Dear REACH,

I promised to tell you more about the storytimes I offer at church. My idea for the program grew out of my observation that we have a number of families in the church who homeschool their children, and several other parents who are at home during the day with toddlers or preschoolers. (And also my love for stories!)

Storytime is at 1:00pm on Wednesdays. I have the preschoolers and the school-age homeschoolers on alternate weeks. We meet on the rug in the sanctuary where they sit for their story during worship once a month. (We meet there intentionally so that the youngest children who are too shy to join the others during worship become familiar with the space and me.) After reading the story for the day we move into the library for an art project. Storytime lasts a half hour for the preschoolers and one hour for the older kids. Parents sit with the younger preschoolers but not with the older kids.

My method for choosing stories isn't very scientific. I did ask parents and children for some information regarding interests and favorite books and authors at the beginning. Mostly, however, I go with what feels right. Once in a while I invite the children to bring along a favorite book for us to read together. I do choose longer, more challenging stories for the school-age kids, but I haven't attempted a chapter book yet, because of the alternating-week schedule. Two weeks between chapters seems a long time.

The art projects vary from week to week. Some weeks we use crayon and markers to draw whatever the kids want. Sometimes we make scrap-paper collages. Other times the project relates to one of the stories. Some examples:

• When we read Little Cloud by Eric Carle, the preschoolers glued cotton balls to blue contruction paper for cloud pictures.
• When we read A Road Might Lead Anywhere by Rachel Field, a fun book with so-so pictures, I drew a road down the middle of a long sheet of butcher paper and the school-age kids added some of the places the road might lead.
• When we read Quiet, Please by Eve Merriam, a book all about quiet things, the older kids brainstormed a list of noisy things. We turned the list into a poem, and then while the kids drew pictures of noisy things, I printed the poem on the computer so they could each take a copy home.