LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Three years ago when I became a K-12 librarian for a K-6 and a 7-12
building I inherited the responsiblility of having a preschool story
hour 18 times a school year. This story hour is for children who are
not yet enrolled in school between the ages of 3 and 5. The reason I am
given for having a preschool story hour is that there is not a public
library in our district so the administration wants to provide one. The
biggest concern I have with preschool story hour is that the school
receives no funding for this program. I believe my biggest obligation
and responsiblility is to the students who are enrolled in school k-12
and for whom we receive tax money to educate. My experience has been
that mothers, fathers, babysitters, and child care providers like my
preschool story hours and feel that the children learn a lot by coming
to them. Providing the preschool story hour is very good public
relations for my district. The number of children attending my
preschool story hour ranges from 25 to 45 children ranging in age from 2
to 5. In order to have this many preschoolers I have up to 20 high
school students from our Future Teachers of America club come to the
elementary school to help with preschool story hour. Each child wears a
name tag and has a library card. (Keeping name tags and library cards
in order takes time.) Each preschool story hour takes me about three
hours to plan. I have divided this planning into four parts, selection
of story around a theme, ordering a video or film, planning an activity,
and deciding on a snack. Water is always the beverage of choice for two
reasons, water is good for children and water does not stain the carpet.
All preschool children check out a book before they leave each week and
I have only lost one book in three years. Book lose has not been a
problem because adults who care enough to bring children to story hour
want the children to be responsible. Discipline and behavior problems
include not wanting to be separated from mom or dad, name calling,
pushing, not following directions, and being messy with snacks. One
rule we have the preschool story hour is that if a child asks to go to
the bathroom they are taken immediately. Preschoolers do not wait to go
to the bathroom, we are just happy they remembered to ask. (In three
years we have had one accident and then we have to call the janitors to
help with clean up.) In additon to the 20 high school students who help
me with story hour I have two library aids in the elementary building.
The high school library aid helps with getting the high school students
scheduled to come to preschool story hour. The elementary aids check in
and out the books, put the books out for the children to make selections
from, make the name tags, and the library cards. I have several daycare
providers who bring all their children to my preschool story hour. Some
of them do not even live in our district, but it is impossilbe to say
"no" to them for many reasons, but mostly because preschool story hour
is excellent p.r. for the district. Preschool story hour for my school
is a major production. I have several concerns about it. As I
mentioned earlier it takes my time away from the students in grades
K-12, we don't receive funding for these students, it takes the high
school students out of class, the elementary library is closed to the
K-6 students during preschool story hour, because our elementary school
is on a six day cycle with 30 minutes for library class preschool
children see me as much as K-6 students do, and it robs the 7-12
building of time I should be spending with those students. In closing I
would like to say that I do feel very strongly that preschool story hour
is important in that it helps those children get ready for school and it
contributes to helping the children develop literacy skills, but if
there is a public library in your district that has preschool story hour
I would recommend that you don't duplicate a service that is already
being provided in the community.
Kathy Geronzin, District Librarian
Northeast Community School District
3690 Hwy # 136
Goose Lake, IA 52750
phone 319-577-2249
FAX 319-577-2248
e-mail: geronzin@hobbes.caves.net
The opinions expressed are my own.
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