Storytime Share

Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter

Introductory Aside: Researchers have found that one of the six early literacy skills is phonological awareness. This is the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words, like rhyming and hearing the beginning sounds of words.
Aside before reading the book Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter: This is a book that we can sing. Listen to all the rhymes in this book. Singing and rhyming help with phonological awareness. You can also think of other words that rhyme, or add extra verses at the end.

Eat Your Peas by Kes Gray

peaspeaspeas1.doc
Submitted by participants of Saskatchewan Library Association Conference 2008

How To Be a Good Dog by Gail Page

Introduction Aside:  Narrative skills is the ability to describe things and to talk about events, and to tell stories. Researchers have noted this skill as one of the six early literacy skills that will help your child be ready to read.
Read How to Be A Good Dog:  Our next book is How To Be a Good Dog by Gail Page. Let’s see what this dog learns.
Aside after the book: Acting out stories with your whole body helps our children remember the story. Let’s act out the story together now.
Closing Aside:  Narrative skills are as easy as talking with your child about what you’ve read AND having them respond too. You can ask them, “What was the funniest part for you?”
Submitted by Saskatchewan Library Association conference participants

Who Is Driving? by Leo Timmers

Introduction Aside: 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 names of things. 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.
After reading the book Who Is Driving?: 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.
Closing Aside:  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.
Submitted by Saskatchewan Library Association conference participants

Pictures in books

Aside: As your baby begins to talk, respond by elaborating on what he says. For example, if your baby points to a picture and says “cat” respond by saying, “Yes, that’s a little cat with orange fur.” Talking about the picture even if your baby doesn’t understand everything also helps build your child’s vocabulary. For example, you could say, “Look, the two kittens are playing with the string. They are having fun together.”
Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library

Print Awareness Introduction

Aside:  Print is like magic. When you read aloud with your children, they graudaly 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

Participation while reading

Aside: 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.

Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library

Rhymes

Aside: 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.
Aside: With this next book we are going to focus on what we call “dialogic” or “interactive reading.” This just means that I will be discussing the book with the children and asking them questions as I go along. I will be asking questions that cannot be answered with just a yes or no. This technique of sharing a book helps develop their narrative skills, their ability to describe things and experiences.
Closing Aside:  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 Every Child Ready to Read @ your library initiative of the American Library Association gives more background on dialogic reading:
www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ecrr/workshopsab/workshopmaterials/scripts/script_t_basic0208.doc

Songs, Rhymes

Aside: Singing songs and saying rhymes are good ways for children to become aware of the different sounds that make up words. We call this phonological awareness. It also helps them get a feel for the rhythm of language, how words are divided into syllables.
Submitted by Cindy Christin, Bozeman (MT) Public Library