Preschool Story Time - Corn!

The first week after back to school is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.  This was a tale of two story times, such a crazy week.  It must have been the full moon!

The Plan

 

Crash, Bang, Donkey!  Jill Newton

Farmer Gruff is trying to sleep but Donkey keeps making noise with his wild groove.  Can they find a good solution to the problem of too much noise?

 

The Little Scarecrow Boy - Margaret Wise Brown

A nostalgic favorite, the Scarecrow Boy wants to find his place in the family and learn the family business. 

Before Halftime, I just HAD to recreate and use these flannels from Mel's Desk: http://melissa.depperfamily.net/blog/?p=1516 (Thank you!)  This was a big hit with the kids!

I used her rhyme as well:

Five Little Kernels
Put up the five kernel shapes on the board, as spread out as you can. When you say POP! slap a white popcorn shape right on top of one of the kernels.
Five little kernels sizzling in the pot
All of a sudden, one went POP!
Four little kernels… etc.

Our usual HALFTIME SONG is PERFECT for this theme:  Greg and Steve's POPCORN from We All Live Together Volume 2.  I do this song every week, but it was great to finally have a theme that was related!  We act out all of the lyrics and jump up to shout POPCORN during the chorus.  Then SHAKE IT!  The kids always love this song and so do I!  I think it gets louder every week!

After our Halftime dance, I did a nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn
The sheeps in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
But where is the little boy who tends the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.
Will you wake him?  No not I.  For if I do, he sure would cry.

I used a professional set of flannel boards for this rhyme, which I left on the board for free exploration after story time, and I included the rhyme in the handouts (with pictures) for children to take home and practice reciting. With 'Every Child Ready to Read' in mind, I really like to use materials that are easy to learn and recite at home.  Nursery rhymes are perfect for early literacy skills.

 

Raccoons and Ripe Corn - Jim Arnosky 

Very short text, but give a ground level insight into what Raccoons do at night.  The pictures in this book are lovely.

 

Thump, Quack, Moo - Doreen Cronin

Farmer Brown is excited to design the corn maze!  But as usual his animals wacky antics might just change the outcome of his efforts.

Today's Craft was a popcorn box made from red construction paper which has straight lines for cutting practice, then tissue paper crumpled up to create the popcorn effect.  The kids really enjoyed this craft!

 

How it went:

This was a tough one!  I decided not to use The Scarecrow Boy because it is a little longer and the kids were rather squirrely at the first run of this story time.  On my second day, it was the opposite!  Everyone was so quiet that I wasn't sure if they were liking it, but I guess that is actually a good sign.

The craft and flannels were an absolute hit!  Even in all of the craziness, I had some new moms tell me they loved what I did.  As long as the kids and moms are having fun, it's ALL GOOD!