I'm training to be a volunteer with the Begin with Books program and I was fortunate enough to spend the morning of Feb 25 with Lori Romero, ALD's Literacy Specialist, as she did storytime at a home daycare that she's been visiting monthly over several years. The kids were thrilled to see Lori and "Mr. Puppy", a stuffed animal that the kids took turns holding or sitting next to. They knew the routine and each eagerly sat down on his or her "storytime mat," special placemats that they sit on just for storytime. 

Today's theme was animals and Lori read:

The Dog House by Jan Thomas - a very fun and funny book that really got the kids giggling while teaching them not to be scared

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinckney -- see the CLEL.org blog on this beautiful wordless book that's the 2010 Caldecott Medal winner 

Bobo and the New Neighbor by Gail Page -- with Mrs. Birdhead and Bobo's beloved muffins

and the "mudlucious counting book" One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root.

All the kids participated and loved counting, rhyming, clapping, laughing, singing, mooing, quack-quacking, and "Oh, no!-ing along to the stories. We also sang "Hey, Diddle Diddle" and B-I-N-G-O with puppets and the kids even shared their special version of BINGO where they spelled out their own names. 

Jim Trelease notes on page 13 of The Read Aloud Handbook: "There is one prekindergarten skill that matters above all others, because it is the prime predictor of school success or failure: the child's vocabulary upon entering school. Yes, the child goes to school to learn new words, but the words he or she already knows determine how much of what the teacher says will be understood. And since most instruction for the first four years of school is oral, the child who has the largest vocabulary will understand the most, while the child with the smallest vocabulary will grasp the least. Once reading begins, personal vocabulary feeds (or frustrates) comprehension, since school grows increasingly complicated with each grade. That's why school-entry vocabulary tests predict so accurately."

These children were very fortunate because the daycare owner, also named Lori, understands the value of books and reads to the kids daily. This was very evident in the children's vocabulary, how engaged and well-behaved they were during storytime, and how they couldn't wait to take the new books out of the bag. Two of the girls even opened a book each and were acting out reading aloud to each other -- and they're only 3 or 4 years old! WOW!