Tag Archives: st. patrick’s day

Green (St. Patrick’s Day) – Toddler Storytime

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St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, so it’s time to celebrate all things green!  (Also, celebrating green makes it easier to find books to use.)

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

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

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*
10 Shamrocks
Shamrocks

FLANNELBOARD:
Leprechaun’s Lucky Charms
LeprechansLuckyCharmsFlannelboard2
inspired by K at Storytime ABC’s and her Leprechaun, Leprechaun, What Do You See? and Lucky Charms breakfast cereal
Patterns via Google Images search and Microsoft Shapes tool on Word

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!

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Good Luck Bear  by Greg Foley

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

VIDEO:
VeryHungryCaterpillarDVD
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” from The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other stories

MOVEMENT:  Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
This was a pretty good storytime.  I feel like the kids don’t connect as well with Good Luck Bear as much as they do with the other Bear stories by Foley, but it is still such a cute read (while being topical and age-appropriate).

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  38 people      11 am: 28 people

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

Green (St. Patrick’s Day) – Infants

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There are not a lot of good St. Patrick’s Day stories for infants (at least, not that I have right now), so this one was a Green (heavy on shamrocks) storytime.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: I’m a Little Cuckoo Clock*

BOOK:

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by Judy Horacek

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

FLANNELBOARD:
Five Green Shamrocks Two Ways
5 Green Shamrocks Flannelboard
(template from Google images search)

Five Green Shamrocks (counting up)
(rhyme from DLTK Holidays)
One green shamrock, in the morning dew,
Another one sprouted,
and then there were two.

Two green shamrocks, growing beneath a tree;
Another one sprouted,
and then there were three.

Three green shamrocks, by the cottage door;
Another one sprouted,
and then there were four.

Four green shamrocks, near a beehive
Another one sprouted,
and then there were five.

Five little shamrocks, bright and emerald green,
Think of all the luck
these shamrocks will bring.

Five Green Shamrocks (counting down)
(rhyme taken from King County Library Wiki)
5 little shamrocks lying in the grass
along came a leprechaun skipping down the path
he picked one up and put it on the door
that’s for good luck now there are 4

4 little shamrocks lying in the grass
along came a leprechaun skipping down the path
he picked it up and and put it on a tree
that’s for good luck now there are 3

3 little shamrocks lying in the grass
along came a leprechaun skipping down the path
he picked it up and put it on his shoe
that’s for good luck now there are 2

2 little shamrocks lying in the grass
along came a leprechaun skipping down the path
he picked it up and held it toward the sun
that’s for good luck now there is 1

1 little shamrock lying in the grass
along came a leprechaun skipping down the path
he left it there so there’d always be 1
that’s for good luck and now my story’s done!

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

BOOK:

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
LittleMissMuffetFlannelboard
Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

TICKLE: Catch a Wee Mouse*

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: Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley

HOW IT WENT:
While St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t lend itself very well to stories for young ones, this was still an enjoyable storytime.  Where is the Green Sheep? went over very well with the audience today — even though it can be a little long the parents seemed to stick with it.  I shortened Green a little bit to work with the group, but that one was good too.

ATTENDANCE: 34 people

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

Saint Patrick’s Day – Preschool Storytime

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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:
GoodLuckBearbyFoley
Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley

FLANNELBOARD:
Leprechaun’s Lucky Charms
LeprechansLuckyCharmsFlannelboard2
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:
GreenbySeeger
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?
LeprechaunWheresYourGoldFlannelboard
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?

OR

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

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

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
 CleverTomandtheLeprechaunbyShute LeprechaunUndertheBedbyBateman StPatricksDayCountdownbyYoon LuckyLeprechaunbyBentley
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

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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:
finmcoul by Depaola
Fin M’Coul by Tomie de Paola

BOOK:
LeprechaunUndertheBedbyBateman

VIDEO:
StregaNonaDVD
“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