Month: September 2015

Happy 5th Birthday!

storytimekatie5thbirthday

Can you believe that I’ve been here for five years? I really, really cannot.

I missed the actual anniversary (which Facebook says is September 17th), but it’s still anniversary month so it counts, right?

This is my 609th post on Storytime Katie. SIX HUNDRED AND NINE POSTS. The number just boggles my brain.

I’d like to thank the wonderful people who come here daily to read, the amazing people who check in every now and again, and all of my fantastic friends that I’ve met through this fabulous adventure! Readers are why I’ve kept blogging so long and make me feel like a true rock star every day. I cannot say thank you enough. Pretend I just wrote thank you 609 times.

THANK YOU!

In unrelated news…

You’ll likely notice a decline in the amount of posts as we near the end of the year. I actually scheduled nearly all of the summer’s posts back during my May auntiecation (vacation with the dogs — my fabulous nephews) and only managed to write up a few in August’s auntiecation. But fear not, storytime resumes in October and I’ll have some more amazing ideas to post and discuss once I’m back to Toddler & Family Storytimes. I’ve got a new program to debut on the blog and a new series all about the kits that I’ve spent the last year creating with Target grant funds.

Here’s to another five years or 609 posts — whichever comes first!

September 30, 2015 10 Comments Short URLAnnouncements

“Weeding: The Human Side” Presentation

Last Monday, I had the pleasure of speaking to the CLASS (Chicago Librarians Across Southern Suburbs) professional group. I spent the majority of my time answering questions from the group about weeding after giving my background on weeding and collection management.

  • Weeded the entirety of my former library’s youth collection, much of which hadn’t been touched in quite a long time.
  • Re-cataloged all picture books at my former library into subject categorization.
  • Currently manage a picture book collection of 12,000-15,000 picture books & 6,000-8,000 beginning readers.
  • Co-taught a workshop with my department head training all Kids & Teens paraprofessional staff members on weeding in 2014.
  • Huge believer in constant weeding and daily collection management. Big advocate for weeding.

I prepared a presentation for the group, but didn’t have time to share it. The first slideshow is how the presentation would have looked that day:

And this second slideshow contains an outline of my notes and talking points integrated with the original slideshow.

I am putting this up to help and aide librarians in learning how to weed and to feel confident doing so. Please do not use my presentation as your own. Furthermore, all images in the presentation are either stock photos that I’ve purchased the rights to use, images I’ve taken myself, or screenshots from websites.

If you’d like to arrange for me to speak to your group either in-person or virtually, I’d be happy to discuss details via email [simplykatie[at]gmail[dot]com].

September 29, 2015 4 Comments Short URLHow To

Flannel Friday: Red Crane, Red Crane

Inspired by Emma Garcia’s fabulous book Tip Tip Dig Dig and Jane at Piper Loves the Library, I give you:

  

I typically use this as an extension activity after reading the book. I do a take on “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”:

Red crane, red crane, what do you see?
I see a yellow digger looking at me.
Yellow digger, yellow digger, what do you see?
I see a purple mixer looking at me.
(etc.)

It doesn’t have the perfect cadence at “Brown Bear”, but the kids really enjoy the mash-up. I did run into a small problem at storytime this past fall when my parents tried to chime in with me, but couldn’t stay with me on beat as I changed speed to make the rhyme fit. I warned the next group ahead of time to just let me do my thing, haha.

As for the template, I photocopied the pages from the book to make my pieces. I used the biggest spreads, but I would consider shrinking it down if I were making this flannel again!

—
Bridget is hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

September 25, 2015 10 Comments Short URLFlannels

Families: Rain, Clouds, & Rainbows

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

families-raincloudsrainbows

It Looked Like Spit Milk by Charles Shaw*
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood*

Early Literacy Tip
Helping children to see the order in which things take place, like in the book “Wow! Said the Owl” helps them develop the mathematical concept of sequencing.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Bandwagon by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights*

Featured Track: #10 Little Cloud*

Flannelboard: Ten Little Umbrellas & Raindrops*

Prop: Rainbow Stew* (I used the pieces from “Lunch” and made a quick rainbow piece. Directions for the story are in the link!)

