For preschool groups

"Littlest Listeners"

Littlest Listeners is the Connecticut Storytelling Center's program for preschool children ages 3 - 5.

The program is designed to develop and support emergent literacy and is based upon the benchmarks for school readiness prepared by the State. Storytimes are led by talented professional storytellers, many of whom are designated Master Teaching Artists by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

Storytimes generally include some or all of the following:

• told stories (no book) with participation
• songs and music
• puppets
• shared books
• multiples (each child has a copy of the same book to follow the story)
• flannel board stories

Each Storytime session takes about 45 minutes. A lesson plan with all books and stories listed is provided for teachers. Often, teachers receive a copy of the felt board story, with patterns to reproduce.

The children can also enjoy a visit from Mother Goose and occasionally from more than one storyteller, with different types of programs.

Programs may be booked singly or as a series. A residency of several weeks is a productive way to help children on their road to reading; to instill in them a love of language and its rhythms and sounds, and the delight of books. CSC may be able to assist in seeking funding.

Littlest Listeners learn:

• to listen
• to increase their attention span
• to follow directions
• the left-to-right progression of a book
• to remember and predict events in the story
• most importantly - that books are FUN !

For more information about Littlest Listeners please contact the Connecticut Storytelling Center at (860) 439-2764 or by email at: csc@conncoll.edu.