Storytime overview
In my current position, I have the opportunity to conduct a regular weekly storytime for visiting groups of preschoolers (age range between 3-5 years old) from the Northern Virginia Family Service Head Start. If you aren't familiar, the purpose of Head Start is to develop school readiness for underserved young children in our community. As I mentioned in my first post, I've previously worked with De Colores Head Start in Oakland, CA, where I visited a classroom every week to conduct a storytime program. My current experience is a little different than my previous one in a few ways.
First, when I was in California I had to commute out to Oakland, and actually travel to the De Colores Head Start building location. Some cons of this were that I had to lug around all my storytime materials on the subway, which could be a bit unwieldy. For example, there was no flannel board at the Head Start location, so I had design and make my own portable flannel board so I could use the felt props I created for songs, rhymes, and storytelling. For this DIY I bought a used portable sketch board from a thrift store (similar in style to this product), some felt fabric from my local craft/fabric store, and used spray adhesive on the non-clip side of the board to attach the felt fabric. The built-in handle on the sketch board is useful for toting the board along when needed.
Some of the best pros about travelling to the classroom were that the students were familiar and comfortable in their environment, and their teacher and classroom aides were always on top of wrangling/controlling students. Additionally, I was able to develop a rapport with my students because we together for many months, and I was also able to really create a nice storytime program format to follow each week that they became familiar and comfortable with. For example, I brought my stuffed piggy friend, Lily, each week as a special guest to listen to the stories with the children. At the time, I wasn't super comfortable with puppets (still am not really) but wanted to incorporate something similar in spirit to my programs. I picked up a stuffed pig from Ikea, and at the beginning of every storytime the children passed around Lily for a hello, and at the end of every storytime the children all gave her goodbye hugs and kisses. Overall, I had a great experience working with my classroom and I hope to have inspired a love of reading, learning, and the library through my storytime programs.
Because the two children's librarians who previously conducted the Head Start storytimes at my library took on new responsibilities which took them away from the library during the time these are normally scheduled, I was approached by my supervisor to temporarily cover them. Generally, these storytimes are a bit smaller (in terms of attendance) than the other programs that we offer. Additionally, the only children who may attend them are the visiting classroom groups from Head Start, whereas our normal programs are open to the entire community. One of the biggest differences between my previous Head Start experience and this is that the students are bussed to our library, and the storytimes are conducted in our storytime room, cleverly dubbed the "Rabbit Hole."
This means that the children are away from their normal classroom environment. The cons of this are that they can sometimes act out because the library is a different and novel environment than what they are used to. The trip can feel like a field trip to the students, and because of this they are sometimes more excited about exploring this new and exciting place, rather than sitting quietly and listening to stories. Another con, at least for me, is that I usually get a different group of kids who come to the library each week. This means it is hard for me to develop the same rapport I was able in my previous storytime experience, because I simply don't see the same kids every single week.
That isn't to say that there aren't also some positive aspects of this format. First, students who visit the library are able to develop a better familiarity with the environment, and I always encourage them to return with their families. Second, the students learn how to properly behave in environments outside of their classrooms- which helps to develop their social skills. Lastly, a pro for me is that I can reuse the thematic storytime programs that I create for a week or two (or three...) in a row, because each group I get every week is comprised of different classrooms and groups of children.
As I mentioned in my first post, I was trained in the art of storytimes through the Books for Wider Horizons program at the Oakland Public Library in California. My instructor for the training is the amazingly talented storyteller and children's librarian, Mary Gay Ducey. Prior to this training, I had never conducted storytime before, but I was ready and willing to dive-in head first. The hardest part of the the training was our final test- to present a storytime program to our peers- mostly because I had never (ever) sang in front of anyone before. Since that time, I'd like to think that I've learned a lot from actually putting myself out there and doing something that makes makes me slightly nervous as a naturally quiet and introverted person. Today, I'll gladly belt out a myriad of songs, with little regard to the fact that I still can't quite carry a tune. I've learned that enthusiasm, excitement, practice, and extensive planning can make up for a lack of talent, and that generally kids are a forgiving group that don't judge you too harshly as long as we are all having fun together. I look forward to continuing to strengthen my storytime skills in order to create even better programs that are engaging, informative, developmentally-appropriate, and most importantly- fun!
The layout I was taught in my storytime training is what I still generally use as an outline and basic foundation for all of my programs:
Start: Opening song
1. Book 1
2. Song, rhyme, flannel board, fingerplay, or movement activity
3. Book 2
4. Song, rhyme, flannel board, fingerplay, or movement activity
5. Book 3
6. Song, rhyme, flannel board, fingerplay, or movement activity
(Optional:
7. Book 4
8. Song, rhyme, flannel board, fingerplay, or movement activity)
(Optional:
9. Craft)
End: Closing Song
I always start with a opening song (which may change each season), and I always end with a closing song; this helps to reinforce a recognizable beginning and closing of programs to my storytime participants. Depending on how much time I have, and how long my books are, I will read between 3 and 4 picture books. Between each book I incorporate a song, rhyme, action rhyme, flannel board activity (songs, rhymes, and stories), fingerplay, or movement activity. After all the books are read at my current storytime, we complete a simple craft together. The current age groups that I conduct storytimes for are between ages 3 and 5, so I try to aim for books under 5 mins long, but I sometimes make exceptions for some of my favorite books. Skill levels of children at these different ages can vary a lot, and because I never know who will be coming to my storytimes on a given week from the Head Start location, I try to aim for something that isn't too long, overly complex, or with complicated vocabulary. I look for inspiration for songs, rhymes, fingerplays, and movement activities from many places including: books, coworkers, library journals, blogs, library websites, Pinterest, library listservs, Facebook groups, and YouTube. The Internet is an amazing resource, and because I never attended preschool myself, I'm able to learn many songs that have been staples in early literacy that I didn't when I was at the age of my storytime participants.
I also scour the aforementioned list of resources when creating flannelboard props. Sometimes I see an excellent idea for flannel board pieces from one that has been made by someone. Sometimes I get the idea to create a flannel board set from a rhyme or song that I think has great visual elements to it and can be enhanced with a props. I'm not much of an artist, but I am a natural crafter and maker, so I always make my props myself. I don't mind spending a lot of time creating flannel board props, and I spend much of my personal free time away from work on these projects. While I have had to create some flannel board elements completely for scratch for some songs or stories of which there is not a template for somewhere already, I generally try to find simple clip-art on the web to help guide the creation of my pieces.
More recently, I've been delving into learning how to play a few simple chords on a soprano ukulele I bought on a whim not too long ago. While I played the piano and clarinet for several years throughout elementary, middle, and high school- I had never tried to play a string instrument before, so it's been a challenge to teach myself how to play. Again, I've relied on books, websites, and YouTube a ton in learning chords and songs to play. So far, I've only worked up the courage to play one song during one of my storytimes (Baby Beluga by Raffi), but I hope to continue to learn and improve my skills in the future.
Overall, the formula I was taught and continue to use to structure my storytimes works well for me, and it is also easily modified for different storytime programs. I highly recommend it to anyone just starting out with conducting storytimes as it is a solid foundation that you can start to customize to what you enjoy doing during storytime, and as you discover what your storytime strengths are.
