Clothes!

Ack! This storytime post got lost in my queue — this was weeks and weeks ago at this point!

I started off storytime with “Ella Sarah Gets Dressed” by Margaret Chodos-Irvine.

This is a super cute book about a little girl who has made up her mind on exactly what she will be wearing! Every family member tries to suggest a more reserved outfit, but Ella Sarah will not yield! This one elicited a lot of laughter from parents, and I prompted the kids several times, “Do you like Ella Sarah’s outfit?” and one little girl said, “It’s the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.” Clearly a winner with both!

Next up, I read “New Socks” by Bob Shea.

While this is a wonderful book, and I am totally in love with it — I’m not sure that the kids really knew what was going on. I think that this book would work much better as a one-on-one book instead of a group read. But that’s storytime! You learn as you go sometimes.

After our first two books, I whipped out my flannelboard of “Froggy Gets Dressed.” Instant hit, folks! Hysterics all around when everyone realized that Froggy forgot his underwear. And I had one little boy ask his mom if he remembered his underwear that morning. Thankfully, he did!

A quick action rhyme from my childhood:

Action Rhyme: “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”
One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, shut the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight
Nine, ten, begin again // that’s the end!
Credit: Childhood

And then it was on to “Too Purpley” by Jean Reidy.

I used this book in “Purple” storytime earlier this year, but had to use it again for this storytime! There’s tons of different kinds of problems with this little girl’s clothes. This storytime session’s favorite page was the page with lots of tags — apparently I have a lot of kids who hate tags, and a lot of parents who wanted to point that out!

One of my favorite activities this week was this action rhyme:

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
Then sit back down right on the ground!
(Additional colors: blue, black, brown, purple, pink, white)
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

The kids were REALLY good at playing this one — they were very careful to examine all their pieces of clothing and their shoes before standing up. Afterwards, we read “Bear Gets Dressed” by Harriet Ziefert.

This is a great lift-the-flap book that tells the weather forecast and then invites the reader to guess what kind of clothes Bear will need to wear. The kids were very enthusiastic shouting out answers to the book’s questions. Since we just finished talking about the weather — we sang a very appropriate weather song:

Song: “I’m Going to Take a Sweater” (Tune: Jolly Good Fellow)
I’m going to take a sweater, a sweater, a sweater
I’m going to take a sweater when I go out today
When I go out today, when I go out today
I’m going to take a sweater when I go out today
(Additional: Umbrella, hat, raincoat, etc.)
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then followed it up with a VERY successful action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “Old Shoes, New Shoes”
Old shoes, new shoes,
(Child) is wearing (description) shoes
One, two, three four,
Now I stomp them on the floor!
Credit: Preschool Education

I am going to repeat this one as often as I can. The kids really enjoyed stomping on the floor, and I had some very creative descriptions during this one. My favorite was “shoes shoes.”

The last book for the day was “Polly’s Pink Pajamas” by Vivian French.

This book was a big hit because when I pulled it out I had a little girl proclaim that it was her favorite book! Well, you know that when kids endorse something, everyone is immediately interested in it. It was a great way to end the program.

Afterward, it was time for our craft!

I got this idea from the Best Kids Book Site. My teens cut out the clothes and the kids colored and strung them on the yarn clothesline. I thought this was a great idea and that the kids would really be able to be creative with their clothes. I had several kids who colored the clothes they were wearing that day!

June 6, 2011 10 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

Flannel Friday: Five Little Owls

This Flannel Friday idea comes from Leah at Sunflower Storytime. She posted this a really long time ago, and I rediscovered it in my Flannelboard idea folder and turned it into a felt version.

Leah has the template up on her website, and I highly recommend you get it! Also, here’s her rhyme:

Five hoot owls sitting in a tree
One flew away! How many do you see?
One, two, three, four.

Four hoot owls sitting in a tree
One flew away! How many do you see?
One, two, three.

Three hoot owls…etc.

I am in love with this flannel, but will have to wait until the fall to use it!

June 3, 2011 24 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

Pigs!

Last week was the last week of regular storytime! I’m now on a three-week break until our summer session starts. I am using the time to prepare the whole eight weeks of storytimes, as well as get the summer reading program launched.

But enough of that, this week’s theme was pigs — my favorite barnyard animal!

First book up, “Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed?” by Barney Saltzberg.

