Winter!

January 7, 2014

Winter!

Out first storytime of the year! Our system was kind enough to give us a programming break for the holiday season so this is our first storytime in almost a month!! Being in the south, we rarely have enough cold weather to get what some call "snow" and "ice" so we thought devoting a storytime to "Winter" with its snowflakes and snowmen and ice skating would be a bit of an ironic, though fun, endeavor. Little did we know - it was 30 degrees outside when we read these stories!!

Books:

Me Too! by Valeri Gorbachev

No Two Alike by Keith Baker

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

These were all wonderful stories about the cold and snow. Me Too! takes a bear and chipmunk through various outdoor winter activities. No Two Alike highlights the differences between two creatures or items that appear to be the same but are different: like snowflakes! Snowmen at Night is very entertaining - it takes you through the adventures of snowmen after dark and explains why they might look a little droopy come morning.

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo
Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids
Song 3(Theme Song Pick): The Frost Song - see below
Song 4: Shake your Sillies Out - Raffi
Song 5: Walking, Walking - Wee Sing for Baby
Song 6: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby
Song 7: If You're Happy and You Know It - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids
Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

The Frost Song was found after a search for some non-Christmassy wintery songs that would be easy enough to sing. We came up with a few simple hand motions to go with the song and went over those with the kids first and thanks to a new CD with instrumental accompaniment we even had music to go with it!

Credit: Babycenter Community
The Frost Song
to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

The frost is in the air.
The frost is in the air.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost is in the air.

The frost is on the trees.
The frost is on the trees.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost is on the trees.

The frost is on the roof.
The frost is on the roof.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost is on the roof.

The frost is on the windows.
The frost is on the windows.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost is on the windows.

The frost is on the ground.
The frost is on the ground.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost is on the ground.

The frost tells me it's cold.
The frost tells me it's cold.
It's wintertime, It's wintertime,
The frost tells me it's cold.

So inside I'll stay.
So inside I'll stay.
Inside it's nice, and I am warm.
So inside I'll stay.

Felt/Magnet Board Story: 

 



Today we did The Five Little Penguins, a magnet board based on a song put on YouTube by littlestorybug, originally found here on Pintrest.

The rhyme is simple enough:

5 little penguins standing still.
1 little penguin slides down the hill.
Where did he go?
I don't know!
4 little penguins standing still.

4 little penguins...
3 little penguins...
2 little penguins...
until!
1 little penguin standing still.
He goes sliding down the hill.
Where did he go?
I don't know!
Wait!
I know!
With all other penguins playing in the snow!

I'm a little out of practice because of our break, so I forgot to ask the kids to count with me for the entire song, but we'll get there!

Nursery Rhyme:

We've been trying to incorporate a nursery rhyme into our weekly themes. Sometimes we can pull this off easily by doing a certain song or felt board. This week we sang "Polly put the Kettle On" with a few pictures printed from an online storybook. We introduced it because Polly puts the kettle on for tea, and some people drink tea when it's cold outside.

Polly Put the Kettle On

Polly put the kettle on,

Polly put the kettle on,

Polly put the kettle on,

We'll all have tea.

Sukey take it off again,

Sukey take it off again,

Sukey take it off again,

They've all gone away

Craft:

 

Today's craft was a premade kit (Whoo Hoo!! No prep! No Cutting!) from Oriental Trading. It was simple enough to put together although most of the kids didn't have to patience for liquid glue (real glue as some of the moms called it) to dry. This one sat still for about ten minutes and dried perfectly, but sometimes ten minutes is ten minutes too long!

How many did you have?
A comfy 42 came in today. It's our first week back and it was freezing (literally below 32 degress) out so we didn't expect very many.

How did it go?
We lost 'em after three books so we kept with our songs and hand motions after that. It happens sometimes. The kids, however, LOVED the craft.