Who Is Driving? by Leo Timmers

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Today I'll be pointing out some activities we are doing that support ealry literacy in the area of vocabulary. This is the term that researchers give to knowing the meanings of words. You can see what we do here in storytime and you may get some ideas of what you can do with your children throughout the day.Read the book Who Is Driving? by Leo Timmers. Pause occasionally to talk about a picture and ask what they see in the picture. Add a word or two, synonyms to the words in the the book, the children might not know. Early Literacy Aside--Example: As you can see, I don't just read the book. We talk about the pictures and ask questions. Allow time for your child to say something back, even if you don't understant exactly what they say. You can see I added in a couple of unfamiliar words too. Early Literacy Aside--Empower:  Our youngest children learn words that name things they can see (pig, tractor, hippopotamus). As children get older they understand words for feelings and concepts, and older still, they understand words for ideas. It is good to expose even young children to all kinds of words, but they will understand the words for things they can see first.

Submitted by Saskatchewan Library Association conference participants

Print Awareness

Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Print is like magic. When you read aloud with your children, they gradually become aware that the squiggles on the page mean something. We call this "print awareness." It helps to run your finger under the words as you read. Children will also begin to notice print in the world around them. It helps to point out signs as you drive or shop. Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library

Talking while reading

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Talking with your children while reading, encouraging them to make comments and ask questions is one way to share a book that develops your child's understanding of the book. Make reading with your child a postive experience by allowing your child to make comments and ask questions. Try to focus all your attention on your child for that time.During the storytime, demonstrate these techniques with one or more of your books. Point out what you are doing. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Talking with your children and giving them time to respond is supervaluable, even in a conversation consisting entirely of baby babble. This helps your children develop conversation skills. Remember that it can take young children from 5 to 12 seconds to process a question and formulate a response, so it's really important to gie them that extra time to express themselves.

Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library and Tracey J., Sacramento (CA) Public Library

Nursery Rhymes

Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Rhymes help teach "phonological awareness," an awareness of the sounds that make up words. You may have noticed that your child enjoys the way a nursery rhyme sounds even if it doesn't make much sense to him. When you introduce a new rhyme or song, repeat it at least twice. Three times is even better. And be sure to keep repeating the old, familiar rhymes too. Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library

Dialogic Reading

Demonstrate aspects of dialogic reading* by asking open-ended questions during your sharing of a book.Book Introduction: With this next book we are going to focus on what we call "dialogic" or "interactive reading." Read a book. Come back to a picture and ask a question that cannot be answered with yes or now. Early Literacy Aside--Example:  This technique of sharing a book helps develop their narrative skills, their ability to describe things and experiences. Early Litearcy Aside--Empower: Try dialogic or interactive reading at home with your child. Simply ask questions about what you've read. You can say, Guess what will happen next or relate the story to your child's real experience. Try to ask questions that cannot be answered with yes or no, or just by pointing to the pictures. Having the children talk about the book helps the develop narrative skills.  Also, when the child gives a one-word response, you might expand on what she said, adding description or more information.

Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library * This webpage of the Talker Script from the first edition of Every Child Ready to Read @ your library initiative of the American Library Association gives more background on dialogic reading: http://www.earlylit.net/readytoread/indexE.shtml#scripts  Scroll down under Scripts and click on Talkers. You can also use the Dialogic Reading Handout shown on this webpage.

What Shall We Do With the Boo-Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: I will be having the children hear and make animal sounds. This is one of the ways to develop phonological awareness, hearing the smaller sounds in words. This is the beginning step to later sounding out words when they learn to read.Book Introduction: Our next book is What Shall We Do with teh Boo-Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell. All join in together with the animal sounds and the crying baby! [If you want you can practice the animal sounds and the boo-hoo for crying before starting the book.] Read the book. Early Literacy Aside--Example: Good job everyone. Parents, letting the children hear and make the sounds helps them later hear the sounds in words. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Feel free to check out these books I have displayed which have animal and other sounds, which will help with phonological awareness.

Submitted by Cindy Thompson, Roanoke City (VA) Public Library

Pig's Picnic by Keiko Kasza

Read book Pig's Picnic by Keiko Kasza. Retell the story using props. Have the children retell the story as you maneuver the props.Early Literacy Aside--Example: Using props is one way to help your child remember the story as they try to retell it. When they can retell a story, it helps their understanding.