The book had the kids laughing pretty hard at all the silly ways Cornelius tries to get ready for bed! I think their favorite page spread was when he fed cookies to his fish. This book always has the moms awww-ing at the end of the book when Cornelius needs his hug before bed.

I used one of our purchased flannelboards to tell “The Three Little Pigs.” I was mildly worried that the kids would be freaked about the wolf, so I made him less scary and didn’t deepen my voice or anything. Also, our set ends with the wolf getting burned in the chimney pot and he runs away. The kids were HYSTERICAL at this point. I did not need to worry, obviously.

Next up, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” by Laura Numeroff.

I know I say this a lot, but there are reasons why some books are classics — they just work in storytime. And this series is one of them.

Then, we did a sing-a-long of “Old MacDonald” with my Manhattan Toy finger puppets. The kids always love a good puppet show, even if it’s small!

Time for another series book with “Little Oink” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Another series that I think is just amazing to use in storytime. I just wish that the books were bigger!

After, it was time for a counting rhyme!

Fingerplay: “Five Little Piggies”
“It’s time for my piggies to go to bed,” the great big mother piggy said.
“So I will count them first to see if all my piggies came back to me.
One little piggy, two little piggies, three little piggies dear
Four little piggies, five little piggies, — yes, they’re all here!”
Credit: Preschool Rainbow

And then I got to use my new flannelboard:

Flannelboard: Five Clean and Squeaky Pigs
Five pigs so squeaky clean
Cleanest that you’ve ever seen
Wanted to outside and play (IN THE MUD)
One jumped into the mud
Landed with a great big thud
Then there were four clean squeaky pigs (Oink, oink!)
Credit: Mel’s Desk / Miss Mary Liberry

The next book was “Pepo and Lolo Are Friends” by Ana Martín Larrañaga.

This is a great story that I’ve used several times before in storytime. I love that it is so simple, and brightly colored, and that the kids really respond to the storyline.

Then it was on to “Who Said Coo?” by Deborah Ruddell.

This was a first time using this book for me! I read it several years ago, and we purchased it for our in-house storytime collection. This is the first storytime that I pulled it out for — and the kids loved it! Animal noises are the most popular participation aspect for my kids.

Then it was on to my favorite fingerplay of the day:

Fingerplay: “Two Mother Pigs”
Two mother pigs lived in a pen (show thumbs)
Each had four babies, and that made ten (show fingers & thumbs)
These four babies were black as night (thumb in palm, wiggle fingers)
These four babies were black and white (switch hands, repeat)
But all eight babies loved to play
And they rolled and rolled in the mud all day (roll hands)
At night, with their mother, they curled up in a heap (clasp hands)
And squealed and squealed till they fell fast asleep.
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

And then we ended storytime with a rousing chorus of “This Little Piggy.”

Then, it was on to the craft portion!

Dirty pigs! I thought I found this in a Snapshot Day picture, but after seriously going through all the pictures tagged on Flickr, I couldn’t find it again. Sorry! My pig template came KidsSoup though.

June 2, 2011 7 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Up and Down!

This was my first week of opposite pairs with my daycare kids. I have four weeks of opposites planned, and then summer reading programming begins. Since I’ve got so much going on, I’ll be repeating storytimes for the first time ever. It’s looking like I will be doing two-three storytimes a week (Thursday mornings, Friday mornings, and maybe Friday afternoons).

Our first book for the day was “Up, Down, and Around” by Katherine Ayres.

We have this book in big book form, so the kids are always very involved because the book is so large. While I was reading this one, they caught on to the up, down, and around refrain, chiming in with me after I named the vegetable on the page.

Next, a book that is kind of pushing the theme limit, but that I love nonetheless: “Fish, Swish! Splash, Dash!” by Suse MacDonald.

Whenever I read this book, all the kids join in the counting with me and it’s such a great experience to read with the kids. I choose this book because at the end you flip the book upside down and begin again. We wound up flipping the book a total of four times before I called it quits!

Then it was on to a very successful fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Up the Hill”
Here goes a turtle up a hill, creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy (crawl up arm)
Here goes a rabbit up the hill, boing, boing, boing, boing (bounce up arm)
Here goes an elephant up the hill, thud, thud, thud, thud (clap up arm)
Here goes a snake up the hill, slither, slither, slither, slither (slither up arm)
Here comes a rock down the hill, boom, boom, boom, boom, CRASH! (bounce down, clap hands for crash)
Credit: Bright Spot — Brighton Memorial Library

And then it was time for our flannelboard: “Wheels on the Bus.” This is a set that we had from before I was even at the library! It’s a build-able flannelboard that you build as you go along in the song. By the end, you have a completed bus on the board. Obviously, I choose this flannel for the “people on the bus go up and down” part.

