Early Literacy Enhanced Storytime

I’m lucky to be a part of another online class presented by Saroj Ghoting, an early childhood literacy consultant.  I’ve been lucky enough to hear Saroj speak in public a number of times and this is my second online course I am taking with her, the first being “Early Literacy and Books: Making the Connection.”  The goal of the current course I’m taking “is to provide you with skills and tools to transform your traditional storytime into an early literacy enhanced storytime using information on the early literacy components and the five practices described in Every Child Read to Read @ Your Library®.”
We’re going to be using her recently published book, Storytimes for Everyone! Developing Young Children’s Language and Literacy, which can be found at the ALA store and on Amazon.  Saroj gives not only research to back up the things we do in storytime, but also gives tips and tricks that you can use literally, the next day, if you wanted to.  This book not only has the research, but also has sample storytimes for a variety of ages, and includes extra information for making it work for each individual librarian.
We’re starting off by uploading a storytime plan, which we’ll use throughout the 5-week course to make changes as we learn more about how to teach children and their caregivers early literacy skills.  This course is provided through the Library of Virginia on the Moodle platform and is a wonderful way to learn more about the field with flexibility as you can work on each week as you have time.  I’ll continue posting as I learn more throughout the course, but if you get a chance, definitely take a look at this book – it’s well worth it!  And take a look at Saroj Ghoting’s website as well!