Preschool Story Time - Pumpkin Patch

Themes abound in October.  This time I tackle pumpkins - fun stuff!  This was one where the kids absolutely surprised me with their interest level in some of the informational books over the picture books.

Delicious by Helen Cooper

All duck wants is pumpkin soup but there are none in the pumpkin patch!  How can his friends help him get a full belly?

Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

How could I possibly describe my love for this new book!  Ok, it's not a pumpkin but its a beautifully done story of a girl and her love for the squash she picked out at the farmer's market and named Berniece.  This opened a discussion about how squash and pumpkins were similar.  I even brought in my own butternut squash to show.  The kids were fascinated!  Our Squash chat filled up quite some time!

Today's finger play was 5 Little Pumpkins:
Five Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my!  It's getting late!"
The second one said "There's a frost in the air."
The third one said "But we don't care."
The fourth one said "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said "I'm ready for some fun!"
Then oooooo went the wind and OUT went the light
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

See my craft below that goes with this poem.

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

A funny rhyming story about an oversize pumpkin that escapes from it's field.  The family tries to corral it while dreaming of their granny's baked goods.

Pumpkin Circle by George Levinson

My non-fiction pick was really to show the life cycle of the pumpkin in pictures.  This book went over really well!  The kids enjoyed seeing what the pumpkins look like as a small tender plant all of the way through to pumpkin patch.  It was also a great Every Child Ready to Read lesson on informational books, and how they can be used to expand vocabulary and gain general knowledge.

Boo To You! by Lois Ehlert

I wasn't going to do this book but the kids all wanted one more.  It's short and has great illustrations, using pumpkin seeds and other gourds in the artwork so it was great for the topic. Maybe better for toddlers but we had just a few more minutes to share more great picture books!


My craft today was an extension to the "5 Little Pumpkins" finger play we did earlier.  The gate is just strips of brown paper.  The pumpkins were created by dipping pumpkin shaped sponges into orange paint and stamping them onto the paper.  Their finger print made the stem.  They could then color the rest of their picture if they chose.  I made little copies of the 5 little pumpkin poem for them to apply and recite at home.  I am not sure exactly where I found the poem, but it is from one of the many teacher resource websites online.

Because of limited space at the craft tables, and the messier craft this week, I decided to pull out duplos for free play, and I also made these "Mr. Pumpkin Head" felts for free exploration while the kids waited for a spot at the craft to open up.

Pumpkins don't make the most exciting theme, but the kids were really interested in learning about how they grow and what they look like before they see them at the store.  I will definitely be bringing in more 'show and tell' to story time.  YAY for non-fiction books!

Flannel Friday - Halloween Surprise!

Everyone at the library loves a great Halloween Story Time!  I have two flannel boards to share today!  To see the story time post that uses these flannel boards, click HERE.


I wrote a BRAND NEW POEM, and designed brand new felts based on my experience with my son at a young age, who was very afraid of anyone in costume.  I thought there may be other preschool children who also need a reminder that 'it's just a costume' at this time of year.

That's a Costume - by Miss Sue

Over there I see a ghost!  My, oh my, a scary ghost!!

Mom says "No, it’s all OK.  That’s a costume! Take it away-

And you’ll see it’s your good friend sheep!

Out on Halloween night!

When you get to the part of the poem that says "Take it away", you remove the costume to reveal the cute recognizable animal underneath!  I chose animals so the children could shout out what the animal is at the reveal (if it were felts of children, the kids wouldn't know what to say).  I hope to get the kids to chant along with me.

Repeat the poem 4 more times, inserting these characters and animals into the rhyme:

Bat - Cat
Vampire - Pig
Monster - Cow

Skeleton - Dog

Here are close ups of each of the animals and their costumes:

The artwork is my daughter, Sarah's.  She is a great partner.  My job is to try to make the felts look like her adorable drawings. (I tried!)  The poem is mine.  If you would like to use it, please do so for personal use only and credit this blog.

Also here are my BATS!  This month I'll doing a bat themed story time, but these could be used at Halloween too.  And they are so cute!  The bats are hand drawn from a coloring page.

The idea is to use these felts with this poem from Www.Naturallyeducational.com I think it would work really well sung to the tune of the Six Little Ducks!

5 Little Bats(to the tune of 6 little ducks)

5 little bats went on a flight
by the light of the moon one night
Mama bat said squeak squeak squeak swack!
but only 4 little bats came back.

Repeat for 4,3,2,1

No little bats went on a flight
by the light of the moon one night
Mama bat said squeak squeak squeak swack!
and 5 little bats came flying back!

