Water Storytime April 23

Today, we focused on water as the theme of storytime. After our good morning songs, I asked them about animals who live in water - jellyfish, fish, hippos, crocodiles, sharks, whales.... Lots of good suggestions! Then I asked them how water comes down from the sky - clouds, rain, snow. 

Song: 1 little 2 little 3 little raindrops. 4 little 5 little 6 little raindrops. 7 little 8 little 9 little raindrops. 10 raindrops in the sky.

Book: A Cool Drink of Water

Song: I passed out these cute little fish puppets for the kids to dance with during the song. I demonstrated a few different movements they could do and then we listened and danced to 5 Fish Swimming in the Sea by Dr. Jean.

Book: Watch Over Our Water by Lisa Bullard

Song: 5 Little Monkeys and the Alligator

Book: How to Wash a Wooly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson, which generated quite a bit of laughter.

I wasn't sure if we would have time or not - we didn't - for Graeme Base's The Water Hole

After our goodbye songs, I had wet and dry spongeblocks available to play with. What a hit (as I expected they would be) and after they are all dry, I will be adding them to our shelf of toys and puzzles to play with.

Fruit Storytime

We had 14 kiddos today! What fun! Today we focused on fruit.

Welcome Songs














The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli











Music Activity: I changed up "Apples and Bananas." Instead of changing vowel sounds, we did actions with scarves. We pretended the scarves were different kinds of fruit "mine is a blueberry! mine's kiwi!" and sang the song. The actions were:

I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas....
I like to shake shake shake apples and bananas....
I like to twist twist twist apples and bananas...
I like to wave wave wave apples and bananas...
I like to throw throw throw apples and bananas... (doesn't that just sound hilarious!!)
I like to sit with apples and bananas.

Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne

Hungry Little Monkey by Andy Blackford

Using a cut up pool noodle, we told the story Ten Apples Up on Top together. I had two stacks of "apples" going at the same time. Each kid had an "apple" and when it was their turn, they came up and added their apple to the stack. One stack kept falling down after about 7 apples, which caused a RIOT of laughter :) We kept the other stack going (I had a bin of apples next to me so I could finish the story) and ALMOST made it to the end of the book. The apples and book are now available on our playtable for families to play with.

We ran out of time for Go Go Grapes! by April Pulley Sayre but many kids chose to look at it after storytime.

Goodbye Songs and Bubbles

Next week we will do water books and a water activity!

Storytime Setlist.... FINALLY!

I finally have the time to let you know what we have been up to at Storytime this year! Forgive me, but there are not photos of the stories. And nowwww......


January 15 - Animals In Winter
Hello, How Are You?

Hands Go Up:
Hands go up and
Hands go down.
I can turn myself around.
I can stand up
On one shoe.
I can listen,
So can you.
I can sit. I'll show you how.
Storytime is starting now.

Book: Footprints in the Snow

Song: I'm a Little Snowflake by Laurie Berkner (it's a sweet and short song, so we played it twice)

Book: Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

Movement activity: Draw a card and act it out. I had cards for The Mitten. Each child took turns drawing one of the cards, then the group acted out how that animal sounded and/or moved.

Book: Bear Snores On

Book: The Mitten feltboard

See You Later
See you later, alligator.
Give a hug, ladybug.
Hit the road, hoppy toad.
See you soon, raccoon.
Out the door, dinosaur.

It is time to Say Goodbye
Bubble Song with bubbles

After storytime today, i covered the tables and chairs and brought out our play tunnel. The kids could pretend to be animals hiding under the snow and hibernating.

January 22 - New Friends

Hello, How Are You?

Hands Go Up

Fingerplay: Little Friends with number line
1 little 2 little 3 little friends 4 little 5 little 6 little friends 7 little 8 little 9 little friends 10 friends all around us. 11 little 12 little 13 little friends 14 little 15 little 16 little friends 17 little 18 little 19 little friends 20 friends all around us.

Book: Who is a Friend?

Box Song:
Oh i wish i had a little red box to put my glad friends in.
I'd take them out and go (hug, hug) and put them right back in.
Oh I wish I had a little green box to put my new friends in.
I'd take them out and go HIGH FIVE and put them right back in.
Oh I wish i had a little blue box to put my sad friends in.
I'd take them out and go KISS KISS and put them right back in. 
Oh I wish I had a great big box to put all my friends in.
I'd take them out and say YOU'RE GREAT! and put them right back in.

Book: The Monster's Monster by Patrick O'Donnell

Book: Little Beauty by Anthony Browne

Song: Make New Friends on Air Guitar by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer (with shakers)

Puppets: Big Mean Dust Bunny with feather dusters

Goodbye Songs & Bubbles

After storytime, they could play with my dust bunny puppets. Each child also got to take a new friend (a book) home to keep.

January 29 - Owls

Welcome Songs

Finger Play: 5 Little Owls on paper towel roll

Book: A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

Song: If You Ever See an Owl on the CD Terrible Twos - danced with scarves

Book: Baby Owl by Aubrey Lang

Song: Do the Owl by The Wiggles - first we discussed and acted out how owls move their bodies and make sounds and then we danced around like owls

Book: Owl Howl by Paul Friester - the kids got to cry loudly throughout the story

Poem: Who on page 66 in a Owl Poem Book (forgot the book title!)

Goodbye Songs

After storytime today, the kiddos played with playdough and playdough toys.

February 5 - Oh! No!

Welcome Songs

Counting poem with number line

Book: Oh! No! by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohman

Music: Shake and Stop - we shook instruments and made movement to the fingerplay. We used our listening ears and followed directions.

Book: Perfectly Percy

Movement Activity: Each child took turns shaking the larger dice - animals on one and movements on the other. For example: dance like a kangaroo or jump like a fish :)

Story: Bossy Bear by Dacid Horvath - anytime bossy bear did something bear, say "oh! no!" and put your thumbs down

Goodbye Songs and Bubbles

I forget what we did after storytime today. Oops!

February 12 - Vrooooom!

Welcome Songs

Homemade book Fingerplay: 3 Loud Trucks

Book: In the Driver's Seat by Max Haynes

Music Activity: Riding in Our Cars

Book: Night Light

Vehicle Guessing Game Rhyming Homemade Book

Song: Rockin and Rollin Wheels on the Bus

Story: Toot Toot Zoom!

Story: Mitchell's License

Goodbye Songs and Bubbles

After storytime, the kids got to draw with cars (markers taped to matchbox cars). See Facebook for some pretty cool artwork :)

Family Storytime on February 15 - I Spy

Welcome Songs

Game: I Spy (pre-made rhyming guessing game with things found in the children's area)

Book: There is a Bird on My Head by Mo Willems and read by Kim Peach

Activity: Rainbow Around Me with ribbon wands

Book: Track that Scat

Parachute Games

Book: The Dark by Lemony Snicket

Feltboard Story: Mouse in the House

Goodbye Songs & Bubbles

After storytime, the kids got to finish google eye pictures (2-3 eyes preglued on paper and they could finish the picture) and an I Spy game, complete with laminated magnifying/detective glass.

February 19 - Uh! Oh!

Welcome Songs

Book: Bark, George!

Music: Beanie Bag Dance by Greg & Steve - used beanie baby animals instead of bags

Book: Ding-Dong Gorilla by Michelle Robinson

Book: Don't Play with Your Food by Bob Shea

That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems - whenever the little baby chicks came into the story, we said "uh! oh!" together

Goodbye Songs & Bubbles

After storytime, I used up the rest of the google eye pictures for this storytime, too. "Uh! Oh! What is missing in this picture? I see eyes... you draw the rest!"

February 26 - Hair!

Welcome Songs

Fingerplay: Jenna's Ponytails - I hid 10 ponytails under my hat and then we counted them before doing 1 little 2 little 3 little pontails... on Jenna's head. Then we counted backward as i took them out then we did 10 little 9 little 8....

