Live Oak Public Libraries was grateful to be awarded a grant from St. Thomas Episcopal Church Thrift Store Tuesday, which will be used to further the library system's mission to enhance early childhood literacy in its three-county service area.

The grant will fund training for LOPL's youth services staff in the Lexia LETRS system, a professional development course for early childhood educators, which utilizes a science-based approach to teaching children how to read.

"The Lexia LETRS training will provide library staff the opportunity to learn and implement early literacy programs based on the proven results of the Science of Reading framework. Library programming can play a critical role in the lives of young children," LOPL Regional Programming Librarian Kasey Haessler said.

"We’re excited to address our community’s literacy rate by introducing children to the same reading concepts they will learn in school."

The Lexia LETRS training is built around the science of reading, giving librarians the skills needed to teach the foundational and fundamental aspects of language arts, including phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. 

This system is also used by Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, which furthers LOPL's goal of providing a consistent early literacy experience for young children from Pre-K through 3rd grade. 

LOPL staff will begin training in August, following its popular annual Summer Reading Program. Nearly 5,000 LOPL patrons completed 1.6 million minutes of reading during the 2023 Summer Reading Challenge.

Other 2024 grant recipients include Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, East Savannah United, Fresh Air Home, Greenbriar Children’s Center, Heads-Up Guidance Services, Loop It Up Savannah and Royce Learning Center.