Thanks for visiting our blog.  Also thanks to Kay for hosting this week's Flannel Friday!  You can find her blog at: Librarystorytimeabcs.blogspot.com

Baby Story Time - Welcome Fall!

Ok, so I jumped on the "Fall" bandwagon this week, not knowing how it would go over with the babies.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it!

Wake-Up Rhyme: "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" (from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time)
Way up high in the apple tree,
     (raise baby's arms over head)
Two little apples did I see.
     (hold up two fingers)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could,
     (jiggle baby in your lap)
And DOWN came the apples!
     (lower baby between legs)
YUM! They were good!
     (rub baby's tummy)

1st Book: Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson

 

I love all of Thompson's Mouse books! A little long for babies, but we made it through.  I love the last page where Mouse and Minka wear acorn crowns!

Action Song: "Five Green Apples"
(from Peter Allard's Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It! Volume 1)
*I sang this myself and shortened it from five to three green apples.

Farmer Brown had three green apples
Hanging on a tree.
Farmer Brown had three green apples
Hanging on a tree.
Then he plucked one apple
And he ate it hungrily!
Leaving two green apples a-hanging on a tree.
(Keep counting down until there are no apples left!)

I made this simple apple flannel board set a few years ago to go with this song:

I also taught the parents the ASL sign for apple:

(Picture found here)

Next, I passed out these little die-cut leaves, glued to popsicle sticks, which were a huge hit!  We waved them around while we did our next two activities.

Action Rhyme: "Fall" (I'm not sure where I found this originally, but you can find it here, along with some other great "fall" themed rhymes and songs.)  We did this rhyme twice!
Autumn winds begin to blow.
     (blow gently on baby's cheek)
Colored leaves fall fast and slow.
     (wiggle fingers downward)
Twirling, whirling all around.
     (roll hands)
Until, at last, they touch the ground.
     (lower baby between legs - they found this part hysterical!)

Action Song: "Leaves are Falling Down" (adapted from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time - her song is called "Raining is Falling Down")
Leaves are falling down,
Leaves are falling down,
Slowly, slowly,
Leaves are falling down.

2) Quickly, quickly
3) Quietly, quietly

2nd Book: Apples, Apples! by Salina Yoon

This lift-the-flap book has really nice illustrations, but is a little wordy.  I didn't read the text under each flap, but we still really enjoyed the book.

Rhythm Time: Shakers!
We shook our shakers to these next two activities:

Action Song: "Gray Squirrel" (from The Learning Station's cd Where is Thumbkin?)
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.
(2x)

Wrinkle up your funny nose,
Hold an acorn in your toes,
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.

There is a really long musical break in the middle of this song, but I used it to go around to each child with my little squirrel friend from Folkmanis! He was a hit!

Action Rhyme: "Clap Your Hands" (adapted from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time)
Clap your hands, 1, 2, 3.
Clap your hands just like me!

(Shake your shaker, roll your hands, stomp your feet, etc.)

3rd Book: Welcome Fall by Jill Ackerman

Little Scholastic has one of these books for each season, and they're really cute.  The text is short and sweet, and each page has some kind of texture to feel or flap to lift.

Next, it was time for our goodbye songs and "thank you" rhyme.  (See my Baby Story Time page for these.)  During playtime, I got the squirrel back out for any babies who wanted to see him again!

How it went:
This story time went much better than I expected!  I had a slightly smaller group today (only 15 babies) and they were just so attentive and relaxed.  I think they really liked the little leaves on a stick (which they were welcome to take home, chew on, etc.) as well as the squirrel puppet.  We had a fun day today!  Happy Fall!

Preschool Story Time - Hooray for Fall!

Right up there with themes like Back to School and Apples, September is the perfect time to create a Fall story time!  Without further adieu, here is the plan!

It's Fall by Linda Glaser

This one again was on the long side for story time.  It was easy to cut out a page here and there to move it along. Its written in rhyme and the pictures are lovely, it was just a little long for story time.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

Last year I made these felts to accompany the book.  Last year I also knew the book by heart so I didn't need the book to perform it!  This year I was rusty so we read the book and then we each pretended to sneeze and 'build' the scarecrow on the flannel board.  My felting technique has changed a little -this was all done with sharpies.  Now I use 3D paints, but I do love the shading that marker can provide too.

George Flies South by Simon James

Poor George hasn't learned how to fly, but it's time to migrate!  Oh dear what will happen when a gust of wind whisks George's nest right out of the tree?  The kids loved this one last year and this year as well.  There was a collective 'ahhh' at the end.

