There comes a time in every librarian's summertime themes when the topic of fireflies comes up. I love this theme because fireflies are fascinating! This was one of those story times where the craft was easy to find, the finger plays and songs were easy to find, but I struggled a little to find books I liked. Here's what we did:
This book was recommended by a friend of mine who's son deemed a favorite. It is a darling old (circa 1945) book about a little bug with no name who discovers what is special about him with the help of good friends. It is a LONG book for preschool, but I did the right thing by reading it FIRST and letting the room know that it was a little longer than usual, but a very sweet story. I even got a little gentle applause after reading it!
A good counting book, the children catch fireflies one by one and put them in a jar. Then, of course, they set them free. The kids caught on quickly and liked the counting. This opened a discussion about catching bugs, looking at them for a while, but making sure to set them free when you're done. I noted the nodding moms in the room. I had found a little rhyme to accompany this book too thanks to http://ladybugbook.tripod.com/id28.html
Catching Bugs
Sung to: "Mary had a little lamb"
Catch some bugs
and look at them,
Watch them,
feed them.
Catch some bugs
and look at them,
Then please let them go.
and look at them,
Watch them,
feed them.
Catch some bugs
and look at them,
Then please let them go.
The kids were still excited after HALFTIME (see my tab above for more), so I threw in another song which they really enjoyed thanks to http://www.thelearningpad.net/id26.html :
Insect Song
Tune: The Wheels on the Bus
The firefly at night goes blink, blink, blink,
Blink, blink, blink. . blink, blink, blink.
The firefly at night goes blink, blink, blink,
All around the town!
(Other Verses)
The bees in the flowers go buzz, buzz, buzz...
The ants in the grass go march, march, march...
The crickets in the leaves go chirp, chirp, chirp...
The caterpillar in the field goes creep, creep, creep...
I did not choose a wild card book (the book that get's read before the
last book if the kids are REALLY into story time) because I just didn't
have that fourth book I loved. Instead, I pulled out a felt story of a Mother Goose Rhyme I had (Jack and Jill this time) so we could review this rhyme. I leave these felts up so the kids can explore them and retell the poems after story time ends. I also had a poetry book on hand with a firefly poem in it. I would tell you the book, but it got snatched up after story time!
Well, who doesn't love Eric Carle? This was a favorite because of the blinking fireflies in the back! I always choose my last book based on a certain criteria - shortest, loudest, funniest, or most participatory. This was the shortest one, but also allowed me to point out the books on display which went flying off the shelves. Warms my heart!!
I loved my craft this week! In summer the crafts are take-home because we just get too crowded, so I made kits with instructions to make this great firefly thanks to http://tippytoecrafts.blogspot.com/2012/06/fireflies-ii.html
And after our closing number, announcements, and hand stamping, we got to do one activity inspired by this clip art I spotted on Royalty Free Clipart www.picturesof.net/
Summer Story Times have extra challenges for sure, but this crowd seemed to really like this theme and sat very attentively throughout!
