Storytime Share

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz! Went Bumble-bee by Colin West

Introductory Aside: Narrative skills can be developed by having your children tell stories. This is easier for some children when they recognize patters so that they can predict what will happen next.
Book Aside: Before reading the book–AS we read the book we want to encourage them to recognize the pattern and to repeat “buzz, buzz, buzz” and “buzz off.”
Read Buzz, Buzz, Buzz! Went Bumble-bee by Colin West
Fingerplay: Here is the Beehive
     Here is the beehive. Where are the bees?  (Hold up fist.)
     Hidden away where nobody sees. (Move other hand around fist.)
     Watch and you’ll see them come out of the hive. (Bend head close to fist.)
     One, two, three, four, five. (Hold fingers up one at a time.)
     Bzzzzzzzz… all fly away! (Wave fingers.)
Closing Aside:  Children enjoy repeating phrases as they did in our book and song. Please help your children look for patterns in the books and songs you do at home. This helps foster narrative skills.

Who’s There on Halloween? by Pamela Beall

Introductory Aside: Rhyming is one way that children learn to hear that words are made up of smaller parts. By doing rhymes with them you are supporting phonological awareness. This skill helps them when they later try to sound out words. And it’s fun, too!
Read Who’s There on Halloween? by Pamela Beall

Song: Do a rhyming song to the tune of Are You Sleeping?
We are rhyming; we are rhyming.
Rhyme with me; rhyme with me.
Nose rhymes with toes; nose rhymes with toes. (substitute other words from story)
Rhyme with me; rhyme with me.
Closing Aside: Take advantage of lots of opportunities to play rhyming games with your children.
Submitted by participants in Saskatchewan Library Association Conference 2008

Dog Blue by Polly Dunbar

Introductory Aside:  Narrative skills includes the ability to retell stories. This is one of the six early literacy skills that researchers have noted are important so that your children will later understand what they read.
Read Dog Blue.
Aside: Acting out stories or part so them helps children internalize the story and remember it. It will make it easier for your children to retell the story.
Act out the story.
Closing Aside: Children enjoy talking about books you have read together. It is a good way to engage them in conversation, and also helps them remember the story they have read. The ability to retell a story is an important skill to learn before going to school.
Submitted by participants of Saskatchewan Library Association Conference 2008

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

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

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

Introductory Aside: 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.
During the storytime, read book. We are now going to read What Shall We Do With the Boo-Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell. All join in together with the animal sounds and the crying baby! Letting the children hear and make the sounds helps them later hear the sounds in words.
Closing Aside: 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. Retell to group using story props. Have the children retell the story as you maneuver the props.
At the end of storytime hold up the handout of Pig’s Picnic and demonstrate how you have cut out the pieces so that the children can retell the story.
Closing Aside: 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.
pigs-picnic-hand-out.doc
Submitted by Laura Mikowski, Hillsboro (OR) Public Libraries

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach

Introduction Aside: Today we are going to focus on vocabulary, one of the six early literacy skills. Vocabulary is knowing the names of things, not just of things, but of concepts, feelings and ideas.
During the storytime, read the book: At the beginning of the book talk about the word cellar. What is a cellar? Explain the word.
Book Aside:  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.
Closing Aside: Don’t forget when reading to your children at home, don’t replace words, but explain them. This helps build their vocabulary.
Submitted by Janet Boucher, Blue Ridge (VA) Regional Library