Library Helps Youngsters Master Early Math and Reading Skills

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For Immediate Release:
July 15, 2013

Santa Clara County Library District Offers Free Bedtime Math Program

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. – Bedtime stories are a time-honored event in most households across the nation. The importance of early reading experiences is well known and reading aloud to children has been cited as “the single most important intervention for developing their literacy skills” according to a study by the National Commission on Reading. Now, a new program has been introduced to the bedtime ritual – Bedtime Math.

On Tuesday, July 16 at 7:15 pm., Campbell Library will be hosting their own “Party in your PJs” event. Families are encouraged to bring their young children for an evening of fun games and math enrichment.
 
“We are thrilled that our libraries now offer information about this exciting new concept in learning,”
said Nancy Howe, County Librarian for the Santa Clara County Library District. “We hope that over time, nightly math will become as beloved as the bedtime story ritual.”
 
Bedtime Math is an innovative program developed by Laura Bilodeau Overdeck, a Princeton-trained astrophysicist and founder of the non-profit Bedtime Math organization, which promotes a new movement in early math literacy. It offers two free on-going math-focused programs for children 3-9 years of age.
 
By signing up for the free program, families receive a fun math problem each night – by email, Facebook or the Bedtime Math website www.bedtimemath.org. Parents and kids then read and solve the nightly math problems together. To chart their progress over the summer months, kids can either print their own “Summer of Numbers” Bedtime Calendar or pick one up at their local library.
 
The Saratoga Library recently held a wildly successful “Party in your PJs” event in June to introduce the new program to some of its youngest patrons. More than 80 children and 60 adults attended the Bedtime Math party. They participated in entertaining math games such as Monster Dominoes, Terrifically Twisted Tangrams and Bedtime Match Calendar, which were part of the numerical night.
 
“Mastering math skills at an early age can help develop future achievements in math as well as reading,” said Rose Khoury, Children’s Services Librarian at the Saratoga Library. “This is a great opportunity to help children get a head-start in math while they are still young.”
 
All the libraries that are part of Santa Clara County Library District offer the Bedtime Math program. Adults are encouraged to enroll their children during the summer months to help reduce the loss of math skills over the school break. Families can help maintain and enhance their young student’s math skills by continuing Bedtime Math throughout the school year.

About the Santa Clara County Library District

Known as one of America’s best 100 public libraries, the Santa Clara County Library District promotes knowledge, ideas, and cultural enrichment. Its collection includes 1.8 million books, videos, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, eBooks and extensive online resources that users can access from home or work.

For eleven years, the Santa Clara County Library District has ranked as one of the best in the nation for its size by Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings, which uses 15 different benchmark measures such as collections, circulation, visits and customer service. Also recognized as one of America’s 2012 Star Libraries by Library Journal and with more than 3.1 million visits each year, the Santa Clara County Library District is one of the most-used public resources in the region. 

The Santa Clara County Library District includes two bookmobiles, an online library, seven community libraries and one branch library serving Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. In 2012, Santa Clara County Library District had 205,506 library cardholders, recorded 3,186,684 visitors, and a circulation of 9,833,350 items. Visit Santa Clara County Library District online at http://www.sccl.org.

Contact:

Gwendolyn Mitchell/Marina Hinestrosa 
Office of Public Affairs 
(408) 299-5119 
 
Derek Wolfgram/Mark Fink/Lili Smith
Santa Clara County Library District
(408) 293-2326 ext. 3002/3010/3014