Month: December 2010

Fall Flannelboards

As promised…though I waited until the very last day of Fall to do it…some pictures of the flannelboards that I made for storytime, but didn’t make a giant post on!


“Big, Bigger, Biggest” — Templates from Google Image Search

Big, Bigger, Biggest
A little ball, a bigger ball, and a great big ball I see
Now help me count them, one, two, three!
Credit: Debmonn PB Wiki

I used this with my opposites storytime, back in October.


“Dog’s Colorful Day” — Template from Making Learning Fun

I do this flannel with the book “Dog’s Colorful Day” by Emma Dodd. I actually haven’t used this flannel yet, but I found it and it was too cute (and too simple to make) to pass up.


“Big Green Monster” — Templates from Kizclub.com

This flannel is used to tell “Go Away, Big Green Monster” by Ed Emberley. I used this in my monsters storytime.


“The Penguin Went Over the Iceberg” — Templates from Google Image Search

I used this flannel just this past week, in penguin storytime. I haven’t gotten my post up, but I used the flannel with a song:

Penguin Went Over the Iceberg
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
To see what he could see,
To see what he could see,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
To see what he could see.
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see,
Was all that he could see,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see!
Credit: The Best Kids Book Site


Shapes — Templates from KidsSoup

I used this flannel with my shapes storytime to not only help the kids identify what shape I was talking about while singing; but I also used them as a flannel game, hiding the dog from “Dear Zoo” underneath each shape.

And that sums up the new flannels at my library. I’ll be updating the “Flannelboards” section on the blog just as soon as I get a chance.

December 20, 2010 36 Comments Short URLHow To

Wild Animals!

For my second afternoon storytime, I decided to do a wild animals storytime. And I had nineteen kids show up to practice their animal noises! (I was floored, given the weather!)

First up, I read “Dancing Feet” by Lindsay Craig.

I used this book in my “Shake Your Sillies Out” program, and promised that I would use it again. It was the perfect book to kick off storytime. The kids love guessing which animal is coming next. I did not have the kids stomp their feet with the animals though, because I didn’t want to get them all riled up at the first book! And since they were sitting so well, I went straight into “Jump!” by Scott Fischer.

This is a great repetitive, cause-and-effect book — the kids quickly caught on to the animals pouncing on each other, happily shouting out “JUMP!” between pages. My favorite part of this book is the vertical spread. Make sure you know when it’s coming, and the kids will be so surprised when you turn the book around! Since they were already such great jump shouters, I gave them a chance to practice their own jumping with this action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: Kangaroo!
Jump, jump, jump (Jump)
Goes the kangaroo (Jump)
I thought only one (Hold up one finger)
But now I see two! (Hold up two fingers)
Momma and her baby
With his head popping out (Make a fist, have other hand pop out)
He holds on tight (Hug yourself)
As they jump all about! (Jump)
Credit: Preschool Education — Animals: Zoo

Next up, I had the kids sit down for our flannelboard: Dear Zoo (Based on the book by Rod Campbell).

All of the kids kept trying to guess what animal was coming next from the zoo — and I had one boy who insisted the zoo should send a dog, which was excellent when I got to the end and he proclaimed, “I WAS RIGHT!”

After that energetic story, I led the kids in a quick round of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” slow, fast, slow to get them prepared for the next book. It actually gave me a great segue for “Whose Nose and Toes?” by John Butler.

Now this book is definitely for the younger crowd, and my older kids dominated the younger kids. But! One of my youngest loved the pictures and kept pointing all the way from the back row, trying to sound out the animal’s names. The only one that she got clearly was dog.

(Another reason why I like to mix things up, and do some younger books is that I often have bilingual families attending. So this simple book can be understood without actually understanding all of the English words I’m saying. The reason I know this? I had some kids guessing Spanish animal names instead of English.)

The book ends with an elephant as the last animal to guess, so that was another great intro to our next action rhyme.

Action Rhyme: “Big Gray Elephant”
The big gray elephant slowly walks.
She doesn’t make a sound.
She swings her trunk from left to right.
When she puts her feet on the ground.
Swing, swing, left and right,
She doesn’t make a sound.
Credit: Alphabet Soup – Zoo Poems, Songs, and Fingerplays

Next up, “My Heart is Like a Zoo” by Michael Hall.

