Frogs – Preschool Storytime

Posted on April 13, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

What did the frog say when the librarian suggested a book?
“I already READIT, READIT, READIT”

Here’s hoping people thought this storytime was better than that joke.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Jump Jump” from I’m a Rock Star by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

BOOK:

Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

FINGERPLAY:
Here’s Mr. Bullfrog (make a thumbs up with hand)
sitting on a rock.
Along comes a little boy (make a walking motion with the index & middle finger of other hand)
Mr. Bullfrog jumps, KERPLOP! (thumb makes a diving motion down)

FLANNELBOARD:
Five Green and Speckled FrogsFive green and specked frogs
Sat on a hollow log.
Eating some most delicious bugs.
Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are four green speckled frogs.
Ribbit! Ribbit!

Continue counting down until no green speckled frogs are left.

THEMED MOVEMENT:
“Gunk Gunk”
Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog one day,
Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog.
Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog one day,
and his eyes went blink, blink, blink.

Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog one day,
Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog.
Gunk, Gunk went the little green frog one day,
And his knees went wiggle, wiggle wiggle.
And his eyes went blink, blink,blink.

Continue, adding on the lines:
And his tongue went stretch, stretch, stretch.
And his legs went hop, hop, hop.
And his ears went listen, listen, listen. (if you are doing a story after).

BOOK:

The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner

VIDEO:

“The Foolish Frog” from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…and lots more learning fun!

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
Book: Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan
Book: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London (or any other Froggy book)
Book: The Rainy Day Puddle by Ei Nakabayashi (for younger children)
Flannelboard: The Fearsome Beast

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
This was a fun storytime! The kids seemed to have a lot of energy today, so I decided to focus more on songs and activities than on stories. The Wide-Mouthed Frog is always a hit, though. And since we just got in

ATTENDANCE: 42 (adults and children)

*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

1st Grade Storytime – Buggy Bugs!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

When I’m on Infant/Toddler Storytime rotation, and I also have school-aged class visits coming in during the same time period, I’ll often take the same theme and adapt it to fit the different audiences. That’s what I did for today’s first grade visit. I carried the bug theme through, and just switched it up a bit.

BOOK:

Frog in a Bog by Karma Wilson

FLANNELBOARD:
Bug in a Rug

Template & Story from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes

I used this flannelboard for my infant and toddler storytimes, but I changed it up a bit for the first graders. I put each bug on the flannelboard and, without my prompting, the kids named each one. Then I told them I was going to hide one of the bugs under the rug, and they would have to tell me which one. They closed their eyes, and I recited:

“Bug in a rug
Bug in a rug.
Who is that
Bug in a rug”

The kids opened their eyes and told me which was missing. Since they all wanted to participated, I had them say it all together. We played this way for a few times. Then I made it a little harder by hiding one bug, but mixing the other bugs on the board up. We did it that way a few times. Then to make it a bit harder, I hid two bugs, but didn’t tell them I was going to. I think to make it even better for older kids, I would add more bugs.

MOVEMENT: We Work With One Hammer*

BOOK:

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas

BOOK:

The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner
VIDEO:

“Diary of a Fly” from Giggle, Giggle, Quack … and More Stories by Doreen Cronin

OTHER MATERIALS TO USE:

“Clever Cricket” from Little Bear’s Band DVD

HOW IT WENT:
This was a pretty fun (and rowdy!) storytime. The great thing about first graders is that they want to tell you everything that they have going on, and engage with every story you read. We had a lot of fun this time, especially with Can You Make a Scary Face? (Which is great with audiences of all ages). And when we went to stand up, all the kids knew we would be doing, and were looking forward to, We Work With One Hammer. I think the video was a bit too old this time around, though, so next time I might switch it up for a Little Bear story.

ATTENDANCE: 18 people

Bugs – Toddler Storytime

Posted on April 9, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

While I don’t like real bugs, storytime bugs are pretty cute.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

One Little Blueberry by Tammi Salzano

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

COUNTING SONG:*

Ladybugs

FLANNELBOARD:
Bug in a Rug
Template & Story from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes

Place all the bugs on the board and name each one. Then put the rug up. Tell the kids that you are going to play a game and hide one of the bugs under the rug. They close their eyes, and you hide one bug. Tell them to open them, then say,

Bug in a Rug
Bug in a Rug
Who is that
Bug in a Rug?

Have the children guess. Repeat the game until it gets old. (I did it with three different bugs.) Then have kids name all the bugs again as you put them away.

