CDC, library work to enhance youth reading Published July 22, 2011 By Senior Airman William A. O'Brien 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- In an effort to introduce children to reading at an early age and foster a lifelong love of reading, each class at the Child Development Center here goes to the library once a week. "The purpose of the library visits is to start as early as infancy to develop a love of going to the library and making literacy a natural part of their lives," said Michael Simones, Child Development Center training and curriculum specialist. "Ages 6 weeks to 5 years -- yes infants too -- visit the library weekly for one hour and have stories read to them by the librarian, as well as check out books for the week that are read in the classrooms." Simones added that it is particularly important to get children going to the library early before they replace books with technology. "The appreciation is important because these children are growing up in a technology age in which the library could be seen as something old," he said. "Starting the visits now will help these children learn that the library is a part of the literacy, learning and the technology system -- not an outdated system to be replaced." The benefits of the program vary based on the age of the child. The program is tailored to cater to each age groups' developmental level. "The infants love being read to," said Simones. "Developmentally, infants start with watching and listening; toddlers are into more touching literacy and saying some words to repeat stories; and preschoolers can actually predict storylines, act out stories and write or dictate their own stories -- including making their own books." The visits, were initiated because Simones wanted to take advantage of the proximity of the library to the CDC, something he said is rare to find in the Air Force. "The program was initiated by myself and the library director, Maxine Becker, in 2009," added Simones. "We wanted to do something in conjunction together -- especially since we were so close and on a lot of other bases the library is too far from the CDC to visit. The program is running so well. The teachers actually base other curriculum off of a lot of books that come from the library like science experiments, long term projects, music, etc." Simones said he is pleased with the affiliation he has established with the library and the success the program has had since its inception. "I have worked at many CDCs within the Air Force over the years, and I have never seen such a rich literacy program like here at Incirlik. Much of that is due to our partnership with the library," said Simones.