Welcome to Baby & Me Storytime 2014-2015!

Welcome to Baby & Me Storytime

at the

Bellevue Public Library!

I am pleased you have joined us for storytime.  Whether you attend every week or sporadically, I hope you will come away having enjoyed sharing stories, songs and activities with your infant! 

Maren Schmidt, a Montessori teacher and well-respected author, says “The road to reading begins at birth, not at kindergarten or first grade. Reading is being able to understand written language. Written language is based entirely on the spoken word.”  Each Baby & Me Storytime includes activities that support one or more of the five early literacy practices identified as essential in helping your child develop the skills they need before they can learn to read.  The five practices – singing, talking, reading, playing and writing – were developed for Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library, an initiative of the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA).

Unlike some Storytimes offered at our library, Baby & Me has very few rules!  I know from my own experience that babies can be very unpredictable, so I tend to just “go with the flow” and I hope you will feel comfortable in doing the same.  Also unlike other storytimes, I do not expect your infant to spend much time listening to me – I want this to be a time for you and your child to enjoy talking and cooing, playing, and singing.  My role is to lead and encourage.  So I encourage your participation and enthusiasm during storytime!  Join us in singing along on songs, reciting rhymes, doing the actions to fingerplays and other activities, and responding to the stories being read!

I invite you to visit my blog (http://StoriesRhymesAndSingalongTimes.blogspot.com) to see an overview of each week’s storytime, including the words to all our songs, poems, fingerplays and rhyming activities.

                Mrs. B. (Alice Boeckman)

             Children’s Services Librarian

                                              alice.boeckman@bellevue.net

             402-293-3158