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

BOOK:

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas

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

VIDEO:

“Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!” from The Wheels on the Bus …and More Musical Stories

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS IDEAS:

I Love Bugs! by Emma Dodds
Don’t Worry Bear by Greg Foley
Daddy is a Doodlebug by Bruce Degen

DVD: “Fleas” from Good Morning, Maisy

HOW IT WENT:

I went back to the beginning for my welcome song, and decided to use “Clap Your Hands”. I really like this one, and doing it again after a break made me realize how much. One Little Blueberry went over really well, and I especially think Can You Make a Scary Face? was a good choice because the groups were very active today. That provides a nice way to channel energy.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 47 people 11 am: 29 people

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

Bugs – Infant Storytime

Posted on April 9, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Icky Bicky Soda Cracker*

BOOK:

I Love Bugs by Philemon Sturges

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

FLANNELBOARD:
Bug in a Rug

Template & Story from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes

Bug in a Rug
Bug in a Rug
Who is that
Bug in a Rug?

Have the children guess. Repeat the game until it gets old.

BOUNCE: “Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

BOOK:

Snug as a Bug by Michael Elsohn Ross

TICKLE: Round and Round the Garden*

NURSERY RHYME:
Little Miss Muffet

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

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:

One Little Blueberry by Tammi Salzano

HOW IT WENT:
This was a fun storytime theme. I really liked using I Love Bugs! but Snug as a Bug didn’t seem to work as well. It was a good book, but a more quiet one. I need to find some other good books to use for this theme.

ATTENDANCE: 41 people

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

Dogs – Toddler Storytime

Posted on April 8, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

We had fun with dogs at our first toddler storytimes of the Spring session. (How is it already spring?)

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: 10am –“Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman
11am: “Jump Jump” (Storytime Edit) from I’m a Rock Star by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

Maggie’s Ball by Lindsay Barrett George

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

COUNTING SONG:*

Dogs

FLANNELBOARD:
Dog’s Colorful Day

Based on the book by Emma Dodd. Template from Storytime Magic: 400 Fingerplays, Flannelboards, and Other Activities by Kathy MacMillan and Christine

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

BOOK:

Dogs by Emily Gravett

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

VIDEO:

“Dee Dee’s Dog” from Baby’s First Word Stories: Pets

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS IDEAS:

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
That Pup! by Lindsay Barrett George
I Don’t Want a Posh Dog! by Emma Dodd
One Two That’s My Shoe! by Alison Murray
DVD: Any Spot Movie

HOW IT WENT:
As you can see, I was playing around a little bit with what my opening song should be for the toddler storytime this session. I tried two new ones today, and while I liked both of them, they felt a little long for the audience. I think these will be better for preschoolers, maybe. I’ll try something different for next week’s.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 42 people 11 am: 39 people

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

Dogs – Infant Storytime

Posted on April 2, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

We kicked off the Spring storytime session today with man’s best friend – dogs!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Icky Bicky Soda Cracker*

BOOK:

Domino by Claire Masurel

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

FLANNELBOARD:
Dog’s Colorful Day

Based on the book by Emma Dodd. Template from Storytime Magic: 400 Fingerplays, Flannelboards, and Other Activities by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker

BOUNCE: “Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

BOOK:

One Two That’s My Shoe! by Alison Murray

TICKLE: Round and Round the Garden*

NURSERY RHYME:
Hey Diddle Diddle

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

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:

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
Dogs by Emily Gravett

HOW IT WENT:
After a session off, it always takes one to two storytimes to get into the swing of things again, and into the routine. I think most of this presentation went really, especially the book choices – One Two That’s My Shoe is short enough that it is great for infants who aren’t yet used to coming to storytime. And the pictures are wonderful. This was my first time telling “Dog’s Colorful Day” as a flannelboard story, so I think it was the least successful in this group. I actually used all ten colors on Dog, but I think if I was doing it again, I’d half that.

ATTENDANCE: 37 people

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

Saint Patrick’s Day – Preschool Storytime

Posted on March 16, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Hope you’re wearing green, because today we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at storytime!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Can’t Wait to Celebrate” from Jim Gill’s Irrational Anthem by Jim Gill

BOOK:

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley

FLANNELBOARD:
Leprechaun’s Lucky Charms

Story inspired by K at Storytime ABC’s and her Leprechaun, Leprechaun, What Do You See? and Lucky Charms breakfast cereal (which makes this flannelboard magically delicious!)
Patterns via Google Images search and Microsoft Shapes tool on Word
I also found some glittery gold foam at Michael’s and stuck that on to some felt to make the gold in the pot sparkle.

Leprechaun’s Lucky Charms
Start with the leprechaun on the flannelboard. Add the other pieces where mentioned in the story.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have a red heart here with me.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have an orange star here with me.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have a yellow moon here with me.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have a green clover here with me.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have a blue diamond here with me.

