Preschool Story Time - Sheep Shenanigans

I love books with sheep in them, and there are TONS!  Last year I did an entire theme of counting sheep - all books referring to sleeping and sheep.  Except for my last book, each of these books talk about wool and sweaters.  Keeping Every Child Ready to Read in mind, these books are all written in rhyme, and the last book reinforced the 'ee' sound and rhyming.  I explained to the parents that children can recognize rhyme before they can make a rhyme, so they should start with asking if something rhymes before they have the child create a rhyme.

The Plan-

I have a new opening rhyme I tried!  This rhyme is by an unknown author.  When I read this rhyme for the first time, I sang it in my head loosely to the tune of Merry Old Land of Oz (Wizard of Oz) and it stuck, so that's my tune.

Touch Your Nose
Touch your nose. Touch your chin. That's the way this game begins.
Touch your eyes. Touch your knees. Now pretend you're going to sneeze (A-choo!).
Touch your hair.  Touch one ear.  Touch your two red lips right here.
Touch your elbow where it ends.  That's the way this touch game ends.

Woolbur- Leslie Helakoski

Woolbur is a free spirited lamb who cannot follow the flock.  "But isn't it GREAT?" Woolbur tells his parents.  This book is longish for preschool story time, but the kids really loved the refrain. A comical way to look at wool and the process of making yarn.

The Great Sheep Shenanigans - Peter Bentley

Wolf has a plan to have lamb for dinner, but Red's Gran and Rambo the Ram have other ideas.  Anytime you can say the word 'poo' or 'stinky' in story time, the kids are going to like it!


Peppered in between the books were our nursery rhyme felts.  If you missed my Flannel Friday post, click here for more about my Nursery Rhyme Sheep
With this set, I was able to do Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Bo Peep, and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

I was really surprised that some of the kids didn't know Mary Had a Little Lamb!  Usually my group knows nursery rhymes but I either had shy ones or they just don't get these rhymes at home.  I guess the lesson is to not assume that nursery rhymes are old news for the preschool kids.

Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep - Teri Sloat

It's spring and time for the sheep to be shorn, but the sheep want their wool back!  This book cleverly explains the process from shearing through sweaters.  The naked sheep really distracted the kids, but this book is hysterical.

Sheep in a Jeep- Nancy Shaw

This is very short and sweet but reinforces rhyming, and our craft was based on this book!  I had two kids tell me that this book was too short.  I guess after the last three books, it is, but I like to end on a quick one.

My craft was based on Shannon's Book Nook Blog.  She did something very similar, but I used A to Z Teacher Stuff Tools to create the bottom line of the sheet.  I left out the 'ee' in both words so the preschoolers could write that in and practice that sound with their parent.  My craft has little detail because I do not want the children to copy me.

Overall SUCCESS!  The kids loved the theme and sat perfectly for all 4 stories.  We ran almost 10 minutes over but they still wanted more.  Now I am ready to launch into our fall, then holiday story times.  It's going to be a busy fall!

Flannel Friday - Apples, Apples, and More APPLES!

In a Flannel Friday BONUS for my Flannel Friday Peeps, I have not one,  but THREE Apple Flannel Board Posts for you.  I am going to have a very busy Apple Story Time next week, but I couldn't resist making a song/finger play, a story, and an activity.

First up, my own take on the song Peanut Butter and Jelly (you know, "Peanut, Peanut Butter, Jelly").  A chant I saw on this site gave me the idea for the chant, but I decided to set it to music and change it up for simplicity.  The felt pieces below coordinate with the song's verses, and the hand motions I do match as well (fairly self explanatory).  For the Chorus, clap out the rhythm and rub your tummy on the word Yum.:

Making Applesauce (by Miss Sue)

Making some applesauce, YUM! 
Making some applesauce, YUM!