At the end of storytime hold up the handout of Pig's Picnic (below) and demonstrate how you have cut out the pieces so that the children can retell the story. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: You can strength your children's narrative skills, the ability to tell stories, by taking home this storytime handout, having your children cut out the pictures and retell the story. As they retell the story they may add ideas of their own! pigs-picnic-hand-out.doc Submitted by Laura Mikowski, Hillsboro (OR) Public Libraries

Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: When we talk about a story after reading it, we are helping our children remember what we have read. Having your children retell the story takes it a step further to help them develop narrative skills, which will later help them understand what they read.Read the book Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant. Point out the different sounds and animals out at night. Describe the pictures. Ask children questions about what they think about at nighttime. How do you feel? What do you hear? Early Literacy Aside--Example: As I read the book you saw how I asked some questions to make the book more personal for the children and to help them relate it to their own experiences. This is one way to help children understand the book better. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Talking about experiences and what your child is thinking about can enhance the book. Books often expose our children to different ideas and to things they may not otherwise see. This interactive experience of discussing what your child thinks about nighttime is also a way to develop your child's narrative skills and their background knowledge, what they know abour the world. Both will help them understand what they read when they learn to read.

Submitted by Sharon Lindsay, Rockbridge Branch, Bath County (VA) Public Library

Piggy and Dad Go Fishing by David Martin

Read the book Piggy and Dad Go Fishing by David Martin. Retell the story using props.Early Literacy Aside--Empower: You encourage dramatic play when you give your children opporutnities to retell stories with your children using things around the house. Having your children retell stories helps them remember the story and also to understand how stories work, with a beginning, a middle and an end. This will help them later in school when they will write their own stories and to understand stories they will read.

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Today we are going to focus on vocabulary, one of the early literacy skills. Vocabulary is knowing the meanings of words, of things, concepts, feelings and ideas.Book Introduction: Talk about the word cellar. What is a cellar? Explain the word. Read the book Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach. Early Literacy Aside--Example:  Go ahead and use words that are unfamiliar to your child. Don't replace words in books that they may not understand, but explain them. This will build their vocabulary. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Don't forget when reading to your children at home, don't replace words, but explain them. This helps build their vocabulary and will make it easier for your children to later understand what they read. Submitted by Janet Boucher, Blue Ridge (VA) Regional Library

Pete's a Pizza by William Steig

Aside: Now I am going to read to you this wonderful book Pete's a Pizza by William Steig. I especially like this story because it introduces narrative skills, which is the ability to retell a story.Read the story. Aside: You can use things from all around the house to tell a story, just as they used things from around the house in this story. Having your child retell stories helps to develop your child's own narrative skills for later life while at the same time increaseing his memory and imagination and love for books. Submitted by Miss Yolanda, Washington County (VA) Public Library

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

As you read the book, ask the children to identify the animals in the book. Talk about the landscape in the pictures--where in the world might this take place? Use words the children may not know (arctic, icebergs, ice floes, glaciers, etc.). Also, talk about Tacky the Penguin's personality, his uniqueness and originality, explaining words children may not know. For an activity, have children and adults draw and color a penguin however they want.Early Literacy Aside--Empower: We used lots of interesting words today with Tacky the Penquin, some were not even in the book. This helps develop your child's vocabulary. On your way home, talk about being creative and ways your child is unique, using some of the interesting words we used today and adding your own. Through talking and talking about your children's drawings there are many opportunities to expand your child's vocabulary.

Submitted by David Banker, Radford (VA) Public Library

Old MacDonald Has a Farm Song

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Researchers have found that one of the early literacy skills is phonological awareness. This is the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words, like rhyming, playing with syllables or parts of words, and hearing beginning sounds of words. The beginning of this skills starts with children hearing and saying the sounds of animals.Sometime durng storytime sing "Old MacDonald" with the children, including several animals--cow, pig, sheep, chicken, duck, etc. Early Literacy Aside--Example:  Making the sounds of animals contributes to phonological awareness and hearing sounds in words. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Take advantage of opportunities to sing and say the sounds of animals with your children. It's fun and it also helps them hear the smaller sounds in words.

