Every week, area children can find a fun and educational experience at a special story time session hosted by the Mount Airy Public Library. The program has been overseen by Rana Chamberlain, in charge of preschool programming at the library, since 2014.
Each story time centers around a particular theme. Chamberlain will regale an eager group of the preschool-aged children and their caregivers with several stories fitting the theme. Children are allowed to participate while they are read to by answering and asking questions about the story, the story’s picture, or particular words they may be unfamiliar with.
In allowing time for these questions and answers, Chamberlain can provide the children new knowledge of vocabulary, geography, animals, and more. After each story, kids are invited to sing and dance to various rhymes and songs.
Following the stories and songs, children can work with their caregivers and Chamberlain to create crafts. During this time, kids can intermingle and socialize with each other.
For children ages 2 to 3 who met on Jan. 11, which was also the anniversary of Amelia Earhart becoming the first person to fly from Hawaii to California, the theme of the day was both Amelia Earhart and airplanes. They were all interested and excited to listen to an animated Chamberlain tell fascinating stories about the infamous female pilot and planes. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the children or Chamberlain.
On this particular day, the kids could make their own airplanes by cutting the body of the plane out of construction paper, and attaching wings made out of their own hand prints. Also, the children could color pictures of Amelia Earhart.
Kids between the ages of 4 and 5 met on Jan. 12 for a story time based on the theme of art and creativity, as January is National Creativity Month. The children eagerly gathered to hear stories about art and self-expression, and they were particularly enthralled by a book about an octopus eager to paint everywhere.
Sitting up front and clearly captivated by each of the stories was 4-year-old Ella who says that her favorite part of the library’s story time program is always the reading.
This day, the children present joined Chamberlain to paint pictures and to model clay after they finished listening to stories. Each of the children could hardly wait to participate, some jumping up and down with excitement.
Olivia, age 4, said that the crafts were her favorite part of the story time, and she loved the painting they were able to do.
Stephanie Badgett, mother of Madison, age 2, states that she was impressed with how well Chamberlain interacts with the children, and that the program helps her daughter be excited about reading.
Chamberlain said the story time program follows the Every Child Ready to Read initiative in order to help children in the program foster the five early literacy skills: talking, singing, reading, playing, and writing. While some children may be too young to write, they are still able to practice their fine motor skills by participating in crafts that require the use of crayons, pencils, or scissors. Learning these skills help children to not only be ready to read and write, but also help them learn how to communicate with others about what they have read and learned.
She said participating in story time helps youngsters develop six specific abilities, including: a grasp of vocabulary, phonological awareness, knowledge of letters, print awareness, narrative skills, and print motivation (a desire to read or be read to).
According to Chamberlain, “The story time program helps children get motivated and excited about learning. They love the library, and some of them hate to leave.”
The Mount Airy Public library hosts story time each Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for preschoolers ages 2 to 3, each Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for children under the age of 2, and from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for preschoolers ages 4 to 5.
