What would you do with storytime on New Year’s Eve day?
On the morning of December 31, my library had our regularly scheduled storytimes for groups and families. Even though we have an extensive collection, I just wasn’t inspired by any of the New Year’s books that I found.
Party?
Standing in the stacks, blinking at the books, I reflected on what I hoped my 2015 might look like and what resolutions I was setting. And, what is a New Year without friendship? Developmentally, preschoolers are beginning to gain the ability to see things from someone else’s point of view. They are just developing their “friending skills” and the behaviors that make them a good friend. Preschoolers also tend to enjoy reading books about friends and developing friendships.
Have you ever searched for picture books about friendship? There are so many great titles from which to choose. “Leonardo the Terrible Monster” by Mo Willems! “Mr. Pusskins” by Sam Lloyd!! “Fluffy and Baron” by Laura Rankin!!!
How can you tell a true friend from a not-so-stellar one? There are also plenty of books about the kind of friends I might try to avoid. “This is Not My Hat” by Jon Klassen :/ “Bossy Bear” by David G. Horvath :/ ” Meet the Wild Boars” by Meg Rosoff :/
At storytime, I told the children that I wanted more friends this year and that I needed their help to learn how to be a good friend. Their suggestions were pretty good:
- Share
- Hug and Kiss
- Say nice things
- Hold their hand
- Let them use your toys
- Ask them to play
- Eat with them, especially chicken nuggets
After that storytime, I’m feeling pretty set for 2015 to be the best year yet!!
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Our guest blogger today is Marra Honeywell. Marra is the Assistant Manager of the Children’s Services department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.
If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at alscblog@gmail.com.
Renee Perron
For my preschool story time last Tuesday, I highlighed New Books for the new year! We shared The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen, and Blizzard by John Rocco. I love having a story time with an open ended theme like New Books because I can really pick books because they are great read alouds and not just because they fit in with a topic theme. Here is to a new year with MORE great books!
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Kelly Doolittle
Thank you, Marra & great idea Renee! I was just sitting down to start organizing toddler and family program themes for 2015 & am planning on stealing both of your ideas for when we start regular storytimes back up in February! After doing storytimes for many years now, amazingly, I have not used the “friends” theme yet, and “new books” is always a great theme to stretch with, as you say, Renee. Happy New Year & Happy Programming!