Month: March 2011

Colors!

I added another storytime to each of my sessions this spring. So, now I’m doing two six-week long sessions. Because this was a very last minute decision, I went with the easiest theme I could — colors!

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

I’ve used this in counting storytime before, but obviously this is a great fit for a color storytime. After each page, the kids named the colors that were on Dog already, reinforcing color recognition and names. I was just commenting the other day that I wish there were more Emma Dodd books, because I love them all.

Next up, a very tricky color book, “Lemons Are Not Red” by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This book has cut-out pictures and reveals what color the object is when you turn the page. The kids loved guessing what colors the object really was, and the only one that tripped them up was the silver moon. (I heard white, gray, and moon-colored as the guesses.)

Even though the kids were really sitting nicely, I wanted to shake things up with a song!

Action Song: “Driving Round in My Car” (Tune: Ten Little Indians)
Driving round in my little red car
Driving round in my little red car
Driving round in my little red car
Zoom zoom zoom zoom zoom
Credit: Childhood

I let the kids choose what color we would sing about next. We wound up singing this song for a really long time, but they loved it. My favorite part was when one of the little boys shouted out “baby blue” — it was super cute and we did sing a verse about a baby blue car.

Next, I read “Butterfly, Butterfly” by Petr Horacek.

This book was a real treasure that I discovered one day while shelf-reading our picture books. I will be using it again for bug storytime at the end of May. Lucy discovers a butterfly one day, but when she goes to find it again – it is missing! She then finds a ton of other brightly colored bugs throughout the book. I adore the pop-up ending with the butterfly, and it was a HUGE hit in storytime. I wound up moving the book back and forth for the butterfly to flap at the kids for a few minutes.

Then I moved on to our flannelboard today: “Mouse Paint!”

I found this flannelboard template on Kizclub and tried to make it in time for Mice Storytime this winter, but it didn’t happen. I was very happy that I was able to use it here!

(As a brief note — I did not make the spiraled paint splots and I did not make the dancing mice. Instead, I asked the kids to dance for the mice and we twirled our fingers in the air and I just overlapped the new color over the old. And, I did not make the paintbrushes and instead just used a real paintbrush before putting the color splots on the white piece of felt. I am all for creative flannel pieces, but I am also a big believer in the less pieces you have and the less you move the pieces around — the better the flannelboard works.)

Our second to last book was “Freight Train” by Donald Crews.

This is such a classic, a favorite of mine from childhood! It’s a really good, quick read that is completely engaging. Also, my storytime is a majority of little boys and they flipped out when they saw the train. It was their very favorite part of storytime today. Next, I led the group in a little action rhyme to settle them down after the excitement of the train.

Action Rhyme: “Red, Red”
Red, red is the color I see
If you’re wearing red, then show it to me
Stand up, take a bow, turn around
Show me your red and sit back on the ground
Credit: Everything Preschool — Colors

They had a blast doing this one, but really a lot of them didn’t follow the rules and just stood up every time. I didn’t say a word about it because it doesn’t matter to me a bit as long as they are having fun.

Last book for the day, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Eric Carle.

I read this book in big book form, and passed out board books to the kids to have them “read” with me. This is such a rewarding time when I see all the kids with their own books and their parents reading with them. After the kids brought their books back, I sang a song before our goodbye song just to have one last color song!

Song: “Colors We Know” (Tune: Twinkle Twinkle)
Red and orange, green and blue, shiny yellow, purple too!
These are the colors that we know, way up high in the great rainbow.
Red and orange, green and blue, shiny yellow, purple too!
Credit: Everything Preschool — Colors

Our craft for today was one that I took from Sarah’s blog — Awesome Storytime.

It was perfect and the kids came up with some amazing rainbow creations!

Well, that’s it for today. I’m now on a three week storytime break, but I’m still doing my daycare colors storytime cycle and will also be participating in #flannelfriday tomorrow!

March 31, 2011 19 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

Orange!

