The Toddler Storytime Issue

This week we were very excited to get back into our school-year routine. Part of that routine is going to storytime at our public library. As I have mentioned before, I grew up with a father who was both a children's librarian and a professional storyteller (as in he made money doing it). The storytelling bar has been set kind of high for me because of that. I went to Family Storytime every week growing up. As an adult I have also led storytime for two of my employers (both were educational toy stores with weekly storytimes). I know what it takes to create a well-constructed storytime theme and find materials to fit the theme. I know that there are great resources out there. My dad has written several books on the subject. You can go to www.rapnrob.com to find those books. As someone who knows a thing or two about storytime, I have to say I am once again a little disappointed in my local library.

One of several great resource books by Rob Reid

Our public library has three different types of storytimes available and listed in their "Activities for Kids" flyer. There is Family Storytime which occurs in the evening and is geared towards entire families. Then there is Toddler Storytime which the library lists as being geared for children ages 18 months through 36 months. Lastly there is a Lapsit Storytime for little ones ages 0 to 18 months. The Family Storytime occurs early in the week and so I brought both P-Man (age 5, just started Kindergarten) and Wes-Wes (nearly 20 months) to that storytime. It was wonderful! The children's librarian is extremely friendly and had us make name tags for the boys so she can get to know the kids who come to storytime. Since it was the first Family Storytime after the summer-long hiatus, she did a wonderful back-to-school type theme. P-Man really enjoyed it. Wes-Wes, being as young as he is, paid great attention to the songs and nursery rhymes but less attention to the books. That is to be expected. She had a handout for each family with a coloring sheet on one side and a list of the books and the words to the songs and poems on the other side. I thought that was a great idea and have seen it done at other library storytimes. It really helps us parents who want to sing along but don't always remember the words or which version of the song the librarian is going to use. Overall it was a very pleasant experience.

Toddler Storytime was two days later and is in the morning while P-Man is at Kindergarten. I figured it would be a perfect activity for Wes-Wes and I to go to together. He is growing more interested in books and nursery rhymes and needs more exposure to kids his age. I load him in the van, we drive down to the library, and go in to see the exact same theme and books in the storytime area as were there for the Family Storytime. The children's librarian very enthusiastically greeted us and handed me the same handout as she did for the Family Storytime. I even asked the librarian before it began if the Toddler Storytime was the same as Family Storytime and she explained that it is, for the most part. She does one less book and adds one more nursery rhyme, otherwise it is exactly the same. Boy was I disappointed.

When I was growing up, and when we lived in Iowa after P-Man was born, both the Family Storytime and Toddler Storytime were two completely different entities. The Toddler Storytime was made much more age appropriate in both the story selection and the themes. I feel like our local library here is missing out big time too. I don't want to bring Wes-Wes to the same storytime twice in one week. I didn't see any families at Toddler Storytime that had been there for Family Storytime. I bet if they were two completely different storytimes, you could easily get families coming to both.

My solution to this is going to be that we will continue to go to the Family Storytime at our local library with both boys, but I will bring Wes-Wes to a neighboring community library for their morning Toddler Storytime. That will keep it fresh, and hopefully keep his interest. Maybe I am a storytime snob, but I wish our children's librarian had two different storytimes planned each week, especially since they are "billed" as two different story hours. Either way, I am glad I am able to expose Wes-Wes to reading and literacy through storytime and will continue to find other options.

P-man Started Kindergarten Today!

Please forgive my late-summer hiatus. August is usually a crazy month for us, and this year was no different. We had fun spending time with family, going up north to the lake, and playing in the water. Today is, in my mind, the end of summer because P-MAN STARTED SCHOOL TODAY!

P-Man on his first day of Kindergarten

I didn't weep. I did get a little misty-eyed though. I am so proud and excited for my big boy and can't wait to begrudgingly pull information about his day out of him when he gets home. We went in for a brief Kindergarten assessment on Tuesday and I am happy to report that P-Man's reading was off their charts. He is going to meet with the school's gifted & talented specialist for another assessment and then get put in a pull-out reading group. I can't wait to see the results of the specialist's assessment. Every inch of me, especially the inch that went to school for elementary education, knows I shouldn't care so much about his reading score. I really, really want to know where he is at though. I don't even know what unit of measurement or test type the district uses yet. Are they a Lexile district? Do they use the grade levels as benchmarks? It will be interesting to find out. It will also assist me in choosing books for him.

Right now P-Man is reading beginner chapter books that have just as many illustrations as standard picture books. We cleared the library of the ones that match his current toy interests, for example Lego Ninjago books. In preparation for Kindergarten, I tried reading some of the 'Junie B. Jones' series to P-Man, but he didn't have any interest in those. It has been very interesting to see what he gravitates towards at the library.

I am just beginning to read the book Raising Boy Readers by Michael Sullivan (http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Boy-Readers-Michael-Sullivan/dp/1937589439). My dad got his hands on an advance proof copy and passed it along to me. I have read Mr. Sullivan's research on the topic before and he was definitely an inspiration for this mommy blog. This new book, out in January 2014, is written for parents and lists over 300 books labeled "boy-friendly". I can't wait to try some of his suggestions with P-Man.

As this school year progresses, it will be interesting to see what P-Man's school does to keep him interested. For now I will anxiously await news from the specialist and look to Michael Sullivan for suggestions to read at home.