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!