Our next book was “Up Above & Down Below” by Sue Redding.

I fell in love with this book after Inter-Library loaning it for this week’s storytime. What really captured me was that it showed a ton of different kinds of up and down. My favorite spread was the theater page. I am a Broadway geek after all.

Next up, was a traditional action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “Noble Duke of York”
The noble Duke of York, he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill & marched them down again
And when you’re up, you’re up, and when you’re down, you’re down
And when you’re only halfway up, you’re neither up nor down
Credit: Library School

I always forget how exhausting it is for me to do “Noble Duke” but that’s because I do it normal, slow, fast, and super fast to exhaust the kids. Afterwards, I sang “London Bridge” with the kids and was surprised that they knew the song. Thankfully, they sang with me and I was able to catch my breath.

Next, an “up” book with “I Love Planes” by Philemon Sturges.

This is a super easy book, but my kids are always really happy to have books that showcase items that they love — and living so close to O’Hare, we have a ton of plane lovers!

After that, we did another action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “Merry Go Round Ride”
Ride with me on the merry-go-round
Around, around, around, around
Up go the horses, up
Down go the horses, down
You ride a horse that’s white
I’ll ride a horse that’s brown
Up and down, up and down
Around, around, around, around
Credit: Perry Public Library

I just added in actions, up, down, twirling, and pointing to me/them. They really liked spinning! Then it was on to the last book of the day, “Subway” by Anastasia Suen.

Since we do live in a suburb of the city, I did have to explain that subways were trains that ran under the ground. Only one of the kids had been on the El in the city before. But as much as the kids love familiar books and objects, they also love unfamiliar transportation!

We played our traditional flannelboard game, “Can We Find?,” at the end of storytime and then sorted what we found into up (kite, balloon, bird) and down (car, cat, mouse).

And then it was on to the craft:

My teens cut out the butterflies, I folded and taped them to popsicle sticks to make the puppets. The kids got to make some beautiful colored butterflies and really loved making the wings go up and down! I got the craft from: Preschool Corner.

June 1, 2011 6 Comments Short URL, Outreach Storytime

Flannel Friday: Pretty Ladybugs

This is one that Mollie at Miss Mollie’s Storytime Fun did during one of the first weeks of Flannel Friday. I immediately bookmarked it because I’ve got a counting storytime coming up this summer, where this will be perfect!

For the ladybug, I just blew up Mollie’s picture and used that as a straight template. And for the numbers, I used our Ellison die-cut machine for the first time with felt! It worked pretty good as far as I’m concerned. The only number I had to correct out of the machine was the six. (Also, our Ellison is pretty old — it’s the LetterMachine XL. I don’t know how cutting felt would work on any other Ellison so I wanted to make sure you knew which one I had.)

Here’s the rhyme from Mollie:

“Pretty Ladybug” (Sung to: “The Muffin Man”)
Ladybug has 1 black spot,
1 black spot, 1 black spot;
Ladybug has 1 black spot,
Pretty ladybug!
Continue until there are 6 spots.
— Which she got from PreschoolEducation.com

See you guys next week for another #flannelfriday!

May 27, 2011 10 Comments Short URLFlannels

Spring Animals!

I was originally supposed to be reading “spring” stories this storytime, but at the last minute, I decided I didn’t want to read any of the books I had pulled. Our craft was flexible enough that it let me change to “spring animals.” I quickly pulled new books (mostly from our in-house collection), and found rhymes in less than an hour.

I am so glad I changed the theme — this was a WONDERFUL storytime where everyone behaved like angels, and it was a great day for participation, too.

I started off storytime with “Mouse’s First Spring” by Lauren Thompson.

While this is a great book for spring, I like it even better for spring animals! Mouse and Momma go on a walk, with Momma answering Mouse’s questions about animals they meet. My kids really liked the guessing game aspect of this book, and were very happy to shout answers to clues.

I had this prepped for bug storytime, and it definitely worked for this theme too:

Action Rhyme: “Bumblebee, Bumblebee”
Bumblebee, bumblebee
Landing on my nose
Bumblebee, bumblebee,
Now he’s on my toes
On my arms, on my legs,
On my elbows!
Bumblebee, bumblebee,
He lands and then he goes!
Credit: Mrs. Jones – Insects

Then it was time for another animal who likes to hide — I read “Where is Tippy Toes?” by Betsy Lewin.

