Tag Archives: mouse

Halloween – Infant Storytime

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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
5 Little Pumpkins Flannelboard cropped with logo
(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:
DuckandGooseFindaPumpkinbyHills
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen
HicketyPicketyFlannelboard1 HicketyPicketyFlannelboard2
(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

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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:*
10MiceFlannelboardcroppedwithlogo
10 Mice

FLANNELBOARD:
Little Mouse, Little Mouse
LittleMouseFlannelboard1CroppedwithLogoLittleMouseFlannelboard2CroppedwithLogo (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

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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
LittleMouseFlannelboard1CroppedwithLogoLittleMouseFlannelboard2CroppedwithLogo (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
HickoryDickoryFlannelboardCroppedwithLogo
(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