Birds – Toddler Storytime

Posted on November 4, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

Books about birds are fly!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

Baby Bird by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Russell Ayto

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Birds
These birds were actually from an Easter garland I found at Michael’s. I pulled of the ribbon that was hot glued to the back, and — voila! — insta-adorable-flannelboard!

FLANNELBOARD:
Here Comes the Little Bird

(Flannelboard pattern & rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes. Art by Janet McDonnell)

Rhyme from the Book:
Here comes little bird. (Your fist is the bird.)
He’s landing on my HEAD. (Land where you want.)
Bye, bye little bird. (Fly bird away.)
Bye! Bye! Bye! (Wave to bird.)

Way I do the Rhyme:
Here is a little girl
and here is a curious little bird.
Here comes the little bird.
He’s landing on her HEAD.
Where’s your head? Can you show me?
(Have bird land on various other body parts.)
Here comes the little bird.
He’s landing on her tummy.
And when he’s there he likes to give a tickle, tickle, tickle (give tummy a tickle.)
And then he flies away.
Fly, fly little bird. (remove bird from flannelboard.)
Bye! Bye! Bye!

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert

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

VIDEO:

“Let’s Look for Birds” from Baby’s First-Word Stories Outside

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
The 10am storytime was really hard. Harder than last week. I have three children who just enjoy running around.. The parents do not try to curb this behavior, and often are just chatting among themselves. It causes a distraction for those who want to participate in storytime — I even had one parent tell me that she was thinking about dropping storytime because she didn’t like it so much. Also, English is not their native language, so even though I talked to them after storytime today, it made it difficult to know if my point was getting across. I usually try to go with the flow in my storytimes and am fairly lenient when it comes to discipline, and only interject when safety is an issue — after all, I am not the parent. But I may need to get a little more rigorous about rules in that storytime. How do you handle this in your storytimes? Any advice would be welcome.

As usual, the 11am storytime was a lot better though. And there were even more people in that group. It’s nice to finish on an up note, because 10 am was really hard you guys.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 41 people 11 am: 48 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Birds – Infant Storytime

Posted on November 4, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

It had been a while since I’ve done a bird storytime. I purchased Yuly’s Early Bird a while ago and really wanted to try it out, and figured, so even though it’s fall it’s always the season for birds.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony*

BOOK:

Early Bird by Toni Yuly

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Here Comes a Little Bird

(Flannelboard pattern & rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes. Art by Janet McDonnell)

Rhyme from the Book:
Here comes little bird. (Your fist is the bird.)
He’s landing on my HEAD. (Land where you want.)
Bye, bye little bird. (Fly bird away.)
Bye! Bye! Bye! (Wave to bird.)

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Nest by Jorey Hurley

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Jack Be Nimble

(Felt pieces from Little Folk Visuals)

Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the candlestick.

To make this into a bounce, start with the child on one leg, when Jack jumps over the candlestick, lift child into the air and have child land on the other leg.

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Little Red Birds

(I need to check where this rhyme came from… I’ll add my source as soon as I find it)

Five little red birds, pecking at my door. (hold up five fingers)
One flew away, and Then there were four. (hold up four fingers)
Four little red birds sitting in a tree.
One pounced on a worm and then there were three.
Three little red birds calling, “Coo-coo-coo.”
One flew to a nest and then there were two.
Two little red birds sleeping int he sun.
One woke and hopped away and then there was one.
One little red bird, as lonely as could be.
When it flew away, all that’s left was me!

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
Infant storytime was good fun. I think it was the costumes that made things more difficult last week. We are back to being attentive and, as always, adorable. 🙂

ATTENDANCE: 34 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Halloween – Toddler Storytime

Posted on October 28, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

I love doing Halloween storytime with the toddlers, because they are SO CUTE when they come in costume.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo, illustrated by Valeria Petrone

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Pumpkins (from Artfelt)

FLANNELBOARD:
Little Mouse’s Halloween House

(Pattern & story from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

One day in the fall, a little gray mouse found a big orange house.
She nibbled a hole in the middle to make the door.
She nibbled 2 holes near the top to make windows.
She nibbled a wide hole near the bottom so her children could run in and out.
Then she put a candle inside so the house was never dark.

