Ward's Pre-School Storytime a Big Success

The 3 Little Pigs. Goldilocks. Little Red Riding Hood. The Hungry Caterpillar. The Gingerbread Man. At some point this year, they’re all making an appearance at Preschool Storytime.

Partially funded by a grant from the , Storytime is designed to help familiarize future students (and their families) with B.J. Ward in general and the library in particular.

“So many of our parents with preschoolers were here either before school dropping off their older kids or they come by early after school to pick up their kids that we thought this would be a good way to introduce the preschoolers to the school before they actually came here,” said .

Following up on last year’s successful pilot program which ran from 9 to 9:30 a.m., Thomas has moved this year’s version to every other Wednesday afternoon from 2:30 to 3 p.m. And it’s been a big success.

“We’ve only heard good things,” Thomas said.

A typical storytime session includes a group reading that may feature hand puppets or felt boards followed by a craft project.

"They love the manipulatives and seeing me with the puppets. The more visuals I incorporate, the better,” Thomas said. “And they love to sing and dance because that’s what preschoolers do.”

Thomas also urges each student to take home, and keep, a book from her personal collection of used books gathered from garage sales, donations and other sources.

“Anybody is welcome,” Thomas said.

Future dates on the schedule include:

• Nov. 30
• Dec. 14
• Jan. 11 and 25
• Feb 8 and 23
• March 7 and 21
• April 4 and 18
• May 2 and 16