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.
Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Read the book The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. Encourage adults and children to make the sounds of the animals.Early Literacy Aside--Example: Having your child hear and make the sounds of the animals in this story is one enjoyable way to help develop phonological awareness, to eventually be able to hear the smaller sounds in words. Submitted by Nancy Gattoni, Roanoke County (VA) Public Library
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
Early Literacy Aside--Example: I am going to read one of my favorite children's books. I love reading this book; it is a lot of fun. When reading with your children, choose books YOU enjoy. Your child picks up on your feelings and understands the enjoyment of books and reading. This supports print motivation, a love of books.Read the book Pete's a Pizza by William Steig putting motions to the words.
Submitted by Linda White, Washington County (VA) Public 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 Had a Farm Song
Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Songs are a great way to incorporate the early literacy skill, phonological awareness. Hearing and learning animal sounds helps your children hear the smaller sounds in words and singing emphasizes different syllables. This helps your children later to sound out words.
Submitted by Wendy B. Rancier, Roanoke County (VA) Public Library
Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robie Harris
This book is wonderful for how, why, when and where questions! There are several pictures in this book with no words. When you come to these pictures, ask the children what the character is doing, what is missing and how the character is feeling.Read the book Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robie Harris
Early Literacy Aside--Example: Asking questions using what and how, as I did when I read the story will help strengthen your children's narrative skills, which in turn helps to build comprehension ability as the child begins to read.
Submitted by Dawn Cheney, Glenvar Branch, Roanoke County (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
Jazzmatazz! by Stephanie Calmenson
Early Literacy Aside--Example: What a fun and noisy book this is! Listen to the different kinds of sounds that music can make like plink, plink and bang-a-bang along with the jazz rhythm of Doo-dat, diddy-dat, diddy-dat, doo! As children learn to hear and make not only animal sounds but sounds of many different things, they are developing phonological awareness which will later help them sound out words as they learn to read.
Help! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller
Early Literacy Aside--Explain: When you help your children pay attention to the print in books, you are helping to develop their print awareness, one of the early literacy skills that will later help them learn to read. I'll point out a couple of things in storytime today that will support this skill.
Read the story Help! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller. [When you come to the page with the deep hole, you have to turn the book the long way.] Wow! This hole is so deep we have to turn the book around. Look the writing changed direction too!
Early Literacy Aside--Example: Children's attention often goes to the pictures. By pointing out the direction of print you help develop your children's print awareness.
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
Shapes--Explain Aside
Early Litearcy Aside--Explain: Today our early literacy tip is on letter knowledge. You may think of letter knowledge as being able to write letters. Actually there is a lot to know related to letter knowledge long before children can write the letters. One aspect is recognizing shapes. Today I'll be pointing out some fun ways we can help them recognize and talk about shapes.
Print Awareness--Explain Aside
Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Our early literacy tip of the day today is on print awareness. There are many ways we can help children understand that print has meaning. Research studies point out that about 95% of a child's attention goes to the pictures. Today in storytime I'll be pointing out some ways we can help them focus on the print as well.
Reading--Language of Books
Early Literacy Aside--Explain: Reading is one of the best ways to introduce new words to your children. Many books have unfamiliar words. ones we would not use in regular conversations with our children. Talking about even one or two of the words before, during or after reading the book is one way to build your children's vocabulary. Knowing lots of words, having a large vocabulary, helps children not only understand what they later learn to read, it also helps them recognize words when they later try to sound them out. Today we'll see how the language of books expands your child's vocabulary.
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (or other song with repeated sounds)
For any song with repeated sounds. Example: My Bonnie Lies Over the OceanStart out with one sound, say /b/ (buh). Each time you hear a /b/ raise your hands over your head. Sing the song and raise your hands over your head each time you hear the sounds /b/. Then add another sound, say /m/ (mmmm). Each time you hear /m/, tap your knees. Sing the song again doing the motions for both sounds. Early Literacy Aside--Example: Putting motions to the sounds helps some children hear the sounds by emphasizing them. This helps develop phonological awareness, the ability to hear the smaller sounds in words which will later help them sound out words. Words to song: My bonnie lies over the ocean; my bonnie lies over the sea. My bonnie lies over the ocean; so bring back my bonnie to me. Bring back, oh bring back, oh bring back my bonnie to me, to me. Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my bonnie to me.
Rhyme Along with Me
[When you read a rhyming book or say a rhyme, you can pick two rhyming words and then sing this song to emphasize the rhyming words.]To the tune of Row Your Boat: Rhyme, rhyme, rhyme along, rhyme along with me Small and tall are rhyming words [or whatever two words you are rhyming] Now rhyme along with me. Early Literacy Aside--Example: Emphasizing words that rhyme helps children hear the rhyme. Being able to hear the smaller sounds in words helps develop their phonological awareness, a skill that will help them be able to sound out words when they later learn to read.
Pamela Martin-Diaz, Allen County (IN) Public Library