The second color in my colors storytime cycle: orange! (Red can be found here.) I have to admit I was a little frazzled because I did not know my group was coming. (They missed a week and didn’t call to let me know they were still interested in coming.) But a librarian is ALWAYS prepared to go.

Started off storytime with “Where Is Tippy-Toes?” by Betsy Lewin.

I first saw this book in one of Sarah’s Storytime Contenders posts and immediately put it on a list that I keep of books that I want to incorporate into a storytime one day. Tippy-Toes’s bright orange fur gave me the perfect opportunity for this week. This was an instant attention grabber and the kids eagerly stayed with the book until the sleepy ending.

I tried to match activities with books, instead of doing a bunch of color extensions. So, after reading about Tippy-Toes, I led the group in a little kitten fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Kitten”
A kitten is fast asleep under the chair [Hide thumb under one hand.]
And I can’t find her anywhere. I’ve looked everywhere! [Circle eyes.]
Under the table and under the bed. [Peek under each hand.]
I looked in the corner and then I said: [Motion to come.]
“Come Kitty, come Kitty, this milk is for you. [Cup hands for dish.]
And out cam the kitty calling, “Meow, meow.” [Thumb walks across lap.]
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Next, a last minute find in the orange category, “Waiting for Wings” by Lois Ehlert.

I was SO happy to find this book because it features Monarch butterflies, which are orange. A lot of other butterfly books are wonderful, but they don’t feature Monarchs as much as I wanted them to. The kids really enjoyed this one, I think because of the vibrant colors (they were quick to point out any orange on the page) but also because of the size of the book and the size of the pages.

Then, I used our Folkmanis butterfly finger puppets to do this song:

Song & Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter” (Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle)
Flutter, flutter butterfly,
Floating in the spring sky
Floating by for all to see,
Floating by so merrily
Flutter, flutter butterfly,
Floating in the spring sky
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

Then, we played a slightly different version of “Can We Find?” that I used two weeks ago in Hello, Goodbye storytime.

Flannelboard Game: “Can We Find?” (Tune: Muffin Man)
Can we find an orange cat,
An orange cat, an orange cat?
Can we find an orange cat?
We want to say hello!

I just used all orange items hidden behind the houses. This was once again a BIG hit, and I was so pleased that by the last verse I had almost every kid singing along with me.

Then, continuing in our participation elements, I had the kids read me “Orange Pear Apple Bear” by Emily Gravett.

I always introduce this book as only having four words, and most of the time I have the kids read it along with me, if they want to. This time, I asked them to read me a book and after teaching the four words to them, they did it! We only had one major misstep — when bear was pear bear, because the pear shape wasn’t as obvious — and the kids were very proud of themselves for reading me a book.

I let our action rhyme introduce our next orange item.

Action Rhyme: “Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball (make a big circle overhead)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Credit: Step by Step — Pumpkin Theme

And then, I read “Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch” by Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe.

This is such a good book for storytime. It’s got a great build to action and a nice, soft ending. When I introduced the book and told them the title, I asked the kids why a piggy was at a pumpkin patch. The unanimous answer was that piggies live in pumpkin patches, silly Miss Katie!

I did a quick modified “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” just substituting Dinosaur instead of Teddy Bear like I did in dinosaur storytime.

After thoroughly wearing them out, we sat back down to read “Brontorina” by James Howe.

I know I say this all the time, but I LOVE this story. And so did the kids. I was very proud of their behavior during this one — it was the longest book and I did save it for last — and the kids completely rose to the occasion. (Also, I think the story is JUST THAT GOOD to capture their attention.)

After the last book, I did a quick flannelboard: “Ten Little Dinosaurs” (tune of “Ten Little Indians”), of which three of the dinosaurs in my homemade set are orange!

And that brought us to our craft: dinosaur finger puppets!

This was a great craft, and the kids were tickled by my dinosaur wearing her ballet shoes.

(I believe that Sarah’s friend drew this for her dinosaur storytime — the file was in her storytime folder on our library’s network, but Sarah has it uploaded for download on her site!)