The mouse’s little house
was a sight to be seen.
It was a jack-o’-lantern —
Happy Halloween!

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

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

VIDEO:

“Goblin Night” from Little Bear Halloween Stories

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: 10 Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage
Book: What Am I? Halloween by Ann Margaret Lewis, pictures by Tom Mills
Book: Mouse’s First Halloween by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan
Book: It’s Halloween Night by Jennifer O’Connell, illustrated by Jennifer Morris

HOW IT WENT:
The 10am storytime was really hard. Infant today was difficult too, and I just think that carried over. As I mentioned in my infant post, I think that wearing a costume has a freeing effect — it gets the kids excited. But it also is adorable, so I don’t want to do away with it.

I feel like sometimes I am running the program with two different minds — one is focused on reading the books, and following the agenda for the storytime. The other is taking stock of what is happening in the room, and wondering if I should be doing something about, or modifying behavior, or things like that. If two kids are running around, do I just ignore it and focus on the ones who are listening? I don’t know. I need to become better at crowd management/control.

The 11am storytime was a lot better though. And there were not as many children in costume. Coincidence?

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 40 people 11 am: 48 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Halloween – Infant Storytime

Posted on October 28, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

It’s that time of year for pumpkins, costumes and fun!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony*

BOOK:

What Am I? Halloween by Ann Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Tom Mills

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Little Pumpkins

(Flannelboard pieces & Rhyme from ArtFelt)

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “Well, I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, run, run!”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
OOOOOOoo went the wind and
OUT (clap) went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen

(Template and Rhyme from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

Hickety, pickety, my black hen.
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Gentleman come everyday
To see what my hen doth lay.
Sometimes nine and sometimes ten,
Hickety, pickety, my black hen.

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: On Halloween by Lark Carrier
Book: Mouse’s First Halloween by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan

HOW IT WENT:
Today’s storytime was hard. I called all the storytime parents yesterday, and let them know that since we were having a Halloween themed storytime, the children were welcome to come in costume. I think maybe wearing a costume allows the wearer to be a different person, because it seemed harder to get through things today.

As you can see, I forgot to include a parent tip, because I just was so unfocused (and also, since it is new, not in the habit yet.) What Am I? Halloween was a really long book for this crowd, so I cut out a few of the pages. The idea that you don’t have to read a book straight through was going to be my parent tip, but I just was so worried about getting the kids’ attention back that I just moved along to the next thing. I forgot to do 2 verses of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The Nursery Rhyme just didn’t seem to be as familiar as others as well. I was thinking that maybe in the future I should have a laminated page with the words of the rhyme on it that is backed in flannel — then I could put that up on the board so that parents would be able to join in.

But the kids in costume were adorable! And the new bounce worked well.

I work with one of the parents from my infant group, so at lunch today I apologized to her for the storytime. She told me she didn’t even notice that things were harder. It’s reassuring to know that even when I feel like things are going all wrong on the inside, it doesn’t always show the audience.

ATTENDANCE: 47 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Mice – Toddler Storytime

Posted on October 21, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

I know that cats usually follow mice, but I decided to do things the other way around for this storytime session.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

INTRODUCTION: with Mouse Puppet from Folkmanis

My friend this time was my brown mouse puppet. I had him come out and be shy to the audience (really, this is the only puppet-y thing I know how to do.) Then I pretended I didn’t know what he was and we went over his features together: 2 ears (where are your ears?), a little nose (show me your nose!), etc until they told me he was a mouse!

BOOK:

Mice by Rose Fyleman, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Mice

FLANNELBOARD:
Little Mouse, Little Mouse
(Pattern & Rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes)

Little mouse, little mouse
Are you in the (insert color here) house?

I know I use this rhyme a lot, but it is one of my favorites. I like hiding other animals in the different houses so that it is a surprise when things are uncovered. The ones picture above are from some of my ArtFelt sets. I also like to leave one house empty with “nobody home”.