First you take an apple and you peel it, you peel it.
First you take an apple and you peel it, you peel it.
(Chorus)
Then you take the apples an you chop 'em, you chop 'em.
Then you take the apples an you chop 'em, you chop 'em.
(Chorus)
Next you add some sugar and you cook 'em, you cook 'em.
Next you add some sugar and you cook 'em, you cook 'em.
(Chorus)
Then you take a masher and you smash 'em, you smash 'em.
Then you take a masher and you smash 'em, you smash 'em.
(Chorus)
Coooool it down! yeah....Coooool it down!
Then you take a spoon and you eat it, you eat it.
Then you take a spoon and you eat it, you eat it.
(Chorus)

The picture isn't great at showing the 'chopped apples' on the upper right or the apple being peeled on the upper left.  The cream colored felt appears lighter in the photo than is in person.  The artwork is all my own for this flannel board. Feel free to use this for your story times but please credit this blog.

Next up is a flannel board based on Katya Arnold's retelling of the Russian Folk tale, That Apple is Mine!

 

Another book where I love the story, but the illustrations won't translate well to story time, in my opinion.  This will be shared strictly off book as a flannel board story.

 

If you do not know they story, a rabbit spots an apple up high in the tree. Try as he may, he can't reach it, so he asks Crow to knock it down for him.  Crow decides instead to pluck the apple from the tree for himself, but accidentally drops it onto hedgehog.  Hedgehog thinks 'what luck' and runs away with the apple. All three creatures declare the apple is theirs!  A large argument ensues.  "But that apple is MINE!"

Their bickering wakes bear, who tries to sort out the disagreement.  He suggests cutting the apple and sharing it.  But there is one piece left!  Hedgehog declares the last piece should be for bear, be cause he solved the problem.

 At the end, worm wriggles out from behind the stem to declare, "Hey, that apple was mine!"

The animals in my flannel board are original artwork by my daughter, Sarah.  The apple was made by making two apples with white centers, cut facing each other.  If you notice, two halves have 2 seeds and two have 3 seeds.  This is so I can match which sides go together, so the apple can fit back together like a puzzle.  As the story unfolds, a piece of apple can be 'cut' away and given to an animal, leaving the stem behind.  The worm can be placed quickly when the last piece is moved.

Last up is a bonus activity, Counting and Matching Apples. 

I have seen this activity on many websites but not quite in this form.  I used this image idea from StoryTime Katie combined with these images from Desert Blossom Learning to make this activity:

The plan is to use these apples as a matching game in the group along with counting.We will also make numbers in the air with our fingers as many children will not have experience writing numbers yet.  After story time, these apples will remain on the board for free exploration.  I usually stay by the flannel board after story time and interact with the children one-on-one while mom is chatting or siblings are crafting.  Some children prefer to have some quiet time with me while the craft tables are so busy and noisy.

Stay tuned for the story time next week, and the craft that goes along perfectly with this last felt activity!

Please feel free to comment or contact me with more information on any of these.  I had a little burst of energy when making my flannel board stories last month and can't wait to use them! 

Thanks to Bridget over at What is Bridget Reading? for hosting Flannel Friday this week!  Check out her awesome blog at: http://whatisbridgetreading.blogspot.com/

Baby Story Time - Noisy Animals!

Greetings from Baby Story Time land! I think my story time posts have been too wordy so let's jump right in!

Wake-up Rhyme: "Trot, Trot to Boston" (adapted from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time)
1) Trot, trot to Boston. Trot, trot to Lynn.
         (bounce baby)
    Watch out little baby, you might fall in!
         (lower baby between your knees)
2) Trot, trot to Denver. Trot, trot to Dover.
          (bounce baby)
    Watch out little baby, you might fall over!
          (tip baby to one side)
3) Trot, trot to Boston. Trot, trot to town.
          (bounce baby)
    Watch out little baby, you might fall down!
          (slide baby down your legs)

1st Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming

Denise Fleming is an Ohio author and a great one! The simple text, animal sounds, and bold illustrations made this a fun book to read!

Guessing Game: "Where's Goose?"We continued with the theme of Barnyard Banter, hunting for that silly goose.  Hint: She's behind the frog!
(p.s. Recognize those felt characters from a previous Flannel Friday post?)

Action Rhyme: "This Little Piggy" (check out this little story telling glove I used)
This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy cried "Wee, wee, wee," all the way home!

