The Loudest Librarian!

Early Literacy Tip: When reading books with flaps, ask your child to predict what will be underneath each one before they lift it. Making predictions is a great way to keep kids engaged in the books they read, while also improving their comprehension. We finally made it to the end of the alphabet! It’s been […]

Early Literacy Tip: When reading a story like Yummy, Yucky, which features a particular pattern, make a game out of coming up with your own examples, like Tacos are yummy! Legos are yucky! We’re almost at the end of our alphabetic journey through storytime! This week, we focused on the letter Y. As usual, we […]

Early Literacy Tip: Play the alphabet game, either while you’re out in the world, or reading books together. Challenge your child to find a particular letter, or look for each letter of the alphabet in order. This week we reached the letter I have been dreading ever since I started my storytime journey through the […]

Early Literacy Tip: Point out any sound effects or animal sounds written in the books you read together (the book Animals Go Vroom! has a lot), and have fun saying them with your child. Onomatopoeia (words meant to represent sounds) are wonderful for helping kids learn the sounds that letters make. This week we celebrated […]

Early Literacy Tip: Before you read a book together, ask your child what they think will happen in the story. For example, for the book You Don’t Want a Unicorn? you could ask if they would like a unicorn, and why it might not be a good idea to have one. Making predictions about a […]

Early Literacy Tip: Point out that letters can make different sounds when combined with other letters (for example, Tr), and can change one word into another. For example: tee becomes tree, tail becomes trail, and tap becomes trap. Make a game out of having your child cover up the letter r with their finger and […]

Early Literacy Tip: Talk about the sounds that individual letters make, and make a game out of coming up with words that start with that sound. Paying attention to the sounds that make up words is a critical part of phonemic awareness, an important skill for learning to read later on. This week, we focused […]

Early Literacy Tip: Write simple action words on small pieces of paper (run, clap, jump, etc.), and put them in a bag (or attach them to a die that you throw, or a board game spinner that you spin). Have your child pick out one of the papers, and then do the action together (or […]

Early Literacy Tip: Write a favorite word on a piece of paper for your child to have. You can even make a game out of drawing a picture to go with it, and asking your child to guess what the word is. This is a great way to build print awareness, and build excitement and […]

Early Literacy Tip: Ask kids to point out the word or words starting with a particular letter in the titles of the books you read. (Example: Can you find a word starting with the letter M?”) Learning to recognize letters is a key part of learning to read, and noticing them in the books they […]

A storytime prop I use a lot, especially for Family Storytime, are play scarves. They are so light, compact, and fun, and they provide an easy break from reading, which helps kids refocus and usually brings any wandering toddlers back into the group. So, I thought I would share some of my favorite scarf songs […]