Also, I did make a handout. I can email it to anyone who wants it, but my PDF Complete put its label right over the word “orange.”

March 25, 2011 1 Comment Short URL, Outreach Storytime

Rainy Days!

Thanks, Chicago weather, for thoroughly confusing all my storytime kids. When I announced this morning that the theme would be rain, my kids immediately told me all about the snow outside. (Yes, we have just the smallest amount of a sprinkling outside.) But, I still continued on with my theme!

First up, “Raindrop, Plop!” by Wendy Cheyette Lewison.

My crowd of kids really enjoyed this read — counting is always a big hit! But I also liked that it had a great rhythm to it without having rhyming words in the text. Most of the kids joined in the counting at one point or another. After this bright and colorful book, I switched things up and used a classic, “Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car” by John Burningham.

I wasn’t sure this story was going to catch the attention of my large group this morning, but I gave it a go. Folks, there is a reason this book is classic — the kids LOVED it. I mean, I should have known — animals, mud, spinning wheels…sure-fire hit.

Then, we practiced our session stretcher — fingerplay: “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” (It really does fit this theme, but we’ve been using it all session.)

After, I went straight into our flannelboard.

Flannelboard: “Ten Little Umbrellas” & “Ten Little Raindrops”
One little, two little, three little umbrellas
Four little, five little, six little umbrellas
Seven little, eight little, nine little umbrellas
Ten umbrellas up for the rain
Repeat with raindrops going on top of umbrellas – last line, “Ten raindrops falling down.” Pull raindrops away, counting down – last line, “No raindrops out today.” Pull umbrellas away, counting down – last line, “Everything’s put away!”

(I did make the flannel for this week using clip art, and I do promise a post on all the flannels I’ve made recently after this storytime session is done next week.)

Next, I read “Red Rubber Boot Day” by Mary Lyn Ray.

(I love this cover image — pure joy!) I choose this one because not only does it show the splashing in puddles part of a rainy day, but it also shows what kids do inside (blocks, reading, drawing, building a cave) during rainy days. My favorite part of this read-aloud was when all my little boys showed me their boots that they were wearing. I had to ask everyone who was wearing boots to raise their hands really high, and then I segued back into the book by saying, “Well, this little boy is wearing RED RUBBER BOOTS.”

Time to shake some sillies out! I led the group in back-to-back action rhymes to calm everyone down.

Action Rhyme: “Splash! Fall the Raindrops”
Splash! Fall the raindrops, (Clap hands softly)
To the ground they go; (Point to the ground)
We need the raindrops, (Wiggle fingers down from head to waist)
To help the flowers grow. (Make cup of hands for flowers)
Credit: KIDiddles

Action Rhyme: “Rain Is Falling Down”
The rain is falling down (flutter fingers down)
SPLASH! (clap once loudly)
Pitter patter pitter patter (tap legs softly)
The rain is falling down (flutter fingers down)
SPLASH! (clap once loudly)
Pitter patter pitter patter (tap legs softly)
[Repeat until kids are worn out.]
Credit: Modified from King County Library System

Next up, “Rain” by Manya Stojic.

This was one of those books that started off so well, but then the kids got too excited naming all the animals and kind of stopped paying attention to the story. So, what’s a librarian to do? Turn the page and say, “Which animal is this?” “MONKEY” “Okay, do monkeys like rain?” “YES!” Next page, rinse, repeat.

I’m not a fan of going off-book, or skipping words or pages, but sometimes the kids just need a different story. They loved the pictures, the colors are so bright and vivid, but they got overexcited. It happens!

A nice calming song…

“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”
It’s raining, it’s pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and bumped his head
And couldn’t get up in the morning
Credit: Childhood

And then, I read out last book, “Wow! Said the Owl” by Tim Hopgood.