Book: The Dirtiest Hair in the World by Bob McAllen

Music: Fixin' My Hair from a Sesame Street CD - we made our hair dance in different ways

Book: Where Did Daddy's Hair Go? by Joe O'Connor

Book: Baghead by jarrett J Krosoczka

The kids we paying such close attention during stories, that I decided to forego "Tangle in My Hair" by Dana McCarthy on the CD Chocolate Mike and we did more stories (I always have at least one backup.)

Acted out "Stephanie's Ponytail" by Robert Munsch

Goodbye Songs & Bubbles

After storytime, I brought out Mouse in the House for families and kids to play with.

Next week, we will be reading about COWS!

Pizza Storytime October 16, 2013

Thank you to Pizza Hut, Pizza Plus, Toppers, Mancinos, and Pizza del Ray for donating pizza boxes. We used them so every child could go home with their very own "I am a Pizza" storyboard.

Welcome song: Hello, How are You? by Dr. Jean. Again, because of flu and cold season, instead of shaking hands, we wave hands.

Fingerplay: Little Pizzas
1 little 2 little 3 little pizzas
4 little 5 little 6 little pizzas
7 little 8 little 9 little pizzas.
10 pizzas in the oven.
10 little 9 little 8 little pizza
7 little 6 little 5 little pizzas
4 little 3 little 2 little pizzas
1 pizza in my stomach.

Book: Secret Pizza Party by Adam Rubin















Feltboard and Song: I am a Pizza by Charlotte Diamond
Instead of listening to the CD, we sang is as a repeat and answer song. We did it twice so each child had an opportunity to bring a piece of the pizza up front to the feltboard. Also, Jenna's French is very fuzzy so we did not sing the French lyrics.

Book: Pete's a Pizza by William Steig














Song: Pepperoni Pizza by Dr. Jean
Before the song, I held up each letter card and we practiced the sound that letter makes. During the song, I held up the appropriate letter card. The letters are: P, B, M, L, R, Z, Y.

Book: Hi, Pizza Man by Virgina Walter
During the story, the children took turns dinging a bell while everyone else sang out "Ding, dong" like a doorbell. It worked out perfectly; we had the exact number of children this day as there are times to ring the doorbell in the story.

Goodbye songs

Then I passed out the pizza boxes. Each pizza box included the words to "I am a Pizza" by Charlotte Diamond, pictures of the pizza ingredients for them to cut out, and they got to choose which color brown they liked their crust (construction paper).

Moldy Cheese Day Storytime

Today is National Moldy Cheese Day! FYI - we focused on the cheese, not the moldy, part!

Hello, How are You? by Dr. Jean

Cheese Please - i had a print out with the words and ASL for "cheese," "please," and "love" for the adults. The song goes like this:
Cheese, cheese, cheese, we love cheese
Please, please, please, give us cheese.
We love white cheese, yes we do.
Orange cheese tastes wonderful, too.
Yellow cheese for me and you
Oh, we love cheese.

We went through the signs then did the song twice.

Thanks, Mom! by Ed Emberly

Activity: Farmer in the Dell
I made character necklaces - one for each child and adult - and when we reached their character, they stood up and got to dance around.








Chorale Reading: I Went Walking

Taste Testing Chart
We tasted three different cheeses: sharp cheddar cheese, string cheese, and mozzarella cheese. While they ate their cheeses, I read "The Stinky Cheese Man." After they were done eating, they came up and marked a line under their favorite cheese. Then we counted out how many people liked each cheese, which had more likes, and which had the least.

Poem: "My Mouse is Rather Fond of Cheese" in My Hippo Has the Hiccups by Kenn Nesbitt

Goodbye Songs

After Storytime, I brought out some playdough mats and fun foam for the kids and adults to play with. BIG HIT!


Next week: PIZZA!! (Sorry, no taste testing!)