This Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences education, attended the certification training offered through FCS Extension in December 2018, for Stories, Songs and Stretches a Yoga informed active story time, language and movement enrichment program, designed for use with preschool populations.  This Extension Agent completed the post training requirements of creating, running and completing an evaluation, for three sessions of Stories, Songs and Stretches with both of the Metcalfe County Head Start classrooms at the Metcalfe County Child Enrichment Center.  Documentation was submitted to Katie Scherer the creator/owner of the Stories, Songs and Stretches program. 

Five sessions of Stories, Songs and Stretches were provided separately, with the two preschool Head Start classrooms (ten sessions total) by this Agent, at the Metcalfe County Child Enrichment Center location.  One session was revised to be developmentally appropriate for their one, early Head Start ( two year old's) classroom and was piloted with great success with the younger age group in June 2019, at the request of the Center Director who after observing the preschool sessions,thought that it could be beneficial for the younger group as well.

While these programs are rather long for the age of the preschool participants, the utilization of songs, stretching and movement interspersed within the reading of two to three, age appropriate story books read for each session, keeps the attention and interest of the children at a very high level.  Improvements in the notoriously short attention spans of the preschool youth participants, have increased with each session.  All of the preschool students become very excited when this Agent arrives and participate eagerly in the Stories, Songs and Stretches story time programs.  The students has now all learned the opening song, "Story Time is Starting Now", with the accompanying movements and 100% of the students present at the sessions participate in the opening song/movements with this Agent.

Youth participants have also now learned and have all demonstrated the use of simple, age appropriate deep breathing techniques such as "whale breath" to aid in stress release and relaxation.  According to the Head Start Teaching staff, the preschool youth participants are now very open to utilization of deep breathing, to help to release anger and frustration in healthy ways.