This was another hit, and their reactions today are very similar to when I read this book in bird storytime. (Again, I don’t have any overlap between my morning and afternoon groups which is so surprising to me since I plan separate storytimes in case of overlap!) A great way to end storytime what with the pretty rainbow and the last nighttime page spread.

For craft this week, we made a rain picture — a take on this Rainy Day Collage from Busy Bee Kids Crafts.

Instead of messing around with food dye, I just used pompoms. All of the umbrellas were pre-assembled.

March 24, 2011 17 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Hello, Goodbye!

This was a new and interesting theme — I really enjoyed using all these great hello/goodbye books. Of course, my storytime (and craft) was completely inspired by my first book…”Say, Hello!” by Rachel Isadora.

When this book came into the library last fall, I made an immediate beeline for it and was determined to plan a storytime around it. I love the book’s concept; I love the illustrations (and also Isadora’s fairy tale retellings); and I love other languages. Followed this one up with a second hello song:

Song: “The Hello Song”
Hello, hello, hello.
It’s time to say “hello.”
Hello, today, to all my friends,
Hello, hello, hello.
Credit: Library Voice

I didn’t really know the tune of this, so I wound up making it up. And I can’t really describe it. I do that a lot when I have no idea how it goes. The kids never notice! And then we did this song as an action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “How Do You Say Hi?” (Do actions as they are said.)
Hey! Hi! Howdy! Yo!
There are many ways to say hello!
Wave your hand. Nod your head.
Smile big or wink instead.
Blow a kiss. Tip your hat.
Shake your hands. Give a pat.
Of all the ways to say hello,
Here’s the way I like to go…HELLO!
Credit: Transitional Songs

This song worked so well as an action rhyme — the kids had a lot of fun doing all the motions, and I did have them stand up to do it, too. Next up, a funny book for the awesome weather that Chicago had today: “Hello, Sun!” by Dayle Ann Dodds.

This is about a little girl who sees the sun, and goes outside to play only to have the weather spiral away from her, eventually snowing. (Sounds familiar, right, Chicagoans?) Each page spread ends with uh-oh before greeting the new weather, “hello wind!” and the kids really loved it when the uh-oh happened. Afterward, we did this awesome flannelboard that I was inspired to tweak:

Flannelboard: Can We Find? (Tune: The Muffin Man)
(Hide six different items under the houses. Look for each one after singing the refrain. Greet each item with a loud hello after finding.)
Can we find a red cat?
A red cat? A red cat?
Can we find a red cat?
We want to say hello!

We have a flannelboard set — “Color Bears and Other Stories” — that has a ton of different animals and objects in rainbow colors. And inside, it suggested using this song to play a game hiding items behind houses. I changed the ending line to fit out theme.

Next up, “Hello, Is This Grandma?” by Ian Whybrow.

I *adore* this book. It has fold-out pages, and tells a great story about a little boy named Logan who calls a variety of animals while trying to phone his grandma on the phone. It is a little bit scary (when crocodile shows up and wants to cook Logan for lunch), but none of my kids had any problems with it.

We did our session fingerplay — “Itsy Bitsy Spider” followed by “Where is Thumbkin?” (Thumbkin is kind of a hello fingerplay!)

Then I read, “Hello, Day!” by Anita Lobel.

Before I started the book, I asked the kids how they thought animals said hello. And I had one little boy who clucked as his answer. Well, after reading this book all the kids knew how animals said hello! (And I have to say that one of my four-year-olds is an EXCELLENT noise maker. We’re talking pig snorts instead of saying oink — amazing.)

Our last book for the day was another board book that we have purchased multiple in-house copies, “Hello, Animals!” by Smriti Prasadam.

This is a simple black and white book (with shiny color inserts) that the kids easily read along with me because all they had to remember was “hello, [animal on page].” I also really liked that some of my babies were exposed to books that are perfect for them — simple black and white contrast books.

I did sing two goodbye songs this week:

Song: “Shake Hands”
Shake hands with friends cause it’s time to go
Shake hands with friends cause it’s time to go
Shake hands with friends cause it’s time to go
I hope I’ll see you another day.
Credit: Barney…which I did not know until this moment. I learned this in library school.

