Fall Animals!

The Plan

Books

Acorns Everywhere! by Kevin Sherry
The Bear Who Shared by Catherine Rayner
In My Forest by Sara Gillingham & Lorena Siminovich
Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson
Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Extension Activities

Rhyme: “Boing Boing Squeak”
Boing, boing, squeak / Boing, boing, squeak
A bouncing mouse is in my house / He’s been there for a week
He came from out of nowhere / He quickly settled in
I’m thankful that he came alone / I heard he had a twin
He bounces in the kitchen / He bounces in the den
He bounces in the living room / Look, there he goes again
The mouse just keeps on bouncing / Every minute of the day
He bounce, bounce, bounces / But he does not bounce away
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Fingerplay: “This Little Squirrel”
This little squirrel said, “Let’s run and play!”
This little squirrel said, “Let’s hunt nuts today!”
This little squirrel said, “Yes, nuts are good.”
This little squirrel said, “Yes, my favorite food.”
This little squirrel said, “Come climb this tree.” (run fingers up other arm, quickly)
And crack these nuts: one, two, three! (clap hands three times)
Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Fingerplay: “Two Little Squirrels” (Two Little Blackbirds)

Song: “You Might See Some…” (Tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie?)
If you’re ever in the forest,
The forest, the forest,
If you’re ever in the forest,
You might see some deer
(Squirrels, mice, bears, whatever other animal you need to add in!)
Credit: Preschool Education

Flannelboard: “Ouch”

Craft

This was a craft kit from Oriental Trading. I fell in love with immediately, and was so happy that it was well received by my storytime kids! They are HUGE fans of foam sticker crafts.

How It Went

Thursday morning
You know those shy kids that you’re never really sure are enjoying storytime? Well, I have a pair of sisters who listen quietly, who do the motions for fingerplay and songs, and come regularly that almost never give a big smile. There are a few times they giggle or interact, but rarely do they smile. Well, when I brought out my goat puppet to “eat” all of the felt pieces off of Hedgehog, they lost it — laughing hysterically, hugging goat, kissing goat. It was a great moment and I think it overshadows everything that happened this week!

Friday morning
My daycare group had just done a unit on acorns and squirrels, so they really enjoyed “Acorns Everywhere!” And I got just the same amount of joy when goat came out to finish up “Ouch.” I walked him around after our flannel was done and gave the kids the chance to say hello to the furry friend. The reactions from both groups to goat makes me think I ought to get a storytime mascot.

November 7, 2011 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Flannel Friday: Two Little Blackbirds

I use the rhyme “Two Little Blackbirds” A LOT. I always thought that I looked silly just holding up my hands (I only have one blackbird puppet), but never thought to make a set of finger puppets until I saw this pin on Pinterest.

I freehanded this, just cutting it out of felt. It was a super easy one to make (I sewed during commercials!) and I will definitely be using this multiple times!

Anne has the round-up this week. Melissa started this. Anne also has the archive. And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.

November 4, 2011 6 Comments Short URLFlannels

Me!

The Plan

Books

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault
I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont
I’m Me! by Sara Sheridan
Incredible Me by Kathi Appelt
What’s Special About Me? by Kristina Evans

Extension Activities

Action Rhyme: “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” // “Pelo, Pecho, Piernas, Pies”
Credit: Childhood and High School Spanish Class

Action Rhyme: “Me, Complete”
I have ten little fingers and ten little toes
Two little arms and one little nose
One little mouth and two little ears
Two little eyes for smiles and tears
One little head and two little feet
One little chin and that’s me complete!
Credit: Everything Preschool

Chant: “All By Myself”
There are many things that I can do (All by myself!)
I can comb my hair and lace my shoe (All by myself!)
I can wash my hands and wash my face (All by myself!)
I can put my toys and blocks in place (All by myself!)
Credit: Songs and Rhymes (LAMP CHC)

Fingerplay: “Dance Your Fingers Up”
Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down
Dance your fingers to the side, dance them all around
Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on your head
Dance them on your tummy, and put them all to bed
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

Flannelboard: Me and My Body

Craft

We colored “Me” sticks with markers. This was a treat, as I tend to never put markers out in storytime (caps are scary choking hazards — and markers are a mess on clothing), but the markers were the only thing that colored on the wooden sticks well enough. So I pulled the caps ahead of time and had smocks out if anyone was nervous.

How It Went

Thursday morning
I had several new families in this morning at storytime, which either leads to wonderful group behavior or miserable group behavior. Thankfully, it was the first of the two — I had some great moms who were really interactive with their kids during the stories! This group’s favorite story was definitely, “I’m Me!”

Friday morning
“Incredible Me” disappeared between the two sessions (and was found later, don’t worry), so I had to make a last minute substitution with “What’s Special About Me, Mama?” I had looked over this book while planning this storytime and decided to skip it because of the minor religious reference at the end — however, I just edited it out verbally when I did for my daycare group. It wound up working beautifully. Their favorite activity, though, was our flannelboard for this week. The kids had a ton of fun correcting Miss Katie!

November 2, 2011 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Monsters!

Books

Go to Bed, Monster by Natasha Wing
If You’re a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley
Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Ten Little Beasties by Rebecca and Ed Emberley

Extension Activities

Song: “Five Little Monsters”
Five little monsters jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monsters jumping on the bed!”
Credit: Childhood (Adaptation)

Song: “Monster Pokey”
You put your claws in, you take your claws out
You put your claws in, and you shake them all about
You do the wild rumpus and you turn yourself about
That’s what it’s all about
(horns, tail, big feet, and hairy self)
Credit: Perry Public Library

Action Rhyme: “Monster Stomp”
If you want to be a monster, now’s your chance
‘Cause everybody’s doing the monster dance
You just stamp your feet, wave your arms around
Stretch ‘em up, stretch ‘em up,
Then put them on the ground
‘Cause you’re doing the monster stomp
That’s right! You’re doing the monster stomp
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Flannelboard: “Go Away Big Green Monster”

Craft

How It Went

This was an afternoon storytime, and I have to say that it was a much quieter storytime than I thought it would be. I had about fifteen kids; none of which really wanted to roar or monster around. They were attentive and definitely enjoyed listening to the stories that I was reading, but were not into the extension activities. After a minorly disastrous “Monster Pokey,” I decided to skip the “Monster Stomp.” The minute we hit the craft though, the kids were racing through the hats only to put them on and chase each other around the room, roaring. Go figure!

October 31, 2011 8 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

Flannel Friday: Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer

Inspired by Library Quine at Loons and Quines, I went ahead and made my own copy of Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer!

Rhyme:
Five little men in a flying saucer
Looked around the world one day
They looked left and looked right
But they didn’t like the sight
So one man flew away

Four little men in a flying saucer…count down.

Haven’t got a plan set in place to use this one, but I am a huge space geek — so I’m sure I’ll find a storytime for it.

Tracey has the round-up this week. Melissa started this. Anne has the archive. And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.

October 28, 2011 8 Comments Short URLFlannels

Numbers!

The Plan

Books

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Fish Swish Splash Dash by Suse MacDonald
Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
Ones and Twos by Marthe and Nell Jocelyn
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Jane Cabrera

Extension Activities

Fingerplay: “Five Fat Peas”
Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed (make a fist)
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest (pop out fingers, one by bone)
They grew and they grew and they did not stop, (raise hand in air)
Until one day the pop went POP! (clap)
Credit: Harris County Library

Song & Puppets: “Five Little Monkeys Swinging From the Tree”
Five little monkeys, swinging from the tree
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, “You can’t catch me! No, you can’t catch me!”
Along comes Mr. Crocodile, as quiet as can be
And snatched that monkey out of that tree
Credit: Childhood

Flannelboard: “Pretty Ladybug” (Tune: Muffin Man)
The ladybug has one black spot, one black spot, one black spot
The ladybug has one black spot, pretty ladybug
Credit: What Happens In Storytime

Action Song: “Ten In the Bed”
There were ten in the bed and the little one said, “Roll over, roll over”
So they all rolled over and one fell out!
(countdown)
Credit: Childhood

Craft

From an Oriental Trading kit — but this could easily be made without the kit! Both groups were thrilled with this craft; my parents were excited to explain how a clock worked to their kids.

How It Went

Thursday morning
This storytime was a pretty awesome one. I had a great bunch of kids who were ready to count with me! Their favorite book, by far, was “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.” (I personally love all the Jane Cabrera books — great way to use a book, but also encourage interaction — I sing them aloud and get a lot of parents to join in.) I also used my new finger puppets for “Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree” and the kids just freaked out with joy.

Friday morning
I got a similar reaction from my Friday morning group about the finger puppets! After storytime was all over, I let them come up for some puppet pats and kisses (puppets kissing them, not them kissing puppets!). Most of the kids poked their fingers directly into crocodile’s mouth and snatched them away before he could catch them. This group had a great time with “Dog’s Colorful Day” and I think it might have been the first time I’ve used an Emma Dodd Dog book with them.

October 26, 2011 6 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

ALSC: To Theme Or Not to Theme?

newalscblog

Getting a bit philosophical on the ALSC blog today — I’m asking about storytime themes and whether or not you do them still. Visit the original post and feel free to sound off!

October 15, 2011 0 Comments Short URLALSC Post

Flannel Friday: Me and My Body

I was in a horrible pinch this past week for storytime. I had my theme — “Me” — and no flannelboard for it! I reached out to Twitter, got a TON of great suggestions (thank you) and went home, armed with a couple of flannels to make before bed. And lo and behold, I fell asleep before the end of “America’s Next Top Model.”

Which led me to create this absolute last minute flannelboard…twenty minutes before storytime:

The laminated tags have the body parts in English, Spanish, and Polish — to the best of my ability and with help from Google Translate.

Sometimes things work out for the best though! This was a HUGE success. I moved the signs around and the kids “corrected” me by pointing to their own bodies. Both groups (Thursday and Friday mornings) were so happy with this flannel, even if I think it looks rushed and messy.

October 14, 2011 7 Comments Short URLFlannels

Night and Day!

[From my daycare storytime set last spring, I discovered a few that I had never transferred from write-ups to the blog. Previous entries in the Opposites series are here: Stop & Go and Up & Down and Loud & Quiet.]

I decided to do this storytime as almost a “day” block and a “night” block of activities. Naturally, we started with greeting the morning with “Hello, Day!” by Anita Lobel.

Animal noises are a wonderful way to start off storytime! The kids really participated with this book, eagerly repeating the animal noises after I read the page. Then, we stood up to greet the day ourselves with a song:

Action Song: “Mister Sun”
Oh, mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, please shine down on me
Oh, mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, hiding behind a tree
These little children are asking you to please come out so we can play with you
Oh, mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, please shine down on me
Credit: Childhood

Then we read the book that I was dying to read, hoping that they would love it as much as I do: “Yes Day!” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

This is a fun, imaginative story about a little boy who has a day where every question that is asked is answered with a “yes!” This book is definitely for preschoolers, in my opinion. I don’t think that two-years and under would necessarily understand what was going on without a lengthy explanation. But my group was hugely amused by this one. Afterwards, I had a lot of questions about when we could have a yes day at the library!

Then it was time to switch to night with our flannelboard: “Ten Teddy Bears Sleeping in the Bed,” followed by an action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “Going to Bed”
This little child is going to bed (point to self)
Down on the pillow he lays his head (rest head on hands)
He wraps himself in covers tight (wrap hands across body)
And this is the way he sleeps all night (close eyes, nod head)
Morning comes, he opens his eyes (raise head, eyes open wide)
Off with a toss the covers fly (fling arms wide)
Soon he is up and dressed and awake (jump up)
Ready for fun and play all day (clap hands and turn in a circle)
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then it was time to read some sleep stories. I started with “A Book of Sleep” by Il Sung Na.

