Inside the Guide: Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime Box of Plans
This “Inside the Guide” series provides a quick snapshot of Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory! It’s a handy “how-to” reference, just one box of plans at a time. So, here’s your quick-start “Inside the Guide” for…Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime box of plans!
Quick Start Info
Time It Takes: 15-20 minutes
Days It’s On: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Description: Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime box of plans can be found on the “Learning the Basics” right side of the plans. Choose one of three read-aloud sets: Boy, Girl or Classic. Each set includes a collection of well-loved, living books that represent the following 9 literary genres: Biography, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Nonfiction, Humor, Realistic Fiction, and Folk Tale. Each type of literature is read aloud for 20 days, except for Folk Tale, which is read aloud for 10 days. A rotation of follow-up skills coordinate with the read-aloud assignments to teach important, not-to-be-missed skills.
A Handy How-To for Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime Box of Plans
Customize your Storytime read alouds to fit your personal interests! The plans are written so they may be used with any literature, as long as the books match the proper genre. The sets include hand-picked books well-matched for the proper read aloud level, maturity of content, and length of books for children ages 6 to 8 years old. The Appendix of Beyond Little Heart’s includes additional read-aloud options. I preferred using the sets chosen by Heart of Dakota, but you can put together your own – just be sure to have every genre represented!
The first Storytime day of plans for each new genre tells how many days to spread the reading out of the books. For example, Unit 1 – Day 1’s Biography Storytime instructions say “Choose one biography to read aloud for the next 20 days of plans.” I liked to put a sticky note in the book to let me know about how much to read each day. If my biography had 200 pages, for example, I divided 200 pages by 20 days of reading and wrote “read about 10 pages a day” on my sticky note. Sometimes I did it by chapters. If my adventure had 10 chapters, for example, to spread the reading over 20 days, I wrote “read about half a chapter a day” on my sticky note.
Begin each Storytime lesson by reading the appropriate number of pages aloud to your child. Then, follow the rotation of plans to teach the following skills:
- Day 1: introduce and study different types of literature
- Day 2: model narration to foster comprehension
- Day 3: identify and analyze a different story element for each genre
- Day 4: relate personally to one Godly character trait, compare Biblical and book characters, and select one area to improve
- Day 5: practice narration by retelling the story in a variety of ways
Box Specific Notes
The purposes of Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime plans are for children to become familiar with different types of literature, foster comprehension with guided oral narrations, identify story elements from each genre, weigh examples of “Godly character traits” in each story, and set personal goals based on Scripture. So, my first tip is – don’t make this just another book you read aloud! The follow-ups teach important skills built upon next year, so just make sure to do them. It takes time to develop these skills, so be patient and encouraging!
Second, even if your children beg for you to read more – don’t! Why? Two reasons. One, keep children wanting more by stopping at a “cliffhanger”! Two, too many pages make the follow-up skills too much for kiddos to do well with them! Imagine narrating on 10 pages, versus narrating on 20 pages – yikes. Too much. Or, imagine trying to relate personally to a Godly character trait thinking back over 1 chapter, versus trying to think back over 4 chapters – yikes. Too much.
Third, where do YOU like to read when you read a good book? I love sitting in my living room under my favorite fuzzy blanket with the fireplace on (if it’s winter, at least). I never read a good book sitting at the kitchen table in a hard wooden chair! Nor do I read it at my desk. Too formal! So, pick where you read your Storytime with comfort and with fostering the “joy” of reading in mind!
Fourth, give books a chance to grow on you. If you’re not in love with chapter one, hang in there! The best authors take time to develop their characters and plots. In fact, some of my favorite books didn’t become my favorite until their amazing ending on the final page!
In Closing
So, snuggle in somewhere comfy, and encourage your child to follow along as you read. Make this a time to enjoy! Little ones are only little for so long. Storytime read-alouds are meant to be savored! So, why wait? Start today! You can order these delightful Beyond Little Heart’s Storytime sets of books by clicking here!
