{"id":40360,"date":"2021-12-02T13:56:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T13:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ftf\/?post_type=family-stories&p=40360"},"modified":"2021-12-02T22:15:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T22:15:01","slug":"safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"family-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Safford library storytime helps young Solomon boy prepare for a lifetime of learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGoodbye friends\u2026It\u2019s time to say goodbye.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are a few of the words to Christopher Munoz\u2019s favorite song from Story Time at the Safford City-Graham County Library. The words are fitting as he said a final goodbye to his favorite online celebrity, Ms. Retha.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retha Russell was the library\u2019s early literacy coordinator and retired in July 2021. Over the years Russell impacted hundreds of children in Graham County.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She holds a special place in Christopher\u2019s heart. The friendship between Russell and Christopher began when he was only 3 years old. He first attended the library\u2019s storytime with his cousin. He was hooked. Since his sister is 15 years older, playmates are hard to come by and storytime quickly became a highlight of his week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The First Things First Graham\/Greenlee Regional Partnership Council<\/a> funds early literacy programs, like Story Time at the Library, to help families foster language development and a love of reading in their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Family Activities<\/p>\n

A wide variety of free family-friendly activities, storytimes, play days, parenting workshops, literacy programs, cooking classes, community health fairs, and much more.<\/p>\n

Find similar programs near you<\/p>\n

Christopher lives in the small Arizona community of Solomon and is fortunate to have his grandma, Delfina Espinoza, living next door. She takes care of him during the day while Christopher\u2019s mother teaches math at the local elementary school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an educator, his mother knows the importance of quality early childhood experiences, so she put together a preschool curriculum for Espinoza to do at home with Christopher. The only thing missing was the social aspect. That\u2019s where storytime came in. The weekly library event helped Christopher learn new words and colors, but also how to interact with peers, learn to share, take turns and raise his hand to ask a question.<\/span><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person storytime, but it didn\u2019t take long for Russell and her library team to find a creative solution. They used an online platform so storytime could continue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every Thursday morning at 11, Christopher and his grandma would gather around the computer in the living room with their egg shakers and scarves to participate in the virtual storytime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we weren\u2019t there in person, I would type his name in the chat, and he would get so excited when Ms. Retha would say \u2018Well, hello, Christopher! We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here today!\u2019 It helped us feel connected and a part of something familiar,\u201d Espinoza said. \u201cIt gave us something to look forward to.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In July 2021, Christopher returned to the library for the first time in over a year. His eyes sparkled as he looked around to the different play and book stations set up. A bit shy at first, he looked awestruck when he saw Ms. Retha. Then she saw him. She said, \u201cChristopher!\u201d as she put her arms out and he walked into a big hug. He was holding a small succulent as a retirement gift, but was still able to wrap his arms around her neck.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell started her retirement that day, and Christopher started kindergarten in August. Thanks to the skills he has gained through in-person and virtual storytime, his family is confident that he is prepared to continue a lifetime of learning.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The First Things First Graham\/Greenlee Regional Partnership Council funds early literacy programs, like Story Time at the Library, to help families foster language development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":40361,"template":"","tags":[174,430],"class_list":["post-40360","family-stories","type-family-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-graham-greenlee","tag-family-activities","regions-graham-greenlee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSafford library storytime helps young Solomon boy prepare for a lifetime of learning - First Things First<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The FTF Graham\/Greenlee Regional Partnership Council funds early literacy programs, like Story Time at the Library, to help families foster language development.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safford library storytime helps young Solomon boy prepare for a lifetime of learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The FTF Graham\/Greenlee Regional Partnership Council funds early literacy programs, like Story Time at the Library, to help families foster language development.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-02T22:15:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Graham_Greenlee-2021.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AZFTF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/safford-library-storytime-helps-young-solomon-boy-prepare-for-a-lifetime-of-learning\/\",\"name\":\"Safford library storytime helps young Solomon boy prepare for a lifetime of learning - 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