LIS 723 Program Plan

Name (if working in a group, please include all group members): Christian Reynoso, Juri Han, and,
Cody Travers
Program name: Reading with a Twist
Age range: 3-7 yr kids and parents of all ages
Intention. What do you hope will happen?
There are two main goals for this program. One is to help develop early literacy skills for children
through storytime read-alouds. The kids will be introduced to new books that will help them learn
new words and sounds. The hope is that we create children that will become life time learners
because they think reading is fun. Because the library cannot do this alone, this program places a
special interest in parent involvement. The accompanying classes will have parents learn finger
plays and proper storytime techniques to encourage kids to reading even when they are at home.

Connection. What makes this a library program?

The program will use space, resources, and books from its collection to not only show what the
library has to offer the community, but also show the community members how to use these
same resources to help make the their children improved and invested readers.
Moreover, this is a library program because it uses experienced librarians/story timers to teach
community members how to use story time techniques at home in order to make reading fun for
their children.
Preparation. What do you need to do to get ready?
In order to prepare for the story time aspect of the program, all story timers will have to read the
listed books chosen for the program to ensure familiarity with the stories. Story timers should
also practice the books they have chosen, if they dont already have it memorized, to ensure an
excellent reading of each book. Books and materials (e.g., puppets, felts, radios, mp3 and device
docks, etc.) used for each librarians respective storytime should be gathered ahead of time to
guarantee that materials are ready for use.
The story time room should be set up with some sort of musical appliance and accompanying
music. The room should have chairs set up and spaced out to accommodate the guests.
In order to prepare for the classroom aspect of the program, all instructors should have materials
ready to use and enough copies of books for everyone to borrow. Each participating librarian
should have constructed a class that demonstrates the objective of the given class. For example,
on the day of finger plays, the librarian should have a lesson that is 30 minutes long and has an
adequate amount of actual finger plays and resources where more can be found.
The classroom should also have seats, computers, tables, and materials ready for use.
As a group we will select proper music associated with storytime for kids all of which we will burn
onto twenty-five CDs and provide to parents.
Lis 723 fall 2014 Thom Barthelmess/tbarthelmess@dom.edu

Budget. What will the program cost (beyond existing staff time/supplies)?
Most of the materials are already in the library. The only things needed are enough copies of the
books that have been selected for the parents to use for the classes, and a stack of recordable
CDs on which we will download story time music. Obviously, if we are going to help with better
ways of reading to children, they will need copies of books in front of them to use as examples.
The books planned on being used for the exercise are Rhyming Dust Bunnies and Too Many
Tamales. We chose these books because of their age range and tone and tone differences. Were
going to only allow about 25 adults with their kids to the second portion of the program; we will
need at least twenty-five copies of each of these books, which will cost about $669.75 for both
hardcover sets. The stack of 100 CDs will cost about $23.25 on Amazon.com, which puts the
grand total at $693.

Promotion. How will you market the program to your audience?

The library will pitch the program as a fun way for parents and children to interact with one
another on a profound level that will not only improve their personal bond, but also the childrens
reading skills in order to make them lifetime readers and learners. This program will be a chance
for kids to interact with new books through the entertaining medium of story time, and will also
allow parents to learn a few tricks-of-the-trade to make reading just as entertaining at home as it
is at the library. The day will start with a story time filled with stories that the kids will find sweet
or funny and surprising because of the twist endings, but the twist also comes in the way of the
storytime not just being for the kids. Its also for the adults. The adults will get the chance to
learn about childrens songs, how to read books to kids, finger plays, and other concepts that will
make reading exciting for kids.
The program will first and foremost be promoted by word of mouth and posters/flyers. The
posters/flyers will be placed all along the library, on nearby businesses windows, and light posts.
The programs details will also be disseminated to guests by the childrens departments staff
whenever possible.
We will also include dates and information regarding the program on the librarys website.
Execution. What happens during the program?

