Storytime Lessons

Storytimes at many libraries across the country are starting to look a bit different as librarians learn more about early literacy research and find creative ways to incorporate it into their programming. The ALA early literacy initiative, “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library,” encourages librarians to share their new knowledge through workshops for parents. While this approach has been successful nationwide, many librarians have realized that storytime is a perfect venue for introducing the six important early literacy skills (print motivation, vocabulary, print awareness, narrative skills, phonological awareness, and letter recognition) and modeling ways to reinforce these skills by reading aloud. Our colleagues Jody Westerman and Nancy Spaulding at Cedar Mill Community Library in Washington County, OR, recently put it this way: “The parent is the child’s first teacher. The librarian is the parent’s first literacy coach. Storytime is the librarian’s best opportunity to coach parents and caregivers.”

We’re excited about a dynamic new book that helps librarians share their knowledge with adults while they support early literacy skills in storytime. Early Literacy Storytimes @ your library: Partnering with Caregivers for Success (ALA, 2005), by Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz, is a best-practices manual that provides a clear overview of the research and lots of practical information on how specific books, rhymes, songs, flannel-board stories, and puppetry support the skills.

The research backs up many of the techniques librarians have used for years. Sample programs include favorites such as Caps for Sale and Where the Wild Things Are, “BINGO” and “Wheels on the Bus.” The main difference in what the authors call an “early literacy enhanced storytime,” is that the librarian does more than share the book, song, or rhyme with the children. The librarian incorporates information about early literacy into the storytime, often speaking directly to the adults as the program progresses.

An example: After sharing a song with the children, the librarian might say to the adults, “Songs help children hear words broken down into syllables because there’s a different note for each syllable. This promotes an important early literacy skill called phonological awareness, the ability to hear the small sounds that make up words. This skill helps children sound out words when they begin to read.” Ghoting and Martin-Diaz, both veteran children’s librarians, offer many sample comments such as this for each of the six early literacy skills.

The authors also discuss “dialogic reading,” noting that this powerful method of reading helps children develop vocabulary and narrative skills. It encourages a dialogue, or conversation, between the adult and the child as the story is shared. The authors acknowledge that dialogic reading works best with children and adults one on one, rather than in a group situation, but they remind us that children’s librarians are considered “the experts in how and what to read to children. By demonstrating dialogic reading in our storytimes for two- through five-year-olds, we show adults how much importance we place on it.” Using the popular book Jump, Frog, Jump (Greenwillow, 1995) by Robert Kalan, they illustrate how easily librarians can model dialogic reading in storytime. Subsequent chapters offer further suggestions using well-known storytime titles.

An “early literacy enhanced storytime” takes more time than a more traditional storytime. So plan on using one less book, Ghoting and Martin-Diaz advise. Their arguments are compelling, and their practical suggestions maintain the fun of storytime while supporting librarians in their role of first literacy coach.