Happy Independence Day!

Children and Youth Programs
Queens Library provides several free
programs and services designed to
help children from birth to age 18
develop the skills and structures they
need
•
to succeed.
Our Toddler Learning Centers
for children 18 to 39 months old are
free five-week programs that include
age-appropriate play and take-home
information for parents and caregivers
about nutrition, literacy, and language
development.
•
Our Kick-Off to Kindergarten
program for 3-year-olds prepares
toddlers for Kindergarten through
intensive story time and socialization,
letter and number recognition, crafts,
and more. And, in partnership with the
NYC Department of Education, Queens
Library offers its own fully certified
Universal Pre-K at our Woodhaven and
Ravenswood
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locations.
Our Family Place spaces are
early childhood areas filled with
developmentally appropriate toys,
Adult Learning and ESOL
Queens Library’s Adult Learner
Program is one of the largest libraryrun
literacy programs in the United
States, serving more than 3,000
students in our ESOL classes and
1,500 students who are on the road to
earning their high school equivalency
(HSE) diplomas. Since April 2014, the
Program has produced more than 300
HSE graduates.
books, and activities that can be
accessed any time the library is open;
these are available at our Corona,
Central, Seaside, and Richmond Hill
locations.
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The Children’s Library and
Discovery Center, located at Central
Library, has hands-on interactive
exhibits and learning labs, and our
very own Discovery Team, to inspire
children’s interest in reading, STEM
activities,
•
and learning.
STACKS is our curriculum-based
afterschool program for children
ages 6-14, designed to enhance
their learning experiences through
structured and unstructured
age-appropriate activities, available at
18
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community libraries.
Our Teen Spaces at the Cambria
Heights, Central, Flushing, Glen
Oaks, and Sunnyside libraries—and
our Queens Library for Teens in Far
Rockaway—offer age-friendly activities,
dedicated programming, and college
and career preparation. ■
Adult learners can take free courses
at any of our seven library-based
Adult Learning Centers (ALCs), where
staff and volunteers lead small groups
and classes focused on reading and
writing, English conversation, and HSE
test preparation.
We offer free beginner, intermediate,
and advanced ESOL classes at more
than 25 community library locations;
these classes include vocabulary and
grammar lessons related to everyday
situations and emphasize college and
career readiness skills.
Queens Library also runs four Testing
Assessment for Secondary Completion
centers where students can take the
test that leads to an HSE diploma, and
offers the National External Diploma
Program, which allows independent
study and focuses on the evaluation of
a portfolio of skills to earn an HSE. ■
For more information about
these and many more of
our programs and services,
please visit your community
library or our website at
queenslibrary.org.
8 QUEENS LIBRARY MAGAZINE