My First Story Time

Saturday Story Time Sampler

For the last part of my library practicum, I had to create and lead my very own story time. I was scheduled to lead the Saturday Story Time Sampler in the Children's Library at Main of Akron-Summit County Public Library. The program occurs every Saturday at 11 am and is for all ages, and every week it is lead by a different children's librarian. (Not sure what focus to go with, I asked some other librarians and was advised to focus on the preschool age range.)

I was so excited to finally put all of my knowledge to use!

I was told there didn't have to be a theme for this particular program, so I decided to do a "sampler" of my favorite children's story time books, hinting towards a winter theme at the end of the program. Which would be perfect because it would be a week before Thanksgiving (kids might be tired of the Thanksgiving theme) and, in Ohio, there's always snow.

Who knew that this November would be one of the warmest on record?!

Yeah, no snow yet.


Anywho, I planned and reached into my bag of ideas and notes and came up with the perfect story time. I even decided to incorporate my new yoga routine that I created for the conference. And I was told I needed a craft....

I found the cutest Snowman Magnet craft from Kaboose.com (<--LOVE this web site!). After I purchased the supplies, I couldn't wait to get started.

I love crafts. Put on some football and my Sunday is spent. I had so much fun making these cute snowmen. I realized the hats would be too complicated and time consuming, so I went ahead and made them so the kiddos wouldn't have to mess with it. I also cut out all of the scarves, buttons and prepared the noses (which were pieces of leftover candy corn). I also gave myself a very painful hot glue gun injury.

Check it out!

The snowmen magnets look great on our fridge.

After that craft, I spent the rest of my evening hours creating my own props for The Enormous Potato. I drew and colored what I needed, and then the next day I went to the RECE Lab at the library and laminated them. When I got home I cut them out and attached magnets to their backs.

And then my husband had to patiently sit through my story time.

Saturday Story Time Sampler

Preschool/Kindergarten Focus

Opening Song: "The Wiggle Song"

Sticky Bubble Gum (Carole Peterson, 2002)

Book: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

(Karen Beaumont, 2005)

I know this book is quite popular and is used in many story times. So I changed it up a bit by passing out paint brushes so the kids could "paint" their bodies along with the story.

Book: The Enormous Potato

(Retold by Aubrey Davis, 1998)

I told the book from memory using a magnetic board and the magnets I created.

Movement  (Yoga) Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

(Eric Carle, 1987)

Here, I created my own yoga routine to coincide with the book. As I read the book, I did the movements, with some explanation, and the kids mimicked me.

Movement Song: "I'm a Little Snowflake"

Whaddaya Think of That? (Laurie Berkner, 2000)

I created movements to go along with this song, which is sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot." We repeated the song two more times, and I also typed up the lyrics and made copies so the kids could do it at home with their parents.

Book: All You Need For a Snowman

(Alice Schertle, 2002)

Closing Song: "Story Time is At an End"

I did this song once, which if done as a closing song all the time the kids will be able to sing it with you. It is sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Story time has reached its end.
Say goodbye to all your friends.
We've read some books and had some fun.
Feels like we have just begun!
Story time is over, friends.
We have really reached the end!

Art Activity: Pom-Pom Snowman Magnets

(or Snowman Variation)

**Alternate Books:
Zooflakes: ABC (Will C. Howell, 2002)
It's Snowing! (Gail Gibbons, 2011)
Waiting for Winter (Sebastian Meschenmoser, 2009)

All my planning went out the window when the Children's Library Manager informed me (an hour before the program started) they were expecting a lot of younger-than-preschool-aged kids to this story time.

Uh-oh. This snowman craft is too difficult for that age group. So with only an hour to spare, I quickly grabbed construction paper and other materials that would allow the kids to create their own snowman on paper, and still use the supplies I had brought. I then quickly made a few "draft" examples so the kids and parents could see what kind of craft was coming up. Ai yi yi. Needless to say the craft didn't come out as pretty as I wanted, but I was able to come up with a few examples:

But the kids and their caregivers really enjoyed making their snowmen!


Because I was completely consumed with creating a new craft, I forgot to grab more age-appropriate books....like board books. Yeah, I had quite a few babies. Actually I had 18 kids, and ages ranged from infant-10 years. Definitely a wide range librarians aren't too excited about.

The story time went by really fast because of no advertisement I wasn't able to perform the full yoga routine I had planned. We only could do a few of the moves, which cut down on a lot of time. Also, because of so many kids, I wasn't able to pass out the magnets so each kid could help tell The Enormous Potato story. I couldn't read any more books to take up time because they were too advanced.

Story time ended a little earlier than planned, but it was good because the little ones were becoming restless. Ah, the fun of story time.

On a better note, the parents and kids loved the yoga moves! I had many comment on how much they liked the idea, including my practicum supervisor. Another yoga success!!

A bitter-sweet first time.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi