Tag Archives: LM branch

Thanksgiving – Infant & Toddler Storytime

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Since this was my second time doing Infant Toddler Storytime at one of my new branches, and since I was just filling in for my Technician in the middle of a session, I tried to stick as closely to her storytime format as possible.  I figured our patrons were already comfortable with that, and it allowed me to try out some new songs and rhymes.

SONG: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: If You’re Happy and You Know It (a capella)

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

MOVEMENT: The Itsy Bitsy Spider (a capella)

MOVEMENT:  Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (a capella)

BOOK:

Over the River and Through the Wood: A Song for Thanksgiving by Lydia Marie Child, Nadine Bernard Westcott

MOVEMENT: Roly Poly
(to tune of Frere Jacques) – taken from jbrary

Roly poly, roly poly
up up up,
up up up
Roly roly poly roly roly poly
down down down,
down down down.

Other verses:
out / in
fast / slow

As you sing, do the motions with your arms for the verses, or you can do it with your little one’s legs.

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them

FLANNELBOARD:
Turkey Feathers

Pattern from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes
Song from Everything Preschool

Here’s a turkey. (Place the turkey on the flannelboard.)
But he’s missing something!  What is he missing? (wait for audience to answer)
Feathers!
What color is this feather? (Bring out the red feather)
Red!  That’s right!  Let’s put it on the turkey.  (Place the feather on the turkey.)
(now sing, to tune of Mary Wore Her Red Dress)
Turkey wore his red feather, red feather, red feather.
Turkey wore his red feather all day long.

(Continue adding color feathers and singing)

Let’s see, what color feathers does turkey have?  (rename all the colors)
And what does that make?
A rainbow!

(Sing)
Turkey wore his rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers.
Turkey wore his rainbow feathers all day long.

MOVEMENT: 10 Little Fingers on My Hands

I have 1 little, 2 little, 3 little fingers
4 little, 5 little, 6 little fingers
7 little, 8 little, 9 little fingers
10 little fingers on my hands.

They wiggle and the wiggle
All together
They wiggle and they wiggle
all together
They wiggle and they wiggle
all together
10 little fingers on my hands.

They clap and they clap
and they keep on clapping.
They clap and they clap
and they keep on clapping.
They clap and they clap
and they keep on clapping.
10 little fingers on my hands.

BOUNCE: “A Bouncing We Will Go”

A bouncing we will go
A bouncing we will go
High-ho the derry-o a bouncing we will go

Other verses:
– A rocking we will go…
– A hugging we will go…
– A tickling we will go…

BOOK:

Where is Baby’s Turkey? by Karen Katz

SHAKER SONGS: For this portion, I used some songs from a cd my library tech had, and we shook our shakers all to the beat.

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
   

Book: The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
Book: Llama Llama Gives Thanks by Anna Dewdney
Book: Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette
Book: Over the River and Through the Wood illustrated by Emma Randall  (I wasn’t able to get a copy of this one in time, but I am putting it on here as reminder to check it out next time!)

HOW IT WENT:  It went well.  I really relied on some of my Thanksgiving standards, since I didn’t have a lot of time to prep for this one.  It’s also fun trying out and learning some new storytime songs.  I like being able to keep things fresh.

PRESENTED: Thursday, November 15 at LM Branch

ATTENDANCE: 45 (adults and children)

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

Food – Infant & Toddler Storytime

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This was my first time doing Infant Toddler Storytime at one of my new branches!  It’s different here than I am used to, because we just do it in the Children’s area (instead of a special storytime room, mostly because it can get large), and it’s a mix of Infants and Toddlers together at the same time.

To ease myself into (and to have continuity for the families that come, I followed a routine that was closer to my Library Technician’s formula:

SONG: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “If You’re Happy and You Know It” from Walt Disney’s Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3

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

MOVEMENT:  Open Shut Them*

MOVEMENT: Roly Poly
(to tune of Frere Jacques) – taken from jbrary

Roly poly, roly poly
up up up,
up up up
Roly roly poly roly roly poly
down down down,
down down down.

Other verses:
out / in
fast / slow

As you sing, do the motions with your arms for the verses, or you can do it with your little one’s legs.