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Thank You Bear by Greg Foley

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

VIDEO:

“Playground” from Play Time Maisy

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Mouse’s Birthday by Jane Yolen illustrated by Bruce Degen
Book: Pip & Squeak by Ian Schoenherr
Book: Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
Book: Lunch by Denise Fleming

HOW IT WENT:
This was a fairly good storytime. I am finding that the puppets seems to be a good way of kicking off the show. I don’t know if I will have puppets for all my different storytime themes, but so far it works alright. Mice was a great book to read. At the 10 am storytime, I didn’t do a very good job of emphasizing who it was that liked mice, so I made sure at the 11 am storytime to point that out. It was fun, and I think the colors carry very well. The groups were having trouble sitting still towards the end of storytime, so I shorted Thank You Bear by skipping a few of the pages. It worked just fine.

I originally meant to show the Dancing episode of Maisy – after the short episode the song was “The Wheels on the Bus” and I thought that might appease the heckler from last week. However, I didn’t cue the DVD correctly, so we watched Playground instead. Since the kid didn’t have a breakdown about “The Wheels on the Bus” I’m thinking we’re good.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 44 people 11 am: 44 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Mice – Infant Storytime

Posted on October 21, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

If you are going to do a cat storytime, it seems only fair to follow that up with a mice storytime! So today, we celebrated the many ways that mice are nice.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Roly Poly*

PARENT TIP: Rhymes with movement, like Roly Poly and other bounces, strengthen your child’s body and helps them develop control.
(taken from The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Etsy Diamant-Cohen and Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting. Available at the ALA Store)

BOOK:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Little Mouse, Little Mouse
(Pattern & Rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes)

Little mouse, little mouse
Are you in the (insert color here) house?

I know I use this rhyme a lot, but it is one of my favorites. When using it with the infants, I put fewer houses up on the flannelboard so it doesn’t take as much time. I like hiding other animals in the different houses so that it is a surprise when things are uncovered. The ones picture above are from some of my ArtFelt sets. I also like to leave one house empty with “nobody home”.

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:
I
When the Elephant Walks by Keiko Kasza

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hickory Dickory Dock

(Template and Rhyme from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down.
Hickory Dickory Dock.

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Mice Squeak, We Speak by Tomie DePaola

HOW IT WENT:
This was a good storytime. I only realized now, when writing it up, that I had forgotten to do our tickle rhyme during this storytime! That was ok, though, because we had someone from Head Start come to talk about the early programs that they offer. It made up for that time.

I am going to try to work in some more parent patter/parent tips during my infant toddler storytimes. I got this one from a great book and cards set from ALA. It’s super helpful and easy to use, and gives lots of great parent tips along with an activity for each of them. I always feel slightly uncomfortable with parent tips, because who am I to tell a parent what they should be doing, especially since I do not have children myself. But I need to accept that I do have knowledge they may not (especially when it comes to early literacy practices), and that it is perfectly appropriate to share that knowledge with them.

ATTENDANCE: 47 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Cats – Toddler Storytime

Posted on October 16, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

Meow Meow! I thought we would start this session out with cat stories.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

INTRODUCTION: with Cat Hand Puppet from ArtFelt

I mentioned that I brought a friend along, then had the kitty wave to the kids, and the kids wave back. I’m not super comfortable with puppets, but I’m trying!

BOOK:

Mama Cat has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Cats

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Kittens in the Bed

(rhyme and pattern from page 116 of a book that I do not have the title of! This flannelboard was one of my mom’s, colored by my dad, so I don’t know where it’s from)

(Adapted from “Ten in the Bed”)
There were five kittens in the bed,
And the little one said, “It’s crowded. Roll over.”
So they all rolled over, and one fell out;

There were four kittens in the bed…
There were three kittens in the bed…
There were two kittens in the bed…

There was one kitten in the bed,
And the little one said, “I’m lonely.”

So they all got back in the bed,
And the little one said, “Good night!”

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Thumpy Feet by Betsy Lewin

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

VIDEO:

“The Truth About Puppies and Kittens” from The Poky Little Puppy and Friends

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
Book: I See Kitty by Yasmine Surovec
Book: Where is Tippy Toes? by Betsy Lewin
Book: Meeow and the Pots and Pans by Sebastien Braun (or any Meeow book)

HOW IT WENT:
Every time I finish one session of infant toddler storytime I think, “I am going to find some new music to use with this group!” And then the weeks go by, and I think about it, but I have so much other stuff that I am working on that I forget about it, then before you know it, it’s time to start storytime again. So, while I didn’t revamp all my songs, I did decide to try out a new opener — and I think this one is going to work well. (Which isn’t surprising. All Kathy Reid-Naiman’s stuff is great.) Also, Thumpy Feet worked really well with the toddler group. Before I began the story I told the group that we were going to pretend to be cats, and do the same things that Thumpy did. Interactive fun! The video wasn’t my favorite, but I wanted something rather short since it was the first storytime of the session and the kids are not used to sitting for so long.

