Monday, March 18, 2013

It's Raining, It's Pouring Preschool Story Time, 3/15/13

 It's Raining, It's Pouring Preschool Story Time, 3/15/13

Book: ...And Then it Rained / And Then the Sun Came Out by Crescent Dragonwagon
This book is long, and even longer when you read both halves! I would do this again during a class visit, but not at a story time with three year olds in attendance.

Song: Shake Sillies

Book: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
I asked everyone to say "Kapiti Plain" with me every time it was mentioned, and the kids got very enthusiastic about it and did it every time. One little girl also mooed very loudly the last few times I mentioned the cows.

Song with Ukulele: Rain Rain Go Away Medley
I played It's Raining, It's Pouring interspersed with Itsy Bitsy Spider and Rain Rain Go Away.

Book: Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
The kids got so excited about the idea of having their own rainbows. I was glad I chose this one. (We skipped the fourth book in the picture, but one of the kids wound up borrowing it to take home.)

Craft: Paper plate umbrellas
I saw a version of this craft on Pinterest in two places, then adapted it based on the materials available in my craft cabinets. We decorated our plates with old summer reading stickers from the Make a Splash theme, and used bendable colored drinking straws as our handles.


I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

It's Raining, It's Pouring Toddler Lap Time, 3/15/13

  It's Raining, It's Pouring Toddler Lap Time, 3/15/13

This story time was stressful. A preschool parent barged in though she was not registered and I basically spent the entire story time just trying to keep myself from losing my temper.  (This person is a known problem and it had already been a tough day.) In any case, the activities I repeated from the previous day were bigger successes the second  time around, and the kids were very engaged even if they didn't move around as much as I expected.

Book: The Big Storm by Nancy Tafuri

Song: I Like to See the Raindrops Fall

Book: Rain Dance by Kathi Appelt

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Ollie the Stomper by Olivier Dunrea

Song: I Can Walk With Two Feet

Song with Sun Puppet: Mr. Sun

Song with Sun Puppet: You Are My Sunshine

Songs & Rhymes with Foam Flowers:
Song: Hands Up High 





Song: Head and Shoulders 

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

It's Raining, It's Pouring Drop-In Story Time, 3/15/13

 It's Raining, It's Pouring Drop-In Story Time, 3/15/13

Book: Rainy Day by Patricia Lakin
This book is long, but it rhymes and has a lot of repetition, so I decided to read it at the very beginning of story time. I was surprised by how well it went over, and the cozy library ending inspired me to change my next song from a rainy day song to a book song!

Song: These Are My Glasses

Book: Rabbits and Raindrops by Jim Arnosky
I have had mixed results with this book in the past,  but this time, I helped keep everyone focused by having us count the baby rabbits on several of the pages. It worked like a charm. I had everyone's attention all the way until the end!

Rhyme: Hop Your Bunnies
There was an awesome grandpa in the audience who got really into this rhyme. 

Song: Mr. Sun

Song: You Are My Sunshine

Letter of the Day: K
  • Song: Cuddly Koalas
  • Rhyme: Two Little Kittens
    I forgot my kitten puppets in the closet downstairs, so we just used our hands. Everyone participated, and the adults all said the rhyme along with me.
  • I intended, as the image above shows, to sing I'm a Little Red Kite, but I forgot the words and just decided to skip it.
Songs with ukulele: ABCs/Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Baa Baa Black Sheep


Song: Hands Up High

Song: The Wheels on the Bus 

Song: Chickadee  

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

We did so much singing at this story time. A grandmother stopped me afterwards and said, "We must have done your whole repertoire. That was great!" I seem to be popular with grandmas, which makes me happy.



I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/14/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/14/13

I prepared this story time for this week with the regular attendees in mind, and then most of them didn't come. I changed the structure specifically to make it more fun and less academic, and to hopefully address some of the wiggles and giggles early on in the session so we could have the fun of reading without a lot of interruptions and discussions about poop. It worked fairly well, but it's hard to say how it would have gone if  the regular kids had been there. As it was, two of the regulars who ordinarily do not behave well tried their best to get the other kids to join them in yelling, purposely falling over, and generally wreaking havoc, but the other kids' parents were in the room so they actually did follow directions and participate.

Opening Song
I skipped the welcome message and went instead for a welcome song -  Raffi's "Let's Make Some Noise." I thought this would be a hugely raucous and fun time, but there were only four kids in the room, and three of them were shy newbies. So... they got musical instruments to play, but barely made a sound, and I had to cut out the verses on  the ukulele and instead give them motions to do so they wouldn't just be sitting there looking lost. This would have worked great with a larger group - maybe we'll try it again in a few weeks.

Matching Game 
This week's read-along was a poem I found called Ears Hear. Each line of the poem lists a different sound and who or what makes that sound. To make things more interactive, I created a poster showing images of the different noisy people, animals, and objects, then put all the sound words in a paper bag labeled "Bag of Noises." I pulled out one sound at a time, we made the sound all together, and then we matched the sound  to the object, animal, or person who makes it. The kids who were in  the room from the start were able to do it and seemed to enjoy it, but a group of Pre-K kids who came late was totally lost. I wish I had cut the poem short somehow - like last week's activity, it was too long to hold their attention. I think poetry is a good choice, though, and I have already turned another poem into a printable book for an upcoming session.

Read-Along
When we finished matching everything up, we read the poem all together once through. The kids couldn't remember any of the sound words that went with any of the animals or objects, so I basically wound up reading to them. Again, if the poem had been shorter - and perhaps if the read-along version had also included the pictures, it would have been more of an interactive experience. I'm still having such a hard time finding things that are engaging enough to keep their attention and easy enough for them to read.

Read-Aloud 
I had Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements already checked out from another branch, so I decided to read that. I have no idea if the kids liked it - they were so quiet! This group does tend to get quiet and engrossed during the read-aloud portion, so I think silence is a good sign. I will say - this book is almost as difficult to read aloud as Fox in Socks! 

Goodbye Song
Since the poem took so long, I didn't have a craft or writing activity. To signal that story time was over, we sang Hats, Coats, Pants, and Shoes, which the kids loved.

This was a better story time than last week, so I think I'm headed in a good direction. Next week, I hope to use another easy reader printable on the theme of monsters.

It's Raining, It's Pouring Baby Lap Time, 3/14/13

 It's Raining, It's Pouring Baby Lap Time, 3/14/13

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Book: Rain Dance by Kathi Appelt

Song with Animal Puppets: Rain Rain Go Away 

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Tony Chestnut

Song: Head and Shoulders

Book: Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson 
This book was not a hit at the big drop-in story time on Tuesday, but at least one baby giggled through the entire thing at this lap time, so it was worth trying it again.

Song: It’s Raining on Your Head

Song: All the Little Babies

Song: Row Your Boat

Song: I’m a Little Green Frog

Rhyme with Puppet: A Little Frog in a Pond Am I


Song: Sing a Happy Song

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.
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