Action Song: "Tiny Tim" (Thanks, Dr. Jean! We sang this twice!)
Oh I had a little turtle.
     (cup hands)
His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim.
     (mimic swimming)
He drank up all the water.
     (ASL sign for drink)
He ate up all the soap.
     (ASL sign for eat)
And now he's sick in bed
     (lay head on hands - sleeping)
With a bubble in his throat!
     (point to your throat)
POP!
     (clap)

2nd Book: Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

I listened to her cd so I could sing this one.  It's really cute but didn't really hold the babies' attentions.  I wish her books came in a larger size!

Action Song: "Old MacDonald"
I used animal puppets while we sang! There was a cow, a dog, a pig, and a duck! You can find them here.

Baby Parade: "Walkin' Old Joe" (from the cd Songs for Wiggleworms - I LOVE this cd!)
We danced around our story time circle while we listened to this great song about a horse.  First he walks, then he gallops, then he moseys, and then he walks again.  Super cute and a lot of fun!

3rd Book: Where is My Baby? by Harriet Ziefert and Simms Taback

We are lucky enough to own a class set of this book! Every family got to follow along with their own copy, and every child got to turn the flaps! They loved it!

Rhythm Time with Shakers: "Six Little Ducks" (from the cd Sing Along with Bob #1)
We shook our shakers to this song - I forgot to grab the cd I needed so I just sang it.  Whoops!  Good thing I knew the words!

Next, we sang the ABCs, and then shook our shakers to find our various body parts - tummy, toes, etc.

We did our closing songs and rhyme and it was time to play!

How it went:
Another large group today - 16 babies!  After some discussion with my team, I think I am going to add a second session of Baby Story Time every week.  The large group doesn't bother me, but our space is very limited and I feel bad for the parents - it is so crowded!  If anyone divides their Baby Story Times into Walkers and Pre-walkers, I would love to hear about it!

See you next week!

Toddler Story Time - I See Shapes!

This week’s story time theme was shapes!  Because you could do a million things with this theme and they are toddlers, I stuck to the basics: squares, circles, triangles, and rectangles.  I tweaked my plan a few times to make sure it wasn’t too hard.  The final story time included a lot of repetition which is great for teaching a new concept.    

Books I read…

Lots of Dots By Craig Frazier

The little ones really enjoyed this book!  It has bright illustrations that were super fun to talk about.  This story helps to show that shapes are all around us. 

Bear in a Square By Stella Blackstone

I really liked this book when I discovered it on the shelves at the library.  But, I wasn’t sure how well it would work in story time because it is about finding different shapes within the illustrations.  I was happily surprised when the little ones became excited to come up and point at the shapes.  I will probably use books like this again because it is a great opportunity to work on taking turns! 

Mouse Shapes By Ellen Stoll Walsh 

A great story, but it didn’t hold my little audience’s attention.  I managed to get through it, but paraphrased a good chunk of the story. 

 BONUS BOOK!

Skippyjon Jones Shape Up By Judy Schachner

I like to occasionally gather up enough copies of a board book so that every little one can hold their own copy and follow along with me.  Putting books directly into the hands of children is definitely important for promoting early literacy skills.  I couldn’t find enough copies of any one shape book so I gathered up a couple copies of several shape books!  Skippyjon Jones Shape Up was great because it had simple sentences and introduced many different shapes.  Even though we weren’t all looking at the same book, it was great to see the parents interacting with their little one with which ever book they had.

How it went…

I started story time with my very own super cool shape people!  They helped us with the fingerplay, Where Is…?.  This fingerplay was a great way to introduce the shapes we would be talking about. Thanks Storytime Katie for the rhyme! 

 

Where is triangle?  Where is triangle?

Here I am.  Here I am.
How are you today, sir?  Very well, I thank you.
Run away.  Run away.
(I repeated this rhyme with rectangle, circle, and square) 

After reading Lots of Dots, we continued our love of things round with the action rhyme, Little, Bigger, Biggest.  It was originally about balls, but I changed it to circles.  Thanks again to Storytime Katie, this is an awesome rhyme for toddlers!
 
A little circle (make circle with finger and thumb)
A bigger circle, (make circle with two hands)
And a great big circle I see. (make a circle with arms)
Now help me count them,
One, two, three!  (repeat gestures for each size)

My shape people made another appearance during the song, Do You Know What Shape This Is?  It is to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  I changed the wording a bit, but it is from the Harris County Public Library.  I passed out shapes on craft sticks for everyone to wave around.  (They were the same as my shape people, only minus the face, arms, and legs.)  They were easy to make using shapes from Microsoft Word printed on cardstock and taped to craft sticks.
 