After halftime, I did this poem/fingerplay with the kids to get them ready for our craft:  Thanks to Debby Hill at preschoocrafts101.blogspot.com!

5 Little Acorns
Five little acorns, lying on the ground.
The first one said "Oh my I'm getting round!"
The second one said "I think I'm getting fat!"
The third one said "I have a nice hat!"
The fourth one said "There's a squirrel over there."
The fifth one said "But I don't care!"
Down came the squirrel and swept them all away,
up to his nest for a cold winter's day.

And then we talked about squirrels and nuts and how busy squirrels are this time of year.  They loved telling me about the gatherers in their yard!  Back to the stories!

Fall is Not Easy - Marty Kelley

This book has been immortalized in felt by MANY of my fellow bloggers.  Because my library doesn't own a copy of this book, I decided to make my own felt set so I could recite the poem.  The kids and parents loved this book and all wanted to check out a copy!  I wish this was one I had multiple copies to share.    Shout out to Melissa at Mel's Desk since I most closely copied her felt set.  I added grass/snow/leaves for the seasons.

Nuts by Paula Gerritsen

Little mouse has to cross the farm to get to her favorite nut tree, but a storm is coming in!  Can she get to the tree and fill her pockets before the storm sweeps them all away?  Even though this was technically my fifth book, my kids were really into hearing one more story!  It's really a sweet book.

And here's my craft!  I used a clip art of an acorn, and added the poem to the page and circles to the acorn using Microsoft Word.  I cut out the cap and pasted three copies to another page so I could copy the caps on to brown paper.  The kids glued on the acorn paper caps, then added 5 real acorn caps I picked in my yard to the circles on the page (this kept them from using more than 5 acorn caps).  They also decorated their page however they wanted.  They were ready to tell the 5 little acorn poem at home!

Flannel Friday - Little Cloud By Eric Carle

It's Flannel Friday time!  This week I have made a flannel set based on Eric Carle's book Little Cloud.  I made this for a weather themed story time I have coming up in a couple weeks.  It could also be used for talking about shapes.  I really loved the illustrations in this book and thought this would be a great story to tell on the flannel board. 

It begins with Little Cloud...

Little Cloud floats above the houses and trees while the other clouds float up and away!

With the other clouds gone, Little Cloud decides to change into a giant cloud!

Little Cloud then changes into other objects - a sheep, an airplane, a shark, two trees, a rabbit, a hat, and a clown!

The other clouds float back and call to Little Cloud to join them.

 Little Cloud joins the other clouds to form one big cloud and it begins to rain!

 The End

I had a lot of fun creating this set.  The pieces were all drawn by myself based on the illustrations.  I hope the little ones enjoy this story as much as I did making it!

Toddler Story Time - A is for Apple

Hooray!  Summer is officially over and it is now time to start fall themed story times.  First one to check off my list is apples!  This week I introduced a new opening song.  Boy was I nervous because I had to sing- without a cd!  Fortunately, I had some awesome moms sing along with me.  Thanks to Ms. Christi at the Johnson County Library for sharing it because it fits my story time so well.  Welcome to Storytime is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  I hope it becomes a great addition to our weekly routine.    

Welcome to Storytime

Welcome, welcome everyone,
Now we’re here, let’s have some fun.
First we’ll sing the ABC’s,
Then we’ll read and sing with me.
Welcome, welcome everyone,
Now we’re here, let’s have some fun. 

Books I read…

Ned’s New Home By Kevin Tseng

I originally planned to read Ducking for Apples by Lynne Berry, but a last minute book switch was a huge success.  This book is super cute and the little ones loved it!  Poor Ned needs a new home when his begins to rot.  He tries out many new homes until finding one that is just right.  This is definitely a book I plan on making a flannel for someday! 

Max’s Apples Based on the stories by Rosemary Wells

Who wouldn’t love a book with shiny red apples?!  This sweet story is about Max asking for help to get apples down from a tree.  As usual Ruby can’t understand why he needs so many until he surprises her with a pie.  It’s a shorter book, but you generally can’t go wrong with Max, Ruby, and a room full of toddlers!   

 Apples, Apples!  A Lift-the-Flap Book By Salina Yoon   

Who knew apples could make so many different types of things?  The little ones had fun guessing what each person was making out of apples throughout this book.  It was a good closing book for a busy story time morning.   

How it went…

The first action rhyme we all did together was called Apples.  I found it on Sunflower Storytime but I think it is used a lot for apple themed story times.  The rhyme and accompanied movements are super simple.  The little ones made such cute little apple trees.  We did it twice!

