So, I'm winding down my first big story time session at my new job. Just two more weeks and then I take a break through most of November. It's been a great experience thus far and I've learned a lot about the kids and they've learned a lot about my storytelling style. Here is what basically happens during my story times:
Welcome song
Talk about theme and ask kids about it
First book
Song
Second book
Fingerplay
Song
Third book
(And sometimes a fourth book!)
Craft
My predecessor always showed short little films made from books (like The North Star and more stories about following your dreams but so far I haven't followed in those steps. I just cannot conceive of bringing TV (even if it's based on books) into my story times since I just think kids get too much TV at other points in their day.
My themes the last month and a half have been:
Back to School
Dogs
Autumn
Colors
Transportation
Bears
Upcoming themes include Smell and Halloween of course! I've found some great crafts via Story Time Katie, Awesome Story Time, Pinterest. I really want to go to a craft every other week but I don't think my supervisor wants me to do that so I may have to fight it out.
I also started a Mother Goose story time on Friday's at my library. This is NOT based on the Mother Goose on the Loose story time program. Instead, it's based on what I learned at my last library where Mother Goose story time was a very big deal. So far, I've had moderate success with baby story time. It's brand new at my library though so I'm hopeful it will grow and expand. The more babies the better!
And I am working on getting teen programs going at my library but I will save that for another post.
Some of my most successful story time books so far have been:
Bark, George (one of my very favorite story time books!)
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (they had great fun looking for the animals and shapes in the book)
Lemons Are Not Red
Who Is Driving? (They loved guessing who was driving the cars and then making the noises accompanying each car.)
I've been relieved stories have been going so well and are ridiculously fun I must say. I always come away revved for the rest of the day. And, as a great plus, my Tuesday night story time has been growing each week. I actually love my night time crowd best because they are all relaxed and just ready to have fun. There is a lot of socializing amongst the parents and if books aren't working, sometimes the kids and I just break out in dance and it's been fun. I also tend to get a bit older crowd, parents who haven't quite let go of story time yet, so I can often read a bit more advanced stories and have them do well with the kids.
The one thing I'm most having trouble with is working in music CDs. I have no trouble singing songs myself but I want to be able to use our music collection better and I just haven't found a comfortable way to do it. But I'll get there (though if you have tips, please share!)
So, I hope to make story time posts a more regular feature here on the blog, sharing favorite stories, songs, and crafts (because man oh man, I'm going to need inspiration for weekly crafts).
Do you have a favorite story time book that works well with preschoolers (or babies!)? Please share!
