Baby Story Time - Birds!

Greetings from Baby Story Time! Last week our theme was "Birds," which included ducks, hens, owls and more!

Books we read:

Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry

I LOVE this book for babies and toddlers!  It's so bright and colorful.  By the end of the book, the borders of the pages have formed a rainbow, so you can have everyone say the names of the colors aloud.  Someone in our department made a simple rainbow felt set to go with this book, but I didn't use it today.

1, 2, Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines

What does this nursery rhyme have to do with birds, you ask?  Why, a big, fat hen, of course!  Hines' version is so visually interesting, made with fabric and buttons instead of illustrations, and is a really nice, simple counting book.

 



In My Nest by Sara Gillingham

This series of board books all have a little finger puppet in the middle, which you can wiggle as you read.  These are nice books to end a baby story time with because they are very short and sweet.

Activities:

After our "hello" song and name song, we always start with a "Wake-up Rhyme," which may or may not have anything to do with the theme, but gets the babies bouncing and awake!  Today we did a familiar one, "Way up high in the apple tree."  I guess I was thinking birds live in trees, right?

Apple Tree (adapted from Linda Ernst's book, 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!)
And d-o-w-n came the apples,              
     (lower baby between your legs to the ground)
Mmm! They were good!                       
     (rub baby's tummy and hug)

After reading Duckie's Rainbow, we did a fun guessing game that I totally stole from Mel's Desk.  With a few simple felt eggs, we "guessed" which egg the baby duckling was in, saying, "Baby duckling, are you in the --- egg?"  I borrowed a little felt duck from a different felt set, but made my own eggs.  This was fun and easy, and a nice little break from your typical fingerplays or rhymes.

Next we sang a fun song called "Mama Duck" from the Peter Allard's cd Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It! Vol. 3.  Rather than play the cd, I often just sing songs myself.  That way if the song is too fast or too long, I can control the pace and the length.  Anyway, we bounced (on parents' laps) every time we said "quack."

Mama Duck
Here comes the Mama duck - quack!
Here comes the Mama duck - quack!
Here comes the Mama duck and one little duckling - quack!

Here comes the Mama duck - quack quack!
Here comes the Mama duck - quack quack!
Here comes the Mama duck and two little ducklings - quack quack!

Keep going up to five - five fast bounces is really fun to do and gets a lot of giggles from the babies!

After reading 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe, we said the nursery rhyme again, acting out the actions.  On "nine, ten, a big, fat hen," I got out our beautiful hen puppet!  Ok, maybe it's a rooster.  Either way, we clucked around the circle so each baby could touch it.  This is one of my favorite puppets to use because it always gets lots of "oohs" and "aahs."

Next we did a quick counting rhyme, which I also borrowed from Mel's Desk.  I liked that this was repetitive, so I didn't have to try to remember a different rhyme for each verse!  I used a felt set of owls that I made several years ago.

Five Little Owls
Five little owls sitting in a tree,
One flew away! How many do you see?
One, two, three, four.

Four little owls sitting in a tree...

If I do several rhymes in a row, then I throw in a song to get everyone's attention back on track.  This time we sang "Open, Shut Them," a classic story time song!

Open, Shut Them
Open, shut them, open, shut them,                        
     (open and shut baby's arms)
Give them both a clap, clap, clap.                          
     (clap hands)
Open, shut them, open, shut them,                         
     (open and shut baby's arms)
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.                                
     (pat your lap)
Walk them, walk them, walk them, walk them      
     (walk your fingers up baby's arm)
Right up to your chinny, chin, chin.                       
     (tap baby's chin)
Circle around your little mouth, but...                    
     (circle your finger around baby's mouth)
Do not let them in!                                                  
     (tickle!!)

After our last book, In My Nest, we passed out shakers and shook to "Shake My Sillies Out" from Raffi's cd More Singable Songs.  I really like this version because it is quick - only about one minute long.  After that, we shook our shakers to our various body parts - heads, toes, tummies, etc.

We usually end with "If You're Happy and You Know It," but in honor of our "birds" theme, I played "Kookaburra" on my guitar.  I even added a verse about Kookaburra visiting story time!  After that I sang my "goodbye" song, we did our "thank you" rhyme, and it was time to play!

