Families: Ocean

For more information on how I plan and prepare my family storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan. Some activities go unstarred because I only do this program once a week.

The Plan

Books

Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash by Suze MacDonald
Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins*
I’m a Shark! by Bob Shea*
Who’s Is the Ocean? by Dorothea Deprisco

Early Literacy Tip

When we do songs like the “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, we are working on new vocabulary (itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, great big hairy) and letting our children hear the song multiple times. Repetition is so much important for little ears!

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Laurie Berkner’s “Best of Laurie Berkner Band”*

Featured Track: #13 The Goldfish

Flannelboard: “I’m the Biggest Thing In the Ocean”*

Flannelboard: “Five Little Fishes Swimming In the Sea”*
(This is just a play on “Five Little Monkeys Swinging In a Tree” and I used a shark puppet to gobble up the fish.)

Puppet: “If You Ever See a Fishy”* (Tune of “Did You Ever See a Lassie?”)
Did you ever see a fishy, a fishy, a fishy
Did you ever see a fishy, swim this way and that?
Swim this way and that way, and that way and this way?
Did you ever see a fishy, swim this way and that?
Credit: Childhood

Song: “Baby Shark”
Baby shark, do-do doot-doot
Baby shark, do-do doot-doot
Baby shark, do-do doot-doot, doo
(Repeat with Mama Shark, Papa Shark, and Grandpa Shark. Baby Shark is done with two hands, wrists touching to make a shark mouth. Mama Shark is slightly bigger, Papa Shark is bigger than Mama. For Grandpa Shark, fold fingers in and clap with no teeth.)
Credit: My amazing co-worker Amanda

Repeating Extension Activities

I had four back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I rarely used them, but here they are:

• Dance Your Fingers Up
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
• Itsy Bitsy Spider*
• Thumbkin

How It Went

At this point, during our opening song (“Hello Friends”), our American Sign Language has gotten so good! I love seeing the kids and parents/caregivers participate so much during our songs. My crowds keep getting larger and that is such a positive thing! The best part of this storytime was definitely “The Goldfish” — the kids loved dancing along with that song and playing.