Do you know what shape this is?
Shape this is?  Shape this is?
Do you know what shape this is and do you have one too?
If you do, give it a shake, shake shake shake, shake shake shake.
If you do, give it a shake and shout “hooray for squares!”
(I repeated with the triangle, circle, and rectangle)
Now we know all our shapes, all our shapes, all our shapes
Now we know all our shapes, shake them and say “hooray!”  

This song didn't go exactly as planned.  Most didn't understand to only hold up their shape when it matched my shape.  They pretty much waved their shapes through the entire song.  But, I made it work by simply pointing to the little ones with the correct shape.

I played the song, Shapes! off the cd 150 Preschool Songs so we could continue using our shapes on a stick.  This is a really catchy tune about basic shapes!

Skipping quickly through the last book, I used the flannel board to tell The Shape Story.  You can watch the YouTube video from LittleStoryBug.com here.  It is very similar to the adventures the mice have in Mouse Shapes, so I didn't feel too bad about shortening the book. 

We finished storytime with the shape boxes.  What could be inside?  The little ones took turns pulling items out of the circle, triangle, square, and rectangle boxes.  When we were finished, I kept the boxes out for them to play with.  

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did learning all about shapes!  

Flannel Friday - Five Apples in a Basket

Fall is in the air and we are gearing up for new cooler weather story time themes!  It is just about time to put away the summer flannel stories and bring out new fall flannel sets!  To start us off right, I found the funniest apple rhyme and flannel set from Future Librarian Superhero via Falling Flannelboards.  As soon as I read it, I knew I needed to include this in a story time!  I am not sure if the little ones will completely understand it, but I am positive the moms will love it!  (And we can't forget about entertaining the moms once and awhile!)

Five Apples in a Basket

The first apple in the basket was bright and shiny red.

 The second apple in the basket said, “My, what a cozy bed!”

The third apple in the basket said, “Make room for me you pair!”

The fourth apple in the basket said, “Please move over there!”

The fifth apple in the basket said, “Oh dear, oh me, oh my!  This basket looks like a pastry–I think we’re in a pie!”

 

And, just for fun, I added a crust to put on top of the apples at the end!

 

To keep it easy, I used clipart to help make the pie and apples. 

 

I can't wait to use this set in a couple weeks!

 

Flannel Friday - "Mommy, Carry Me Please!"

I love Jane Cabrera's books - her illustrations are just so sweet!  I humbly attempted to recreate some of them as flannel pieces, and I think they turned out pretty darn cute.  I will admit, however, that I spent WAY too much time on this set! So now I've got to get as much use out of them as I possibly can - I mean, you can use these animals a million different ways, right?

The book:

Mommy, Carry Me Please! by Jane Cabrera

The end result:

Mommy Hippo and Mommy Crocodile

 

 

Mommy Penguin and Mommy Lemur

 

 

Mommy Kangaroo and Mommy Tiger

 (due to a puffy paint explosion, Mrs. Kangaroo had to have emergency surgery on her left eye, but you can't really tell from this angle, can you?)

 

Mommy Monkey and Mommy Beaver

 

Mommy Koala and Mommy Spider

 

My photography skills are a little lacking, here, but I did include details such as eyelashes and all of my outlining was done with puffy paint.  I didn't make the babies or the human mother and child at the end because it was simply taking too long.  Maybe if I have some extra time I'll add them in later. 

 

I used this with toddlers and luckily had enough pieces for each child.  So each toddler got to put their animal up on the board when we read their page, to their great delight! 

 

I think these pieces could be used in other ways - such as when singing the song "Ten in the Bed!"  I hope you enjoy these felt pieces as much as I do - the lemur is by far my favorite! :)

Preschool Story Time - Spoon

Well this was one of those 'what was I thinking?' moments.  There are SO many books you can use for the theme of cooking or eating, I thought I would narrow it down.  I love ALL of Amy Rosenthal's books, especially Chopsticks, but cuts had to be made.  Other books considered were Spork by Kyo MacLear, and Stone Soup in any format.  The kids looked puzzled when I introduced this theme, but the moms looked at me as if to say "OK, let me see you pull THIS off."  It was just good fun before we got into all of the seasonal and holiday themes which take over from September-January.