My group was so caught up in this story, and they loved the cut-aways in the page pieces. I was very proud when one of the kids guessed a bed at the end of the book.

Next up, I sang-read “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” by Jane Cabrera.

I love that this book gives the opportunity for parents to join in with me. Nearly everyone sang, and it really encouraged the kids to go ahead and sing, too. Also, the cute little twist of a baby at the end of the song always gets a good crowd laugh.

After, I launched into “Baa Baa Black Sheep” with my popsicle stick props, and everyone kept singing with me! YAY.

And then it was time for a fingerplay to introduce the next animal we were going to read about. I’ve used this three different times this spring:

Fingerplay: “Here Is a Bunny”
Here is a bunny with ears so funny
And here is his home in the ground
When a noise he hears, he pricks up his ears
And he jumps to his home in the ground

And then, I read “Wee Little Bunny” by Lauren Thompson.

Thompson’s books are perfect for storytime, all of them. I normally don’t use an author twice in storytime, but I cannot help but be in love with all of Lauren Thompson’s books. You’re lucky that I didn’t use “Little Quack” too.

Instead of reading “Little Quack” for ducks, I did the classic “Five Little Ducks” song, with flannelboard pieces I made about a year ago now. A lot of my kids caught on, and my parents too, and wound up singing along with me.

Next up, I brought out “Charlie Chick” by Nick Denchfield.

Do you want a surefire way to have every kid laughing their head off at the end of storytime? Bring out “Charlie Chick.” Sarah brought this book to my attention a long time ago, and I immediately ordered a used copy from Amazon. This is a GREAT pop-up book, and I cannot wait to use this book again. And I’m sure that my kids will be thrilled to see it again as well.

Our craft was from an Oriental Trading kit, and was a huge success.

Such a positive storytime, I’m so glad I switched my theme!

May 25, 2011 2 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Purple!

Let me just say for the record that purple is the HARDEST color to find books about! There’s tons of food that’s purple (plums, jelly, jam) but no books for preschoolers about that food. Someone please write a book about jelly and grapes, please!

With that being said, I did manage to find some books for this storytime, and I have to say that the books were received with great joy and happiness on behalf of my preschoolers. Previous color storytimes can be found here: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.

First up, this is a book I found in my library’s collection, “Lunchtime for a Purple Snake” by Harriet Ziefert.

This book is very similar to Tomie dePaola’s “The Art Lesson,” which is one of my favorite books from being a child. A young girl paints with her grandfather. Her purple streak across the page turns into a snake, and they decorate the page with objects for their snake. The kids were really involved in this story!

Next up, I read “Gladys Goes Out to Lunch” by Derek Anderson.

At library school, someone used this during our storytime week and for whatever reason the book stuck with me. When I was trying to think of purple books, I remembered that Gladys was a purple gorilla, and grabbed the book off of the shelves. The kids were pretty horrified that a gorilla had escaped from the zoo. They kept saying, “She shouldn’t be out, Miss Katie!” during the reading. But when it was revealed that she was looking for bananas, lots of giggles ensued. And then everyone got a chance to be a monkey!

Action Rhyme: “Little Monkeys Swinging In the Tree”
Little monkeys swinging in the tree
All hold hands and swing with me
Swing up high and swing down low
Swing in the tree, now don’t let go!
Swing, swing like I do
Swing like the monkeys in the zoo
Credit: Step By Step — Rainforest Theme

Next up, a super short book, “Too Purpley” by Jean Reidy.

This book is about a little girl who doesn’t want to wear most of what’s in her closet. Every outfit she tries on has something wrong with it. This got a lot of laughs, especially during the polka-dot page. Afterwards, the kids and I did this song:

Action Song: “I’m Going to Take a Sweater” (Tune: Jolly Good Fellow)
I’m going to take a sweater, a sweater, a sweater
I’m going to take a sweater, when I go out today
When I go out today, when I go out today
I’m going to take a sweater, a sweater, a sweater
I’m going to take a sweater, when I go out today
(Additional Refrains: Umbrella, hat, raincoat, etc.)
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

I changed the words a bit from what’s originally on the BKBS, but I went with what felt natural singing to me. (Sometimes I find that there are too many syllables in the songs, and I get tripped up as a singer.) I acted out putting on the clothes we were singing about, and so did the kids.

