Mother Goose on the Loose: Hatchlings: Ready to Hatch (Baby on the Way)

Four online sessions via Zoom (4 sessions - 1 optional).
March 14, April 4, April 18, May 16, 2024 - Thursdays from 12 PM-2:00 PM Eastern/11 AM-1:00 PM Central/10 AM-12:00 PM Mountain/9-11:00 AM Pacific
Includes recording access for the training and debrief until June 16.

About Mother Goose on the Loose: Hatchlings - A standalone program (one session), for expectant families.

Learn how to reach families before birth, through this interactive program that shares the importance of early reading, singing, talking, and playing with babies to build early literacy skills and strong family bonding. Gain knowledge and confidence in providing effective early literacy trainings for expectant parents and parents of young infants.

Hatchlings currently consists of two parts:

Baby on the Way (formerly “Ready to Hatch”) is for expectant parents;
New Baby and Me (formerly “In the Nest”) is for parents with newborns.

About Hatchlings: Ready to Hatch (Baby on the Way)

This training prepares facilitators to implement the program for expectant parents. The training will:

Provide an overview of all materials, familiarize facilitators with the songs and rhymes,
Explain and provide practice facilitating the scripts and using the panels, so facilitators are comfortable and confident
Provide an opportunity to discuss considerations for virtual and in-person sessions, program customization, and ask questions
Discuss marketing strategies

Thursday, March 14: Introduction & Marketing Information
Thursday, April 4: Ready to Hatch (Baby on the Way) Training
Thursday, April 18: Office Hours: (optional)
Thursday, May 16: Debrief

“Ready to Hatch" (Baby on the Way) Training Overview

Part 1: Introduction to Hatchlings – This introductory meeting explains what Hatchlings is, and emphasizes the importance of planning ahead. It covers:

- Marketing strategies
- Finding community partners
- Drumming up an audience
- Purchasing items needed

Part 2: Training – The training prepares facilitators to implement the Hatchlings: “Baby on the Way” program for expectant parents by:

Providing an overview of all materials related to Hatchlings: Baby on the Way
Familiarizing facilitators with all of the Baby on the Way songs and rhymes
Explaining the script format; giving practice facilitating the scripts and using the panels to help facilitators feel comfortable and confident
Identifying strategies to adapt scripts and panels in ways that personalize them but stay true to the content.
Discussing considerations for presenting virtual as well as in-person sessions
Exploring multiple ways to find community partners
Brainstorming marketing techniques
Examining a sample timeline designed to aid with marketing, purchasing, and promoting the program
Introducing strategies for individual libraries’ and community partners to promote their own programs and services to Baby on the Way program participants and identifying methods to share their materials.

Part 3: Office hours

During online “office hours”, libraries and their community partners can confer with Dr. Betsy. They will then be given a break-out room where they can being planning their collaborative program, with Betsy on hand to answer questions or offer suggestions.

In addition, Betsy will be available during the entire period of the training to answer questions and provide advice.

Part 4: Debrief

A final online meeting for sharing observations and discussing ways to continue offering Hatchlings programming in the future wraps up the first official training period.

Certificate of completion available upon request with successful completion of post-test.

Cost of training:

Fee for all online trainings and meetings mentioned above: $320

Group rates available for groups of 10 or more. Contact info@mgol.org for more information.

Printed materials are available for free download or can be ordered from Booklogix (Instruction Guide and Panels) for $79.00 plus shipping and handling in the US (this is a separate fee and is not part of the course registration).

In-house costs:

The in-house fee will depend of which supplies you choose to offer. Facilitators will need supplies to present the program; a list of recommended resources and prices will be provided, however substitutions can be made.
Fee for supplies: We recommend that parents receive a "gift" after the session (such as a board book), which they can use to practice the skills they have learned at home. If funding is an issue, "gifts" for families can be replaced with different board books already in the library.

For more details about the Hatchlings training, visit the Mother Goose on the Loose website, linked here.