When I was a child, and in elementary school, I strongly remember sitting on the floor in the library as the librarian read books to us. I'm not sure how often this actually happened in reality but in my mind it was a lot. The librarian had a little spill that she would recite to us each time we sat down during story time to make sure she had our attention. To this day I remember my friend Annemarie and I teasing to each other about the way she pronounced watching as wartching. We giggled and giggled about that.
Now, during story time each day, I find myself using the very same spill with the children. It really does work. It is like a little agreement when they first sit down that all eyes are on what is going on right in front of them. The magic spill goes like this...
Are your hands in your lap?
Are your eyes watching?
Are your ears listening?
Are your mouths silent? (in a whisper)
And then the book can begin. Little bodies are still. Little pairs of eyes are focused on the book and the colorful pages unfolding as they listen to the story. And most of all they are quiet so that everyone can listen to the story.
I also add motion to the spill, pointing to my eyes, hand behind my ear, fingers move across my mouth in a zippy motion. They actually love this part of story time and I catch them saying this to each other when one of them decides they are going to read to the others. It is fantastic.
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