When I got in the car to go to work and the first song on the radio was “Land of 1000 Dances” by Wilson Pickett, I decided it was it was a good omen for the day’s storytime theme – Dancing!  And even though we didn’t do the watusi in storytime, it was pretty fun.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT: “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman.

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them

BOOK:

Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth

MOVEMENT:

“Reach for the Ceiling” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD COUNTING SONG:

10 Instruments

Instruments – patterns found via Google Image Search and Microsoft Office

FLANNELBOARD:

5 Ballet Dancers

Rhyme from Storytimes Online via Storytime Katie
Pattern via Google Images Search

Five ballet dancers
Dancing on their toes.
They twirl, spin and jump,
then off the stage one goes!

Continue counting down until…

One ballet dancer
Dancing on his/her toes.
S/He twirls, spins, and jumps,
Then off the stage s/he goes!

How many ballet dancers are left?
0!
And what do we do when the show is over?
(Everyone claps)

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig

MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

VIDEO:

“Barn Dance”, “Mambo”, and “The Swan” from HBO’s Classical Baby: The Dance Show

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
One Little Chicken: A Counting Book by David Elliott
Sailor Boy Jig by Margaret Wise Brown
Ten Go Tango by Arthur Dorros

HOW IT WENT

This was a pretty good storytime, overall.  It was my first time using both these books in storytime, so it’s interesting to see how they went over.  Duck Sock Hop seemed a little bit long for the toddlers, maybe because it’s still so early in the storytime session.  I really like the book though, so maybe I would try it with preschoolers instead.  Dancing Feet worked well, however, especially when you can get the kids to make the different animal feet rhythms with their own feet.
I LOVE the Classical Baby : The Dance Show DVD.  It has some really great episodes on it – I just wish my favorites were all in a row so that they were easier to show together.  That was basically how I selected the chapters I would play for this storytime – which scenes did I like well that were in a row. 

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 42 people    11 am: 38 people

DATE PRESENTED: Tuesday, October 16, 2012