Preschoolers: Water

For more information on how I plan and prepare my preschool storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan; multiple stars indicate use for more than one class.

The Plan

Books

All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson*
Puddle by Hyewon Yum**
Rain by Linda Ashman
Wave by Suzy Lee**

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Wiggleworms Love You**

Featured Track: #18 Rain, Rain Go Away

Flannelboard: I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean**

Flannelboard: Ten Little Umbrellas & Ten Little Raindrops*

Prop: Slippery Fish*

Letter of the Day: W**

Repeating Extension Activities

• Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree*
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Icky Sticky Bubble Gum*
• Movement Cube

How It Went

Monday morning
My class was very quiet this morning. But I sure did pick the right theme for this week — we’ve got nothing but rain happening here in Illinois. I started with Puddle since I thought the kids might relate to being stuck inside at this point in our weather. It was a hit! They were really enthralled even though they all knew that there would be a puddle at some point because of the title. All the Water in the World was kind of a flop today, but it has worked for me in the past at storytime. They also really liked counting “Ten Little Umbrellas & Raindrops” with me!

Tuesday morning
This morning’s class was a bit disrupted. We had to switch classrooms because of election day in our state, so we were in a small group study room. It was a bit weird. But the kids came alive during “I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean” and I had one friend who had already read the book. I asked him to keep it a secret until the end, but I let him say the last line with me. But my favorite part of this class was when I became “too tired” to read our last book — Wave — and had the kids read it to me. They loved being able to tell me what was happening in the pictures. I had one friend who kept tracking the path of the seagulls and letting me know where they were. I had another friend who liked speaking for the little girl: “Don’t do that, ocean!” “::raspbery::” “Ahhhhh runnnnn!” It was a great experiment and I would definitely use a wordless book again in storytime!