Supercharged Storytime Webinar

Several weeks ago I was asked to do a 10-minute presentation during the 2nd round of Supercharged Storytime Training through WebJunction.  My topic was "How do I incorporate alphabetic knowledge in storytime?"  I was so excited to participate in this live webinar with children's librarians from five different states!  Here is my presentation.

Earlier this year I was able to go through supercharged storytime training through a webinar and some in-house training with my Early Learning team.  It is wonderful to know that that storytimes the library provides do, in fact, have a positive impact on children and their learning.  That research validates my work and also energizes me to plan meaningful storytimes for our youngest library members. The main thing I have learned from Supercharged Storytime training I can sum up in one word—and that is intentionality!

For me supercharged means to be more intentional in planning storytimes.  It means to take a little time to identify the things I am already doing and extend or expand those things.  It also means to always be on the look out for ways to enhance storytime using supercharged principles.  Because I take a little time to identify early learning skills during my planning I feel prepared to share those things with parents and caregivers during storytime.  It really doesn’t take much time to supercharge your storytime, just a little thought and planning.  However, supercharged elements greatly enhances your storytime. 

Today I will share with you just a few ways I emphasize alphabetic knowledge in storytime.

The first, and most basic way I share alphabetic knowledge with my all ages storytime group is to sing the ABC Song every week as part of our welcome song.  I made up this little song about storytime before we sing before actually singing the ABCs; but that, of course, is optional.  I have a large ABC chart that I display and I use a pointer to point to each letter as we sing it.

 I make a concerted effort to really slow down during the L-M-N-O-P (the pointer helps) to help the children distinguish between the letters.

 With older children I have done the ABCs in a chant, which helps children pay attention to the letter names and to the printed letter.  Again I point to each letter as we say it.

ABC Chant

A...B...CDE

F...G...HIJ

K...L...MNO

P...Q...RST

U...V...WXY

Now it's time to say goodbye

Zzzzzzzzz!

Mel’s desk has an idea page about other tunes you can sing the ABCs to for additional alphabet practice.

I love to use the Bingo song as a way to emphasize alphabetic knowledge.  I like to change it up for all kinds of themes—just about any 5 letter word will work.  Some I have done are…

Teddy, rainy, piggy, green, hippo

Children are drawn to the first letter of a word when they are learning about words in print.  One of the first letters they learn is the first letter of their own name.  That first letter in any word is so important. 

So I mix up Bingo by taking letters away from the end of the word, so that first letter is emphasized. Another advantage to this is you can read shorter words that made up the longer word—rain, pig, ted.  I’ve done this for several years and found it works wonderfully well.

Whether you do the traditional or revised BINGO song, be sure to have the letters displayed on a flannel or magnet board and pointing to each letter as you sing it.  This helps to reinforces alphabetic knowledge.

Anything I found to be helpful when emphasizing alphabet knowledge in storytime is to use books with alliterations in title.  This is a cue for me to point out the first letter in each word, make an observation that they are the same, ask the children if they know the name of the letter, name the letter, make the letter’s sound and emphasis that letter sound while reading the title again.

Today we are going to read a book called Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.  Hey, I just noticed that the words in the title, Silly Sally, both start with the same letter.  Who knows what letter this is?  The letter S.  It sounds like /s/.  /s/ Silly /s/ Sally.  Let’s find out what Sally does that is so silly!

The same thing could be done with The Very Lazy Ladybug and other books that have alliteration.

I also love to point out alliterations in the text.  This means you cannot read the book straight through; however, pausing to point out the alliteration in the text can help children pay attention to a repeating sound.

One example is Jane Yolen’s Off We Go!  Each animal has an alliteration about how it is getting to grandma’s house.  For example, the mole digs his way to grandma’s.  Mole really likes the letter d /d/.  He goes “dig deep, diggigty deep”.  I encourage the children to say it with me.

Of course, children learn best when they are playing—so, time permitting, allow children opportunities to play with letters!  Here are some of the alphabetic knowledge activities I do with children.

Playdough with letter cookie cutters

Stamps

Magnet letters

These are very simple activities, but they give children hands-on experiences with letters.  You’ll notice that children gravitate to using letters to “write” their name.

Finally, I just want to share with you a few websites that I use as resources to find alphabetic knowledge ideas to use in storytime

I love to reference Preschool or homeschool blogs and websites.  Two I often visit are The Measured Mom and Playdough toPlato.  They have specific pages with ideas and links to fun ways to play with and learn the alphabet.

I avoid “write the letter worksheets”—instead I look for interactive, playful, and hands-on activities.

 I have also gathered a lot of ideas from Pinterest.  I’ve made an alphabet activity board so I can readily store and retrieve ideas.

Thank you for the opportunity to share with you a few ideas about implementing alphabetic knowledge into your own storytimes.  As you can see, it doesn’t take a lot of extra time, just some extra thought.