OBSERVATION 1 TRADITIONAL MUSIC LITERACY STORYTIME MODULE 7

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PROGRAM GOAL
Tuesday morning at 10:30 am, I had the pleasure of attending and observing a
toddler story-time at the Aldine Library featuring books, songs, music and movement.
The audience targeted parents and guardians with children ages 18 to 36 months. The
toddler time was conducted by the Childrens assistant. At 10:25 a.m. toddlers and
parents entered the meeting room that was prepared for story-time. I discreetly observe
as the toddlers enter the room, sit on the floor clinging to their parents. The presenter
starts the story-time by using a brown puppet bear to greet each of the children
individually and singing a hello song. She calls each child by name as the brown bear
along with the other parents and children singing hello to that child. The goal of the
program is to playfully engage and introduce children (ages 18 to 36 months) to early
literacy through movement, music and songs.
SUMMARY OF MATERIALS
The printed material utilized during the story-time included flyers with the lyrics to
the songs, Shake Your Sillies Out, The Wheels on the Bus, Five Little Ducks, Itsy
Bitsy Spider, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. The theme of the story-time was
zoo animals and the featured books were, Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See,
by Bill Martin, Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell and a picture book written by Eric Carle
entitled 1 2 3 To the Zoo..
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
At about 15 minutes after the hello song the groups sings Shake Your Sillies
Out. Following the opening song the parents and the children sits on the carpet as the
childrens assistant uses finger puppets to arouse the toddlers singing Five Little

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Ducks; the children and the parents immediately join in. As each duck goes out to
play, the presenter throws a duck to a child. Each child attentively awaits his or her turn
to catch a duck. After each duck has been launched into the hands of a small child, the
children are encouraged to return the ducks when the daddy duck comes along with a
loud quack, quack, quack. I watch as the children express excitement and each parent
displays a look of pride and contentment as their eyes are fixate on their child. The
group then sings The Itsy, Bitsy Spider. With a sun and spider hand puppet, the
presenter selects a child to portray the sun and second child to represent the spider. All
of the children and the parents join in to sing. The childrens assistant then leads her
audience in two other songs Im a Little Teapot, and If Youre Happy and You Know It.
Twenty minutes later the host plays the Silly Dance Contest Song by Jim Gill and His
Band. As soon as the music began to play, the burst of energy and excitement from the
music causes each child to jump to their feet and began to dance. Six minutes later the
children are ready to listen to stories. The children cuddle on the floor next to their
parents as the presenter commences to read the three selected books. Twenty-one
minutes later the stories are over and the children partake in puppy dog paper bag craft.
PROGRAM EVALUATION
Fifteen minutes later, after completion of their craft, the children stand in a line
waiting to show off their craft in which they are rewarded with a sticker on the back on
their hand. The parents receive a sticker to put their childs die cut stars on the wall,
representing attendance of each child. This is a quantitative measurement that allows
an opportunity to count the number of children attending the programs. On each visit the

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children receive a sticker for their star. This leads to repeat visits because after ten
stickers, the children receive a free book.
PERSONAL EVALUATION
The toddler story-time at the Aldine Library was composed of 19 children and 16
adults. The music, songs and movements enhanced the childrens participation in the
while keeping them actively involved. The books were age appropriate with large and
color illustrations accompanied by simple pictures, definitely a crowd pleaser for
toddlers.
The presenter effectively led the children in identifying and imitating animal
sounds. She successfully utilized music and songs to employ her audience. However, it
would have been more effective to sing more songs and finger plays with animals. As
the host presented the story-time she was very enthused and demonstrated a high level
of energy which captured the attention of the children. The presenter also encouraged
the parents and guardians to participate with the children. She was familiar with her
material, interacted well with the parents and the children and executed a great
presentation with the tone of her voice, body language and movement.
The story-time lasted a total of 75 minutes. Halfway through the first story the
children became restless. With 20 minutes of music, perhaps one or two books would
have been sufficient. I would suggest that the presenter consider decreasing the length
of the story-time to a maximum of 45 minutes (including the ten minutes of music at the
beginning). Overall the story-time was entertaining and fun. I would recommend that the
presenter have a display of books surrounding the theme (both picture books and nonfiction books) and encourage the parents to get library cards and check out books.