Why Storytime is Important
Preliteracy Skills
Storytime teaches children important preliteracy skills when we read, sing, talk, and play together. Even something as seemingly simple as how pages turn and how we read from left to right, children learn from observations they make about their world. Librarians in story time have the unique ability to model these early literacy skills for caregivers of young children and show them the value of reading to them from an early age.
Skills include:
- Print motivation
- Print awareness
- Letter Knowledge
- Vocabulary
- Narrative Skills
- Phonological Awareness
Language Acquisition
Some things that we take for granted about language acquisition come from books. Why is it that a child from Florida, which has no native population of giraffes, can so easily recognize this animal? It is because we talk about and read about these animals, broadening our perspectives on the world. What words have your child learned purely through conversation and reading?
Socialization
Being a caregiver to a young child can be incredibly isolating. Frequently, people relocate for jobs or new opportunities and do not have the “village” that people had as support in years past. When you visit our storytimes, caregivers can meet others within the community in the same situation, and find friendship and support through teething, temper tantrums, and beyond! Children also benefit from seeing other children display new skills and learn empathy by teaching others. Our libraries offer play time to give additional socialization after the end of the “book part.” It is just as important as reading and we are here to support families.
Joy of Discovery
It is easy to sing the same songs and read the same books to children, as they thrive on repetition. Storytime introduces new books, new songs, and new friends. The best part is, if you love the book you can take a similar book home to read it again (and again and again, if we know your two year old!).
Storytime is one way we enrich our community with the joy of reading, learning, and discovery. Join us in person or online for storytime every week.
