Story time might bring back memories of sitting cross-legged on the carpet while listening to a local librarian read a popular children’s book, but students at South Ridge and Union Ridge elementary schools in Ridgefield have taken a different approach.
Union Ridge Elementary School librarian Jubilee Roth implemented StoryWalk to get the children moving, while practicing their literary skills. StoryWalk is an outdoor path with laminated pages of a book along the way.
“One of the librarians posted how fun and memorable StoryWalk was for their students,” Roth stated in a news release. “Since we couldn’t do my annual book exchange this year, I really wanted to make the end of the year special.”
Roth heard from other librarians who had found success with the program, so she wanted to try it out, stated the release.
Roth took apart copies of the book “Chester” by Melanie Watt, then attached each page to a stake to be placed in the ground, stated the release. The StoryWalk took students about 20 minutes to complete.
“The kids were loving it, even in the rain,” Roth wrote. “And ‘Chester’ has a surprisingly funny ending, which was exciting on a StoryWalk.”
South Ridge Elementary School librarian Emily Crawford also created a StoryWalk, but with the book “Baghead” by Jarrett Kroscoczka instead.
“I told students this was just another way of reading,” Crawford wrote. “And reading can take on many different forms.”
The StoryWalk activity first was created at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library and has spread throughout the world, stated the release.
“I think this may be the start to a new tradition,” Roth wrote.
