Story Time Anytime

Don't get me wrong, bringing your children to the library is a phenomenal way to instill a love of reading. However, you, the parent will always be the most influential person in your child's life and so it is important to make books and reading an anytime activity. I understand that reading aloud, singing, practicing finger plays, and other literacy activities are not natural or easy for everyone. Especially when you are a new parent; I remember looking up lyrics of children's songs on the internet when my oldest child was an infant.

If you are looking for some new ideas I plan to share one or two exceptional picture books and some related literacy activities each Monday. I hope that you are able to use some of these ideas or that they give you inspiration for other ways to share and experience books with your children.

Since we are all itching to go outside the first book I want to share is all about watching the clouds drift by on a warm, sunny day.

Does the cloud resemble a duck or a rabbit? This is the debate two children are having in this entertaining picture book written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. Rosenthal is the author of over 20 children's books and she is a genius at capturing a child's unique perspective of the world. The bold and simple illustration complement Rosenthal's text perfectly and our sure to appeal to even the youngest readers.

I love reading this book for story time and it is always interesting to hear which animal the kids see first. Usually, if they first see the rabbit it takes them a few minutes to see the duck and vice versa. 

This book is also available on TumbleBooks and it is one of my son's favorites to watch. TumbleBooks is a huge collection of online ebooks that children can watch and listen to or read themselves. There is a link to TumbleBooks from the Portland District Library Website, but here is a link for the homepage. From there you can you can click on story books and they are all listed alphabetically by title.

Of course, the obvious activity to enjoy with your child after reading Duck Rabbit! is to go outside when there are some fluffy white clouds and talk about what shapes you see.What does looking at clouds have to do with early literacy? 

Let me go backwards a bit and explain what early literacy is and what is have to do with reading aloud and story time activities. Early literacy is everything that goes on before a child actually learns how to read. If  we want to be authoritative and official the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has established six early literacy skills, which their research shows are necessary to be a successful reader.
These are:
1. Print Motivation-a child's interest in and enjoyment of books
2. Phonological Awareness-the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words
3. Vocabulary-knowing the names of things
4. Narrative Skills-the abilty to describe things and events and to tell stories
5. Print Awareness-noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and understanding how to follow the written word, and understanding how to follow the written words on a page
6. Letter Knowledge-knowing that letters are different from each other, that the same letter can look different, and that each letter has a name and is related to sounds
(These descriptions are from the book Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library by Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz. Ghoting has more in depth descriptions on her website here if you are brave enough to slog through them.)

Fortunately, someone decided that Academic with a capital "A" terms such as phonological awareness are too confusing and nonsensical for all of us normal people. Also, just listing the skills necessary for reading does not actually tell parents, daycare providers, educators, etc. how to attain those skills. Hence, the inception of the Five Early Literacy Practices: Talking, Reading, Writing, Playing, and Singing. Not only are the Five Practices easier to understand, but they also give us concrete ways to make our children successful and lifelong readers.

The good news is that most of you are probably already talking, reading, writing, playing, and singing with our babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. However, some of these may be unfamiliar (how do you write with a baby) or out of your comfort zone (like singing).

1. Talking-You would think that talking would be easy, but it is not. Especially, when you are home alone with a baby or toddler who cannot exactly hold up their end of the conversation. It is so easy to turn on the radio or tv just for some noise.These are not the same as you child listening to you, though. So, as difficult as it is, talk to your child throughout the day. Even you are talking about the laundry you are folding, it is important for them to hear you and watch your face while you talk. If you have any time to read for yourself (yeah, right) read your book out loud to your baby. If they are under one, they are not going to fully understand it anyways, and then they get to listen to your voice.

