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Storytime

September 11, 2009 - 10:52am — trixie

Literacy-based storytimes offer libraries a way to be partners in education with parents and caregivers. Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy supports the definition of a literacy-based storytime as one that contains the following components:

  • Parents and caregivers who are invited (though not necessarily required) to attend storytimes with their children
  • At least one early-literacy skill is highlighted during each storytime
  • Storytime leaders who model activities that build early-literacy skills
  • Books and activities that promote the use of early literacy skills
  • Information about early-literacy skills and/or tips for building skills are provided to parents and caregivers during storytime, either verbally or through a handout

We've gathered some resources that may help you as you develop your literacy-based storytimes. Check them out in the grey box to the right.  Then...

See below for blog posts related to storytimes:

Sing a Storytime

July 28, 2010 - 11:31am — Mary K.

CLEL'S new site, www.StoryBlocks.org, has videos of several songs that would be wonderful shared between parent and child, or in a library storytime.  Young children LOVE to sing, so why not include several songs in your storytime? Singing is a perfect way to reinforce phonological awareness and introduce new vocabulary.

Time to Rhyme!

July 19, 2010 - 12:58pm — Mary K.

As we know, sharing rhyming books is a great way to promote phonological awareness, or, the ability to Rhyming Dust Bunnieshear and play with the smaller sounds in a word.  Younger children may especially enjoy reciting favorite nursery rhymes, and for storytimes with older preschoolers, ask them to fill in the rhyming word (or make up a sill

Advocacy Tip for July: Give handouts to parents during Storytime

July 5, 2010 - 3:15pm — CLEL

Note: CLEL will be posting a new Advocacy Tip every month. To see all the tips, click on the "Advocacy Tip" tag above.

You are an early literacy advocate if you: Give handouts to parents during storytime. 

Handouts provide a tangible reminder of visiting the library, let the parents check out books they liked from storytime, and are an opportunity to provide low key early literacy tips.

Letter Knowledge in Storytime

July 1, 2010 - 3:18pm — Mary K.

Personally, I find letter knowledge one of the more difficult skills to highlight in storytime.  Many alphabet books just don't have enough of a story to make them good read-alouds, and since I only see my storytime kids once a month, highlighting a specific letter for every storytime won't work for me.  But I have found a few ways to highlight letters:

Promoting Early Literacy with Summer Reading Programs

June 6, 2010 - 4:22pm — Melissa D.

Welcome to Summer Reading time! With so many families coming to the library for books and movies and programs, it's a great time to promote early literacy!

I wanted to share something my library is doing that I think is especially cool. At Arapahoe Library District, we have 4 programs every summer--one for babies and toddlers, one for kids, one for teens, and one for adults.

Library Love Stories!

April 28, 2010 - 4:48pm — Mary K.

I love my library (from flikr user ramblinglibrarian)Denver Public Library has posted several videos on its YouTube page in which patrons talk about why they love the library.  Check out

Music in storytimes builds phonological awareness

April 1, 2010 - 10:30am — Mary K.

Adding a song or two to your storytime is a great way to encourage phonological awareness -- the ability to hear the smaller sounds that make up a word.  One of the cds I LOVE is Songs for Wiggleworms, which sadly isn't available anymore except in downloadable form.  Many libraries still have it though!  It has great participatory songs like "Walking Walking" and "Wheels on the B

Progress report on CLEL's LSTA grant project: "Building Reading Readiness"

March 8, 2010 - 12:44pm — CLEL

CLEL members who were able to attend last November's annual meeting heard about the latest LSTA grant project we are working on, which is to create a website with videos of rhymes/fingerplays and songs with early literacy tips.  Patricia Froehlich, Youth Services Senior Consultant with the Colorado State Library, has submitted this report on CLEL's progress on the grant so far:

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Looking Again at Picturebooks

February 22, 2010 - 5:53pm — Carol W.

     As new picturebooks are published, I automatically evaluate them not only for their illustrations, text and authority but also for their potential to focus on an early literacy skill.  The other day however, I came across an older title that I had forgotten about: Good Night Pillow FightGood Night Pillow Fight by Sally Cook and illustrated by Laura Cornell. 



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