Workshop portion of April 2013 early literacy training for St. Charles City-County Library District children's services staff

1. Programming with
ECRR2 in Mind
Staff Training
April 9 & 10, 2013

2. What makes a good story time?
• It's fun!
• Interactive
• Varied
• Good stories
• Lots of different elements
• Songs
• Paced well to keep kids' attention
• Transitions between activities so there is cohesion
• Flexibility depending on your audience
• Early literacy statements
• Parent involvement

3. How can you tell when story
time is successful?
• Nobody cries
• Nobody leaves
• Good feedback
• Kids don't want to leave
• Kids participate
• Parents participate
• They come back
• They are absorbed in what is being read
• HUGS!

4. What would you change about
story time?
• Anything that doesn't work
• Smaller groups
• Enough kids to make it engaging
• More flexibility to meet the needs of all family types, schedules
• Include more types of storytelling (books, non-fiction, felt stories, puppets,
apps)
• Attitude of coworkers who think it's just loud playing
• Attitude of parents who don't see the critical benefit
• More interactive elements (instruments, etc.)
• Meet more types of audiences, especially including males so kids see men
reading
• More math and science
• More open-ended crafts/art
• More open-ended activities, i.e. play time, picture walk
• Time for grownups to hang out and talk to one another, esp. with babies

5. Questions to ask about a
program - Engagement
• How does it engage kids?
• How does it engage caregivers?

6. Questions to ask about a
program - The Five Practices
• Does reading happen? How?
• Does talking happen? How?
• Does singing happen? How?
• Does writing happen? How?
• Does playing happen? How?

7. Questions for personal
consideration
What are the strongest components of your
story time?
Which of the five practices, if any, are you
missing from your program?