Preschool Story Time - Penguins!

I really couldn't wait to come home from work and blog about my day.  Today I had a penguin themed story  time that was off the charts.  To break it down, we have had a pretty horrible winter.  Today was the last work day before the anticipated snowmaggedon 2014 v.6.  I think every mom and child decided to come to story time worried that we would be snowed in forever.  The kids were as excited as if it were a holiday.  Not 'the big one' but maybe a lesser-but-still-exciting holiday.

Anyway, I definitely had too much material - which is always what I strive for, but here's what we actually did:

Before we started, I had them notice the color scheme of all of my books.  They were ALL blue, white, and black with only little bits of other colors.  This was an important discussion, because the theme remained throughout the day and into craft.

These best friends live on opposite ends of the Earth and couldn't be more different!  Good discussion on opposites, on simple facts like where polar bears and penguins live, and on the fact that it's ok to be opposites with someone but still be their friend.

To start a little more non-fiction chatter, I brought up this amazing book below.  It's a non-fiction that reads like a picture book.  I read it in my penguin story time last year (I used all new books this year), but brought it out to share a few facts - like the size of penguins (48 inches!!), how they huddle together in the cold, how the moms hunt for food while the dads care for the babies, and how the moms always come back with dinner.

I made these penguins for my rhyme I used, but also to demonstrate the mom-dad-baby dynamic of the emperor penguins.

See my little baby? 

Back to more black, white, and blue books! 

 Poor penguin is looking, looking, looking - for something that isn't white. That isn't black.  That isn't blue.  Will she find something else?

After halftime, we settled down with a rhyme, and later a little singing.

Here's the rhyme to go with the felt penguins:
5 little penguins as happy as could be, standing on a rock, looking out to sea.
Crash went the waves, oh, what a din!  Said the first little penguin, "shall we all jump in?"
Said the second little penguin, "the water is like ice!"  Said the third little penguin, "that's not so nice."
Said the fourth little penguin, "lets bask in the sun."  Said the fifth little pengiun, "hey that's no fun!"
So the five little penguins took a leap and a dive, and splashed into the water, 1,2,3,4,5.
Three seconds later, out they all popped, and stood once again on top of that big rock.

Not sure whom to credit since it was on a card with the former set of penguins (I borrowed them from my old library and made my own set), but the poem is definitely not mine.  I did have a rock I made by cutting gray felt irregularly.  The kids liked the rock and played with the entire set after story time.

I LOVE this story of friendship!  I knew it would work really well in our community and it did.  Lots of smiles and 'aawww's from the parents.

What would happen if penguins got a hold of a tourist's camera in the zoo!  They would take tons of pictures of course!  A funny surprise ending enchanted the kids.


Here's my craft.  We used back, white, and blue, just like the books.  For the kids, they got blue construction paper and not this computer paper because white crayon shows up SO MUCH better on construction paper!  Definitely a 'note to self' for next time.

BUT the 'hit' of the day was  after story time.  These little intellectuals spent as much time with me AFTER story time as we spent IN story time.  Some played with my felt penguins, some explored my books, especially the pop up books I brought in, some wanted me to play ukulele more, and some just wanted to talk about penguins.  I was stunned that I was cleaned out of my parent newsletters, and by how long everyone stayed after to talk.  This is what story time means to me.  It's the connections with the families that makes days like these so special. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!