Song: “These Are the Colors”*
Red and yellow, green and blue
These are the colors over you
Red as a flower, green as a tree
Yellow as the sun and blue as the sea
Red and yellow, green and blue
These are the colors over you
Credit: Read Sing Play

Repeating Extension Activities

I had lots of back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I starred which ones I used in this storytime:

  • Dance Your Fingers Up
  • Hands Are Clapping
  • Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
  • Itsy Bitsy Spider*
  • Mister Sun*
  • Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
  • Thumbkin
  • Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
  • Wheels on the Bus

How It Went

“It Looked Like Spilt Milk” was still a surprise to the kids even though I had said that we would be talking about sky stuff all throughout our storytime. I passed out scarves during “Little Cloud” and I have to say that the song would have been too long without the scarves. (I really try to aim for 2:30 mark for my storytimes.) “Rainbow Stew” blew their minds and they were so impressed that I could make a rainbow from fruits and veggies.

September 24, 2015 1 Comment Short URLFamily Storytime

Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 7/6

During the summer, we’ve switched to a weekly format again! I’m packing in between 60-120 people in a room and we are DANCING ourselves silly!

shakeshimmyanddance

The Plan

nosetotoesyouareyummy
Book
Nose to Toes, You Are Yummy! by Tim Harrington
This new book to the Shake, Shimmy rotation this summer was billed to me as the new “From Head to Toe” at ALA Midwinter. I was really excited when the book came into the library and it was clear to me that it would make a great choice for this program. The kids didn’t get as involved as they do with “From Head to Toe”, but this was definitely a winner!

Props
Activity Scarves!

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Let’s Get Together — Bari Koral Family Rock Band
Everybody’s Jumping — Aaron Nigel Smith
If You Got 1 — Justin Roberts
Walking, Walking — Old Town School of Folk Music
Little Cloud — Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights
Wave Your Ribbons in the Air — The Wiggles
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

This was my first Shake, Shimmy after coming back from ALA and I always have SUCH energy after conference that it made this a great day. “If You Got 1” was a perfect song for the older kids and “Let’s Get Together” is a new favorite to add to the regular SSD rotation. I was a little bit nervous doing “Walking, Walking” since it has running mentioned, but I made sure to prep the kids by reminding that that we were only going to run in place and not around the room. It worked!

(For an example of the Powerpoint and handouts that I made for each Shake, Shimmy please visit the original post.)

September 23, 2015 0 Comments Short URLMusic and Movement

Flannel Friday: Plant Cycle

I made a prop inspired by Kathryn at Fun With Friends at Storytime, but tweaked it to be a bit more springy using clip art from an Etsy store that seems to be shut down now.

All of the pieces are hidden inside the “dirt” paper plate. I slowly pulled each piece out as we talked about how seeds get planted, grow roots, sprout up, grow, and eventually flower. The families at garden storytime loved this one! And hey, preschool science!

—

Laura is hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

September 18, 2015 1 Comment Short URLFlannels

Families: Buses

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

families-buses

Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems*
The Little School Bus by Margery Cuyler
My Bus by Byron Barton*

Early Literacy Tip
Young children are often fascinated by vehicles. Reciting rhymes, reading books about vehicles together, and waving at them as they pass are all ways to extend this interest.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: “Yellow Bus” by Justin Roberts*

Featured Track: #4 Yellow Bus*

Flannelboard: Seals on the Bus*

Flannelboard: Maisy Drives the Bus*

Props: “Green Says Go”*

Props: “Stoplight Sorting”*

Repeating Extension Activities

I had lots of back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I starred which ones I used in this storytime:

  • Dance Your Fingers Up
  • Hands Are Clapping
  • Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
  • Itsy Bitsy Spider
  • Mister Sun
  • Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
  • Thumbkin
  • Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star*
  • Wheels on the Bus

How It Went

A fabulous crowd was at this storytime! One of my new favorite themes since everything worked excellently. I was surprised that the kids knew Maisy and went wild for her but didn’t know the names of her friends. The kids all “climbed on” the Yellow Bus with me during our song and we had a conga line around the room. And they loved the props and I was glad to reuse them from my toddler cars theme!

