4. What Is STEP?
StoryTimeEffectivePractice
Storytime approach
Connects knowledge of children’s
materials/activities to
Domains of child development
Framework to promote engaging
storytimes that support children’s
learning and development
5. How to Use STEP
The book is divided into three parts:
Part I
• Understanding
Part II
• Connecting
Part III
• Applying
6. Developmental Domains
Four developmental domains
•Emotional and Social Development
•Language and Literacy Development
•Physical Development
•Cognitive Development
7. Emotional andSocial Development
“Emotional and social development underlies and supports all
learning.” pg. 29
“Social and emotional development must be given the same level
of focus and attention and planning as given to literacy, math and
science” (Copple and Brendenkamp, 2009,120).
“Many adults, library staff included, affect the daily lives and
shape the growth of children.”
pg. 29
8. Emotional andSocial Development
Because . . .
Babies—express feelings
Toddlers—learn words for feelings
Twos—can learn to talk about feelings
Preschoolers—relate situations and feelings in
books to their own experiences
Storytime presenter includes books about
feelings and points out the feelings of
characters.
10. Little Monkey Calms Down
by Michael Dahl
I Got the Rhythm
by Connie Schofield-Morrison
Ticlkle Monster
by Edouard Manceau
11. Ways to promote emotional
development through books
Books that are about emotions.
Talk about the facial expressions of the characters
in the story.
Talk about the meaning of the story and ask
participants if they ever felt the same way as the
character in the story.
12. Your ideas in chat box
Share an example of promoting emotional
development in your storytime.
infant toddler 2 years
3-5 years
13. Supporting the emotional and social
development of children by providing
resources.
Interact with children and their parents and
caregivers in positive ways that support
emotional and social growth.
Provide flyers on family support services.
Point out website sources on social and
emotional development.
Partner with local agencies.
Waystopromoteemotionalandsocial
development
15. Language Development
Because . . .
Babies—repeat sounds, imitate animal sounds
Toddlers—imitate short phrase, look at bold,
bright pictures
Twos—recite familiar phrases, imitate your tone
of voice
Preschoolers—able to retell stories, recall
elements from story
All—need repetition to learn
16. Traditional Storytime
Welcome
Opening song—Come Along and Sing with Me
Early Literacy Tip
Storytime Intro (theme)
Book/Flannel Board—Too Much Noise
Stretch if needed
Song/flannel board: Chicken Family to tune of
Down by the Station
Shakers with songs
Factual Book—Chicken’s Life Cycle
Big book: I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon
Early Literacy Tip Demonstrated
Early Literacy Tip
Flannel Board: Matching game
Action Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock
Book: Cows in the Kitchen (songbook)
Closing song
Early Literacy Tip with Handout
17. Sequential Storytime
Welcome
Opening song—Peek-a-boo
Early Literacy Tip
Storytime intro (theme)
Action Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock
Big book: I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon
Action Rhyme: Round and Round the Garden
Book: Who Am I?
Transition song: Rig a Jig Jig by Bob McGrath
Quieting Rhyme: Wiggles
Book: Sheep in a Jeep
Early Literacy Tip Demonstrated
Early Literacy Tip
Song/flannel board: Chicken Family to tune of Down by the Station
Flannel Board: Matching game
Factual Book—Chicken’s Life Cycle
Transition Song: Merrily We Stroll Along
19. Ways to Span the Ages
Rhymes
Books
Flannel Boards
20. Examples—Rhyme
Jack in the box,
Still as a mouse,
Sits down inside,
His little dark house
Jack in the box,
Sits so still,
Will you come out?
YES I WILL!!!
22. Physical Development
Because . . .
Babies—bounce when supported by an adult
Toddlers—dance to music
Twos—imitate your movements
Preschoolers—need movement to focus
Storytime presenter provides books and activities
to promote interaction and physical activity
23. Your ideas in chat box
Share how you have adapted a fingerplay or action song to
appeal to different age levels:
infant/toddlers
toddlers/twos
preschoolers
infant toddler 2 years
3-5 years
25. Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern
“Too noisy,” said Peter. Peter went to the wise man. “Do as I say.