Submitted by Kimberly Burnette-Dean, Roanoke County (VA) Public Library

Snap! by Marcia Vaughan

Read the book Snap! by Marcia Vaughan.Early Literacy Aside--Example: This book lends itself to retelling events which helps your child understand the story. Encourage your child with questons that leave room for them to describe what they hear or see. I used questions like, "What did Joey do when his Mom fell asleep?" and "Who did he meet?" Early Literacy Aside--Empower: The ability to retell a story is an important skill for children to have in order to understand what they are reading. Predicting what happens next and acting it out, or as it's usually called, pretend playing, is a fun way to retell a story and to gain background knowldge along the way.

Submitted by Donna Hackman, Bedford (VA) Public Library and Justin Azevedo, Sacramento (CA) Public Library

The Aminal by Lorna Balian

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Narrative skills is helping your child tell a story. Researchers say this is an important skill towards your child learning to read, understanding what he will read. In this storytime we will have fun while using narrative skills.During the storytime: Early Literacy Aside--Example: In this story we will be using narrative skills to tell our story and to talk about the events taking place. Narrative skills is one of the early literacy skills that help your children learn to read. This includes giving your children time to think about and answer questions about the story. Listen as I ask questions that cannot be answered with just yes or no. Read the book. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Ask your child about storytime today when you get home and help them retell one of the stories. You'll be continuing to develop your child's narrative skills!

Submitted by Carolyn B. Morehead, Big Island Library, Bedford (VA) Public Library

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri

Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Researchers have found that 95% of children's attention goes to the pictures in the book. When you run your fingers under the title as you read it, this helps show them you are reading the text, not the pictures. This is part of print awareness and is one of the skills children need to learn to read.During the storytime--Read the book running your finger under the repeated phrases. Early Literacy Aside--Example: You can run your finger under the repeated phrases to match the text to the words. Then your action doesn't get in the way of the story. Read the book running your finger under the repeated phrases. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: When you read withyour children at home, hold the book upside down or backwards and see if your child notices. Be sure to turn the book if a page is in a different direction. Theis helps develop their print awareness. Submitted by Melissa Davis, Bedford (VA) Public Library

Thank You Bear by Greg Foley

Talk about how what is special to one person might not be special to another. People see things and use things differently.Read the book Thank You Bear by Greg Foley. Activity: Pull out a cardboard box and have the children act out the story. You are the bear. There can be as many monkeys, owls, elephants, etc. as there are children who want to be that animal. Then talk together about the many things you can do with a box. Early LiteracyAside--Example: Acting out stories and having children say parts helps develop their narrative skills, the expressive part of language. Retelling stories is one way that children will later more easily understand what they read. If your child did not get a chance to talk about how they might use a box, listen to their ideas on the way home.

Early Literacy Aside--Empower: Here is a handout for making stick puppets. Using props or puppets is one fun way to encourage children to retell stories at home. It is activities like this that you do with your children that set them on a strong road to reading, in this case helping them understand what they read and how stories work! Puppets: Patterns for making stick puppets. The pattern for the mouse is here, but I use a mouse puppet. The pattern for a bear is also here, but I make myself the bear when I am retelling it with these stick puppets. Thank You Bear stick puppets

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Read the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, having children join in. Then we stand up, put on our imaginary wolf suits, and have the participants act it out and tell it back to me.Early Literacy Aside--Example: Narrative skills is the ability to describe things and talk about or tell stories. It is an important skill for chidlren to learn about how stories work and to later understand what they read. Acting out stories, or parts of them, using their bodies, helps children internalize and understand what is happening in the story. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: At home, using any story, encourage your children to practice telling and retelling stories to improve your children's narrative skills. Submitted by Alison Towles, Middlesex County (VA) Public Library

Little Red Hen

I introduce the book and encourage the children to say the "Not I" responses in the book and "I will" at the end as I read. I would use a flannelboard to retell the story, which also keep it enjoyable for the children.Early Literacy Aside--Example: By having the children participate, both with saying "Not I" and with the flannel board, they enjoy the story more which emphasizes print motivation or the enjoyment of books and reading. Early Literacy Aside--Empower: At home you may not have a flannel board, but you and your children can use props to retell stories which makes the reading experience enjoyable and supports print motivation! After reading and retelling the story as written, I sometimes retell the story with the participants as "eager helpers" and have them all say "I will" instead of "Not I". Then we all have fun pretending to eat the bread together at the end of the story. As you and your children act out stories, it is fun to play around with the plots and to get their ideas as well. Help them use their imaginations!

Submitted by Phyllis Arbogast, Blackwater (VA) Regional Library, Carrollton Branch