I plan story times three months out. In my three-ring binder, I print a very simple monthly calendar and fill in a theme for each week. I scour Pinterest and other favorite craft sources, clip photos, song and stretcher ideas, and make those notations on the margins of my calendar. The calendar, along with any clippings of photos, crafts, songs, stretchers, storytelling ideas, and other pertinent information, gets hole punched and stored in my binder. I place requests for books my branch library doesn't own, and once those titles come in, I bind them with a rubber band to our books. Then, it all gets placed in a neat row in my story time shelving area.
(Okay, so sometimes the row is not so "neat"!)
Simple enough. But, for this week's blog post, I have to mention that the themes on my calendar are pencilled in--I leave a lot of room for changes.
This week was a prime example of using my eraser! The theme I'd planned for my preschool story time didn't feel right for the week. On Tuesday, the day before story time, I thought about what theme I'd like to do instead, and completely changed books, songs, and our craft, even working a bit on Wednesday morning prior to story time. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of memorizing song lyrics and counting sheets of construction paper fifteen minutes before go time, let me tell you!
It's rare that I completely scrap an idea so close to story time day, but this week I realized I had a new energy about it. Hurriedly assembling all of the elements for a new program really jazzed something up inside me. Quick-change breathed new life into the experience, calling on my story time chops and stretching my thinking skills. In short, it was fun again.
Now, I'm re-considering the way I present my story times; I'm thinking of eliminating themes altogether and see how that works for a while. Could you imagine? No themes? Limited advanced planning? I'm thinking FREEDOM!
Throwing the plan out of the window: that's me crossing my mid-line this week.
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