Storytimes are the cornerstone of our children’s programming here at the Carnegie Carnegie, and for good reason—the routine of attending Storytime can be a formative experience for young children, long before they are able to read on their own.
Storytime programs can help support children’s development of vital early literacy skills, such as vocabulary, phonological awareness, and print motivation—which is, simply put, a love of books and reading. Of the five practices that you can do daily to support a child’s early literacy – talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing – we do at least four of them each and every time we circle up for Storytime. And that’s just in the half an hour that we spend together each week!
While Storytime is first and foremost an early literacy activity, it’s also a social activity—a bonding experience for caregiver and child, and an opportunity for caregivers to connect with one another and all the resources the library has to offer. We know that library visits and Storytime have a special place in many families’ weekly routines, and we want to make sure it stays that way for a long time to come.
In the coming weeks, we wanted to share some updates to our Storytime schedule which we hope will be a sustainable and fun way for us to support families all throughout the year.
A New Schedule for (Tuesday & Wednesday) Storytimes
This new schedule, which will go into effect August 11th, will be made up of 5 Storytime Sessions per year, each ‘session’ being approximately 7-8 weeks in length. In between Storytime Sessions, we will take a break of 2-4 weeks from our regularly scheduled Tuesday / Wednesday Storytime programs.
Breaks will typically fall around the time of year when we tend to see dips in program attendance, including major holidays and school year transitions. Taking short breaks will give us an opportunity to be more intentional in planning these programs and keep them fresh with new songs, stories, and activities.
This break schedule will affect our Tuesday Baby Toddler & Wednesday Preschool Storytimes. Our weekly Thursday Preschool Storytime with Miss Kathy will not change at this time.
Here is what this new schedule will look like through the beginning of next year:
- Break – August 11th through August 24th (2 weeks)
- Storytime in session – August 25th through October 19th (8 weeks)
- Break – October 20th through November 2nd (2 weeks)
- Storytime in session – November 3rd through December 21st (7 weeks)
- Break – December 22nd through January 11th, 2025 (3 weeks)
- Storytime in session – January 12th through March 9th, 2025 (8 weeks)
And the graphic below shows a general outline of the full yearly schedule:
Playtime Tuesdays!
Whenever we are on a Storytime break, we invite you to a special Playtime program in place of our Tuesday Storytime programs, should you want to keep your library routine intact. This will be a casual get-together in the Children’s Room, and all morning we will have some special age-appropriate toys available for play including blocks, sorting toys, and a tunnel! Play is just as important as reading and writing are for helping children build their early literacy skills.
Retiring Friday Storytimes
You may have noticed that I have mentioned our regular Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Storytimes, but not yet Friday. Starting the week of August 11th, we will also be retiring our Friday Baby Toddler Storytime for the time being. That said, we will always welcome you in the library on Friday mornings to play with toys, socialize, and enjoy the collection.
If you are looking for a Storytime to attend on Friday mornings, our friends over at the Robinson Township Library have a weekly Baby Lapsit program at 10:30 am.
What Won’t Change
- When Storytime is in session, we will continue to offer both Baby Toddler and Preschool Storytimes weekly. These Storytimes will include developmentally appropriate books and activities geared towards children of that age group and their caregivers.
- We will not require registration or limit attendance; you are welcome to come to as many or as few weeks as you would like in each session, and no worries if you need to miss a week or two!
- Miss Kathy plans to continue her 11:30 am Thursday morning Preschool Storytime throughout most of our breaks, that way we will continue to have one weekly Storytime option year-round!
- Our monthly Arabic-English Bilingual Storytime on Facebook Live will still take place on the 4th Monday of each month at 5:30 pm, even if it falls on a break week!
- And finally, B.B. the Book Fairy’s monthly Saturday Storytime will continue to take place on the last Saturday of each month at 11:30 am, even if it falls on a break week!