And then, the goodbye song we sing every week:

Closing Song: “We Wave Goodbye Like This” (Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)
We wave goodbye like this,
We wave goodbye like this,
We clap our hands for all our friends,
We wave goodbye like this.

Our craft for this afternoon was hello/goodbye hands. My amazing co-workers came up with this one during a brainstorm session. Most of the hellos were in the first book, “Say, Hello!” and the goodbyes were easily Googled. Teens cut out hands, taped popsicle sticks on, and cut out all the words as well. My kids just happily glued.

March 17, 2011 15 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Red!

Last week at regular registration storytime, I had a daycare drop-in with eighteen kids. As much as it was horrible to have to turn kids away, I simply don’t have the space (our room is capped at 35 people for fire code), and I definitely didn’t have enough craft supplies prepped for that large of a number. Instead of completely turning them away though, I offered to do a separate storytime for their group each week.

(And because I’m crazy, I can’t possibly repeat themes, partially because a lot of our crafts this session are from Oriental Trading but mostly because I get bored if I have to do the same theme twice a week. I know, feel free to tell me I’m crazy repeatedly — but it probably won’t change a thing.)

So, you now get the bonus of an extra storytime theme per week. For this session, I decided to do colors and we started at the top of the rainbow with red.

First up, “The Red Hen” by Rebecca & Ed Emberley.

I love this folk tale and have since I was a kid, but I especially enjoy the illustrations in this particular retelling. (Actually, I really love every little bit about this retelling. But my favorite part is the bright colors and creative pictures.) This story was a great introduction to the theme of “red” because I got to say “the red hen” all the time in this story and in my questions to the group.

Next, I read “Pizza at Sally’s” by Monica Wellington.

This one is a classic as far as I’m concerned. I love the borders on the text, love the little cat that helps Sally make the pizza, love the accessibility of the text (it’s not too complicated for preschool), it’s awesome. This was a great segue into the flannel that I freehanded:

Flannelboard: “This Is the Pizza That Sally Made”
This is the crust that Sally made.

This is the sauce, so red and so sweet.
That goes on the crust that Sally made.

These are the olives, so black and salty.
That goes on the sauce, so red and so sweet.
That goes on the crust that Sally made.

(Additional Verses)
These are the peppers, so green and crunchy.
This is the pineapple, fresh from Hawaii.
This is the pepperoni, so hot and spicy.
This is the cheese so gooey and chewy.
This is the tummy, so hungry and lively.
And that was the pizza that Sally made.
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

The flannelboard worked really well, except that I had one little girl who kept insisting that she only liked cheese pizza and even though I explained that this was Sally’s pizza — she was still super upset that the pizza had toppings on it. Oh, well.

Next, a book that I discovered while shelf-reading the other day, and immediately pulled for storytime, “Cars” by Patricia Hubbell.

There are thousand of car books out there, but I had a super hard time finding a fire engine book that was appropriate for 2-6. (There are a lot of longer ones, and not any really short text books.) But I love that “Cars” had a great fire engine spread, and that the book begins with a little red car. Fit perfectly into my theme. And I followed it up with a crowd pleaser:

Action Rhyme: “Hurry, Hurry”
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck (pretend to turn wheel back and forth)
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck (pretend to turn wheel back and forth)
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck (pretend to turn wheel back and forth)
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! ring bell
(Turn the corner (lean over to one side, then the other), climb the ladder (pretend to climb), spray the water (pretend to spray a hose).)
Credit: Childhood

And that brought me and the kids to the apple portion of the red theme, beginning with “Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington.

I try not to use two books by the same author in storytime (my bug theme will not have more than one Eric Carle, I promise!), but I love Wellington’s books, and they were so perfect for the theme and the recognizable items I had chosen. Next up, a quick fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)
Credit: Childhood

And our last book, “The Apple Pie Tree” by Zoe Hall.