EDITED TO ADD: I had forgotten about this until I was writing my outline for the next storytime, but I did have a child upset because we didn’t do the Wheels on the Bus. My fabulous colleague, Marie, who did the Summer session of infant toddler storytime would do that as a regular song with the kids, I think. This kid really wanted to do the Wheels on the Bus on the Screen that we use for our films. What do you do when your rotate storytellers? Do you try to incorporate things that others do to provide continuity? Or do you each do your own thing? I felt kind of bad because he looked like I was breaking his heart.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 48 people 11 am: 51 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Cats – Infant Storytime

Posted on October 15, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

I had so much fun at our cat eStorytime that I decided to continue with the theme for the beginning of our fall infant toddler storytime session. Plus, I can’t believe it has been so long since I did a cat storytime for this age group!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Roly Poly*

BOOK:

Sleepy Kittens by Jill and Martin Leman

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Five Kittens in the Bed

(rhyme and pattern from page 116 of a book that I do not have the title of! This flannelboard was one of my mom’s, colored by my dad, so I don’t know where it’s from)

(Adapted from “Ten in the Bed”)
There were five kittens in the bed,
And the little one said, “It’s crowded. Roll over.”
So they all rolled over, and one fell out;

There were four kittens in the bed…
There were three kittens in the bed…
There were two kittens in the bed…

There was one kitten in the bed,
And the little one said, “I’m lonely.”

So they all got back in the bed,
And the little one said, “Good night!”

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

I Love Cats by Barney Saltzberg

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hey Diddle Diddle

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

Hey Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle.
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed, to see such a sight.
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

TICKLE: Round and Round the Garden*

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Meeow and the Pots and Pans by Sebastien Braun (or any Meeow book)
Brownie and Pearl Hit the Hay by Cynthia Rylant, pictures by Brian Biggs (or any Brownie & Pearl book)

HOW IT WENT:
Although I presented this storytime just yesterday, it feels like forever ago. I forget how tiring our 3 back-to-back infant-toddler-toddler storytime days are.

ATTENDANCE: 50 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Cats – eStorytime

Posted on October 3, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

Today was my second-ever eStorytime! I learned a lot from the first one, so this one went a lot more smoothly. Sometimes you just have try something out and learn from your mistakes.

Opening Slide on Keynote:

I discovered that Keynote can do the exact thing that I was using Slide Shark to do last month. I just emailed a copy of my PowerPoint slides to myself, and then opened them using Keynote. Right now it is still easier for me to use PowerPoint on my work computer to get everything figured out, but maybe in the future I will just create things directly in Keynote. I also created more slides this time for the slide show, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t have dead air time on the screen where the AppleTV settings came up, or worse the screen saver. (The screen saver we had last time was set to cute animals. No one pays attention to a book being read when there are cute animals on the screen.)

APP:

Free Animal Sounds by Hakim Boukhatem (iOS: Free)
Before I announced the storytime theme for today, I said we were going to play a game. I turned off the mirroring element of the iPad, and held the iPad it towards me, then played the animal sound of a lion. I had the kids try to guess what made that sound. Then I turned the iPad around to show them the picture. I did this for these four different animals, then asked what they had in common — they were all cats!. Some of the sounds can be a little scary, so you may want to test them out before doing with really little ones. And it’s harder to guess a real animal noise than you might think! While I wish this app didn’t have banner advertising along the bottom, I do like it because it has large enough pictures that an audience can see on the iPad screen itself. I also like that the sound is the only thing that plays — not the animal’s name, thus making a game like this possible.