Apples

Way up high in the apple tree  (Stretch arms in the air) 
Two little apples smiles at me  (Make two fists)

I shook the tree as hard as I could  (Shake arms in the air)
And down came the apples  (Drop fists to floor)
Mmmmm, they were good!  (Rub tummy)

I think it can be really fun to incorporate puppets or props into story time.  This week I found the cutest apple and worm finger puppet in the supply closet.  I knew I wanted to use it during story time so I was super excited when I stumbled upon the poem, Squiggly Little Worm from Pre-K Fun .  While I recited the poem, I made the worm wiggle around in the apple.

Squiggly Little Worm

A squiggly little worm into my apple bit.

He chomped and chomped until the core he hit.    
I asked him why he did it,
And though it sounds absurd,
He said, “I love apples.”
Now that is what I heard. 

Retired Folkmanis Finger Puppet.  Look on ebay if you love it!

One of the reasons I was excited about this week’s story time was Flannel Time!  (Thanks Future Librarian Superhero!)  It was finally time to unveil my new favorite flannel story.  Five Apples in a Basket is a funny rhyming poem about five apples that think they are climbing into a basket, but really it’s a pie!  I wasn’t sure if the little ones would get the humor but I was very pleased when I heard laughter from the moms.  Mission accomplished! 

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 are in a pie!” 

 Check out this Flannel Friday post for more photos of this flannel story!

To get the little ones up and active, we danced to Raffi's Apples and Bananas.  A great song that also promotes different letter sounds.  You can watch Raffi in concert singing it here.

A craft completed this story time.  It was so easy peasy and they turned out incredibly cute.  The little ones added color to the backside of small paper plates to resemble the top of an apple tree. Some made green trees while others made rainbows, but they all finished with at least a few apples.  We use dobber markers with the toddlers for low mess fun!  It was then up to the moms to staple on a pre cut brown card stock trunk.  Inspiration for this craft came from Reading Confetti.

Can't wait to check more fall themes of my list!

Preschool Story Time - Apple Season FUN!

Have you ever had just too much material for your story time? There is no shortage of apple story time help out there in the cyber space, but I went in another direction and just had a ball with this theme.  If you missed my Flannel Friday post last week about apples, check it out HERE.  I used all three flannel boards in this story time!

The Plan:

Apples Apples Apples by Nancy E. Wallace

Lesson one:  Read your books before you read them in story time.
Lesson two:  Read them out loud before you read them in story time.
Lesson three: Decide if you want to do the book only after lessons one and two, not before.

I got half way through this book and realized I missed lesson 2.  It was too long, too involved, and had too much information for my group.  I skipped lines and pages everywhere just to finish up. So on day two I did this book instead and it made a huge difference:

Apples Apples Everywhere by Robin Koontz

A much better choice for preschool and kindergarten with just enough information on Apples.  The worms in the apples were a great fact I hadn't seen before.

We next did my NEW Apple Sauce song...complete with felts.  It's to the tune of Peanut, Peanut Butter, Jelly:

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)

This went over well because it was to a familiar tune.  Some of the kids picked it up really quickly!

Next up:

Little Apple Goat - Caroline Jayne Church

This darling little story about a goat who loves her orchard teaches the kids a little bit about what happens to seeds when they are scattered unwittingly by any creature.

After our halftime dance, we got back to the stories!  This time a flannel story I also created.  This is based on Katya Arnold's That Apple is Mine!  I used the story but not the book to retell the tale in my own fashion using my own felts:

This photo only shows part of the story.  For more on these felts and the story it goes with, click HERE. 

Our last story is my new favorite!! 

Ned's New Home by Kevin Tseng

Ned is in need of a new home!  Will he find one that suits him as well as his beloved apple?  I adore this book and will surely use it again and again.

Last felt set for today was my matching apples: 

I passed the apples out and together we tried to match the number with the number of seeds.  The younger ones had a little trouble but the older ones were quite excited to help out!  For more on where I got the idea for these and any of my felts this week, click This Flannel Friday Link, or search our labels for more Apple Felt and story ideas.

This was the craft idea I designed:

We talked about how to form numbers this week, using little poems for each number (Something like "around the tree and around the tree is how you make a number three!").  This was a basic apple shape on red paper and a basic circle on white.  I wrote the "I am ___" on the white paper and photo copied it. The seeds are raisins which is safer than using real seeds.  I'm sure the kids were sneaking a raisin or two!

Another successful story time this week!  I had lower numbers than usual this week, perhaps because the weather was so amazing, but the crowd was perfect.  Great participation, great atmosphere, and great fun had by all.  I'll tuck this one away for next year!