Lis 723 fall 2014 Thom Barthelmess/tbarthelmess@dom.edu

This program is called Storytime with a Twist. It will be on every Thursday at 10:30am and last for
six weeks (July 24- August 28). The twist aspect of the program refers to the motif of books
containing or ending with twists and surprises. From my experience, I have noticed that children
and adults tend to find them cute or funny. The other twist to the program is that we are also
putting an emphasis on parents rather than just children for this program. We are trying to use
this opportunity to have parents stay after the storytimes and participate in thirty minute classes
focusing on storytime and reading techniques. Classes will include proper ways of reading books
to kids (i.e., demonstrating proper page turning and how to read with emotion and inflection),
finger and puppet plays (i.e., things like Where is Thumbkin and the Itsy-bitsy Spider and
information on where more can be found), music, (i.e., Wiggle and Raffi hits to more
contemporary groups, and information on where more can be found).
Before the program even takes place, all staff will do whatever it takes to inform people of the
program. This will be done by word of mouth, posters and flyers, and through the librarys
website.
The program will begin as a standard story time for kids. The story time will include finger plays,
songs, and other concepts relating to the books they have selected. All storytimes will run for
thirty minutes. Each story time will vary based on the presenting librarians discretion. Each
librarian will choose books with twists. After the conclusion of each storytime, the librarians will
remind visitors of the proceeding classes and hand them a list of other titles that have cute or
funny twists to them. The program is open, and no sign up is required by parents. Parents are
encouraged to bring kids to class to help them practice the material.
The first two classes will focus on reading techniques. The second two classes will focus on finger
and puppet games parents can use to help kids learn animals, numbers, shapes, words,
repetition, rhyming, and so forth. The last two classes will focus on music that can be used to
help kids with learning.
The first two weeks of the program will be done by Christian Reynoso. He will be responsible for
teaching parents how to properly read a book without getting in the way of it. This includes
proper holding and page turning techniques. Also, he will use two books Rhyming Dust Bunnies
and Too Many Tamales to demonstrate how much inflection matters in a story so that early
readers pick up on tone. As a class, people will take turns reading aloud to the group and work on
their techniques while Christian gives constructive criticism.
The second set of weeks will be taught by Juri Han. She will focus on different finger plays and
puppet games that can be used to help kids. This includes things like Itsy-bitsy spider, Where
is Thumbkin, and Head and Shoulders. The finger and puppet plays can be originals that Juri
will help people learn. She will also have a list of blogs and sites with more plays that she will
distribute to guests, and she will also briefly show guests these websites through the computer
feeding into the projector. As a class, guests will do some of these finger plays together with their
children and the rest of the class.
The last two weeks will be hosted by Cody Travers and focus on popular childrens music that will
have parents learn simple songs that encourage simple repetition. Some of the childrens music
will be from people like Raffi and the Wiggles, whom have specifically written songs for children.
Other songs that will be taught will include simple songs to which kids can dance. These simple
Lis 723 fall 2014 Thom Barthelmess/tbarthelmess@dom.edu

songs can be songs like the Bunny Hop and the Milkshake song. They are easy enough to
learn and the focus is on dancing and having fun. Cody will also hand a copy of prerecorded CDs
filled with these and other songs to parents, and will give each of them a list of sites they can
visit for more songs and information. Cody will physically show the parents some of these
websites on the computer feeding into the projector.
Each entire event of the program will conclude with the librarians telling parents and children
that the playroom is open for kids, and whether any parents would like to be taken to the stacks
and be shown where they can find similar material to that of the storytimes.

Evaluation. How will you measure your success?

The effectiveness of the program will be measured in two ways: 1) We will observe the amount of
people who visit both parts of the program through its duration; and 2) We will tabulate the
increase or decrease, if any, of childrens materials being checked out from the selection.
The story time room can safely house only about fifty people at a time. Hopefully, we meet this
number on every program meeting. We, however, are shooting for a constant of thirty-six to forty
people an event to consider this a success. On average there is one kid per adult, sometimes
there may be more children. If we get thirty six to forty, that means we get at least 13 to 20 kids
to whom we are actually reading, more if there are multiple kids per adult. If the number is
constant and high enough, then we can assume that people were enjoying and willingly coming
to the program. If these numbers wane at any time and average out below the thirty mark, then
we will consider it a failure; after all, if we only meet half the number of occupants for the room
that means we will only have twelve kids per story time. Additionally, we will factor in recurring
faces. If we start to see the same faces, then we can say the program is a success because we at
least have a consistent following.
The classes also depend on attendance. If we do not get at least half of the parents we want, the
second portion of the program would have failed. We need the help of the parents to do this, but
if they are uninterested, then we have failed to motivate parents to help read to their kids, or
presented the information in dull manner that didnt engage parents. This wouldnt be to say that
the program is a complete failure because we may still get a good attendance at the storytimes,
but ideally, we would want an equal amount at both ends.
In order to see whether the program is working effectively, we will also consider if there has been
an increase in the amount of check outs for childrens literature as a whole and the books used
for the program. If there is an overall increase, then that means we have reached parents about
the importance of reading, or at the very least, the kids really enjoyed the books and want to
read them at home, which means they will be reading more. If the number remains static, then
that means we really didnt do much to encourage the use of our materials or emphasize the
importance of reading. If the numbers decrease, then that means we alienated our crowd
somehow and have to work on bringing them back to the library.
Lis 723 fall 2014 Thom Barthelmess/tbarthelmess@dom.edu

Other. What other factors are important to your success?

The most important thing is parent participation. Children develop bad habits from their parents.
If parents are apathetic, disruptive, or not taking care of their children in either part of the
program, then the program and the children will suffer. All must participate.
Children may get bored and disruptive at the parent portion. The main focus is on the parents in
the classes portion of the program. When kids are not the focus, they tend to disengage from
whatever activity they are doing.
Staff must do well with controlling bad behavior from parents and children to ensure that
everyone participates.
Staff must adapt to the given situation. If things break or plans change. All personnel must be
willing to change with what happens. For example, if a story is not entertaining enough to
maintain the focus of the audience, the storyteller may have to either make the reading more
engaging somehow or interrupt the story and get the crowd revitalized through song, finger play,
or whatever to get them back into the reading.

Lis 723 fall 2014 Thom Barthelmess/tbarthelmess@dom.edu