Definitely a great rhyming story; my (and their) favorite page is the page where hippos are drinking apple juice. The kids were very talkative during this story, and I definitely had to lower my voice to sometimes get their attention between rhyming couplets. Overall, this is still one of my favorite books for its bright colors, and almost homage to “Color Zoo.”

Next, I just couldn’t resist using two flannels in one program! So, I pulled out my Seals on the Bus flannel (Based on the book by Lenny Hort) and we sang the book out loud.

One last song before our last book! I pulled out my Manhattan Toy “Sweet Safari” finger puppets for this one, and modified what animals we heard so that the puppets would fit.

Song & Puppets: “You Can Hear” (Tune: She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain)
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!
You can hear the lions roaring, you can hear the lions roaring
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo! ROAR! ROAR!
(Elephants trumpeting, zebra braying, monkey eeking)
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

Last book, I did as an action rhyme/book — “From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle.

Luckily, we own the big book version of this one, so I was able to have all the kids stand (short ones walk towards the middle of the rug to see better, tall ones move to the sides) while I held up the book, panning back and forth and doing (most) of the motions with them. This led to hysterical giggles — I don’t recommend doing this as the opening story!

But for me and my kids, it was time for the craft. They made lion masks that I found on my new favorite website, KidsSoup. (Again, it’s paid, but for me it has been WORTH it so that I’m not struggling to find a craft to fit my theme.)

Nothing beats little ones running out of the program room roaring at one another.

December 15, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Shapes!

I had a second successful storytime! My numbers were consistent for a second week — I am as shocked as you are! Especially given Chicago’s *freezing* temperatures this week. And it snowed yesterday night, causing more chaos! Anyway, this week I tackled shapes in my storytime. This turned out to be such a great storytime — both material wise and kid wise.

I started off with “Dog’s Colorful Day” by Emma Dodd.

A great book about counting, and colors that can easily be used in a shapes theme. Before I started the book (but after I had told the kids the title and author), I pulled out my circle shape from my flannelboard, and asked the kids what shape I had. After they told me it was a circle (yay!), I said that we were going to read a book about a lot of circles making a dog very messy.

This one is always a great read-aloud, and a definite success in shapes storytime. Next up, a cute song!

Song: “I Can See Shapes” (Tune: London Bridge)
I can see a circle shape, circle shape, circle shape
I can see a circle shape, how about you?
(Little square, triangle, rectangle, diamond)
Credit: The Story Place

When each shape came up, I put it on the flannelboard, leaving all the shapes up. I asked the kids to tell me the color the shape after each verse. (Really, this could have been a color & shapes storytime.)

Then, I read “Color Zoo” by Lois Ehlert.

(Side story: This is the first book that I remember hearing read to me in a library, in kindergarten.)

Since this is a super simple book (just animal names, and shape names), I did elaborate by saying, “Take the square away and we get…a…” and waited for the kids to shout out the animal names. Huge success, I had one little boy ask me to read it again, right away. But instead, I asked if he wanted to play a game…which, of course, he did! So I did our flannelboard, a play on “Little Mouse, Little Mouse, What House Are You In?” except with a little dog and my shapes.

Then, I read “Whoo? Whoo?” by David A. Carter.

This one is very similar to “Color Zoo,” except that the shape cut-outs join together to make an animal. The kids and I shouted out what shapes were on the page before turning it to reveal an animal. They *loved* participating with this one. I followed it up with a revamp of a classic fingerplay:

Action Song/Fingerplay: “Where Is…?” (Tune: Where Is Thumbkin?)
Where is triangle? Where is triangle?
Here I am. Here I am.
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you.
Run away. Run away.
(Circle, rectangle, square, diamond)
Credit: KidsSoup

And then, I led the kids in “I’m a Little Teapot” and “The Wiggles” before sitting down to read “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis.

