Helpful Websites

Here's a list of websites to check out:

Born to Read

www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/initiatives/borntoread/index.cfm

Through Born to Read, libraries partner with local health care providers and other community agencies to provide new and expectant parents with library cards, reading materials, incentives, and resources to help them raise children who are “Born to Read”.

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy

www.clel.org

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy is passionately committed to strengthening children’s literacy through library services and community advocacy.

ELSIE: Early Literacy Storytime Ideas Exchange

www.hclib.org/BirthTo6/ELSIE.cfm

Search ELSIE to find books that help children develop the early literacy skills necessary for learning success. Presentation notes show how to emphasize skills in a fun, interactive story sharing experience.

Every Child Ready to Read @ your Library

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/index.cfm

Every Child Ready to Read is a joint project of the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children that seeks to incorporate “the latest research into a series of parent and caregiver workshops to provide public libraries with vital tools to help prepare parents for their critical role as their child’s first teacher.”

Healthy Minds: Nurturing Your Child’s Development

http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_par_parenthandouts

Developmental milestones handouts produced by Zero to Three organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Hummingbird Educational Resources

www.hummingbirded.com

This site is filled with preschool themes and storytime extension activities.

Important Milestones

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/parents_pdfs/MilestonesChecklists.pdf

Developmental checklists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. The checklist information is from Caring For Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5, by Steven Shelov and Robert E Hannermann (American Academy of Pediatrics).

National Association for the Education of Young Children

www.naeyc.org

“The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children, with particular focus on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8.”

National Institute for Early Education Research

http://nieer.org/

“The National Institute for Early Education Research supports early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan, information based on research. The goal of NIEER is to produce and communicate the knowledge base required to ensure that every American child can receive a good education at ages three and four.”

National Network for Childcare: Fingerplays Plus

www.nncc.org/literacy/fingplus.html

“In this collection, we have included fingerplays with a variety of concepts and movements. We have also included some suggestions for related activities. Children learn best when they can experience or practice new concepts in several different ways. We hope these fingerplays and verses will become favorites.”

Reach Out and Read

www.reachoutandread.org

“Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud in pediatric exam rooms across the nation.”

Reading Is Fundamental

www.rif.org

Reading Is Fundamental offers resources, prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most.

Reading Rockets

www.readingrockets.org

“Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.”

Zero To Three

www.zerotothree.org

“ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.”

Benefits of Traditional Storytimes

All Positive!

Libraries around the world offer storytime for their young patrons. Storytime provides many benefits to children:

• Stories help develop a child's imagination.

• Stories help a child discover new ideas.

• Stories help nurture a child's listening abilities.

• Stories help children comprehend the world around them.

• Stories expose children to a larger vocabulary than the spoken word.

• Stories introduce and reinforce concepts such as colors, shapes, letters, etc.

• Stories encourage a love of reading.

• Storytime encourages families to come to the library and check out materials.

• Storytime introduces authors and illustrators to families in a fun way.

• Storytime models good oral reading skills for parents and caregivers to follow.

• Storytime can help children become successful readers and learners.

• Storytime introduces songs, finger plays and nursery rhymes to parents that can be enjoyed at home.

• Story time creates a social opportunity for parents and caregivers.

More Positives!

Traditional storytimes almost always incorporate fingerplays and songs as well as books. Benefits of these components include:

• Songs can add fun, variety and movement to storytime.

• Song help break up words into syllables for children to hear.

• Songs allow children the opportunity to get up and move.

• Songs help children stay focused.

• Listening skills are sharpened.
• Fingerplays help children learn about concepts such as numbers, size, shapes, direction, and color.

• Fingerplays teach sequencing.

• Fingerplays build coordination and strength in small and large muscle groups.

• Fingerplays help create a positive self-image for children. Children learn that their minds and bodies contain a whole world of possibilities.

• Fingerplays help children socialize with one another. They are a way of doing something "separately together".

• Fingerplays are multicultural and have been passed down from generation to generation.

• Fingerplays can be adapted to other activities such as flannel board stories, puppet shows, and music.

Storytime Sample

Here's a sample Storytime Plan from Granby Public Library for the Preschool Story Hour on April 15, 2009.

