Creative Program Plan and Evaluation 1

CREATIVE PROGRAM PLAN AND EVALUATION

Patricia Perles
Valdosta State University











Creative Program Plan and Evaluation 2
Creative Program Written Program and Evaluation

Introduction:

For my Creative Children's Program I chose to conduct a Storytime for pre-school
aged children with books about the Fall season, Halloween and not being scared. My
program took place at the Lake Blackshear Regional Library (LBRL) in Americus,
Sumter County, Georgia on October 30th, 2012. Twenty-five pre-school children, ages
three, four and five, from Head Start and the community at large attended Storytime.
In my community analysis of Sumter County I found there is a large population of
children under the age of five (U. S. Census, 2012) and only one Storytime a week during
the school year at LBRL. I proposed in my Stakeholder letter that the community would
be better served to offer more frequent Storytimes and help promote literacy skills in pre-
school and home schooled children.
Part 1:
At 10:30 AM on October 30th, I welcomed twenty-five three, four and five year
old children and their teachers to Storytime at
the library.



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I started the thirty minute program with a little finger rhyme about Five Little Pumpkins,
by Dan Yaccarino
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate, The 1st one said, "Oh my! It's getting late!"
The 2nd one said, "There are bats in the air!" The 3rd one said, "But we don't care!"
The 4th one said, "Let's run and run and run!" The 5th one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
"OOOOOOO," went the wind
And out went the light, (clap on the word OUT)
And 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

I recited the rhyme first and then the children recited the rhyme after me while
holding up fingers to show the five little pumpkins. (Introduce activities that produce fine
motor skills, (GPLS, 2002).
Next, I asked the children if they were ready for Halloween and talked about not
being scared of the dark or of people in strange costumes. The first book I read was I'm
not scared! By Jonathan Allen. I chose this story as appropriate material for this age
group as a coping book. (GPLS, 2002) In this book a little owl keeps telling everyone
he is not afraid of the dark, it is his stuffed animal that is afraid.


The next book I read to the children was There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed
Some Leaves!, by Lucille Colandro. For this book I asked the children to help me with the
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book by sneezing a big ACHOO! every time I said "Perhaps she'll sneeze!"

At the end of the story I asked the children to guess what the old lady would
sneeze out after she swallowed leaves, a shirt, pants, rope, a pumpkin and a pole! They
guessed it would be a scarecrow and they were right! This book was a cumulative tale
appropriate for this age group (GPLS, 2002).
Now the children were ready for the most interactive book, The Little Old Lady
Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams. I asked the children to help me
tell the story by clomp, clomping their feet, wiggling their pants, shaking their shirts,
clapping their hands, nodding their heads and saying BOO, BOO! when the big pumpkin
head appeared.

I used the library cupboards to simulate the Knock, Knock on the door.
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The children were all delighted with this book because they were active and a part of the
story. GPLS states that being silly can be an expected behavior of three to five year olds.
(GPLS, 2002) This book helped to encourage silly, fun behavior.
Part 2: Craft Project
I designed a Jack-o-Lantern for the children to put together as the craft project for
this program. I used a Jack-o-Lantern because there was one in the second and third
books I read and it was close to Halloween. The finger rhyme I had the children recite
also was about pumpkins.
I purchased orange, green and black construction paper to make the pieces of the
Jack-o-Lantern. The paper cost about $2.00 per pack and I brought glue sticks from
school. I precut the pumpkin shape, stem, eyes, nose and mouth at home. I did this
because I knew there would not be enough time for the children to cut out the pieces for
the Jack-o-Lantern.

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The tables in the story room were set up before the children came to Storytime.

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After I read the books I told the children they would be making their own Jack-o-
Lantern to take home. With the assistance of library staff and the Head Start teachers the
children chose spots at the tables and started to glue their Jack-o-Lanterns together.



The children enjoyed putting their Jack-o-Lanterns together and each child was
able to take home a memento from their day at the library!
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Part 3: Conclusion and Evaluation of Program Plan and Presentation
I was proud to present this program at the Lake Blackshear Regional Library. The
community analysis I conducted pointed me in the direction of an additional Storytime
for the library. In Americus and Sumter County, 65.7% of children are under the age of
five. (U.S. Census, 2010) An additional Storytime enables more children to come to the
library and helps parents and caregivers promote literacy skills. The foundation for
literacy skills is set during the preschool years, and it is during this time that young
children develop the skills that will help them be successful. (McLane, 1991)
The children were active participants in Storytime. They performed a finger
rhyme and provided sound effects throughout the stories that were read. Active
participation helps the development of early literacy skills through experiences with
books. (Get Caught Reading, Snow, 1988)
The Jack-o-Lantern craft that was offered in addition to the reading program
offers creative materials to enhance early literacy. (McLane, 1991)
The biggest moment of success with this program was seeing the smiles on the
faces of the children when I asked them to help me tell the story. The children just loved
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to ACHOO! with the old lady that swallowed the leaves. The children also enjoyed
making the Jack-o-Lanterns and were very proud to take them home.
My greatest challenge with this project was making sure I could get everything I
planned on doing, done. I have learned however, that it is better to have a large variety of
things to do, than not enough. As you can see by the pictures that I included in this report,
I think this day was filled with learning and fun.

















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References
Colandro, L. (2010). There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves!.

New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Georgia Public Library Service. (2002) Childrens and youth services staff

handbook.

McLane, J. & McNamee, G. (1991). Beginnings of literacy. (Ed.) Zero to

Three Journal.

http://www.zerotothree.org/early-care-education/early-language-literacy.

Snow, C.E. & Ninio, A. (1998). The Contacts of literacy: What children learn from
learning to read books, in W.H. Tale & Sulzby (Ed.) Emergent Literacy:
Writing and Reading, Norwood (as cited in Reach Out and Read program
manual)
http://www.getcaughtreading.org/literacy-reading-to-children.php
U.S. Census Bureau. American Factfinder. Accessed October 5, 2012
http://factfinder2.census.gov

Williams, L. (1986). The little old lady who was not afraid of anything.

New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Yaccarino, D. (August, 1998). Five little pumpkins. New York, NY: Harper Collins.