stage. By focusing on something that they love, you can encourage them to discover books and stories that feed this insatiable desire to learn. Repetition really helps the brain to develop pathways, so it’s fun to repeat! Each time you can try to be louder snorers and then you can put your hands to your ears with a cry of “That’s loud!”

With tiny brains (fist to head) And great big tails (sweep hands behind self) Dinosaurs can be as big as whales! (hand creating large path low to high above head) They never giggle (pretend to laugh) They never weep (pretend to cry) They just eat – chomp chomp (bend forward and make chewing motion) And eat- chomp chomp (repeat) And eat – chomp chomp (repeat) And Sleep! (rest head on hands and snore as loud as you can!)

Every Child Ready to Read® is sponsored by the following:  The Stocker Foundation, the Friends for the Public Library, and Lockheed Martin/Sandia National Laboratories.