And then I brought out my flannelboard of “Harold and the Purple Crayon.”

I was really shocked when one of the little boys said that he knew this story! Hooray!

The next book was “Chicken, Pig, Cow and the Purple Problem” by Ruth Ohi.

This book didn’t work out nearly as well as I had hoped. My kids were confused about the fact that chicken, pig, and cow are all clay animals that the girl made — so the whole book they kept reminding me that cows were not purple. I think this book is definitely a kindergarten and up book, and will save it for them.

However, singing “Old McDonald Had a Farm” with my Manhattan Toy puppets made everything better because my cow puppet is black and white, so that fixed their world.

And then it was on to the last book of the day, “Purple” by Sarah L. Schuette.

This is technically a non-fiction book, but it works for storytime because it’s told in rhymes and has bright pictures. I just skipped over the little information boxed and everything was fine. I choose it because I needed a book about grapes and jelly, and I’m glad it worked so well!

Then, a favorite song of mine from childhood:

Song: “Peanut Butter and Jelly”
First you take the peanuts and you crunch ‘em, you crunch ‘em
First you take the peanuts and you crunch ‘em, you crunch ‘em
For your peanut, peanut butter and jelly
Peanut, peanut butter and jelly
(Grapes/Squish ‘em; Bread/Spread it; Sandwich/Eat it)
Credit: Childhood

And then our craft!

I made up this craft, basically. I have a circle scrapbook punch, punched out some purple circles and we made grape bunches. Super simple, and the kids were so much more creative than me, as always!

May 23, 2011 10 Comments Short URL, Outreach Storytime

Flannel Friday Round-Up (5/20)

Welcome to Flannel Friday!

Hooray, we had a new participant this week! We had TWO new, amazing participants in Flannel Friday this week!

Andrea from Rovingfiddlehead Kidlit posted her first Flannel Friday: Five Little Rabbits. And I have to say, if those rabbits don’t melt your heart and inspire you to try sewing on your flannels, I don’t know what will!

And Anna from Future Librarian Superhero posted her first Flannel Friday: Hello, Robots. I am in love with all of the robots in this set, but pay special attention to Anna’s mop piece — to die for!

On to the rest of the participants:

Flannel: Five Little Rabbits
from Andrea at Rovingfiddlehead Kidlit

Flannel: Hello, Robots
from Anna at Future Librarian Superhero

Flannel: 5 Little Fire Trucks
from Anne at So Tomorrow

Flannel: Questions and Observations
from Bridget at What Is Bridget Reading?

Flannel: The Green Grew All Around
from Mary at Miss Mary Liberry

Flannel: 5 Strawberries
from Melissa at Mel’s Desk

Flannel: What Will I Wear?
from Mollie at Miss Mollie’s Storytime Fun

Flannel: I Took My Frog to the Library
from Nicole at Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime

Flannel: Where’s Spot?
From Sarah at Read Rabbit Read

Flannel: 10 Little Hot Dogs
from Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce

Flannel: 2 Red Apples
from Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes

And I posted my version of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” here.

Thanks for participating! Past Round Ups are here! If I missed you, please feel free to link to your post in the comments, and I will make sure to edit the post on my blog to include you. Next week, Sharon is hosting, so make sure to catch the round-up on Rain Makes Applesauce.

May 20, 2011 9 Comments Short URLFlannels

Flannel Friday: Harold and the Purple Crayon

[I am hosting Flannel Friday this week, so check back later today for the round-up post!]

Do you know how hard it is to plan a storytime around the color purple? It’s ridiculous! And to boot, my favorite book about purple — “Harold and the Purple Crayon” naturally — was a wee bit smaller than I remembered it. Of course, I was also smaller back then!

So I set to working on making it into a flannelboard.

I decided that the best way to do this was by trying to simulate the lines that Harold draws and to kind of kid-up the pieces so that they looked like they could be drawn with a crayon. (Also, it meant I didn’t have to be perfect since Harold was the one drawing!)

I started by taping down the clip art, painting around piece, waiting for the paint to dry, and cutting the piece out while making sure to leave a border of purple paint.

You can see just how gloppy I put on the paint in this picture:

A picture of one of the pieces of felt. I think I used about four sheets of white felt. I should have kept better track of that!

And my very messy hand after painting!

And finally….the finished set!

