Preschool Educator Night: Make and Take Felt Stories

Last week I hosted a Preschool Educator Night at my library and we made felt stories that the teachers could take home with them. It was a big hit and I'd love to do another one sometime! I'm going to share with you what we did.

First of all, I have to give mad props to my colleague J because she had all the felt-making know-how and her organization was really super helpful. I was all ready to jump into this on my own, but it wouldn't have turned out half so well if she hadn't been doing it with me. I also can't take credit for the idea. I swiped it from another librarian who presented the program at one of our Preschool Partnerships meetings.

I started the program by demonstrating four felt stories - Dog's Colorful Day, Street Sounds, Five Little Pumpkins, and Bark, George! Each teacher could then pick two stories that they would like to make and take home with them. Teachers selected two patterns and the scripts that went with each. Then, while they cut out their patterns, J gave a brief tutorial on how she makes felts and different ways you can add details to make them pop. We provided all supplies (patterns, felt, tape, scissors, glue) and let the teachers select their felt and work on their stories.

It was a great program and I think everyone got something out of it, but there are a few things I would change if we did it again. I had scheduled it from 7:00-8:00, but that wasn't enough time. I'd allow at least an hour and a half (and we actually ended up continuing the program until 8:30 anyway). We provided plastic baggies for them to take their stories home with them and if they weren't done working, they took the felt and patterns home to finish.

Also, I think the program would have worked just as well (and been easier to plan) if we had just done one felt story instead of letting them pick two out of four. We could have prepped the felt more, which would have made for a more streamlined program. As it was, we didn't know which stories everyone would pick and we hesitated to cut the felt beforehand, not knowing how much would be used. We did have a bit of a crunch cutting out appropriately sized pieces when everyone came up to get their felt. Also, we probably could have fit the program into one hour if we had just done one felt story.

Something to think about with this program is the labor and cost... J spent several weeks before the program creating patterns and figuring out how much felt we would need. We also ordered more scissors because we didn't have a huge supply of adult-sized scissors (although we have plenty of kid-sized scissors!). So that's something to think about. I think it was worth the cost, but using just one felt story would have cut way down on the labor (and somewhat on the cost... we still would have needed scissors, but we would have had a better idea about what felt we would need).

Also, check with your State Department of Education to see if you can provide CPDU's for the program. We offered CPDU's for the Every Child Ready to Read program last winter, but I didn't think this would count. I still had a bunch of teachers asking, so it would have been worth it to try and register the program.

(Don't know how to make a felt story? Tune in on Tuesday when I'll be posting my tutorial!)

Early Literacy for Preschool Educators

The meeting room was booked. The invitations were sent. The Power Point slide was made. The notes were prepared.

And Tuesday night I gave my first presentation to a group of local preschool teachers. The presentation was about Every Child Ready to Read and it was geared as a refresher course about early literacy with examples of activities that teachers could (hopefully) use in their classrooms. Our library registered to be an official provider of Continuing Professional Development Units so that the teachers could earn credit for attending. The process of registering is different for each state, but ours was through the Illinois State Board of Education.

I culled my material from the awesome workshop resources on the ECRR website. Because this presentation was for preschool educators (and not limited to those working with a certain age), I pieced together slides and information from each of the age groups. As I went through each of the skills, I tried to give ideas about how to develop those skills with every child from birth to age 5. I also tried to give tons of examples of great books and activities that teachers could use in their classrooms. All of the activities I got from the ECRR materials and I put in my own favorite books wherever I could.

As part of the CPDU provider criteria, each participant had to fill out an evaluation form (which is totally awesome, by the way... I got some great feedback). So I know that at least one teacher felt she already knew all the information provided. But I still got many comments saying that teachers had learned something new or appreciated the scientific information or had learned about some new books or games. (My greatest fear was that I would finish the presentation and everyone would be totally bored because, well, they probably have degrees in early childhood education so they already know all this stuff.)

As librarians, it's part of our job to disseminate information about early literacy to the public. Even if preschool teachers have been taught how to develop early literacy, everyone can use a refresher now and then. Everyone can use a few new ideas about how to approach activities or sharing books with children. We got a great response and a great turnout (despite the Blizzard of DOOM that we was supposed to hit at precisely the time of the program). And I'm looking forward to doing more Preschool Educator Workshops in the future (which we will now be able to do since this one was successful).

Though it did go very well, there are some things I would change. I would ask the teachers to introduce themselves at the beginning. I definitely recognized some familiar faces, but I really can't put anyone's faces with their names. It would have been useful for me to get to know them a little better (and as an added bonus it would have given me a minute or two to get comfortable and calm being up in front of them). Also, I think that my presentation ended up being not very interactive. When I do this again (and I will do it again, for parents if not more preschool teachers), I will definitely make a conscious effort to get them involved.

(It was so intimidating to me to be standing in front of this group, most of which have many, MANY more years of experience at their jobs than I have at mine... That's my excuse, though I shouldn't make excuses...)

So. Yes. Our Early Literacy for Preschool Educators went well. My first presentation as a professional went well (and brought me RIGHT back to grad school). And I'm looking forward to doing more in the future.