APP:

A Present for Milo. Written and Illustrated by Mike Austin. from Ruckus Mobile Media. (iOS: $2.99)
In this delightful book app Milo the cat and mouse are having a fun chase around the house. I just wish there was an option to turn off the narration of the story, but still retain the sound effects. Since, as of this writing, there isn’t, I just muted the iPad and read the story at my own pace. This worked perfectly. There are lots of places to click to find more mice hiding throughout the story, and many interactive elements. Since you can only use one interactive element at a time, they do sometimes feel slow to load.

FINGERPLAY:

“Ten Little Kittens”
(I don’t know where I got this rhyme from, it’s been so long. Forgive me for not giving credit.)

APP:

Sago Mini Pet Cafe by Sago Mini (iOS: $2.99)
Such a fun app! For this, we entered the Pet Cafe then, since we were having a storytime about cats, we tapped on the Cat game. I had children count up the pieces of toast as I added them to the plate, then we figured out who wanted to eat them together. Since I only had 3 kids in the group this time, I also walked up to each of the kids with the iPad and let them move the toast to who should eat it. Fun!

MOVEMENT:

“Jump Up, Turn Around” by Jim Gill from Jim Gill’s Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times

PRINT BOOK:

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

APP:

Felt Board by Software Smoothie (iOS: $2.99)

On the Felt Board App, we did two different activities.

First, I had a few different cats set up, and then we made the sounds for each cat:
The tiny little kittens go mew, mew, mew
The tom cat goes Meow
The cat with the fiddle goes Fiddle Fiddle Fiddle
And the big jungle cat goes ROAR.

Next, I had a scene set up with a house, a large cat, and a tiny mouse and we did the following rhyme:

GREAT BIG CAT and TEENY LITTLE MOUSE

There was a GREAT BIG CAT

(Say “great big cat” in a big voice, make one hand be the cat)

and a TEENY LITTLE MOUSE

(Say “teeny little mouse” in a small squeaky voice, have other hand be small mouse)

Who ran around and around (Roll cat and mouse around each other)

in a tall, tall house! (Stretch arms above head)

Until that TEENY LITTLE MOUSE (Say “teeny little mouse” in a small squeaky voice)

got caught at last (Have cat catch mouse)

Because that GREAT BIG CAT (Say the “great big cat” in a big voice)

ran around so fast! (Roll cat and mouse around each other real fast)

(Rhyme from ArtFelt. They also have an amazing puppet set to go with it.)

APP:

Bean’s Night. Words by Sarah Hines Stephens, Picture by Anna Grossnickle Hines. from appropos. (iOS, Android, Nook $1.99)
All of the Bean apps from appropos are great for storytime. You have the option of turning the narration off, yet the fun sound effects still remain. They are based on board books, so the text is quite limited, but the story was so charming that the 3-5 year olds seemed just fine with it.

APPS WE SHARED SLIDE:

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

APP: Bean’s Baby from appropos (iOS, Android: FREE)
APP: Bean’s Games from appropos (iOS, Android: $1.99)
APP: Scruffy Kitty from wingedchariot (iOS: $4.99) I like this app, I just wish there was an option to turn off the narration!

THOUGHTS ON THIS eSTORYTIME:

Technology-wise, this eStorytime went much better than my first. Taking my own suggestion, I asked our technology guy to sit in on this one, just to make sure everything was running fine. And of course, nothing went wrong, probably because he was there. But, I’ll take that! I also realized that turning off iPad’s sleep mode and requiring a login upon starting was probably a good idea. Oh! And during a practice session I realized it’s also a good idea to turn off all notifications for the iPad — don’t want any Facebook messages popping up during storytime. Of course, this all could be avoided if I used the professional iPad instead of my own personal one, but I like the ease of being able to practice with my own whenever I want, and adding new apps as I find them.

Also learning from last time, I put a slide of the cover of Kitten’s First Full Moon up on the screen behind it while I read the story — no adorably cute animal screen-savers this time. At the end of storytime, our tech guy let me know there was actually a button on the projector that lets you set the screen to blank, without fully turning off the projector. I think I will try this next time. There’s also a button for blank screen and muted sound. So helpful to know, and I wouldn’t have found it on my own.

We had a much smaller group of people at this one — only 6 people. I think we ran out of flyers. Must print some more.

Here’s looking forward to next month!

