Hi Heidi, I’ve been leading in-person storytime for the 2, 3 and 4-year-old preschool classes since last January, plus library visits for the PK-7th grade Religious School classes since September. We have a statewide indoor mask mandate in Illinois so I’m wearing a mask and all of the children (even the 2-year-olds!) and staff are too. Last year, I only saw 1 preschool class per day. This year, I see two preschool classes per day and up to 4 religious school classes on Sunday mornings and 2-3 classes on Tuesday/Wednesday afternoons. I have my 3rd shot and vaccination rates are high in our community even among the 5-11 year olds.
Here are my suggestions for you – take any or all of them! · Put a piece of tape on the floor so that the kids are sitting at least 6 feet from you. · Move storytime out of the library to a larger space in the synagogue (like the social hall) so that everyone can spread out more. · Shorten storytime to 15 minutes. According to our health department, you are only considered a close contact of a positive case if you are within 6 feet of the person for 15 minutes or longer. · Only schedule 1 class per day. · Use a voice amplifier. I have this one and it works great: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XWV9CCQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1__;!!KGKeukY!gJgCtatSJyqaYfn6Q9JmlpU9MpKXjv405x2FnywxsJwiZlerXifDFGNPhQsCEpduE68$ It really saves your voice and makes it easier for everyone to hear you when you’re wearing a mask, especially in a big room and/or with a larger group. Good luck! Rachel Kamin Director of Lifelong Learning North Suburban Synagogue Beth El 847/926-7902 or [email protected]<blocked::mailto:[email protected]> CURRENTLY RE-READING: Rebel Daughter by Lori Banov Kaufmann CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy by Anne Sebba From: Hasafran <[email protected]> On Behalf Of toby Harris via Hasafran Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:13 PM To: Heidi Rabinowitz <[email protected]> Cc: Hasafran <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] in-person preschool storytime? Hello, Heidi: I have a few thoughts... we definitely all have different comfort levels with covid. At our preschool, all kids and staff are masked - even if the masks are not a perfect fit on younger children. For me, I feel protected with my mask on and 3 vaccines and feel i'm taking an informed low risk in terms of exposure and low level illness if I do get it - perhaps that's a false sense of security but for me, it seems reasonable. But that's once a week, not every day. I do read stories with my mask on and don't seem to have a problem. I believe you should wear a mask in person or at least a shield. I can generally project well and be animated pretty well even with the mask on but i'm only doing it once a week. I find cloth masks much more comfortable. When I did storytime on zoom last year, I spotlighted my face but pointed an external camera at the book page or used ebooks so that the pictures were nice and close. I also only read for 10-15 minutes, shorter periods of time than in-person. I do not find it as satisfying personally when the camera is not close enough to the illustrations and text when I observe other storytimes, which I would think could be the same for young children unless you are really super dramatic and able to hold the book up to the camera (which i have trouble doing). But for some reason, seeing someone reading while sitting in a chair onscreen - i do not feel a connection. Not sure if that's a helpful suggestion or not. Maybe you can compromise on in-person once a week and zoom the other days. Good luck and happy chanukah! Toby On Tue, Nov 30, 2021, 2:52 PM Heidi Rabinowitz via Hasafran <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I'm the librarian in a large synagogue preschool and this year I've been doing storytime with classes over Zoom (I'm in the library, the kids are in their classrooms). The younger ones are just not connecting with me this way and the director is asking to have the kids come into the library for storytime, with me reading to them in a transparent mask. The kids are all too young for vaccines and many are too young for masks. I've been super cautious during the whole pandemic, so this makes me nervous, especially with the new variant on the way. Does anyone have any thoughts about the safety of spending time with multiple groups of unvaxxed unmasked kids on a daily basis? Or how I can make it safer, if going outdoors is not an option? 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