How it went:

This was a little bit of an ambitious story time, but it went really well!  I had about 15 babies with their parents, and several new faces this week.  While two or three activities between every book might seem like a lot, each book was short, as was each activity, so we really kept the ball rolling and kept the babies' attention.  I have found that quick transitions are super important because babies get restless! See you next week!

Toddler Story Time - Shh... It's Nighttime!

This week’s theme changed directions several times while I was planning it.  But, I was really happy with the end results!  The theme was nighttime.  It primarily focused on the moon, but ended up with a sprinkling of stars too!    

Books I read…

Moongame by Frank Asch

This book was longer than the books I usually read.  I was a little concerned, but I read it first and we did make it all the way through!  It is a cute story about a bear playing hide and seek with the moon.  

 

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

A wonderful story about a kitten who thinks the moon is a bowl of milk.  This story did not hold the little ones attention as well as I thought it would.  However, they did enjoy the kitten jumping into the pond! 

Goodnight Moon By Margaret Wise Brown

You simply cannot go wrong with this book!  This was a great way to end our busy story time.  I tried to read it slowly so it would bring the excitement level down a bit.  Most of the little ones sat very still throughout this book and I could see they were enjoying it.

How it went…

We began with the action rhyme Moon Ride from SurLaLune Storytime via Storytime Katie.  (Thanks: SurLaLune Storytime)  This was a great rhyme to begin with because it ends with “Sit back down, and I’ll read you a book.”  An awesome segue into book one! 

Do you want to go up with me to the moon?      (Point to friend, self, then to sky)
Let's get in our rocket ship and blast off soon!      (Pretend to climb in ship)
Faster and faster we reach to the sky.      (Jump and reach)
Isn't it fun to be able to fly?      (Stretch arms out)
We're on the moon, now all take a look.      (Look down)
Sit back down, and I'll read you a book.      (All sit down)

 

After reading our first book, we were back up on our feet with the song, The Moon Up Above

(to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”). 

(Thanks: Morristown Centennial Library)

 

The moon up above is      
Big and round                                  
Big and round                                  
Big and round                                  
The moon up above                       
Is big and round                              
In the sky                                          

The moon up above is

Near the stars 
Near the stars
Near the stars
The moon up above is
Near the stars
In the sky 

The moon up above helps

Me to sleep
Me to sleep
Me to sleep
The moon up above helps
Me to sleep
In my bed!

Our flannel this week was Hey Diddle Diddle!  The little ones love to look at the felts so Flannel Time is always a bit crazy.  Once I had all the pieces on the board, we were able to say the rhyme together, giggling along with the dog! 

With the felt pieces safely put away, I passed out bells and we jingled our way through Aikendrum from Raffi’s cd Singable Songs for the Very Young.  Most of the little ones were not familiar with this song, but Aikendrum was a man from in the moon after all, so it totally needed to be included in this story time!

Slowing it down a bit in anticipation for a quiet storytelling of Goodnight Moon, we did the fingerplay Stars.  (Thanks: Concord Public Schools) This sweet fingerplay was so much fun, we did it twice!  We followed it up by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

At night I see the twinkling stars      (Fists up and open hands over your head)

And a great big smiling moon      (Circle arms overhead)

My Mommy tucks me into bed      (Lay pointer of one hand across the palm of the other hand)

And sings a good-night tune.      (Rock your hands back and forth)

 

This was my most well attended story time and the energy in the room was contagious!  It can be a little difficult to accomplish some activities with a large room of little ones.  But, overall it went fantastic!  I think everyone was ready for nighttime when it was over!

 

Flannel Friday - Hey Diddle Diddle

Nursery rhymes are a great addition to any story time!  These classic rhymes are easy to use at a moment’s notice because we typically already know the words!  What better way to teach new little ones these rhymes, but with a fun flannel set to accompany it.

Hey Diddle Diddle

 

   Hey diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed,

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

This week I am using this flannel as part of my nighttime/moon theme, but I am excited to use it again and again!

--- Miss Kristie

Preschool Story Time - Frogs!

What a great theme this is!  I had no trouble with this theme because books are plentiful, rhymes are easy to find, and craft ideas abound.  If you need a story time in a hurry, this is a great theme to grab!  Remember to see my story time flow under my Preschool Story Time tab to see the dances and other activities we do weekly!

