Because You Really Like Us!
For the rest of our 2013 Summer Storytime Schedule, we will offer a third storytime each Monday at the Shirlington Branch Library.
So on July 22, July 29 and August 5, storytime will be held at:
- 10:30 a.m.
- 11:15 a.m.
- 12:00 p.m.
Summer Preschool Storytimes ends August 9, 2013.
I attended the 12pm storytime at Shirlington today (July 22) after being rejected from my usual 11:15 section and was disappointed. I was told that the reason for adding the third section was because of overcrowding the previous week, but I found that there were MANY MORE attendees in today’s 12pm session than in the 11:15 slot last week! It was also more noisy/hectic than last week. There was a higher concentration of small infants today, which is fine, but if Shirlington continues to provide several summer storytime sections, it might be useful to divide sections into under-twos and over-twos as they do during the school year (probably too late a suggestion for this summer, but please keep in mind for next year).
Additionally, today’s storytime was vamped up with a Powerpoint presentation instead of the old felt board for the singing/counting activities. While the lyrics did improve parent participation, I did not appreciate the graphics and animations. I would prefer to keep story time a screen-free zone, especially given the AAP’s guidelines on screen time for toddlers and the extensive body of research showing that children learn from interacting with humans rather than a screen. (For a quick, informative intro on human interaction and linguistic development, see Patricia Kuhl’s TED talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html).
Hi Jennifer,
The Shirlington branch decided to add a third storytime at noon to our summer schedule after a serious overcrowding issue last week. But people accustomed to attending the 10:30 or 11:15 sessions may now have to wait for the next one, causing the later storytimes to be fuller. Under this new configuration, we were able to accommodate more people and stay within our fire code regulations.
We also very much appreciate your comment about using a Powerpoint presentation to aid with storytime. The main purpose for Powerpoint is to serve as a back-drop while the two librarians lead the program and interact with the kids. We understand your concerns about screens. PowerPoint is just one of many tools that we sometimes use, especially when we have two librarians presenting a storytime together.
The library evaluates its storytime schedule each season, and we will certainly look at your suggestion to split the sessions by age next summer, as Shirlington does in the fall.
Thank you again for your comment and please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.
The Youth Services Team