When they are old enough to talk back, ask tons of questions. Little kids love to hear themselves talk so ask them their opinions or get them to make up stories. 
Here are some great ways to get toddlers and preschoolers talking:

• "What if...?" or "Would you rather...?" questions- These work on kids of all ages and the more ridiculous the better. Would you rather have a rhinoceros or a lion for a pet? Would you rather ride a giraffe or an elephant? What if dinosaurs were still alive? What would your dog say if he could talk?  What if you could only wear one color for the rest of your life? 
• Wordless Picture Books-I actually wrote a whole post about wordless picture books which you can read here.
• Call people on the phone-Have your toddler or preschooler talk to loved ones on the phone. As long as your relatives do not mind, that is.
• Talk about your favorites-Ask kids what their favorite food, color, tv show, song, game, etc. is and don't forget to ask why. 
• Bedtime Prayers-Even if you are not religious you can talk about all of the things that you are thankful for or all of the good things that happened that day right before bed.

2. Reading-This is pretty self-explanatory, but make sure you are not just reading the text. Ask questions about the story and the illustrations. Have your little predict what is going to happen next before you turn the page. If you are reading a rhyming book, see if they can guess the next word. Make up a new ending or ask your child what they think happened to the characters after the end of the book. Inflection is incredibly important when you read to a child. It isn't necessary to use different voices, but add emotion to your own voice and whisper, shout, whine, cry, when called for. 

3. Writing-This practice not only refers to actual writing, but also all of those activities that strengthen the hand and finger muscles necessary for writing. 
Some fun and easy fine motor activities are:

• Playdough
• Legos
• Fingerpainting
• Tearing Paper
• Stringing Beads
• Marbles-Fill a cup halfway with water and count how many marbles you can add before the cup overflows. Pick up the marbles one a time with thumb and pointer finger.
• Lacing Cards-Use string and a colander if you do not have lacing cards
• Buttons, Zippers, Snaps
• Sand-Play in the dirt or sand box
• Scissors

4. Playing-Kids naturally play to learn so this one should be pretty easy. Pretend play is all about storytelling. Whether your child is pretending to cook in a toy kitchen or running around in a batman mask and cape ask them what the story is. Who are they cooking for? If it is for a queen, what should they make and how should it be served. Will the queen throw you in the dungeon if she doesn't like it. Where is Batman going? Is he going to rescue someone? From what and how?

You do not need anything fancy or expensive to play with either. After all, the greatest toy for any child will always be the humble cardboard box.

5. Singing-This is probably the hardest practice for a lot of people, because they feel uncomfortable singing. Trust me, your child does not care whether you sing beautifully or you sound like a cat with his tale shut in a door. Leading storytime has made it necessary for me to sing a lot in front of kids (and their parents). No one has run screaming from the room with their hands over their ears, so I guess I am not too terrible. 

Why is singing so important? If you talk and read to your child shouldn't that be good? Well, there was actually a great answer to this question on Scholastic.com which you can read here. The short answer is that singing and listening to songs helps kids acquire language skills faster and easier than just talking or reading.  Not only does singing get kids making and hearing lots of different sounds, it also activates and develops both sides of the brain. So, even if you feel uncomfortable sing to and with your child. I promise that it will get easier the more you do it.

Some of my favorite baby songs :

• Lavender's Blue 
• You Are My Sunshine
• Jesus Loves Me (I would sing Jesus Loves You)
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Hush, Little Baby
• Over the Rainbow
• Amazing Grace
• Lullaby and Goodnight
• My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
• Oh, Mr. Sun

Action Songs for Toddlers and Preschoolers

• This Old Man
• Wheels on the Bus
• Baby Shark
• The Grand Ol' Duke of York-I am a total Trekkie so my kids were taught The Grand Ol' Captain Kirk:
  The Grand Old Captain Kirk
  He Had A Thousand Men,
  He Beamed 'em Up To The Enterprise
  Everyone stands up
  And Beamed 'em Down Again.
  Everyone sits down
  And When You're Up Your Up,
  Everyone stands up
  And When You're Down Your Down,
  Everyone sits down
  And When You're Only Half Way Up,
  Everyone half-way up
  You're Nowhere to Be Found.
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Five Green and Speckled Frogs
• Peace Like a River