ATTENDANCE: 6 people (children and adults)

*To see the words to these movements and activities I use frequently, please visit my A-capella Movements Section on my Storytime Movements and Music Page

All app prices were correct at the time of writing this blog, but may have changed since.

Mammoths and Ice Age – Preschool Storytime

Posted on September 13, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

I noticed that there seemed to be quite a few new books about mammoths out, which inspired today’s Ice Age theme. Also, it may have something to do with the fact that today’s high is 102° and I am longing for cooler weather. While this may seem like a strange theme for preschool storytime, it was actually really successful!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

BOOK:

How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Kate Hindley

MOVEMENT: The Mastodon
(With a quick name changes this Elephant fingerplay is now about an ice age mammal.)

The mastodon goes like this and that (walk heavily from side to side).
He’s terribly big (hold hands out to side)
And he’s terrible fat (bring hands around to make circle around tummy).
He had no fingers (wiggle fingers).
He had no toes (wiggle toes).
But goodness gracious — what a nose! (Make a trunk with arm).

FLANNELBOARD:
The Mammoths in the Ice Age

(Templates from coloring pages from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science)

(to tune of: “The Wheels on the Bus”)
The mammoths in the Ice Age went
trumpet, trumpet, trumpet,
trumpet, trumpet, trumpet,
trumpet, trumpet, trumpet.
The mammoths in the ice age went
trumpet, trumpet, trumpet,
All around the land.

Other verses:
The saber tooth tiger in the Ice Age went growl, growl, growl…
The ground sloth in the Ice Age moved slow, slow, slow…
The camel in the Ice Age went spit, spit, spit…
The dire wolf in the Ice Age went howl, howl, howl…
The man in the Ice Age said big, big, big…

BOOK:

Me Hungry! by Jeremy Tankard

MOVEMENT: “Jump Up, Turn Around” from Jim Gill’s Irrational Anthem by Jim Gill

BOOK:

A Mammoth in the Fridge by Michaël Escoffier and illustrated by Matthieu Maudet.

VIDEO:

“Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct” from Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late … and more stories by Mo Willems based on the book by Mo Willems

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Me Want Pet! by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Bob Shea
Book: Mammoth and Me by Algy Craig Hall
Book: Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
Book: Hot Hot Hot by Neal Layton

Rhyme: Mammoth Walk
(another adaptation of an elephant movement)
Right foot, left food, see me go (stomp on right foot first, then on left).
I am shaggy and big and slow.
I go walking down the ice.
With my trunk and tusks so nice. (make a trunk, then tusks with arms.)

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
My fiancé was teasing me about how this seemed to be a really specific storytime theme, and that he thought it was pretty weird. I said if you had been doing storytime for almost 8 years you wanted some variety. And it turned out to be a great storytime! All listeners really seemed to enjoy How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth, as well as the rest of the books. The flannelboard went better than I thought it would, considering this is one of the first ones I’ve developed from scratch. And thanks to information from the La Brea Tar Pits Page Museum I found out that all these animals were found in those tar pits — which means they lived around here at one point! Next time I do this storytime I think I will bring along some nonfiction to show pictures of what the animals looked like – I overheard a child ask what a mastodon was and it would have been nice to have something to show the kids. I know the movie was a bit of a stretch for this theme, but we didn’t have any good preschool-aged movies to show. So before showing the film I asked if any of the kids knew what extinct meant (DIED!), and explained how all the ice age animals we were talking about were extinct, and how the dinosaurs were extinct before these animals existed. And then I played the movie, and no one really cared if it tied in with the theme because it’s a great story and they all enjoyed it anyway.

ATTENDANCE: 53 (adults and children – it was a mammoth-sized storytime)

*To see the words to these movements and activities I use frequently, please visit my A-capella Movements Section on my Storytime Movements and Music Page

Jen in the Library

Storytimes, Programs and Library Thoughts

Category Archives: Storytimes

Birds – Toddler Storytime

Birds – Infant Storytime

Halloween – Toddler Storytime

Halloween – Infant Storytime

Mice – Toddler Storytime

Mice – Infant Storytime

Cats – Toddler Storytime

Cats – Infant Storytime

Cats – eStorytime

Mammoths and Ice Age – Preschool Storytime