More Pre-K Class Visits, 4/12/12 and 4/13/12 (National Library Week)

I repeated my National Library week story time from Wednesday morning for two more groups this week. Both were Pre-K classes in the neighborhood public schools. I didn't vary the routine at all, but I did have somewhat different experiences with the same material.

The Thursday morning visit was held at my library, since the school is right next door. The group was split about evenly between kids who are four and kids who have recently turned five. They must be used to longer books because they told me my stories were short. Their favorite book, by far, was Otto the Book Bear, though they were also pretty excited to read D.W.'s Library Card. They didn't know D.W. stood for anything, but they did know that Arthur was her brother. They also loved the Laurie Berkner song so much, they asked to do it a fourth time - which, of course, we did!

The teacher was lovely, and we're already working on planning more visits for the rest of this school and the start of next. She also told me I have a nice singing voice, which is always such a nice thing to say to someone who has to sing in front of groups every day. It was a great experience.

The Friday morning visit was also great. The kids were a little more free with their comments, which is the style I usually prefer, and they got into the "I'm Going Down to the Library" song much more than either of the other two. A little boy noticed right off that we missed the hen in I Took My Frog to the Library so I wound up having to confess that I skipped the card catalog page. The kids were mostly forgiving. They also enjoyed Otto the Book Bear, and unlike the Thursday group, they guessed right away that the building Otto enters was the library. Both groups, interestingly, were sure Otto would find his original book again at the library, which I have to say would have been a pretty nice ending, even if it was predictable. This group did know D.W.'s name, mostly because of the television show, and they were much more invested in her story than in any of the others.

At the end of my session, the classroom teacher introduced me to her colleagues in the same hallway who also wanted to schedule visits, so I'll be heading back to that school in the next couple of weeks for more story time. I love it when things work out so well - I think I will call National Library week a success!