Reimagining libraries
The One Up library is not your traditional, cobwebby library space where a child is shushed into silence. Instead, we have reimagined our library as a vital environment to support your child’s development of literacy, original thought, voice and most important of all, wonder.
We are a critical third partner for creating literacy skills and supplementing nourishing school and home environments. Our environment is designed to invite the child to touch, feel the security of curling into a book and experience the enchantment of stories. But reading alone isn’t enough. The science of reading intervention demands that the child wrestle with ideas about books with peers, read critically, answer challenging questions from an adult and understand reading to be more than a solitary activity.
Our book collection is carefully curated to appeal to children from as early as 6 months to those in middle and high school. Incorporating author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s reflections on ‘The danger of a single story’, we offer your child multiple perspectives. Our extensive shelf is designed to bring the diversity of the Universe into the child’s environment. At One Up, your child can experience a novel-in-verse, read about the surreal magic of the Northern lights or immerse herself in the magical world of the Phantom Tollbooth. Our stories invite children into nearby places in India or travel far into the Australian bush, the Serengeti, even exotic Japan.
Our reading program is based on best practices gleaned from:
Project Zero, The Harvard Graduate School of Education
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The Reggio Emilia philosophy
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Bank Street College of Education
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Teachers Reading and Writing College
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Fountas and Pinnell guided reading and benchmark assessment
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Stephanie Harvey content and inquiry based literacy
Read Aloud
Reading aloud is the best advertisement for literature. It helps children feel joy, connection and interest in stories. It also makes complex ideas more accessible and expands the kinds of literature your daughter chooses.
Based on cutting-edge educational research, One Up’s Read Aloud program offers children the opportunity to hear excellent readers, artists, theatre personalities and educators. This program is offered to readers of all ages who avail of the library membership.
Offered for 200 hours a year, this program aids the development of comprehension in all readers.
To apply to become a member go HERE or read about library benefits like bookstore discounts and access to our author events read our FAQ’s
The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.
Book Clubs
Books provide both the opportunity to reflect on our lives, and to think about the larger world — to consider ourselves in the context of generations before us and cultures beyond our borders.
In the One Up book club, we provide your child with an enjoyable, easy way to develop many literacy skills. Simply by reading books in preparation for book club meetings, children develop a feeling of responsibility, belongingness and being part of a community. Through the discussion that takes place at book club meetings, children develop a deeper understanding of texts, consider others’ perspectives on the same material and practice higher order thinking. In addition, they develop important language skills. Book discussions help children practice turn-taking, encourage them to use language to analyze, make predictions and solve problems. Book Clubs are available for children between 3 and 14 years.
Libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.
Informal Reading Assessment
At One Up, our reading instruction is based on the latest research in neuroscience, developmental psychology and reading pedagogy. We begin all reading instruction, by first conducting an informal reading assessment. These informal tests are administered in a safe and silent environment. The child’s independent reading level is established through these.
To build a child’s reading life, it is of utmost importance to match the reader with the right book. This regular informal assessment aids independent levels of reading and learning. For a teacher, understanding the reader’s independent/ instructional or frustration level is important for his/ her engagement with the text.
This is offered free for all library members 3-6 times a year. Please contact us here to schedule an informal reading assessment.
One Up is your one-stop solution for sourcing the best books, literary practices and workshops for your child, teachers or school system
