How we do Storytime

Plan. Plan. Plan. And have fun. Those are the basic rules for our storytimes. Miss Kelli and Miss dallas started off by going to an early literacy workshop hosted by the fabulous Patricia Froelich at the State Library, presented by the amazing Carol Wagstaff from Douglas County Libraries. Armed with tons of resources and ideas, we returned to the library with an action plan and a goal in mind, a successful early literacy storytime, a storytime that was successful for the kids, the parents, and the librarians. Months of preparation were underway as we designed posters, created props and learned new songs. And the final result? Well, the first week was a smashing success! Now let's wait to see what happens in week 2.

An example of our planning sheet.

The first thing we did was create a planning sheet. We laid out some key elements that we wanted our storytime to have. We decided each week we'd have a different letter theme, an early literacy skill, flannel board, 2 books, and a variety of songs broken down by type, plus an opening and a closing song. We laid out the order we thought would work the best, a mix of actions and quiet times so we weren't too busy or too quiet.

When it comes time to put the program together, we select the books first, then the literacy skill the books fit with, then the other songs and activities that illustrate that literacy skill or adapt to that theme. You'd be surprised how easy it is once you get started, and the hardest part is usually paring down what we're doing to fit the plan. We've discovered that 6 songs, a flannel board, one nursery rhyme, 2 books and the song sack fill our 30 minutes fairly well.

Once we've filled out the program for a day, we gather our props.

Each week's program is stored in its own tote, and all props and songs are stored together.

It may have been a lot of preparation, but each week is a breeze to plan, set up and store away.