LINCOLN, N.H. (AP) – A new program by the Lincoln-Woodstock school district aims to give babies a head start on literacy.

Beginning this school year, parents of newborns will get a bag filled with nursery rhymes, story books and cassette tapes.

Babies will be able to listen to a tape of the popular “Goodnight Moon” and later hold in their hands the book, “My First Nursery Rhymes.”

The program has been taking shape over the past year after the school district received a $15,000 literacy grant from the New Hampshire Department of Education.

“We looked to see what’s out there for family literacy,” said Karen Soule, school superintendent.

Project LIFE (Literacy Initiative for Family and Community Engagement) also involves a proposed curriculum for child-care centers in the two towns, borrowing bags for parents that contain books, which will be available at the two public libraries in the district and a family literacy night.

The response has been great among day-care centers, said Paula King, a teacher at the Lin-Wood School.

“These women have a vested interest in providing care to children and they do try to read as much as they can,” she said. “There are often little opportunities in the day, such as doing nursery rhymes at lunchtime – simple things have real educational value.”

As children get older, the parent bags that can be borrowed from the libraries contain suggestions for activities after books are read, such as drawing characters as a way to understand what the story said.

“There are more than words in books,” said Carol Riley, the librarian at the Lincoln Public Library.

The parenting bags also will contain puppets and journals in which children can write their thoughts. They also will contain pamphlets about television watching and how to fit literature into children’s lives.

Project LIFE also will host a family literacy night, with activities such as storytelling.

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Information from: The Union Leader, http://www.theunionleader.com

AP-ES-08-23-04 1319EDT