How do you make children listen to you read books--you don't. You invite those interested to listen.
(all photos by Leanne Dyck)
Storytime
by Leanne Dyck
Updated June 9, 2020
Updated June 9, 2020
I was young; I was naive; I was just another practicum student passing through that Day Care Centre.
The staff tried to warn me. "These kids don't like books. They won't sit still."
But I didn't listen...
I walked over to a group of four children who were colouring at a small table.
"A little mouse went creeping, creeping, creeping." I chanted as I crept two fingers across the table. "A little mouse went creeping across the kitchen floor.
The great, big cat went stomping, stomping, stomping." I hit the table like a drum and the children joined me. "The great, big cat went stomping across the kitchen floor."
"The little mouse ran away." I ran my fingers off the edge of the table and the children laughed. "Would you like to hear a story?"
One of the children said, "Yes." and followed me to the library corner. She was joined by two other children.
The girl who'd accepted my invitation forced a book into my hands. "This one. Read this one."
I held the book in the air and called. "Storytime."
Most of the children ignored me, but a boy who'd been playing with a car parked it and came to the circle. He pulled a book off the shelf. "Read this book."
"I'll read this one first and then I'll read yours," I told him.
"Sometimes it looked like split milk but...," I began--that brought a few more children to our group.
"I have a bunny," a girl said, loudly.
"No, you don't," another girl said.
"Yes, I do."
Their debate drowned out my reading.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the staff exchange a smile.
"What do you think this is?" I asked the girl who thought she had a rabbit.
"An airplane," she guessed.
"No, it's not," a boy said. "It's a bird."
We continued to tell the story together and more and more of the children were drawn into the circle until they all were engaged in storytelling.
I flipped from one page to another, until... "Sometimes it looked like split milk, but it wasn't split milk. It was a..."
I waited for the children to call out the answer and I was rewarded with a chorus.
"Read another one," the children said and I'm still reading.
More...
Toddler Story Time (YouTube video)
Why Story-Time Rocks
And in 2015 I wrote an article about my most recent experience sharing books with a group of children. Here's the link.
Next post (Sunday, April 10th -- published after 5 P.M. PST): Your preschooler loves board books and you're wondering when and how you should introduce your child to picture books. I was an Early Childhood Educator working with preschoolers in Day Care Centres for over fourteen years. I read tons of picture books to groups of children and I'm delighted to share my tips in my next post.
Sharing my author journey...
Some writers love to do research.