Books we used:

Stick by Steve Breen
If you haven't seen this book, its quite adorable.  Stick is a frog who seems to get stuck to a bunch of different things as he explores his world.  There are so few words in this book, but there are a lot of pages with multiple panels with no words at all.  We read this book so slowly so everyone in the room could see all of the pictures.  This was probably my mistake of story time.  My room was full and it took quite a while to get through this book because everyone was spread out.  For the second and third readings, it was much easier because my crowds were smaller.  Not a great book for large story times, but the kids really liked the funny situations of the book.
 

 

 The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog - Ana Martin Larranaga

One of my favorite stories to tell, I decided to make felts based on Ana Martin Larranaga's book of the same name.  Click to see my Flannel Friday post on this flannel set.  This was the highlight of my story time.  I taught the Frog's refrain before we started: "I'm a Big Wide Mouthed Frog and I eat flies!" I also slowed this story down so the kids could participate.  One of my goals of story time is to show the kids how to retell stories at home with their own expression and props.  I gave them copies of the text, had LOTS of copies of the book on hand for borrowing, and our craft was their prop.  The kids adored this story and so did the moms.  I even got a hearty applause for my efforts.

 

Too Many Frogs by Ann and John Hasset

Nana Quimby is trying to bake a cake, but she keeps hearing a thump thump on her cellar door!  When she opens it, she is overrun with TOO MANY FROGS!  What will Nana Quimby do?  And will she ever finish that cake?  Any book with a repetitive refrain will have the kids joining in, and that is just what happened with this book.   The kids loved it!

 

The Croaky Pokey- By Ethan Long 

This was my wildcard book - the extra one I always have on hand if the kids are really enjoying story time.  Well, in three story times this week, I did the book each time.  They loved singing it, they loved dancing it, and they loved the surprise ending!  It's the Croaky Pokey!  Enough said!

Finger Plays and Songs this week:

We sang only one verse of 5 Green and Speckled Frogs, because we were getting short on time.  I gave a handout to the kids with the 5 frogs and a log for them to use as flannel boards, coloring, or singing at home.

A fingerplay I used is used from www.prekinders.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/frog-fingerplay.pdf‎

Croak Said the Frog (make croaking sound)

With his golden eyes (put fists up to eyes)

Sitting on a lily pad

Catching Flies (grab air with hand)

I have a sticky tongue (with index finger, make a darting motion)

It's as FAST as can be!

I catch mosquitoes

1-2-3 (count with fingers).

Craft:

I was so happy to find this PDF from Teacher's friend with 46 different paper bag puppets!

cbolding.wikispaces.com/file/view/Alphabet+puppets.pdf

 As I have mentioned, I like to give kids the tools to retell stories at home using props.  This was probably not as creative as a craft as I would have liked to use, but hearing the kids walk out of the room with their puppets and saying "I am the WIDE MOUTHED FROG and I EAT FLIES" absolutely made my whole week. 

Last thoughts:

One book I maybe should have used in place of Stick was A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman.  I went back and forth between the two books.  I know I will do this theme again and when I do, I will be trying out A Frog Thing for sure.

I could not have been happier with this theme overall.  In story time today, the kids were shouting "READ IT AGAIN!" which was really heartwarming.  Its true that kids can tell when you are comfortable and love what you are reading.  It shines through to them, so keep picking books and themes that you love and are excited about, and the kids will want you to 'read it again' too!

Toddler Story Time - Let's Go on a Picnic!

A great summertime theme for story time is picnics!  This theme was fun to plan and super fun to do!  The little ones loved it! 

 

Books I read…

 

Biscuit’s Picnic by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

I love to use Biscuit books!  The stories are just the right length for toddlers.  Biscuit never disappoints with his crazy dog adventures and I think the little ones like to hear me woof.  

 

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audry Wood

This book is one of my son’s favorites, so I was super excited to find an opportunity to use it in story time.  The interactive qualities and great illustrations made it a winner for both the little ones and the grownups.

 

One, Two, Three, Picnic! By Susan Schade and Jon Buller

This board book was from my personal collection, belonging to my sons when they were young.  It is a simple counting book about a group of animals that collect so much food for their picnic that they can no longer pick up their picnic basket.

   

 

How it went…

 

To start things off right, we sang the song Summer Time is Picnic Time (to the tune of “Mary had a little lamb” from Perry Public Library Storytime.(Thanks:http://www.perrypubliclibrary.org/webfm_send/76). 

This was a great little song to get the kids excited about our picnic.

Summertime is picnic time, picnic time, picnic time.

Summertime is picnic time, time to have some fun.
We will eat our picnic lunch, picnic lunch, picnic lunch.
We will eat our picnic lunch, and play when we are done.

After reading our first book, I passed out small teddy bears to each child.  We danced to Teddy Bears’ Picnic from Anne Murray’s cd There’s a hippo in my tub!.  And we did the action rhyme, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear. 

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Turn around
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch the ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Jump up now
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Take a bow
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Find your nose
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch your toes
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Arms up high
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Wave good-bye!

The kids were so excited to hold their own teddy bears!  Their eyes lit up when I passed them out.  Luckily, the rhyme ends with putting the bears to bed, so it was easy for the little ones to quietly return their teddy bears.  Shh..  We didn’t want to wake them!

To complement the book The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear, I used the Strawberries flannel I found from Storytime Katie.  (Thanks:http://storytimekatie.com/2012/08/24/flannel-friday-strawberries/) 

I added a bear puppet to the fun and with the assistance of a helper, the bear gobbled up each flannel strawberry.

Five red strawberries, sweet to the core.
Bear came and ate one and then there were four.
Four red strawberries, growing near a tree.
Bear came and ate one and then there were three.
Three red strawberries, for you and you and you.
Bear came and ate one and then there were two.
Two red strawberries, sitting in the sun.
Bear came and ate one and then there was one.
One red strawberry, left all alone.
Bear came and ate it and then there were none.

 

And what picnic would be complete without a line of marching ants!  Using the ant clipart from the Internet, (Thanks: http://www.clker.com/clipart-ant-13.html)  I made small ant puppets for each child with cardstock and a popsicle stick (I do this quite often.  I let them take them home!).  We marched around with our ants to the song The Ants Go Marching on the cd Here is Thumbkin!. 

We finished story time with our very own picnic!  I brought in a picnic basket full of pretend food.  Everyone sat on the floor around the basket.   I started the activity with the song Picnic Packing (To the tune of “A Tisket-A Tasket”) from Perry Public Library Storytime.  (Thanks: http://www.perrypubliclibrary.org/webfm_send/76)
A-tisket, A-tasket,
Let’s pack a picnic basket.
We’ll fill it up with food to munch.
What is in our picnic lunch?

After a couple rounds, I let them free play with the food.  The grownups got served lots of pretend picnic meals!  They loved it!  I will definitely do this story time again in the future. 

Flannel Friday - Big Wide-Mouthed Frog

This is our first Flannel Friday Post.  I just couldn't wait to show off my flannels!

I love the story of the Big Wide-Mouthed Frog.  We have lots of versions in the library, but I wanted to create a flannel story where I could just tell the story.  I really like Ana Martin Larranaga's version with the Australian animals, so I created flannels based on her art.  When I saw that we had only one copy of this book in the library left, and it was a much-loved, taped-up copy, I knew I had to work fast!

They are large felts so placement is off:  The pieces are made by photocopying the pages of the book (I love the illustrations!) and sizing as needed.  I traced the pieces on felt, then went over with puffy paint.  Some pieces got embellishment with other colors of paint.  I have to say that this is my largest set, so you will want to be aware of the size of your board (or travel board in some cases) before making it to size.  But I also work with large groups so the size is needed.  One more note, some of the creatures are reversed so they always face the same way.  This was to reduce the number of frogs I had to make.

Here's the Wide Mouthed Frog as he meets Kangaroo and Emu. 

Then the Koala and Possum....I made one tree where the koala could sit on one branch, then remove her and add the possum family branch. The possum is connected to the branch by yarn legs and tail.

And finally, the frog with his teenie, puckered mouth as he meets the crocodile!

Miss Kristie used my flannel board today for a visiting preschool.  Next week is when I get to use my set for the first time in my Frog themed story time, I am so excited to try it out!  I hope to get a lot of use from this story.

-Miss Sue

Preschool Story Time - Fireflies

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:

The Little Squeegy Bug by Bill Martin
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!

Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges
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.

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!

The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
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

They look GREAT in the windows!

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/

I drew a jar on card stock and put it on the bulletin board.  Then I drew a bunch of the cute little fireflies and taped them all over the room.  I invited the kids to 'catch' the fireflies and put them in the jar.  They had a great time going on the hunt!

Summer Story Times have extra challenges for sure, but this crowd seemed to really like this theme and sat very attentively throughout!