This was one of those books that I LOVED the minute I saw it, but kind of feared that I’d never use it in a storytime. But — a box is totally a rectangle! And with such a repetitive text, I easily had every kid chiming in by the end, proclaiming that the box was not a box! One last song:

Song: “Make a Circle, Draw a Square” (Tune: Oh My Darling Clementine)
Make a circle, make a circle, draw it in the sky
Use your finger, use your finger, make it round as pie
Make a square, Make a square, make the lines so straight
Draw a square, draw a square, draw one or draw eight
Draw a triangle, draw a triangle, always start at the top
Make a tent, make a tent, use three lines and then stop!
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then, I read our last book — “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles G. Shaw.

We have this in big book form, so the pictures were *so* big and the kids kept shouting out what they saw in the cloud. For such a simple concept, this is a great storytime book.

And then, our craft was a shape hanger that I got from KidsSoup. One of my moms told me that this was my cutest craft yet. (You can’t see it in the picture, but on the other side of the “My Shapes,” it says “Mis Formas” for my Spanish speaking households!)

December 10, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

The Polar Express

Program Plan
1. Read “The Polar Express.”
2. Sing carols.
3. Play “Conductor Says” — Simon Says with a Polar Express twist.
4. Do crafts: Reindeer hats & “Magic Reindeer Food.”
5. Give presents. (Candy canes and Jingle Bells on leather cords.)

This is the simplest program that I have ever created for 3 to 7 year olds — and I’ve done it three times in the five holiday seasons that I’ve been at my current job. It’s such a great way for little ones and their families to participate in the holiday season! Here’s a few things I’ve learned through my years of doing this program:

1. The book is a long book; make sure to engage children with questions throughout. Tuck a bell in your pocket and when the boy receives his bell, pull yours out. It *will* grab any kid not paying attention back to the story.

2. No one will really care who wins “Conductor Says.” And it’s not worth it to try and get a three-year-old to sit out after they’ve “lost” the game.

3. Making “Magic Reindeer Food” will inevitably leave you with a gigantic mess of sprinkles, sugar, and oats on the floor. Remember to have a broom nearby!

4. Give the candy cane presents to the parent; give the bell to the child. At my first year doing this, I mistakenly gave the children the candy and I had several meltdowns on my hands when parents demanded the candy to wait until after dinner.

December 8, 2010 1 Comment Short URL, Special Programming

“Dear Zoo” Flannelboard


From KizClub; direct link for the “Dear Zoo” flannelboard.

I know that this book has been around since I was a kid, but I had never seen it until I found the flannel template for it. It was a super cute template, so I inter-library loaned the book to see the story. I was immediately sold on making this one!

Since I’ve been making flannelboards for about a year now, I’ve been looking for ways to up my ante, for lack of a better term. So while making this flannel, I experimented with ribbon, sewing, and paint pens.

For the ribbon, I just cut for the length of the piece to make a box stripe and overlapped the ribbon onto the back, gluing it down. The ribbon kept popping up, unless I held the piece down for a couple of minutes — which was difficult to do on desk. So I wound up gluing a backing piece of felt over the ribbon, which will probably preserve the flannel for longer anyways.

(I also tried a different way of doing this — gluing the ribbon down on a base color, and then layering the felt over it. While I kept the piece I did this on — the giraffe house, you can see it in the second to last picture — I decided I much preferred the look of the ribbon directly on the felt.)

As for the paint pens, my normal painting technique (paper clip & tempera paint) did not go over well when I tried to write with it. I just didn’t have the control I wanted. So I found these paint pens at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and thought I’d give it a go.

Still got to poke the felt instead of dragging it along, and I found I needed to dot out the letters so that I kept them consistent as I worked. I also dabbed at a piece of paper between each dot to keep the paint going steadily.


The finished piece (with ribbon and lettering), compared to the book. (And yes, I have the pop-up edition!)

Next up, sewing!

I had to do the whiskers on the lion — it would have looked funny without them. So I tied some knots behind the felt, and pulled it through. Absolutely the most basic sewing ever.

(Although, I doubt it will take me long to try out some other sewing techniques…)

After pulling all six whiskers through (and thoroughly gluing them behind the felt), I just trimmed them so that they would be even.

Just some pictures of the final project below. Enjoy!