I really enjoyed ending storytime with this book. Especially since we’re in a seasonal shift in Chicago right now, the kids really recognized the wait for the trees to change and that the green buds were next to appear.

Finished up with this apple craft from KidsSoup.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a daycare storytime, and this craft was far too ambitious for everyone to complete without a parent helping them. I spent a lot of time running around, going from kid to kid, until everyone was done. Next week’s craft will be much simpler.

March 14, 2011 11 Comments Short URL, Outreach Storytime

Babies!

This week, I did a baby themed storytime. I mean, who doesn’t love babies? And there are some great books all about babies. I started off with “Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox.

Not only is this book very sweet, repetitive (that’s a good thing!), and theme-appropriate, it’s also a great way to show diversity in picture books. All of the babies are different skin colors, and there’s even a sick baby. (The kids were very intent on telling me that the baby’s getting medicine in the picture…well, this is the season for medicine with all the colds we’ve had in storytime the past few weeks!)

After our quiet start, I went straight into a noisy book with “The Baby Goes Beep” by Rebecca O’Connell.

I don’t know what it is about listening to me make noises, but the kids were enamored and fascinated by all the different sounds that the baby makes in this book. I only had kids join in with me during the “beep” and “splash” parts though — not exactly sure why those sounds were better, but oh well.

Next up, our flannelboard: Baby Animals Matching. I got this fabulous template from Mel’s Desk, and began working on a felt version. Time got away from me though (and I didn’t count on doing three storytimes this week!), so I wound up just using laminated pieces with a felt backing. I started by putting all the mommy/daddy pieces on the board, and pulled out a baby piece. I then moved it around the board, and the kids told me “up” or “down” until all the babies were matched up. A big hit!

A quick fingerplay — “Pat-a-Cake”
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Roll it, and pat it, and mark it with a “B”
And put it in the oven for baby and me
Credit: Childhood

And then, I moved on to the next book in the pile, “All of Baby Nose to Toes” by Victoria Adler.

Another quieter book with a great refrain of “Who loves baby’s nose?” and an answer of “Me! I do!” The kids loved chiming in on this one. I had the kids continue sitting for the action rhyme. (Normally, I do have them stand up and stretch, but the kids were so calm and well-behaved today that I didn’t want them to move and break their good behavior.)

Action Rhyme: “One Little Baby”
One little baby rocking in a tree (hold up on finger/rock arms)
Two little babies splashing in the sea (two fingers/pretend to splash)
Three little babies crawling on the floor (three fingers/crawl fingers on knee)
Four little babies banging on the door (four fingers/pretend to knock)
Five little babies playing hide and seek (five fingers/cover your eyes)
Keep your eyes closed now…until I say…PEEK! (uncover eyes)
Credit: Perry Public Library

I went with a low-key entrance to our high-energy ending, and started with “Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy” by Denise Fleming.

This book was definitely the biggest part of my inspiration for this theme — I really wanted to build a storytime around this book with its soft pictures, and sweet animals. I am pleased to say that it definitely had a calming effect on all the kids, and so I launched straight into a song: “Rock-A-Bye Baby” and then into our last fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Baby’s Nap”
This is a baby ready for a nap. (hold up index finger)
Lay him down in his mother’s lap. (place finger on open palm of other hand)
Cover him up so he won’t peep. (wrap fingers around finger)
Rock him till he’s fast asleep. (rock hands back and forth)
Credit: Thomas Memorial Library

And, then, I brought out the loudest book ever created — “Shake It Up, Baby!” by Karen Katz.

This is another one of the board book sets that we have in our in-house storytime collection. I love getting to pass out books to each child so that they can read along with me. The other amazing part of this book is that there are rattle beads in the spine — and cues in the text to shake the book. The kids had a TON of fun shaking these books, and I was very proud when they returned the books to the bookshelf without any tears, too!