I have loved this book since it first came out and we purchased it for the library. It has such gorgeous illustrations! It was a natural fit with this theme. As was…”Kitten’s First Full Moon” by Kevin Henkes.

Another book that I adore. The kids kept reminding that Kitten was wrong — that the moon was NOT a bowl of milk. I loved that this book was a bit of an adventure book to remind the kids that nighttime isn’t always so quiet! Speaking of being not quiet…our next action song was hysterical:

Action Song: “Ten In the Bed”
There were ten in the bed and the little one said, “Roll over, roll over.”
So they all rolled over and one fell out! Boom! (count down until…)
There was one in the bed and the little one said, “All to myself!”
Credit: Childhood

The kids had a lot of fun rolling, clapping their hands, and counting down with me. But I saved the best for last: “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” by Eric Carle.

The pop-ups in this book are stunning! I love the full moon spread, the variety of how the pages open up. This is a great storytime book. (Though it doesn’t always fare well in the collection — lots of rips and tears!) I would have to say that this was definitely the favorite book of the day at storytime.

We ended storytime with another flannel of “Hey Diddle Diddle” and an extra closing song of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” before moving on to our craft:

We made “Night and Day” door hangers. The other (less interesting) side was a big sun and said “Day.” My daycare teachers were in love with this craft, and I was super proud because I came up with it myself!

October 12, 2011 5 Comments Short URL, Outreach Storytime

Farm!

The Plan

Books

Charlie the Chick by Nick Denchfield and Ant Parker
Clip-Clop! by Nicola Smee
Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack by Ivor Baddiel and Sophie Jubb
Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown
My Farm Friends by Windell Minor

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Open Up the Barn Door”
Open up the barn door, the spring goes “Boink.”
There’s a pig in the barn, saying, “Oink, oink, oink.”
Open up the barn door before the clock strikes two.
There’s a cow in the barn, saying, “Moo, moo, moo.”
Open up the barn door, it’s a sunny day.
There’s a horse in the barn, saying, “Neigh, neigh, neigh.”
Open up the barn door, singing, “Tra-la-la.”
There’s a sheep in the barn, saying, “Baa, baa, baa.”
Open up the barn door, while the sky is blue.
There’s a rooster in the barn, saying, “Cock-a-doodle-do!”
Open up the barn door and don’t get off the track.
There’s a duck in the barn, saying, “Quack, quack, quack.”
Credit: Addison Public Library

Flannelboard: “Ten Fluffy Chickens”

Action Rhyme: “Ten Galloping Horses”
Ten galloping horses came through the town
Five were white and five were brown
They galloped up and galloped down
Ten galloping horses came through town
Credit: Perry Public Library

Song: “Over in the Barnyard” (Tune: “Down By the Station”)
Over in the barnyard
Early in the morning
See the yellow chickies
Standing in a row
See the busy farmer
Giving them their breakfast
Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep
Off they go (remove finger puppet)
[Also, pink piggies and spotted cows]
Credit: Teach-nology Farm Songs

Craft

This was a kit from Oriental Trading. All of the animals were self-stick, so this was a GREAT choice for storytime!

How It Went

Thursday morning
My Thursday kids were bananas for the craft! I have never seen these kids more enthusiastic about sticking stickers on their barns. As for the stories, their favorite was “Charlie Chick” — that book steals the show every time! And they had a great time making animal noises during “Open Up the Barn Door.”

Friday morning
My Friday kids were absolute GOLD during this storytime. Participating in every story, energetically doing the fingerplays and action rhymes, and singing along loud and proud during the songs. I can honestly say that the kids really enjoyed each of the books that I choose and it was hard to pick their favorite. But…they are in a phase when they LOVE when I’m wrong, so “Cock-a-Doodle-Quack-Quack” probably got the biggest laughs!

October 10, 2011 7 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

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