Black Voice Storytime

February 1, 2019Scott Bahlmann

The kids had great insights into the picture. The walking caught their eye first, we talked about how a lot of people can march together to change something they think is wrong. The people in the statues are sad, they are slaves. What are they dream… — The kids had great insights into the picture. The walking caught their eye first, we talked about how a lot of people can march together to change something they think is wrong. The people in the statues are sad, they are slaves. What are they dreaming of? See the birds going free? And when we change the rules, we can see strong black children.

This is our system-wide opener. Starting with the same song lets the kids know we’re ready to start, and builds their confidence.

Nice interactive elements in this read, and simple engaging pictures. Great for a range of ages!

Familiar tune of the Adams Family makes this an easy song to jump into. We did it a few times to give context to the next story, and because it was fun!

As we read trough, I marked off the days of the week. Some great opportunities to contextualize as you read this book, with a great flow. “Is it fair they only get to be free for one afternoon?”

We used rhythm sticks to measure the syllables “free-dom” and “Con-go Square”. Then played along with the drummers in the video, varying pace and patterns. It was a hit!

“The Black people wanted freedom all the time. They wanted to change things. Lets see how they did it.” This is a quick read, with nice pictures, but I think maybe it should have come after the next activity for more context.

We use sign language to spell out the letters in Dream.

There was a man who wanted peace and everyone to be free.
D-R-E-A-M, D-R-E-A-M, D-R-E-A-M the world you want to see.

This was a great opportunity to have a digital guest read the story! Both kids and adults really enjoyed Ph’Tan ‘ recitation while I showed the pictures in our copy.

I use the hide and seek game as a review of the storytime, and to build kindergarten readiness through hand raising, taking turns and speaking in a group.