I attended a story-time at the local library in Oakland, California. This event, called Little Tails Story Time, is held every Thursday at 10:00am or 11:00am and every Wednesday at 10:30am in the Main library. The story time is for children ages 5 and above. There were maybe thirty or so preschoolers and lots of younger siblings who came along. It took place in a room that branched off from the main section of the library. It was a fairyl large room. The walls were bright yellow and Green with hanging art projects and posters on the walls. Almost all the children were gathered on the floor in front of the librarian Miss Jackson. Parents sat in chairs behind them. Some of the children who were not sitting up in the front were playing in the back of the room.
Words like Sing, Read and Write were posted on the walls next to the posters for advice from parents. On a different poster it read; Reading Tips—Read together every day. Miss Jackson did six different activities with the preschoolers revolving around the theme—Sneezing. First, she read “Big Bear’s Sneeze” in a lively, animated voice. She spoke loud and clearly and emphasized the different characters with intonations in her voice. She would ask questions like as “Who can make sounds like this animal would make?” “What do you think is going to happen next?” The kids were very engaged and responded to all her questions and interrupted the story with their own comments. Next, she got out a letter box monster (constructed from a tissue box) and apparently he was hungry.
Next was the story Chew’s Day (not sure how that is spelled). The kids thought that was a funny title. The panda bear went to the library on the first page and the kids said “Hey, I’m at the library!” The reoccurring text was “Ah-Ah-Ah Choo!” and all the kids could easily chime in with Miss Jackson. She again pointed things out in the pictures (although I wondered if all the kids could really see what the pictures were). They incorporated shapes by applauding in a square... Finally they took a break from reading a got to move around for some songs. They all received a Kleenex and sang a song about sneezing (they would blow into their tissues during certain times). I was slightly concerned about the germs being emitted. She asked “What should we do after we sneeze?” Response: “Wash your hands!” This was followed by a hand washing song. In this way, they made connections to the characters they were reading about that were full