Storytime Plan
Spring Time

Welcome and Closing Song: "The More We Get Together"

Books:

• Bear Wants More; by Karma Wilson [Narrative Skills, Print Motivation, Print Awareness, & Vocabulary]

• Flora's Surprise!; by Debi Gliori [Narrative Skills, Vocabulary, & Print Motivation]

• Muddigush; by Kimberley Knutson [Phonological Awareness]

• Spring an Alphabet Acrostic; by Steven Schnur [Print Awareness, Phonological Awareness, Letter Knowledge, & Vocabulary]

• Spring is Here Grumpy Bunny!; by Justine Korman [Narrative Skills & Vocabulary]

• Spring's Sprung; by Lynn Plourde [Phonological Awareness]

• Splish, Splash, Spring; by Jan Carr [Print Motivation, Phonological Awareness, & Vocabulary]

• Stuck in the Mud; by Jane Clarke [Narrative Skills, Vocabulary, Print Awareness, & Print Motivation]

• When will it be Spring?; by Catherine Walters [Narrative Skills, Print Awareness, & Vocabulary]

Fingerplays/Songs:

• Did you ever see a bunny hop so......(fast, slow, backward, & on one foot)

• 10 Little Bunnies (Counting on fingers ending in claps or bunny hop)

• Open Shut Them
  

• Itsy, Bitsy, Spider

• Bear Hunt

• Bunny Hokey Pokey (with Bunny Puppets)
  

Early Literacy Tip for Parents & Caregivers:

• Helping children get involved in the story makes reading more fun. They can guess what will happen next, count, or repeat phrases.

Craft/Activities:

• Paper bag Bunny Puppets

• Hop Parade with Bunny Puppets

Observations and Feedback:

• Books Read:
  

1. Spring Sprung (illustrations are beautiful, but the concept of Mother Nature in a human/nature form was hard for preschoolers to grasp; however, great questions were asked, "Why is the mother green?" and "She looks like the hill.")
2. Bear Wants More (was followed by a successful Bear Hunt, which the children loved! The children got involved in the story and repeated the phrase, "but bear wants more" with little prompting.
3. Stuck in the Mud (Relate our Mud Season with spring. Great book for Print Motivation! Children liked the animals and repeated who was stuck with the appropriate animal sounds, plus counting the baby chickens and animals stuck.)
4. Flora's Surprise! (Parents liked this story a lot. It's cute and it's a great lead into the bunny puppets or in the future a lead into a gardening project. Children repeated "It's a house".)

• Fingerplays/Songs:

1. As always the Bear Hunt is successful.
   
2. "Did You Ever See a Bunny" and the "Bunny Hokey Pokey" were also great ways to expend energy.
   

• Crafts/Activities:

1. Paper bag Bunny Puppets were a hit! Pieces were already cut out, so they could focus on gluing and decorating their bunnies. A demonstration of assembling a puppet was very helpful to the children.
2. In the Bunny Parade we use the skills we learned in the "Did You Ever See a Bunny" hopping slowly, fast, backward, and on one foot around the room.
   

Storytime Components

Storytime Components recommend by
Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy

Effective storytimes don't "just happen". They take time to prepare, require practice by the librarian and have basic ingredients regardless of the storytime theme or subject. They also require flexibility to adapt books, fingerplays and songs to the attention span of the children.


The basics of a good storytime incorporate the following components:

• Opening or Welcoming Song. (This song should be the same every week.) Like: "The More We Get Together", "If You're Happy and You Know It", "Here We Are Together"

• Age appropriate books. Things to remember when choosing your storytime books:

1. Don't use long or complicated books with preschoolers
2. Use eye contact, voice inflection, and enunciate loudly and clearly
3. Always note who the author and illustrator are

• Songs and fingerplays. These transitional activities engage the children, keep them involved and help them be ready to listen to another book.

• A variety of materials such as puppets, flannel-board storied, cut and tell stories or draw and tell stories. (But not all of these every time--change it up.)

• Closing Song. (This song should be the same every week.)

Storytelling Techniques

A simple review of Storytelling Techniques:

• Enthusiasm - enjoy what you are doing!

• Hold the book so all children can see.

• Read clearly and expressively and not too fast.

• Interactive - involving the children in the stories and activities. (Dialogic Reading, crafts, etc.)
  

• Adjusting stories and activities to the needs of the children.

• Have fun - If you're not having fun, your audience is probably not having much fun either.

