{"id":2859,"date":"2015-08-13T16:14:24","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T21:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=2859"},"modified":"2016-08-22T15:05:39","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T20:05:39","slug":"uw-milwaukee-creates-free-app-to-help-families-and-libraries-encourage-children-to-read","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-milwaukee-creates-free-app-to-help-families-and-libraries-encourage-children-to-read\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Milwaukee creates free app to help families and libraries encourage children to read"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Natasha<\/a>
Natasha Heinlein, of Muskego, uses the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten app developed at UWM to track books read to her son, Eli.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Read the \u201cPoky Little Puppy\u201d to your toddler 58 times?<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s an app to track that.<\/p>\n

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Waukesha County public libraries collaborated on a free app for parents to track books read to their children. The app supports the popular \u201c1000 Books Before Kindergarten\u201d program offered by libraries nationwide.<\/p>\n

The goal is to encourage parents and grandparents to read to children, fostering literacy later on. (Click here<\/a> for more information.)<\/p>\n

Until now, parents have had to log the books read to their children with pen and paper, turning in their reports to the libraries where children earn rewards, said Angela Meyers, coordinator of youth and special needs services for the Waukesha County Federated Library System. She thought the process could be simpler.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping track of the folder with the reading logs was sometimes a hassle, so we wanted to take a paper model and make it digital,\u201d Meyers said.<\/p>\n

The library didn\u2019t have the money or staff to develop a smartphone app, so Meyers, who earned her master\u2019s degree at UWM, turned to the university\u2019s App Brewery, which helps students fine tune their skills by working with real-life clients from nonprofits. While the School of Information Studies sponsors the brewery, participating students come from a variety of academic programs that prepare them for careers in information studies and technology, graphic design and computer sciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not have been able to do this without the help from UWM and the App Brewery,\u201d Meyers said.<\/p>\n

The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten app already has 316 users and 412 children after a \u201csoft launch\u201d this spring, Meyers said. \u00a0While the app is set up to work with the Waukesha County libraries\u2019 program, families in other areas can use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had downloads from Canada and Australia,\u201d Meyers said. \u201cWhen it was mentioned on the ALA (American Library Association\u2019s) Facebook site, it got 60 \u2018likes\u2019 the first night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The app is available for both iPhones and Androids.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d said Natasha Heinlein, of Muskego, who\u2019s been using the app as she reads to her 3-year-old son, Eli, and 18-month-old daughter, Evy. \u00a0\u201cI love it, and it\u2019s really easy to use. It\u2019s a much more convenient than remembering to write down every book.\u201d<\/p>\n

The app allows librarians to catch families up by transferring books from the paper log if they have children like Eli, who has already read more than 300 books with his mom. His favorites include \u201cI Love You Stinky Face,\u201d \u201cWacky Wednesday,\u201d \u201cFraidy Zoo,\u201d and anything about dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to read to him, and I know he\u2019s learning a lot,\u201d Heinlein said. \u201cSometimes we just enjoy laughing together about silly stories.<\/p>\n

The app allows parents to set up profiles for each of their children, App Brewery Manager Dustin Hahn said. Grandparents, aunts, babysitters, siblings and others who read to a child also can sign into the child\u2019s profile from their smartphones and log books. Entering a book can be as easy as scanning the barcode on it.<\/p>\n

The Waukesha County libraries\u2019 app is one of two including \u201c1000 Books\u201d in its name. Meyers said the advantage of the app developed at UWM is that it incorporates feedback from users and is supported by the library system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur library patrons can go into the library to have a conversation about the 1000 Books program and talk to their librarian about the app, and get incentives along the way,\u201d she said. \u201cI can’t think of one other app where you can actually walk in or call someone to give feedback. I think that’s kind of neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Kathy Quirk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the \u201cPoky Little Puppy\u201d to your toddler 58 times? Now there\u2019s an app to track that. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Waukesha County public libraries collaborated on a free app for parents to track books read to their children. The app supports the popular \u201c1000 Books Before Kindergarten\u201d program offered by libraries nationwide. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","institution":[107],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-2859","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-milwaukee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/2859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=2859"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=2859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}