The weekly storytime at St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral in Tallahassee, St. Peter’s story time encourages early literacy among Tallahassee families. This free program is held Mondays at 10 a.m. at the church. Children and their families can listen to stories, sing songs, and interact with books.
The free program for toddlers and preschoolers is held Mondays at 10 a.m. at the church located in Tallahassee, FL. This program gives children an opportunity to listen to stories, sing songs and interact with books with other children and their families.
The need for learning opportunities outside the church for young children is highlighted by the Florida Chamber Foundation’s 2025-26 Kindergarten Readiness Report. The report states that 44% of Florida’s public and charter school kindergarteners were ready for school in fall 2025. Children who complete Voluntary Prekindergarten are more likely to be kindergarten-ready. The report highlights the need to prepare children for school before they enter the classroom. Florida monitors literacy through the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) which assesses kindergarten through second-grade students three times a year.
Tracy Bishop, children’s ministry assistant at St. Peter’s, said the cathedral started the program as a community outreach program to provide a Monday morning activity for families with young children. “We saw it as a need in our community,” Bishop said.
About 5-10 children attend on average each week, but Bishop said she has seen as many as 40 children in attendance with their parents, grandparents, and other adults. The average attendance of the program is 70 people. Bishop said she has seen children develop an interest in books and ask her to read to them before and after storytime.
Storytime also allows the children to practice paying attention, listening to other people and interacting with others, said Schaefer, an educator who reads to the children during the storytime program. “There is a correlation between reading with your family or others … and language development,” Schaefer said.
“This can continue at home with the parents’ help to make reading a fun part of a child’s life. Bee Norris, a parent who attended the program, said seeing other children focus on books can encourage her child’s enthusiasm for reading. “I feel like that helps spark their enthusiasm,” Norris said.
For Norris and her family, storytime is a great way to start the week with movement, crafts and other families. She said the atmosphere of the group of children and families makes reading seem like a fun activity for children.
While storytime cannot replace classroom learning, programs such as the cathedral’s storytime program provide another opportunity for families to introduce books to their children and to incorporate reading into their children’s daily lives. Bishop said the program is growing in popularity with families.
