[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
The South Carolina Center for Children\u2019s Books and Literacy is the site for new books for children and young adults in the state. The center receives newly released books directly from various publishers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are tasked with making them available to as many people as possible and making people aware of the new books that are available to kids,\u201d said Liz Hartnett, program coordinator for the center.<\/p>\n
This hidden gem can be found on the University of South Carolina campus at the corner of Senate and Bull Streets. The literacy outlet is mostly unknown to those outside of the education world, even though it is open to the public for book checkout, and empty throughout the day.<\/p>\n
The center has not only housed all the new books for the state since 1992, but also provides literature courses, professional development, and outreach programs such as Cocky\u2019s Reading Express.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a program that involves student volunteers. You hop on the bus with Cocky, the mascot, and go to schools around the state to present picture books, reading them aloud to K-through-second grade students,\u201d Hartnett explained. \u201cAll the kids go home with a new book, it\u2019s a lot of fun and it\u2019s been really successful for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The center deliberately targets early learning grades because, Hartnett said, research has shown that if kids are unable to read proficiently by the third grade they are more at risk for not graduating high school on time and having academic difficulties.<\/p>\n
Through her research, Hartnett has found that the U.S. literacy rate is around 86%; S.C.\u2019s rate hovers at 85%. That is based on how many people who are 15 years old and older who are able to read and write.<\/p>\n
While the state\u2019s literacy rate may be in line with the U.S. as a whole, on national tests students are performing at some of the lowest levels in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a national test that all fourth graders take that measures reading,\u201d Hartnett said. \u201cSouth Carolina students placed 47th<\/sup> in the country on that test last year, so that\u2019s kind of alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n This placement was a significant drop from previous years. The center is helping to fight back against these low scores by preparing teachers\u00a0with different techniques and materials for reading in the classroom.<\/p>\n SCCCBL teaches educators how to pick the right books for story time and different strategies that can be used to read aloud in an engaging way so that kids are encouraged to be a part of the process. The center also offers workshops to public librarians on how to work with families of bilingual children.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that families play a role in developing a child\u2019s literacy skills, whatever language they speak or don\u2019t speak,\u201d said Hartnett. \u201cLiteracy is everyone\u2019s business so we are open to working with groups that share our concern.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LitCenterP2_web.jpg”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n The South Carolina Center for Children\u2019s Books and Literacy is tucked away on the USC campus. The center can be found at the corner of Senate and Bull Streets.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LitCenterP1_web.jpg”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Liz Hartnett, program coordinator for the SCCBLC, believes it\u2019s essential for parents to be active in their children\u2019s literacy development. She says that parents can boost literacy in their homes by modeling reading to their children.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LitCenterP8_web.jpg”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Amelia Braun, a senior education major at USC, makes use of the center to check out books for her classroom during the student-teaching program.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 4″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-26-at-4.08.31-PM.png”]<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The South Carolina Children’s Books and Literacy Center, located at the University of South Carolina, houses the state’s collection of new children’s books and provides support for childhood literacy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":12111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[68,41],"tags":[181,180],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12100"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16091,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12100\/revisions\/16091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}