(My storytime kids are so good at cleaning up — they always put away their own floor cushions, and pass the glue and crayons back in. I am seriously like a proud mama as they help me clean up.)

Anyway, our craft for today was a simple paper baby bib.

Both templates were just simple Google Image searches, and filtering by line drawings. Teens, once again, cut everything and I did the hole punching/tying.

March 10, 2011 11 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Birds!

I am a glutton for a great storytime theme, and I cannot get enough of using birds. I had a great time using this theme in the fall, and knew that there were enough books to do a completely different storytime for my afternoon kids this spring. (I had no crossover between the two groups…which I still find strange.)

I started off with “How Rocket Learned to Read” by Tad Hills.

While this is a great book, it is very long, and not a book that I anticipated the littlest storytime attendees would sit for well. My average age in storytime yesterday was a little over 5, so I went with the longer book. (I had “Grumpy Bird” prepared and ready to go if we had skewed younger.) The kids did really well with the book, and my older kids were so into it that I definitely would use it again for my older ones.

Next up, a fingerplay to reward the little ones for sitting through the long book. I did “Two Little Blackbirds.” Followed by the book “Wow! Said the Owl” by Tim Hopgood.

Love this book! Love it! I already went ahead and bought it to live permanently in our storytime collection because I can think of a thousand themes (well, maybe not a thousand), but definitely day/night, birds, colors, sleep, exclamations!, rain, rainbows, that the book could be used at storytime. (I will be using it again in just a few weeks for our rain storytime.) And the kids really liked shouting out the colors as they appeared — overall, this was a success with everyone.

Then, the kids got up and stretched and we did this super cute action rhyme, one that I modify all the time to fit different themes:

Action Rhyme: “Little Bird”
I saw a little bird go hop, hop, hop (hop three times)
I told the little bird to stop, stop, stop (hold out hand for stop)
I went to the window to say “How do you do?” (handshake)
He wagged his little tail and far away he flew! (shake tail and fly away)
Credit: Childhood

Next up, one of my most favorite books to read at storytime, “I’m Not Cute!” by Jonathan Allen.

There is nothing more wonderful than watching reactions when I read this book aloud. The kids LOVE this one, and I do too. There’s also a great chance for audience participation here — I always ask the kids several times if Baby Owl is cute. They always think so, and I always respond, “He is not cute!”

After I was done, I went straight into the flannelboard: “Ten Fluffy Chickens”, which I used at the last Bird storytime.

Then, the library purchased a ton of finger puppets and puppets with money we received for a Target Family Reading Grant written by one of my fabulous co-workers, and I finally got to use the hummingbird puppet this storytime!

Poem & Puppet: “Hummingbird’s Sound”
A hummingbird gets its name from the sound
Of its hum – hmm – as it darts all around.
The sound is not a song that it sings
But the fast flapping of its tiny wings!
Credit: Artfelt

Next book, “Riki’s Birdhouse” by Monica Wellington.

I actually previewed this one the first time I did bird storytime, but passed on it because it was too long for my ages 0-5 storytime. But it was perfect for ages 3-7 storytime. This is a sweet story about a boy who builds birdhouses and feeds the birds and watches them throughout the seasons. It was a great read for this time of year, as the seasons are slowly getting ready to turn.

Another repeat from last time:

Action Rhyme: “Little Birds, Little Birds”
Little birds, little birds, jump up and down.
Little birds, little birds, don’t make a sound!
Little birds, little birds, tip-toe to me.
Little birds, little birds, bend your knees!
Little birds, little birds, peep, peep, peep.
Little birds, little birds, sleep, sleep, sleep.
Little birds, little birds, fly to the leaves!
Little birds, little birds, sit down, please.
Credit: Greatest Resource Education Child Care

Before finishing up with “Little Quack” by Lauren Thompson.

This story is so bright and lively, and I love the counting meter at the bottom of the page spreads. This was a natural segue into our closing song: “Five Little Ducks.”

Afterwards, we made plastic cup blue birds using a kit from Oriental Trading.