September 17, 2015 0 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

All About Animals!

The Plan

Items used in storytime are starred; items with multiple stars indicate use in multiple storytimes.

Books

allaboutanimals

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell**
Nose to Toes, You Are Yummy by Tim Harrington**
Tanka Tanka Skunk by Steve Webb**
Who Is Driving? by Leo Timmers**

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: Brown Bear*

Flannelboard: Color Zoo**

Props: Where Is Animal?**

How It Went

Site Information
At this location, I do combined classrooms. For this first visit of the summer, I saw the preschool classrooms combined (two classes) and the pre-k classrooms combined (two classes).

Topic
This particular facility selects themes for me to do ahead of time to tie into their curriculum.

What a great theme to work with! I chose some of my very favorite animal books and included some new titles as well. For the first group, they had the best time guessing along with “Who Is Driving?” which I’ve mostly use in a transporation theme before. The second group loved clapping along with “Tanka Tanka Skunk” and I never get tired of using that book. Both groups were enamoured with “Color Zoo” and really enjoyed singing for the “Where Is Animal?” props. (The school uses “Thumbkin” often, so the kids chimed in perfectly!)

September 16, 2015 0 Comments Short URLOutreach Storytime

Discovery!: Play Dough

discovery

Our mission: to make three kinds of play dough in a forty-five minute session. These were our recipes:

1. Dirt Playdough
For each batch, use:
Equal parts flour, salt, and water
Add two spoonfuls of black tempura paint for color
Add coffee grounds for texture

2. Snow/Cloud Playdough
For each batch, use:
Equal parts cornstarch & shaving cream

3. Scented Playdough
For each batch, use:
1 cup of flour
3 TBSP of salt
2 TSP olive oil
1 TSP of cream of tartar
1 & 1/2 packets of sugar-free Crystal Light
1/3 cup of water

I still can’t believe that I made play dough with a class full of preschoolers and no one died! Here’s a few tips:

1. Since I don’t have twenty five sets of measuring spoons and cups, I improvised. I put a popsicle stick into a styrofoam cup. I measured where each measurement hit on the stick and marked it. The kids were told to measure to the “blue line” for a cup, the “red line” for 1/3, etc. That was excellent.

2. I had a tarp underneath the tables to prevent too much mess and disposable tablecloths on the tables.

3. Parents went to the sink to get the water instead of the kids doing that part and potentially spilling on the floor.

4. I had a set of purchased name-brand PlayDoh at the front of the room. I talked about how much it cost ($20) and that the supplies for 25 kids cost just about that for three types of homemade playdough.

5. The mess took FOREVER to clean up and I was so very blessed by my co-worker who pitched in for an hour of clean-up including vacuuming.

Overall, a fun and fantastic program. It teaches math skills (measuring), science (chemistry!), and it gives everyone a great take-home since I let them keep each dough they made!

September 14, 2015 0 Comments Short URLPreschool Storytime

Flannel Friday: Flower Finger Puppets & Planting a Rainbow

A labor of love that I made during Midwinter this past year: flower finger puppets!

You can find the pattern for these amazing puppets on Etsy at the Precious Patterns shop. (Link to the puppets here.)

I used this in my Garden storytime for families this spring. I sang “Ten Little Flowers”:

One little, two little, three little flowers
Four little, five little, six little flowers
Seven little, eight little, nine little flowers
Ten flowers growing tall!

For the puppets, I had them attached to my finger puppet gloves so I didn’t have to spend a lot of my time putting all ten finger puppets on while my families waited to sing with me.

And a bonus second flannel today, inspired by Library Village’s “Planting a Rainbow”!

I used this in the same storytime — gardens with my famliies. I used these pieces on the flannelboard as I told the story. I didn’t make bulbs or seed packets or anything like that and just counted on the “wow” factor of the flowers to be enough. You also could read the book up until the flowers start to grow and then use the flowers on the board.

As for a template, I just made photocopies of the book.

The kids LOVED these pieces and I had several compliments from caregivers as well. I did back them with black felt to give them more stability since I knew the kids would want to play with them. And play they did!

—
Kathryn is hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

September 11, 2015 10 Comments Short URLFlannels

Older Entries