When I was planning for this flannel, I had a co-worker purchase felt by the yard at Joann’s so that I had a piece of white felt to cover the board. It made the story much more authentic than our normal red background.

I also took some liberties with the book. Harold’s hot air balloon become a regular balloon. I skipped having a cityscape and just told that part of the story. I cut his nine types of pie down to four, etc.

This was the best part of purple storytime (post coming Monday, I swear!), and I cannot wait to use it again!

If you want to try and make Harold, here’s my clip art file: Harold Clip Art. And if you don’t have access to the book, I can email you my sheet, so that I’m not breaking copyright on the blog. 😀

May 20, 2011 23 Comments Short URLFlannels

Blue!

Week five in my daycare storytime color themes — blue! (Previous themes: Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green.)

I opened up storytime with one of my absolute favorites: “Grumpy Bird” by Jeremy Tankard.

The kids were very quick to point out that Grumpy Bird is a crank! I love doing voices for this book. I use a light voice for all of the animals except for Grumpy Bird. For Grumpy, I put a hand on my hip and huff a sigh before saying his lines in a deep, cranky voice. My kids were very happy when Grumpy Bird mellowed out and “got happy” at the end of the book.

An easily modified fingerplay for our theme:

Fingerplay: “Two Little Bluebirds”
Two little bluebirds sat on a hill,
One named Jack and one named Jill.
Fly away, Jack; fly away, Jill,
Come back, Jack; come back, Jill.
Credit: Childhood

And then it was on to “Hooray for Fish” by Lucy Cousin.

Of course, we talked about the ocean being blue, but my kids let me know when other blue fish popped up in the book. This is such a successful storytime book.

Then, I got to use my “I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean” flannelboard for the first time since making it! Some of the kids were familiar with this book, and I’m always really happen when they get to experience a familiar story in a new way.

Then, I led the kids in an action rhyme to introduce our next blue object — a bunny!

Action Rhyme: “Little Bunny”
I saw a little bunny go hop, hop, hop
I told that little bunny to stop, stop, stop
He wiggled his ears and crinkled his nose
And wiggled, wiggled, wiggled right down to his toes.
Credit: Modified from Preschool Education Music & Songs

And then, I read “What’s the Matter, Bunny Blue?” by Nicola Smee.

The rhymes in this book make it a great read-aloud. I especially liked using this book for blue storytime because the rhymes are all based off the word “blue.” A great emphasis for the theme! Then, we did a fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Here is a Bunny”
Here is a bunny with ears so funny (hold up two fingers for ears)
And here is his hole in the ground (make a circle with the other hand)
At the first sound he hears, he pricks up his ears (extend two fingers)
And hops in the hole in the ground (fingers jump into the hole)
Credit: Early Literature

And then it was on to “Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle.

When my library had started its in-house storytime collection, we purchased this title and I am sad to say that it sat on the shelf for a full year before I grabbed it for blue storytime. This is a wonderful book with trucks, animals, and a good lesson for preschoolers. I’m so glad that I re-discovered it on our shelf.

Then, I used some prop sticks to sing this song:

Fingerplay: “Where Are Trucks?” (Thumbkin)
Where is pick-up truck? Where is pick-up truck?
Here I am. Here I am.
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you.
Drive away. Drive away.
(Tow truck, dump truck, moving truck, firetruck)

This kids really loved this activity! Never underestimate the allure of a familiar tune with new words!

Our last book for this week was “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles G. Shaw.

The refrain of this book was easily picked up by my kids, and as I turned the pages on our big book they eagerly guessed what shape the cloud was. And when we finished the book with the reveal that it had been a cloud the whole time, the kids and I talked about different cloud shapes.

We played our flannelboard, “Can We Find?” with blue objects hidden under the houses, and then I sang one last song to tie into our craft project for the day:

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five”
One, two, three, four, five, (hold up fingers one by one)
Once I caught a fish alive. (put hands together and wiggle like a fish)
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, (hold up fingers one by one)
Then I threw it back again. (make throwing motion)
Why did you let it go? (hold hands out asking why)
Because it bit my finger so. (shake hand, as if hurt)
Which finger did it bite? (hold hands out asking why)
This little finger on my right. (wiggle pinky finger)
Credit: Childhood

For craft this week, each child received a blue fish and was able to paste on different colored scales to their fish. A great hit!

May 18, 2011 2 Comments Short URL, Outreach Storytime

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