The kit called for a paper cup, and to decoupage tissue paper squares to make the bird blue. I was not having ANY of that, so I just bought regular cups from the party store. (The cups were not sold with the kit anyways.)

March 9, 2011 14 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Sheep!

Today, in honor of spring ALMOST creeping up on Chicagoland (well, it’s in the upper thirties, heh), storytime theme was sheep! And on a special note, I woke up with a very hoarse voice — this was my first storytime without the ability to really change my voice and let me say I don’t ever want that to happen again!

After our welcome song, I went ahead and held up my first book, asking the kids if they knew what animal we would be reading about today. Of course, I had one of my boys shout out, “SHEEP,” so I was good to go with “Wee Little Lamb” by Lauren Thompson.

This is a super cute story about a shy lamb who keeps hiding behind his mother despite other animals asking him to play. This book turned into a “who can shout the new animal the loudest” game, and while I think everyone enjoyed the book, I couldn’t raise my voice to be heard over them, so I had to whisper, which did get them to calm down.

Next up, I read “Counting Ovejas” by Sarah Weeks.

This is a bilingual book, and a great choice for my community. I wish I could read in Spanish more often, but most of my Spanish is just basic vocab — which worked for this story (colors, numbers, sheep, “goodbye” and “good night” were the only words needed)! I really think that my Spanish-speaking families REALLY appreciated this, and the kids all had a great time identifying colors regardless of their preferred language.

A quick song with one of our adorable finger puppets: “Baa Baa Black Sheep” before moving on to “Sheep in a Jeep” by Nancy Shaw.

This silly, rhyming story went over well — I have got to try and find this book in a larger format thought, because our little picture book is not big enough for a large group. (Thankfully, we were on the small side group-wise today.) This series is one of the reasons that I wanted to do a sheep storytime!

And then, I did our flannelboard: “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” followed by this super cute fingerplay that I modified from Hubbard’s Cupboard’s post about Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Fingerplay: “The Lamb Went”
The lamb went…
Around the cow in the corn (trace circle in palm)
Under the haystack (go under the hand)
Up the hill and down the hill (go up the arm and down the arm)
Over the fence (go above the hand)
Through the door (slide hands and clap)
And was back in time to meet the teacher (trace circle in palm)

Originally this was a storyboard idea, with pictures introduced to tell the story. I just added some fingerplay actions instead! Next book, “No More Blanket for Lambkin!” by Bernette Ford and Sam Williams.

I love this book about some friends who set out to play laundry, and wind up putting holes in a beloved blanket. The day is saved, of course, by the end of the book. Such sweet illustrations, nice big text for little eyes (or the storytime librarian reading on an angle!), and a great story.

I also found this action rhymes at Hubbard’s Cupboard, and it can be sung to “Five Green and Speckled Frogs,” but since my voice was only getting hoarser as I went, I opted just to say it. I made up my own actions for this one as well.

Action Rhyme: “Five White and Fluffy Sheep”
Five white and fluffy sheep (hold up five fingers)
In the pasture fast asleep (hands under head, lean over)
Their wool kept them cozy all night long (hug yourself)
Snore! Snore! (make snore sounds)
The farmer slipped away with one (hold up one finger)
And sheared the wool till he was done (clap)
Then there were 4 white fluffy sheep (hold up four fingers)
Baa! Baa! (baa!)
Credit: Hubbard’s Cupboard

A quick nursery rhyme of “Little Bo Peep” before our last book, “Where Is the Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox.

I’ve used this book in storytime before (and we have a big book version of it), and I have to say, it is easily one of my faves. The kids enjoy the suspense, they like trying to identify the sheep by the pictures, and the ending is so adorable that it obviously leads to giggles and choruses of “Silly sheep.”

Our handprint lamb/sheep craft comes from First School today.

My teens had everything cut out (including a trace of my hand for each child), and kids just assembled and glued some cotton balls to make their sheep fuzzy. Super cute!

March 3, 2011 6 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime