Creative Playtime Workshop Uses Puppetry to Build Literacy

Floyd County Schools (FCS) once again teamed up with Sarah Hightower Regional Library for another fun and interactive preschool literacy program. The FCS preschool literacy workshop series is made possible by the Literacy for Learning, Living, and Leading Grant from the Georgia Department of Education. All workshops are open to the public and focus on giving parents constructive and fun ways to practice verbal communication with their children, increasing vocabulary and literacy success before entering kindergarten.

Following up last month’s Rhythm and Reading, a preschool workshop based on music fun, Creative Playtime was held in the children’s theater of the library this past Saturday morning. This workshop was presented by English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher Dr. Jennifer Pendergrass of Alto Park Elementary School.

The focus of Creative Playtime was puppet play and felt board fun. Dr. Pendergrass shared some fun puppet poems and stories with the group, then walked them through activities designed to increase conversation between parents and preschoolers. Each child that attended the workshop left with a felt board book and an assortment of finger puppets they used during the workshop to allow for more creative playtime at home.

“It’s impossible to have a puppet in your hands and not give it something to say. Puppets are natural language builders,” said Dr. Pendergrass.

Floyd County Schools will be hosting another workshop on the evening of February 27th at Garden Lakes Elementary School. More information about the February workshop will be available on the FCS website and Facebook page up to two weeks before the event.

Story contributed by Becky Motes