December 5, 2010 30 Comments Short URLHow To

Winter!

It’s the start of my winter storytime session!

This is an experimental session, as I’ve never done storytime in the winter before. (Our attendance always dropped out significantly during November.) So far, I’ve got four weeks planned, but whether or not I’ll do another four weeks depends on whether or not my families keep showing up!

For this session, I have switched things up and started using “The More We Get Together” as my opening song, and “We Wave Goodbye Like This” as my closing song. Our stretcher for this session is “I’m a Little Teapot.”

I started off storytime with “A Kitten’s Tale” by Eric Rohmann.

This was a nice quiet start for the first storytime since October. It might have been almost too quiet, because I had wigglers up until the snow fell in the story. But the minute the snow appeared, everyone sat down and listened up. It was a nice moment, after I had been mildly worried that things were going south. (I can’t be the only librarian who frets during storytime!) Followed this up with a great transition into our flannelboard: “The Three Little Kittens.”

Our set was damaged in the flood that we had this summer, so I actually wound up remaking it, using the existing flannel pieces as the templates. After that, it was on to another great transition from kitten mittens to “One Mitten” by Kristine O’Connell George.

This is a great rhyming story about a girl who can’t find her second mitten until it’s found under her cat. (Third cat related winter activity in a row — maybe my theme was really cats and winter!) The kids really enjoyed this one, I had a couple of them shouting out places to look for her mitten. No one guessed under the cat. Once she finds her mittens, she goes out into the snow, which led to a great discussion about playing in the snow. And then, to a great fingerplay once someone mentioned sledding!

Fingerplay: “Here’s a Hill”
Here’s a hill (tilt left arm so that it forms a hill)
And here’s a hill (tilt right arm so that it forms a hill)
All covered with snow (raise hands up, bring down in snow motion)
I’ll put on my coat, (put coat on)
And jump on my sled (hold the rope of a sled)
And ZOOM, down the hill I will go! (clap hands, slid hands down)
Credit: The Holiday Zone (with a little tweaking)

Next, I went through the actions in “I’m a Little Teapot” (i.e. – “Can you make a handle? Can you make a spout? Can you tip yourself over? Great! Now you can do this song with me!”) since it was our first time. This is how I introduce most of my songs, so the kids are familiar with it.

Afterward, the kids were definitely ready to sit down and listen to “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats.

I am always REALLY excited when I get to share a book that I read when I was a kid. The parents always chuckle when I say that this book is old (because most of my parents are just older than me), and the kids are always wide-eyed, like it’s a dinosaur age book. So funny. Anyway, they really liked reading about Peter and his adventures, though they didn’t get that the snow in his pocket had melted. Had to explain that one a bit. But after that discussion, a great segue into an extension activity:

Action Song: “Dance Like Snowflakes”
Dance like snowflakes,
Dance like snowflakes
In the air, in the air
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Here and there, everywhere
Credit: BellaOnline

I didn’t have a seemless transition into “Duck Skates” by Lynne Berry though I had thought about trying to explain freezing snow and ice…but that seemed way too difficult to me.

This series is so cute, and the kids really like the rhyming. I’m not sure if they understand what’s going on, though, and I find myself explaining a lot of the pages to them. That sometimes messes with the rhythm of the story, but I don’t mind.

I wanted the kids really worn out for my last book (which is a very quiet one), so we did this:

Action Song: “Winter Hokey Pokey”
You put your mitten in, you take your mitten out
You put your boots in, you take your boots out
You put your hat in, you put your hat out
You put your coat in, you put your coat out
Credit: Step by Step – Winter Theme

We did several rounds before “Polar Bear Night” by Lauren Thompson.

I must really like bears, but this book is fast becoming a favorite of mine — right up there with “Old Bear.” The kids were pretty settled down after several rounds of Hokey Pokey, and were very content to listen. A great way to end storytime.

This craft was off of KidsSoup, which is a paid membership site. ($25.00 for a year; my Christmas present to myself and my staff!)

I printed off the template. My teens cut out the mittens, hole-punched the mittens, and tied them up. The kids added the foam shapes. A very successful return — I had eleven kids attend!

December 3, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime