Background
I observed an hour and a half story time at Rockdale Branch Library on Wednesday 10 September 2014 from 10:30am -12:00pm, half an hour preparation and one hour story time including, reading of books, singing, craft and a movie time. The program was presented by Ms. Pili a Library Assistant.
The weekly program is for school-age children between the ages of 3-5 years. Attendance was ten children with eight parents. Most of the children are in pre-school. The children were seated together on the story time mat in front of the presenter and parents sat on chairs behind their children.
Observation
Introduction and Reading of books:
Ms. Pili asked the children what we do first. They did the triangular sign by joining their two index fingers and thumb together to get the triangle shape with a loud voice. That was impressive. She introduced herself and one by one the children came to ring the bell so that the program will begin.
She introduced the theme which is “Space”. At this stage the children were very noisy but become very attentive when the first book was introduced with the title Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer by Dan Crisp. The story was short so she continued with the second book entitled Daddy on the Moon by Cressida Cowell.
After the story, she followed it with a rhyme titled “climb up board the space ship” and two songs, twinkle, twinkle little star and Hey diddle, diddle.
The craft activity was to prepare a rocket. Materials provided were paper cups, strip of paper, glue, scissors etc. After the craft they watch the movie star, star, star. The program ended with the stamping of the story time stamp on each child’s hand. They lined up quietly to receive it.
Reflection
Parents are required to stay with their children during the story time, help them with the craft activity, and even assist in cleaning up afterward. Ms Pili knew the name of most of the children indicating they are regulars. She also read the books from the book stand so every child can see the pictures as she read. Her voice was clear and the tempo was slow enough to allow them to look at the pictures. The stories were too short even though it was appropriate for the children.
The children kept interrupting while she read but she kept reading and occasionally will stop and ask them to keep quite. It was a good sign of leadership and the ability to control crowd.
As an aspiring Children and Youth Librarian, I will imitate the skills and qualities of Ms Pili thus her excellent rapport with children, patients and good management.
I may change the order of the program considering the age of the children and their attention span. I would have read a story, music, story, music, craft, rhyme then movie and stamp so children wouldn’t be restless. This will ensure return visits, and boosts regular attendance at the weekly story time.
Negatives:
The movie was too long and boring and not suitable considering the age of the children. At that age describing the planet means nothing them.
I was surprised to see that a story time for the described age range was a whole 60 minutes long! I have had the opportunity to observe and facilitate many story times for preschoolers and they have all been thirty minutes. This seems to be a more appropriate time frame for kids 3 - 5 that get restless easily and need to have snacks and bathroom breaks, etc., on a regular basis. I think keeping the programs short has a positive impact on the way they are received. If the program drags on for too long it detracts from the enjoyment kids experience and they are less likely to want to come back.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed playing short DVDs at the end of story times but due to licensing reasons the selection of DVDs that can be shown to groups at my library is very limited. I wonder if this is the reason the film shown at the program you attended was not so appropriate. If I was running a 60 minute story time, I would most certainly be playing a DVD just to kill some time!
I agree with Kim, I observed a story-time activity for one of my professional development activities; it went for a duration of thirty minutes, and was designed for pre-schoolers. At the end of the activity the children were getting wrestles, even though the stories incorporated actions and movement to keep the children interested and engaged.
DeleteI currently work at a library that has a story-time program but only tells stories and has puppets to keep the children engaged. I think it would definitely benefit from incorporating a craft activity or even a short movie as it runs for about thirty to forty-five minutes depending on the age group. It is important to make sure that the craft activity and movie are relevant to the story as well as interesting for the children, but as Kim mentions there could be restrictions on what movies can be shown to large groups.