Leprechaun, leprechaun
What lucky charms have ye?
I have a purple horse shoe here with me.

Let’s see what colors we have – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.
What does that make?
A Rainbow!

And what can you find at the end of the rainbow?
Leprechaun’s pot of gold!

THEMED MOVEMENT:
“Dance, Dance Leprechaun Dance”
(to tune of “Skip to My Lou”)
Dance, dance, leprechaun dance.
Dance, dance, leprechaun dance.
Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,
Do a dance for me.

Bow…
Clap…
At this point I asked the kids in storytime what were some other things leprechaun’s did. Some of the answers I got were:
Search, search, search for gold…
Jump…

And I like to finish with…
Sit, sit, leprechaun sit.
Sit, sit, leprechaun sit.
Sit, sit, leprechaun sit.
Sit for our next story.

BOOK:

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

FLANNELBOARD:
Leprechaun Where’s Your Gold?

Inspiration and Story from Imagination Station.
Patterns via Google Search.

Before you start this flannelboard, hide the gold behind one of the colored pots
Leprechaun knows he has some gold, but he has so many different pots, he doesn’t know where it is! Let’s see if we can help him find it!

Leprechaun, leprechaun, tiny and bold.
Where, oh where is your gold?
What does the _(color)_ pot hold?

Leprechaun, leprechaun, tiny and bold.
I’m out looking for your gold.
What treasures does the _(color)_ pot hold?

VIDEO:

“Ruby’s Rainbow” from Max & Ruby: A Visit with Grandma

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute
Book: The Leprechaun Under the Bed by Teresa Bateman
Book: St. Patrick’s Day Countdown by Salina Yoon (I should also make this into a flannelboard)
Book: Lucky Leprechaun
Flannelboard: Five Little Leprechauns
Flannelboard: Five Green Shamrocks

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
You know how sometimes you have a storytime where everything comes together and feels really good? That’s what this storytime felt like. It went really well, and helped give me that rush that comes from really connecting with the audience. We had a lot of younger children at this storytime (even though we call it Preschool, we usually end up with some toddlers at every storytime), so I chose stories that were on the younger side to tell. Foley’s Bear stories always entertain. I had never used Green before, and was a little bit worried about how it would work since there wasn’t a lot of text on the pages. I started by prepping the audience that there were a lot of different types of green and that they could guess what sort of green was coming up. It actually turned out to be a great choice for a storytime, because there were so many great opportunities for dialogic reading and audience interaction. Also I think the reason this storytime worked well was because of the flannelboards. I had made these last year, and was happy to have them to use. That’s the thing about flannelboards — they may take a while to make up front, but you will have them forever.
Also I had some familiar faces in the audience – a librarian friend brought her son, a friend who used to page here and her children, and a lovely family who used to attend my infant toddler storytimes – and that always helps make storytime better!

ATTENDANCE: 48 (adults and children)

*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

5th Grade Storytime – St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 14, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Yesterday a group of fifth graders came into the library for a class visit. Since Saint Patrick’s Day is coming soon, I thought we should celebrate with some Irish folktales and leprechaun stories.

BOOK:

Fin M’Coul by Tomie de Paola

BOOK:

VIDEO:

“Amazing Bone” from Strega Nona …and More Stories About Magic

There aren’t a lot of good Saint Patrick’s Day videos for kids. So I decided to show “The Amazing Bone” because it features a magical creature as well.

OTHER MATERIALS TO USE:

HOW IT WENT:
Because I have been working more frequently with younger kids lately (my colleague does the older class visits), fifth graders seem like they are adults to me. This storytime went pretty well, and Fin M’Coul got a few laughs. The kids really seemed to like “The Amazing Bone” as well. Though the audio in our storyroom was giving a lot of reverb and the deep stringed instruments in the soundtrack made them laugh and think of farts. Maybe that’s why they liked the video.

ATTENDANCE: 18 people

Family Storytime – Dr. Seuss

Posted on March 5, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

To celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Birthday on March 2, we held a special version of our preschool storytime honoring his works. My supervisor and I worked on this program together, so we tagged-teamed on the storytime.

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

PROP READING:
We started off with a prop-filled presentation of:

Green Eggs and Ham.