Get a . . .”
Have the children draw the animals. Don’t worry if it looks like
scribbles.
Your youngest children can say the sounds of the animals, the
names of the animals, older children can repeat the words “too
noisy,” while even older children retell the whole story, or as much
of it as they can.
28. Your ideas in chat box
Give title and author of a book and how you have adapted
how you share it to appeal to different age levels:
infant/toddlers
toddlers/twos
preschoolers
infant toddler 2 years
3-5 years
29. CognitiveDevelopment
Because . . .
Babies—notice patterns and shapes
Toddlers—match one characteristic such as
color or shape
Twos—match an object to its picture
Preschoolers—sort objects by category
Storytime presenter offers activities and
opportunities to classify and sort
KK
Our book started out as ALA presentation on mixed age storytimes.
As we analyzed how we plan for a storytime for a group including babies, toddlers and infants, we realized that we were planning activities that worked best with meeting the needs of each age group.
But when we questioned that further, we knew we needed to focus on child development to really understand why we choose what we do and why it was successful.
SG
StoryTime Effective Practice (STEP) is a storytime approach that connects a knowledge of children’s books, materials, and activities with a knowledge of children’s emotional, social, physical, cognitive, and language development from birth ages newborn to age five; it informs the storytime presenter’s attitudes, demeanor, preparation, planning, and presentation, making the presentation more responsive to the ages and stages of the participants, and resulting in an engaging storytime experience; it supports parents and caregivers by incorporating information on early literacy and child development.
KK
Understanding gives the background information on each of the domains
Connecting
Applying
KK
As we began research on child development, our mixed age storytime presentation was turning into a much broader topic. The more we researched, the more questions we had.
One of the goals of Every Child Ready to Read is to meet the needs of young children, especially those who do not attend preschool.
Our child development research needed to include more than just literacy and language development.
We would have to research four developmental domains in order to understand why we do what we do and how that benefits children and meets their needs.
KK
In current research the focus seemed to be on the importance of emotional development.
This was an interesting challenge for us.
How can we as storytime presenters provide emotional support for children in our storytimes?
We found that emotional development support was the most important to provide and children may not fully benefit from attending activities at the library if we did not intentionally provide ways to support emotional development.
KK
KK
Learn words for their feelings.
Include books, songs and fingerplays that support emotional and social development.
Can learn to talk about feelings.
Include books about feelings and point out feelings of characters.
Show empathy, concern, and sympathy for others.
Provide opportunities to talk about feelings.
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KK
SG
Designed for children newborn to five and their parent/caregivers
Sometimes we publicize a storytime as mixed age
Sometimes we end up with mixed-age storytimes if we say have a two-year-old storytime and we allow siblings to attend
While the ideas offered here may help, the two-year-old storytime is still geared to the two-year-old.
Planning the two year old storytime where siblings are allowed is different from planning and publicizing a storytime for newborn to five year olds.
Much of what we say applies to all storytimes
SG
SG
Reach all the children at the same time
Too Much Noise—sounds, repeated phrase, retell the story
Shaker songs—slower transitions for younger children
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Merrily We Stroll Along—toddlers may have sat long enough
If you would like to take a break for our next part which is aimed at the preschoolers
Please come back at the end for our All Together time
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SG
KK
Go to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pifkNG_9Lw
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SG
SG
Cake Day by Eileen Mayer
Younger—what kind of cake do you like
Older—how do you make cake
Older—what happens when you add milk and eggs to flour
Younger—stir
Cake Day by Eileen Mayer
Younger—what kind of cake do you like
Older—how do you make cake
Older—what happens when you add milk and eggs to flour
Younger—stir
More examples: Doorbell Rang add bell sound; Please Puppy Please—add action, add repeated phrase, episodic so cut easily
KK
SG
Direct visual match
Visual match without visual clue
Add visual clue if necessary
Hand out cards according to abilities/stages
SG
Direct visual match
Visual match without visual clue
Add visual clue if necessary
Hand out cards according to abilities/stages
SG
kk
Now you have seen some specific examples of the four domains . . .
We have a responsibility to meet the needs of children
Only exposure