An open house and ribbon cutting was held Wednesday, July 16, to mark the opening of a new Early Literacy Activity Center to serve young children. The new center is located at Moniteau County Library at Wood Place, 501 South Oak, California.
The center, which is in the E.M. Burger Foundation room on the second floor of the library building, is the result of a partnership between Central Missouri Community Action (CMCA) Head Start, the library and the E.M. Burger Foundation.
The center is the result of several months work to create a special learning center for preschool children of the county. The space features a stage with costumes for story time, or dramatic play, a puppet theater with puppets, a reading area with preschool books, child size furnishings, a science and art center as well as partitioned play area for babies.
"This is unique in the eight-county area," said Mernell King, director of the CMCA early childhood development program. "This is the first time the CMCA agency has partnered with a library to develop this kind of program."
In addition to individual time spent by parents and children, the new center will be utilized by PACTT (Parent And Child Together Time) meetings twice a month.
According to librarian Connie Walker and CMCA Head Start personnel present, this new center fills part of the mission of public libraries, which is to help develop early literacy skills. Reading to or with young children helps them develop language comprehension and a larger vocabulary.
Represented among those present for the open house were CMCA, Head Start, the library and the E.M. Burger Foundation as well as many community members and the California Area Chamber of Commerce.