I portrayed Sam-I-Am, and my supervisor was the friend unwilling to try the titular treat. We had a table set up with all the props we needed for the story including:

Green Eggs and Ham (Color photo-copy laminated)
Here or There (Color photo-copy laminated, found via Google Image Search)
A House (made from Lego)
A Mouse (Puppet)

A Box
A Fox (he looks a little tired, I know, but it’s a fox from our puppet collection)
A Car
A Tree (Also from the library’s puppet collection)

This next row is a bit more… creative…

A Train (train whistle, I made the noise each time the book said “train”)
Dark (a black piece of construction paper with the word “dark” on it)
The Rain (a squirt bottle filled with water, that I misted every time the word “rain” was said. This got a good laugh, and was a great idea from my supervisor)

A Goat
A Boat

Since Sam-I-Am is the one who introduces the different props, I would hold up the item in question as I mentioned it. Then, my supervisor read off the answers of where the green eggs and ham would not be enjoyed, I held the item in question up again so that the audience could say it aloud. She also showed the illustrations of the book as well so those could be seen by the audience.

FLANNELBOARD:
Colorful Eggs (No Ham)

I stole this brilliant idea from this post at Mel’s Desk.

I took her suggestion of making it into a game, so on one side the eggs are a nice and normal yellow. On the other, wild colors! I started with all the yellow yolks up, then turned each one over at the appropriate time as I recited:

I-am-Sam.
Sam-I-am.
I do so like ____
eggs and ham.

(filling in the blank with the audience of the color of the egg). From this activity I learned that my pink egg (second from the left on the top row) really looks like an orange egg from afar and not like the hot pink it looks up close.

BOOK:

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

My supervisor just read an except of this one, up until the “goodnight” part. It worked really well shortened like that.

MOVEMENT: “If You’re Happy and You Know It – PS Version”
My supervisor does this one a little differently, so check out my A Capella Movements page for the PS version.

VIDEO:

“Zax” from Seuss Celebration: 9 Favorite Televised Classics

Many of the Seuss videos are 25 minutes long or so — “Zax” worked well for storytime since it was only 3 minutes or so.

TREATS:
What would a birthday celebration be without a sweet treat? After the movie, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Dr. Seuss, and then it was time to let them eat cake!

(I forgot to take a photo of the cake before it was devoured! But as you can see, at least we had a lot of interest!)

ATTENDANCE: 38 people

HOW IT WENT: I think this was a really fun unique storytime. Other than joining in on storytimes as an intern, I’d never done a joint storytime before. I think it went really well, and that we both were able to highlight the places where we shine in storytime to make it a success. I think if I were going to do this program again, I might have a larger table on which to place the props — since Seuss changes the patter of the objects in Green Eggs and Ham that might make it easier to do. Another Idea I had for that would just be to used laminated images for all the objects like I did for the green eggs and ham. Then I could just have a stack put together and go through the stack in order as the items were mentioned.

How did you celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Birthday or Read Across America?

3rd Grade Storytime – Folktales and Food

Posted on March 2, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while — things have been rather busy here at work as the whole staff has shifted their work areas. That, and I haven’t done a lot of storytimes in recent weeks. But here I am, back with a recent class visit.

I do programming more frequently for the preschool and under set, and while I love working with school-aged children, I still find myself rather intimidated by them. I’ve found that folktales are the perfect way to connect with these kids — and a great way to highlight what a great folktale collection we have!

BOOK:

Love and Roast Chicken by Barbara Knutson

FLANNELBOARD:
The Three Wishes

Patterns and Story from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra.
Patterns can be found on page 97 of Sierra’s Pattern eBook.

This is a great story about a woodcutter who is granted three wishes, and the way he and his wife foolishly use them. It’s a good one to use to spark discussion.

MOVEMENT: Aroostacha*

BOOK:

Ananse’s Feast: An Ashanti Tale retold by Tololwa M. Mollel

VIDEO:

“Strega Nona” from Strega Nona …and More Stories About Magic

OTHER MATERIALS TO USE:

Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye (one of my favorite folktales, but I read it to them last year)
Sausages by Jessica Souhami (This is a book version of The Three Wishes)
Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald
Pancakes for Supper by Anne Isaacs
Gator Gumbo by Candace Fleming

HOW IT WENT:
Pretty well! This third grade class is really wonderful, and always such fun to read stories to, mostly because the teacher is really involved with her class and you can see she enjoys it as well. I think, since Love and Roast Chicken is so long, I might have done another movement, then the flannelboard, then Aroostacha, and then the movie.

ATTENDANCE: 21 people

*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

Frogs – Preschool Storytime

1st Grade Storytime – Buggy Bugs!

Bugs – Toddler Storytime

Bugs – Infant Storytime

Dogs – Toddler Storytime

Dogs – Infant Storytime

Saint Patrick’s Day – Preschool Storytime

5th Grade Storytime – St. Patrick’s Day

Family Storytime – Dr. Seuss

3rd Grade Storytime – Folktales and Food