BOUNCE: Dickery Dickery Dare*

BOOK:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

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

MOVEMENT: “2 Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

BOOK:

Guess What? – Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu

SHAKER SONGS: For this portion, I used some songs from a cd my library tech had, and we shook our shakers all to the beat.

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (acapella)

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
  

Book: Banana by Ed Vere
Book: Early Bird by Toni Yuly
Book: Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

HOW IT WENT:  Even though I’ve been presenting storytimes for quite some time, I was nervous about this one since it was my first time in front of a new group.  I think it went well.  I feel like I can learn a lot of great new techniques from my Library Technician here, and I’m excited about that!

PRESENTED: Thursday, July 19, 2018 at LM Branch

ATTENDANCE: 41 (adults and children)

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

Clothes – Signs ‘n Storytime

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Working at a new location means I inherited some new programs, and I’m really excited about this one – Signs ‘n Storytime.  This was originally run by a bilingual English/American Sign Language (ASL) speaker, but she since she couldn’t get away from her usual site as easily, I got to take it over.  I’m not fluent at all.   I did take ASL eons ago in college, and I’m excited to get to use a little bit of that.

I approach this storytime as a way for parents to get exposed to some signs that they can use with their babies.  I think it’s important to use signs from American Sign Language.  I do disclose that I am not bilingual, nor a native speaker to the group.

For this storytime, I use the basic storytime pattern that my colleague created. I don’t sign the whole thing, or even a whole book.    As I said – I’m not fluent, so there is no way I could do that, and translating is an art.  Instead, I first pick a theme I think would be useful for a parent and their child.  Then, I try to pick books that have words that would be useful for a toddler to know.  When I come across this word in the book, I show and describe the sign.  Then, if it repeats throughout we all do the sign together.  At the end of the book, we practice again all the words in that book.  Finally, at the end of storytime, we review all the signs we learned from all the books

SONG: “Hello Friends” in ASL

taken from Jbrary
I changed this one a little so instead of doing it time to “say” Hello, I sing, “it’s time to Sign Hello” and use the ASL word for sign

BOOK:

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  Created and Illustrated by James Dean. Story by Eric Litwin.

Signs used with the story:
Shirt
Button
Cat
No 
Song
Bellybutton

MOVEMENT: If You’re Happy and You Know It
I sung this one a capella, and when we clap our hands we do the ASL version of clapping, we stomp our feet, and we pound our chest.  Whenever there is clapping in this storytime (at the end of a book, etc) we always do it the ASL way.

BOOK:
 
Ooh La La Polka-Dot Boots by Ellen Olson-Brown, illustrated by Christiane Engle

Signs used with story:
shirt
boots
coat
hat 
pants

FLANNELBOARD:
How Do I Put It On?

I was all set to do this flannelboard story (which you can learn in its entirety in this post), but since I only had one little listener, I just sat with him on the floor and we dressed the bear, naming the different pieces of clothing.

Signs used with story:
shirt
pants
shoes
hat

BOOK:
 
Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Signs used with story:
pants
dress
socks
shoes
hat

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

    

Book: Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier.
Book: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep by Jane Cabrera.
Book: Freddie Gets Dressed by Nicola Smee.
Book: Hat On, Hat Off by Teho Hears, illustrations by Renné Benoit (Since this uses the word “hat” a lot I think it would take some practice to get the signing down, but it does have other clothing in the books, so I think it could work…)
Book: Wear a Silly Hat: Sign Language for Clothing by Dawn Babb Prochovnic, illustrated by Stephanie Bauer. 
DVD: “Let’s Play in the Snow” from Baby’s First-Word Stories: Get Dressed

HOW IT WENT: For my first Signs ‘n Storytime, it went pretty well.  I only had 1 child and 2 adults in the audience, so it was a really intimate and close up reading.  That may be because we had a bit of a break in this storytime pattern as we transitioned from the previous staff member presenting it to me.  Hopefully, the more month to month programs will get a regular crowd.

PRESENTED: Thursday, June 14, 2018

ATTENDANCE: 3 people (adults and children)