The Plan:

 

Spoon by Amy K Rosenthal

This super cute book is one of several about cooking utensils.  Spoon is lamenting that his friends are all so super cool and there is nothing special about him.  He doesn't realize that his friends all see the specialness in Spoon and appreciate him for his abilities.  Many of the kids have read this one, many more of the mom's wanted to see more by Ms. Rosenthal.  Of course, I had everything on display!

Too Many Cooks by Margaret McNamara

Well, I was expecting everyone to shout RATATOUILLE!!  But no one did!  One of my favorite Pixar movies was just not known by the preschoolers.  But the text is rather short and the kids did get to count the rats so it made up for it.  The down side of this book is many of the cooking terms no one knew, and some were difficult to pronounce.  I opted not to read it in my later, quieter group.

Before HALFTIME (see my Preschool Story Time Tab for the additional parts of story time I do weekly) We did this Finger Play from The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Chants and Finger Plays (Silberg and Schiller):

Porridge is Bubbling

Porridge is bubbling, bubbling hot (make bubbles rising and popping with your hands)

Stir it round and round the pot (make one arm holding a pot and one arm stirring)

The bubbles plip (make pop with left hand)

The bubbles plop (make pop with right hand)

It's ready to eat all bubbling hot (rub your tummy)

Wake up baby, wake up soon (put hands up to mouth like calling for the baby)

We'll eat the porridge with a spoon (pretend to eat).

I also tried this rhyme to see if any parents or children knew it:

Peas Porridge Hot

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,

Peas porridge in the pot, nine days old.

Some like it hot, some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

Then we had our HALFTIME dance.

As a cool down to our dance, we did our flannel board which was brought to me by Miss Kristie's little preschooler and my special story timer, Daisy.  Miss Kristie let me borrow her flannels for Hey Diddle Diddle which she featured in a recent Flannel Friday (Click HERE to see more about this Flannel Story)

 

 

We review Mother Goose rhymes often in story time.  I try to do them once a month, but find many of them have been fitting in with my themes, so we have been doing them quite regularly!  Children like repetition and feel successful when they can follow along.  Also, this helps with early literacy because we slow the rhymes down so they can hear sentences broken down into smaller pieces, they hear rhythms, and learn rhyme.

"If you want to hear a story wiggle your ears....if you wanna hear a story wiggle your ears....!"  Back to the books!

 

 

Little Pea by Amy K Rosenthal

An audible GASP from a MOM on this one!  I guess it is a family favorite!  I love it too.  Little Pea loves her little pea life, except what she is forced to eat for dinner every night: CANDY!  In a quaint story that every child can relate to, Little Pea must clean her plate of candy before she can have dessert - spinach is her favorite!  

 

A Soup Opera by Jim Gill

A man in a restaurant is pained because he cannot eat his soup!  A Waiter, a Chef, a Policeman, the Mayor and the President all come to his aid in this Operetta.  This was a strange one!  I find this book hysterically funny, but it felt like the preschoolers didn't get it.  Jim Gill does a great job of narrating/performing this book, so I put many copies on display and encouraged the kids to check them out.  Even though the kids sat quietly through it (while I acted ridiculous through it!), ALL of the books were checked out.  Many of the moms hopped up to grab it, so I guess it went over better than I thought!

Check out this blog I found a little too late - a Flannel Friday post about this book with puppets! http://www.sotomorrowblog.com/2013/01/a-soup-opera-by-jim-gill-with-puppets.html

 

My Craft was based on Miss Kristie's Hey Diddle Diddle Flannels (pardon the pins!).  The kids adored this craft!  YAY!  I even got feedback from mom's saying their child played with their 'dish ran away with the spoon puppets'!!  I love it when that happens!

So in the end, this theme went over well.   Nothing compares to a rip-roaring animal theme, but its always fun to do a theme 'out of the box'...or in this case, out of the utensil drawer!