Haleigh's Practicum Diary

Date: 6/2/26

Time Worked: 9am-1pm and 2pm-5pm (approx. 7 hours)

Name: Haleigh Hare

Supervisor’s name: Marisa Bateman/ Julie Kulikowski (Marisa is supervising my entire experience within the D.C. Public Library System, while Julie is supervising me in this specific, West End Library, branch)

Description of the Day:

On Tuesday, I spent much of the day working independently on two different projects. The first was planning the family story time program that I would be leading on Wednesday. I began by pulling several books from the collection that fit our birthday theme, including The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli, The Birthday Book by Todd Parr, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Birthday Party. After selecting potential books, I sketched out an outline for the program, including welcome and goodbye songs, movement activities, and opportunities for audience participation. As I planned, I thought carefully about how to balance reading, singing, and active engagement in order to maintain the children’s attention throughout the program.

After spending time on story time preparation, I began a second project that Julie had suggested: creating a story time binder containing songs, rhymes, and other programming resources that librarians and staff could use when planning future programs. I started by brainstorming songs and rhymes from my previous experience as a preschool teacher and was able to compile approximately fifteen favorites. Drawing on my background in early childhood education helped me identify activities that encourage participation, support early literacy development, and work well with groups of young children.

To expand the collection, I also searched online for additional story time resources and discovered several excellent websites and compilations. I created a resource page listing these sources so that staff could easily locate new ideas in the future. Once the content was assembled, I printed the materials, organized them by purpose and theme, placed them in plastic sleeves, and arranged them in a binder. This project gave me the opportunity to create a practical resource that will continue to benefit staff beyond the duration of my practicum. It also reinforced the importance of sharing knowledge and maintaining accessible programming tools within a library setting.

At the end of the day, I had the opportunity to observe a program presented by library associates in collaboration with local archaeologists. Designed for children ages 8–14, the program introduced participants to the basics of archaeology while engaging them in archaeology-themed games and activities. It was interesting to observe a program geared toward older children, as much of my practicum experience has focused on early childhood services. Watching the presenters combine educational content with hands-on activities provided valuable insight into how libraries can support learning and curiosity for a wide range of age groups.

Pictured above was my workstation as I created the binder. This is after I printed upwards of 45 different songs–I then needed to sort them into practical categories before assembling them within the binder.