Jump and Jive: Storytimes for Two to Five-Year-Olds (online) - Description

Bookmark and Share

Are you ready to jump in and have fun with your storytimes? The two to five-year-olds attending them are ready to actively participate in stories, singing, puppet shows, and music and movement. Do you want to add to the repertoire of activities that you can use to involve young children, and their parents or caregivers, in your storytimes?

Used during a storytime, these activities are not only energizing and fun, they promote books and reading, and build early literacy skills. Join experienced children's librarian and expert storytime presenter Colleen Willis to learn how to:

  • Plan age-appropriate storytimes
  • Incorporate fingerplays, nursery rhymes, and poetry
  • Adapt a picture book into a simple puppet show
  • Jazz up your storytime with some "funtastic" music and movement

After taking this online course, you'll be armed with booklists, songs, fingerplays, puppet scripts, equipment suggestions, and websites to make your storytimes "jump and jive."

Course Description: In this four-week online course you will learn how to plan and deliver age-appropriate, literacy-based storytimes for two to five-year-olds and their parents/caregivers. You will be able to incorporate "parent patter" and concept understanding into your programs, as well as puppets, music, and poetry, with the goal of enhancing child development and early literacy skills. Through video demonstrations, music samples, and discussion forums, we will explore and share a wide variety of storytime components. By the end of the course, you will have puppet show scripts, song sheets, fingerplays, booklists, equipment suggestions, and recommended websites that will help stimulate the exploration of language and literature in your storytimes.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

  • Week 1: Early Literacy and Child Development
    • Brain development
    • Developmental milestones
    • Early literacy
    • "Parent patter"
    • Sample storytimes
  • Week 2: Puppet Play
    • Joys of using puppets
    • Puppet songs and rhymes
    • One-man puppet shows
    • Two-man puppet shows
    • Turning a good story into a puppet show
  • Week 3: Music and Movement
    • How music enhances the learning process
    • Caregivers' role in incorporating music into children's daily lives
    • How we use music concepts when planning storytimes
    • Fingerplays and nursery rhymes
    • Music and props
  • Week 4: Storytelling Fun
    • Book selection
    • Storytelling tips
    • Flannel stories
    • Reader's theater
    • Poetry
    • "Stay and play"

Course Instructor: Colleen Willis