Gifts

December 3, 2013

Gifts!

Our first of two storytimes devoted to the Christmas-time spirit!

Books:

Clifford's First Christmas by Norman Bridwell

Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O'Connor

Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney

We only did three books today because we has two felt boards ready to go! Llama Llama books are always a success - the lyrical flow makes for easy reading and listening.

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Theme Song Pick): Jack-In-The-Box - WeeSing and Pretend

Song 4: (Theme Song Pick): Tapping - Wee Sing for Christmas

Song 5: (Theme Song Pick): Reindeer Tapping - Wee Sing for Christmas

Song 6: (Theme Song Pick): Jingle Bells - Kimbo

Song 7: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Tapping is actually a very cute song that we found on our Wee Sing for Christmas CD - you'd never know it from the very nondescript title!

Tapping
(To the Tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

Tapping, tapping, little elf,
As you work upon your shelf,
Working hard to make the toys,
All for little girls and boys.
Tapping, tapping, little elf,
As you work upon your shelf.

Felt/Magnet Board:

 

Little Jack Horner

sat in a corner

eating his Christmas pie.

He stuck in his thumb

and pulled out a plumb

and said

"Oh! What a good boy am I!"

 

 

 

We told the story of the Elves and the Shoemaker: a poor shoemaker and his wife have little money to make more shoes because business is so poor. Two elves see their situation and decide to help by making shoes while the couple sleeps. Eventually, the family stays up long enough to see the elves at work. To say thank you, the wife makes the two elves brand new clothes.

 

We stressed the generosity of giving gifts: the elves gave their time and energy to the shoemaker and his wife, and the shoemaker and his wife gave the elves new clothes in exchange. 

Craft:

 

 

We made a Pickle Ornament today! For those of you who haven't heard of the pickle ornament, like me, it's meant to be the last ornament placed on the tree. On Christmas morning, all the children run to the tree and search for the pickle ornament. This first one to find it wins a special gift left by Santa. The idea is to have the children look at the tree and the special family ornaments you have at home before tearing into the presents under the tree.

 

We got the kits from Oriental Trading.

 

We had a few glue issues around the room, but overall it was a success. Not many of the parents had heard of the Christmas pickle so it was fairly new all around.

How Many Did You Have?

We had a comfortable 38 today. Sometimes it's nice to know you'll have enough crafts to go around the room.

How Did It Go?

Overall, the kids were a little rambunctious and restless, but we made it through everything we had planned with no edits. I'd call it mostly successful.

Friends

November 26, 2013

Friends

A storytime about Friends and loved ones - and Thanksgiving too!!

Books:

The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz

Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

The Grandma Book by Todd Parr

Songs: Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Theme Song Pick): Five Fat Turkeys - Kimbo

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: (Our Theme Song Pick): She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain - Kimbo

Song 6: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 7: (Our Theme Song Pick):  Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids


Felt/Magnet Board:

We did a Thanksgiving Magnet Board that has GONE MISSING since storytime! While I can't post a picture of how cute it was I can tell you it was adorable! We got all of the cute Thanksgiving clipart from the linked website and told the story of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.

How Many Did You Have?

We had a shocking 69 people for this storytime!

How Did It Go?

All in all the storytime went well. We talked about Thanksgiving and the importance of the Pilgrims making friends with the Native Americans and all the yummy things you get to eat at Thanksgiving dinners.

Family

November 19, 2013

Family

A storytime devoted to the people you probably will be spending your Thanksgiving feast with: Family!

Books:

Little Pea by Amy Rosenthal

The Grandpa Book by Todd Parr

Spoon by Amy Rosenthal

We only did three books today because we had 2 (count em! 2!!!) felt/magnet board stories that we wanted to share today.

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Theme Song Pick): Five Fat Turkeys - Kimbo

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: (Our Theme Song Pick): She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain - Kimbo

Song 6: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 7: (Our Theme Song Pick):  Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

To tie in the "She'll be Comin' around the Mountain" we said beforehand that "Grandma" was comin' around the mountain for Thanksgiving dinner and, perhaps, the kids' grandmas too would be coming around for Thanksgiving dinner.
Also, we closed with the last three songs one after another - the kids were getting restless and nothing keeps their attention better than singing and moving with the songs.

Felt Board / Magnet Board:

We found this last year and decided to use it again - it was one of the first magnet boards we used in our storyimes. I found the rhyme at DTLK Holidays. The magnet board was made using basic clipart found in Microsoft Publish, which is a little bit easier to use when dealing with pictures than Microsoft Office. All of the parents gave a little chuckle at the last line:

Five Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys standing at the door,
One waddled off, and then there were four.

   

Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,
One waddled off, and then there were three.

 

Three little turkeys with nothing to do,
One waddled off, and then there were two.

 

Two little turkeys in the morning sun,
One waddled off, and then there was one.

 

One little turkey better run away,
For soon it will be Thanksgiving Day.

Stone Soup!
We did the traditional story of stone soup with a few additions and alterations. The story has a dog searching and searching for his lost boy when he gets hungry and thirsty. He asks a lady if she would share some food with him and she says "No!" The rest is the traditional story of the dog finding a stone and wanting to make some delicious Stone Soup with it. The lady when lends him a pot, carrot, potatoes, and a tomato to make the Stone Soup that much more tasty. Finally, the lady tastes the soup and decides some bread and butter and milk would go perfectly with the meal. We also made the addition of "And then they shared the stone soup for their Thanksgiving meal!"

Craft:

To go with our Stone Soup felt board, we did a Stone Soup Craft with some yummy vegetable the kids might see on their Thanksgiving plates next week. This was a craft found in some hand-me-down files so the origin is not known and we definitely didn't invent it ourselves - perhaps it came from an old SRP manual. A very cute equivalent can be found at DTLK under their felt board fables.

How Many Did you Have?

Today's total was 64!! Lots of new faces and lots of extended family probably because its so close to Thanksgiving!

How Did it Go?

Overall it was very smooth. The kids were well behaved right to the end and when they weren't we had lots of songs to grab their attention again.

Farms

November 12, 2013

Farms

A storytime about life on the farm, synching ourselves up for the big THANKSGIVING - where, you know, there's food. Food that comes from farms!

Books:

Cows to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Cock-A-Doodle-Moo! by Bernard Most

Story County: Here We Come by Derek Anderson

Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

 Song 3: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

 Song 4 (Our Theme Song Pick): Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

Song 5 (Our Theme Song Pick): Old McDonald - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

 Song 6: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 7: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt Board / Magnet Board:

This was a half failed attempt at an Old McDonald magnet board. In the version of the song we have on 100 Singalong Songs for Kids, the singers repeat the sounds of the previous animals after they introduce an animal so the final chorus would be:

With a Neigh Neigh here
And a Neigh Neigh there.
Here a Neigh, there a Neigh
Everywhre a Neigh, Neigh!

Quack Quack here
And a Quack Wuack there
Here a Quack, there a Quack
Everywhere a Quack Quack!

Oink Oink here
and an Oink Oink there
Here an Oink, there an Oink
Everywhere an Oink Oink!

Moo Moo here
And a Moo Moo there
Here a Moo, there a Moo
Everywhere a Moo Moo!

So I thought, wouldn't it be cool the make a box that I could attach the animals a noises to and turn it quickly as they new animals and noises came up in the chorus. All in all - it's an ok idea! Except, the magnets I used weren't strong enough to hold to each other so the pieces fell off easily while I turned the box around to show the previous animal. Oh well - I still have a magnet board to use for Old McDonald next time!

 Craft:
 

 

 

This was a perfect craft for this storytime and all of the kids loved making it. It can be found at DTLK-kids.com along with lots of other great and free printable crafts that are easy to make. We happen to have an abundance of cardboard rolls (TP Rolls for the crude) and need to use them as often as we can.

How Many Did You Have?

Today, at one point I counted 57, though of course the little ones were scrambling around and I may have missed one or two. We had to run off extra pages for the craft!

How Did It Go?



We did have a fifth book planned that we didn't get to, but all in all I'd say it was a success. Note: In Cock-A-Doddle-Moo!, the rooster has lost its loud crow so you have to whisper "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo" when he talks. Whispering will get attention a lot faster than yelling - all the kids quieted down so that they could listen.  

Food!

November 5, 2013

Food!

A storytime devoted to some yummy deliciousness! To start off the yummiest of months, November, we decided to go with Food.

Books:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

May I Please Have a Cookie? by Jennifer E. Morris

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Our Theme Song Pick): Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

 Song 4: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 5: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 6: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt Board / Magnet Board

We did a modified version of "Which House is the Mouse in?" turning it into "Which Apple is the Worm in?" We had the kids identify the colors of the apples and then we checked to see if the worm was in that apple - of course he was hiding until the very end! I used basic black and white clipart I found on the Internet and colored them in. An easy printout of this board is here!

Craft

We had this in our leftovers from Summer file - and it worked great with our food theme! Many thanks to Learn Create Love Blog. There are a ton of free, printable crafts to use at home or in the classroom!

How Many Did You Have?

We had 43 all together today!

How Did It Go?
Pretty well all in all. Most of the kids knew The Very Hungry Caterpillar and definitely enjoyed guessing the foods in Lunch. Overall, I'd say it was a success!

Spooky Stories

October 29, 2013

Spooky Stories!!

Stories that are spooky, but in a good way!

Books:

What's in the Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharratt

Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody by Michael Rex

Alpha Oops!: H is for Halloween by Alethea Kontis

Moonlight: The Halloween Cat by Cynthia Rylant

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

It's amazing that we managed to get a whole 5 books in today!

Songs:
 Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin?

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Our Theme Song Pick): There's a spider on the floor! - Raffi - Singable Songs for the Very Young

Song 4: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 5: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 6: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids


Felt Board / Magnet Board:
The Orange Ghost! - The Storyboard, 1989. Illustrated by DP Designs
The story of an orange ghost on Halloween night who cannot fly yet. For a ghost to be able to fly, he must scare someone and the poor orange ghost has never been able to scare anyone. So, he attempts to scare a witch, a black cat, and an owl - all of who tell him to go away and scare someone else. He finally comes to a pond and decides to scare a fish - he yells "Boo!" at the water and sees his reflection, thus scaring himself and gaining the ability to fly for scaring someone!