Dialogic Reading

"How we read to children is as important as how frequently we read to them."
-Multnomah County Library

Dialogic Reading is an important method developed by researchers to get children more activity involved when a story is read to them. Children learn more when they participate. With Dialogic Reading the adult helps the children become the tellers of the story. The adult becomes the listener, the questioner, and the audience for the children. Think of it as children and adults having a conversation about the book.


Dialogic Reading is based upon three techniques:

• Asking "What" Questions:

1. Point to the item in the book and say "What's this?" or "What's this called?".
2. Avoid questions that the children can answer with a "yes" or "no" or by pointing.
3. Repeat what the children say. Let them know the answer is correct by repeating it back: "Yes, that's a cow."

• Expand on what the children say:

1. Keep expansion short and simple.
2. Make sure to build on your child's phrases just a little so that your child is able to imitate what you've said. Add, "Yes, you're right! That's a truck, a yellow dump truck."
3. Continue the conversation by following the answers with questions. "What is that truck doing?" "Yes, it looks like he is dumping dirt into the hole."

• Ask Open-Ended Questions:

1. Open-ended questions do not have right or wrong answers and send the message, "I want to know what you think."
   
2. Open-ended questions require more thought to answer and encourage children to use their imaginations and more words. "What do you see on this page?" "What's happening here?"
3. Ask the children to say more, "What else do you see?" Open-ended questions allow children to say whatever they're thinking which often leads to interesting conversations.
   

Other questions could be:

• "What else do you see?" "Tell me about." and "What if." and "I wonder how." or "How did that happen?" or "What do you think?"

• If a child doesn't know what to say about a picture, you may need to help by answering the question yourself, "I think he may be..."

These three techniques are designed to encourage children to talk more and give descriptions of what they see. Dialogic Reading can be used for children of all ages but is most effective when a child has at least 50 words of expressive vocabulary.

When sharing books with babies:

• The adult asks a question, pauses, and then answers the question. This helps babies learn new vocabulary, plus he learns that conversation involves "taking turns."

• Example: "Where's the baby's nose?" Then, pointing to the picture, "There's the baby's nose!"

From 19-24 months, toddlers who have learned about 50 words experience an explosive period of vocabulary growth. In this "vocabulary-spurt" toddlers learn about nine new words a day or 63 per week! Dialogic reading can make the most of this stage by continuing the development of vocabulary and language skills when language learning is at a peak.

On tests of language development, children who have been read to dialogically are substantially ahead of children who have been read to traditionally. Children can jump ahead by several months in just a few weeks of Dialogic Reading.

Remember to:

• Praise and Encourage: Tell the children when they are doing well by saying things like: "Good talking" or "That's right. Good job!"

• Help the children as needed: If the children are unable to answer your question, give the correct answer and ask them to repeat what you have said. "The duck is swimming. Now you say 'The duck is swimming.'"

• Follow their interests: If a child shows an interest in a picture either by talking or pointing to it, follow it up immediately by asking questions to let the child talk.

• Have Fun! Keep reading fun and like a game. Switch between asking questions and just reading. For example read one page and then have the children tell you about the next page.

This is just one way to share a book. Children also benefit when adults read a book all the way through without stopping, which helps them understand the continuity of the story and enjoy the pleasing rhythms of language used well.

Early Literacy Storytime

We've got the Six Pre-Reading Skills under our belt and we know a bit about child development, but how can we create an Early Literacy Storytime?

What is Early Literacy Storytimes?

Early Literacy Storytimes or Literacy-Enhanced Sotrytimes or Literacy-Based Storytimes are a response to brain research. They are storytimes that model for parents and caregivers ways they can help a child develop the Six Pre-Reading Skills.

Key elements in a Early Literacy Storytime are:

• Parents and caregivers are strongly encouraged to attend storytimes with their children and have fun.

• At least one Early Literacy Skill is highlighted during each storytime.

• The storytime leader models activities during the storytime that builds Early Literacy Skills.

• Books and activities selected promote the use of Early Literacy Skills.

• Information is given to parents and caregivers either verbally, through a handout or both about ways they can build Early Literacy Skills with their child/children at home.

"There is substantial data proving that programs which promote the growth and development of young children are the best investment for developing human capital necessary for economic growth."
- World Bank Symposium, 2005