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Students at Family Centers’ Arch Street Preschool know they’re in for something special when Ms. Gerry visits from the Storymobile.
The Greenwich Alliance for Education’s Storymobile stopped at the Arch Street preschool Monday morning, and even though the young learners weren’t on the mobile classroom for this visit, they still learned something new.
Since 2008, the Storymobile has visited Family Centers’ Gateway Preschool, Arch Street Preschool and its Head Start/School Readiness program at Armstrong Court.
The Greenwich Alliance for Education has also run a weekly, month long summer program for the Head Start/School Readiness program for the past five years. The Alliance also provides each child enrolled in its summer program with free books to help build their home libraries.
“We switch off between going to the Storymobile bus itself and having a reader come into our classrooms here to do a push inservice,” said Kate McCallum, MAT, Site Manager at Arch Street Preschool. “They read a different story every visit and they always have a theme. They talk about vocabulary words and new vocabulary words for the children. It is very very education focused but it is also a lot of fun.”
“I thoroughly enjoy it all. I think kids have a great opportunity now with the Storymobile,” said Gerry Basile, a Storymobile teacher.
Teachers say the program is much more than just reading a book.
“They are waiting to take turns, they are listening for new vocabulary. They are learning pre-reading skills. They are doing music and movement, so it is a lot that goes on in a short period of time and we are so fortunate to have them as part of our program,” said McCallum.
At the end of the visit, each student received a book to take home to help build their own libraries.
“You give them a book and I am so impressed by this, every time we give them a book, they don’t say “I don’t want a book,” they love getting the books. THey are happy to have them. They immediately sit and open them up and share with each other and that is outstanding,” said Basile.
The Storymobile has visited the Family Centers preschools more than 300 times since 2008, reaching more than 700 kids there thus far.