We have a range of these felt board stories that were doanted to our library from the Keflavik Library in Iceland. I wish I knew more about the company who put these out because they are really cute and very helpful during storytime!





Craft:
Easy Pumpkin Craft!

 We took a standard pumpkin coloring sheet and traced a template for two eyes, a nose, and a mouth on the bottom of the page for the kids to cut out. Super easy! Here is the template we created for this craft.

How Many Did You Have?

45 total made up out costumed audience!

How did it go?

We managed to get in 5 books and 1 felt board - I'd say we were pretty successful.

Spiders!!

October 22, 2013

Spiders!!

Today's theme was spiders! Since its so close to Halloween we wanted to do something with a little creepiness but not too much. And so, we came up with spiders.

Books:

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani

Songs:
Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin?

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Our Theme Song Pick): There's a spider on the floor! - Raffi - Singable Songs for the Very Young

Song 4 (Another Theme Song Pick): The Itsy-Bitsy Spider - Susie Tallman- Classic Nursery Rhymes

 Song 5: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 6: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 7: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

If you want kids to be really excited about Spiders do Raffi's "Spider on the Floor!" You trace a spider's climb from the floor to the top of your head. We wiggled our hands like they were spiders to act out the song.

Susie Tallman's "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" was also a hit - this song expands on the song to include the traditional rhyme, a marching band version, a slowed down version, and a jazzy version.

Felt Board / Magnet Board

We found this Magnet Board printout at The Daycare Resource Connection - they have a lot of popular books in felt board/magnet board form that you can print from your computer. Here is the link to the PDF.

Craft:
Paper plate spider!

We cut a paper plate in half, colored it with black crayons, and then cut the edges into eight sections to make the legs. We got the idea from this Craft with Jack blog entry. Theirs came out a bit cuter than ours, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

How many did you have?

We had a full house: 54! With lots of brand new faces.

How did it go?

With such a large crowd, its difficult to keep the little ones calm and attentive so we had to cut our last book. We were going to read a simple Little Miss Muffet book and do a felt board of Little Miss Muffet with her spider and tuffet. However, when the little ones are clamoring you have to roll with it.

Silly Stories 2013

Tuesday October 15, 2013

Silly Stories!

Today's theme was Silly Stories - stories that are just plain silly and make us laugh. We sometimes like to get away from a specific theme and leave ourselves open to do, basically, any books that tickle our fancy.
  Books:

Open this Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier

The Boy on the Bus by Penny Dale

The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3 (Our Theme Song Pick): Jack in the Box - Wee Sing and Pretend:

To the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel:

My name is Jack-in-the-Box
I love to hide from you.
I quietly stay inside the box.
'Til POP! I surprise you!

Down I go back into my box
to hide again from you.
I quietly stay inside the box.
'Til POP! I surprise you!

Song 4: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 5: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 6: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

  Felt Board / Magnet Board:

There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly!

I printed out the pieces from the Preschool Pintables and glues them to some thick poster paper we have in our supply room. Then I put magnet coins on the back of them and used out magnet board to tell the story!

I left out a few pieces because I couldn't find the immediately while I was going through the story, but I don't think anyone noticed. It helped to familiar myself with the rhyme beforehand - when I picked up "cat" I knew the next line was "imagine that! To swallow a cat!"

Craft:

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/crafts/holiday/pumpkin.htm

Our slightly lopsided Pumpkin Scarecrow - because it's fall you know!

How many did you have?
All together we totaled 37!

How did it go?
The kids liked the silly stories and a few, knowing the were silly, laughed at everything we said (whether is was actually silly or not). It's definitely one for giggles!

Shhhh!!

Tuesday October 8, 2013

Shhhhh!

Today's theme was Shhhh! 

A storytime about being quiet and loud and quiet again and loud again!

Books: 

Shhh! by Valerie Gorbachev

Too Loud Lily by Sofie Laguna

One Drowsy Dragon by Ethan Long

Shhh! Everybody's Sleeping  by Julia Markes



Songs:

Where is Thumbkin?
Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink
Twinkle Twinkle* 
Shake My Sillies Out
Dance Your Fingers/Clapping Song
Wheels in the Bus

We stuck with our staples and added Twinkle Twinkle to go with the sleepy time theme since it has such a sleepy feel to it. 

Magnet Boards:

Little Boy Blue Nursery Rhyme

Rockabye Baby Nursery Rhyme


Craft
Little Boy Blue toilet Paper Craft

http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/frank-baum/boyblue/mboyblue.htm

Lovingly borrowed from www.dltk-teach.com

How'd it go?!

Surprisingly well! 

We were able to let the kids be loud for all of the songs and then quiet again for the stories - that worked extremely well. 

Shhh! by Valerie Gorbachev was a clear winner - when the little boy quiets his toys all the kids said "Shh!" with us. 

I also paused while reading One Drowsy Dragon by Ethan Long while the dragons were tap dancing and playing, etc. to ask the kids "Is that being quiet?" to which they would yell "No!" Worked very well.