Baby Lap Time, 4/29

I really love this story time. I love how attentive these kids are, and I have the most wonderful group of moms, who will sing along, do the fingerplays, and always say thank you when the session ends. I also had some grandmas and grandpas today, which is always fun. 


I had no theme this week, which is what I prefer, but I did pair some of the books with a rhyme or song just to keep the session flowing smoothly.

Opening Song: Clap Along With Me

Book: Potato Joe by Keith Baker (2008, Harcourt)
I love this silly book. Last time I read this - at our temporary library before this one opened - I didn't have a great response, but this group loved it, and they all laughed at my favorite part, which is the appearance of Watermelon Moe! If you don't know this one yet, you must discover it, and share it! Keith Baker is the best.

Song: One, Two I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)
I never thought I'd get tired of this song, but I'm starting to. It's time to find a new counting song.

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Book: Birds by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2009, Greenwillow Books)
Another favorite. I love  the illustrations, I love the text, I love  the concept. This book is perfect. I thought it might be too long for this group, but honestly, the parents were thrilled, and the kids picked up on that enthusiasm. One little one was especially moved to point and shriek when she saw the page with the big and small birds. You can't go wrong with Kevin Henkes!

Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Little Birds (borrowed and slightly adapted from preschoolrainbow.org)


I created a set of birds, a door, a tree, and a sun for my flannel board to accompany this rhyme. I also changed the word "birdies" to "birds." It's just a personal preference, but I'd rather use the proper words than baby talk in a story time.  

Five little birds, flying around our door, 

The blue one flew away and then there were four.

Four little birds sitting in a tree,
The yellow one flew away and then there were three.

The little birds didn't know what to do,
So the red one flew away, and then there were two.

Two little birds sitting in the sun,
The Brown one flew away, and there was one. 

One little bird all alone,
She flew away and then there were none.

But later on that very day...

five little birds came back to play.

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider (a cappella sing-along)

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle (a cappella sing-along)

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

 

Book: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (2007, Little Simon)
A simple lift-the-flap book about zoo animals. The narrator asks the zoo for a pet, but they keep sending animals that are too heavy (the elephant), too fierce (the lion), or too scary (the snake.) Finally, though, they send a puppy, and he is just right!

Song: The Keeper at the Zoo (adapted from here)
I have a bunch of zoo animal puppets that don't get much attention. It's hard to do animal sounds when you have animals like the giraffe in the mix, and there aren't nearly as many zoo songs or books as there are for farm animals.  So I have decided to take this song and run with it for a little while.

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper at the zoo

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper feeds the [lion]

The keeper feeds the [lion]

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper feeds the [lion]

(Substitute other zoo animals for each subsequent verse)

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
I love this version - it's a brass arrangement, and nice and slow for little ones!

Song: Tony Chestnut (a cappella)
I really like this one. My audience stills looks at me like I'm a little bit nuts, but I can also tell that some are starting to become fans.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Flannel Friday: Five Astronauts Went Up in Space

I have only been a children's librarian for about 6 months (it will be 6 months on May 8th), so I don't have much of an archive of flannel board activities just yet. I'm also shamefully inept with scissors and not very crafty, so the thought of making a bunch of flannel board sets is very daunting. Therefore, I often cheat. The astronauts in the photo above are paper (which is way easier to cut than felt), and they are being held to the flannel board with velcro. This is how I have made all of my flannel board creations so far, and I definitely recommend it, if you are felt-phobic and/or work in a library system where money for felt is scarce. (I do worry that these will get ripped, and I will have to replace them frequently, but this hasn't happened to me yet.)

I created these colorful guys to go with a song I adapted. The original is either Five Little Ducks or One Elephant Went Out to Play, but I changed it to Five Astronauts Went Up In Space. I performed it for the first time at Baby/Toddler Story Time this past Tuesday.

The words I wrote are as follows:

One astronaut went up in space

Upon the moon to play one day

He had such enormous fun

That he called for another astronaut to come!

(Repeat, counting up to five.)

Five astronauts went up in space

Upon the moon to play one day

They had such enormous fun

That they called for everyone to come!

(End the rhyme by saying goodbye to each astronaut by color.)

I used this coloring sheet as my astronaut template, and then colored each one with crayons. The colors don't really matter, since there's no reference to them in the song, but I chose the five brightest crayons I had on hand. For the moon, I resized this photo from Google Images.

Be sure to visit Mel's Desk for more Flannel Friday posts!

3 Dinosaur Mysteries for Beginning Readers

• Detective Dinosaur Undercover
  by James Skofield, picture by R.W. Alley
  In the style of Amelia Bedelia, Detective Dinosaur misinterprets the meaning of working undercover and wears every cover in his house - coats, blankets, even cushions - to work. Later, he becomes afraid of his own feet and believes it is raining when water lands on his head on an otherwise sunny day. The "mysteries" in this book are easily solved by logic, but will still get a chuckle out of their readers!
• Bones and the Dinosaur Mystery
  by David A. Adler, illustrated by Barbara Johansen Newman
  Jeffrey Bones, a six-year-old detective, goes to the museum with his grandfather and Grandpa's friend, Sally. At the souvenir shop, they each buy something, which is placed in a green bag. After snacking on ice cream, Jeffrey realizes that his bag, containing a blue plastic T-rex dinosaur is missing! Using his detective skills, and his walkie-talkies, he tries to track down the missing toy. 
• Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game
  by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti
  Cam and her best friend Eric Shelton attend a birthday party. Upon arriving, they're asked to guess how many dinosaurs are in a jar. Later, when the winner is announced, Cam becomes suspicious that another boy at the party managed to guess the exact right number of dinosaurs. Using her photographic memory, she figures out just how he was able to cheat the system.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/26

This was my first week using my new story time strategy, which came about after last week's group talked through every story. Right after the hello song, I started in with a book, and didn't do any of the usual favorite songs until the end. It worked really, really well, and I was so flattered when a grandmother came up to me afterward and said my story time is the best one she's been to. I was feeling overwhelmed and down earlier this week, so that was a most welcome compliment!

Opening song: Hello, How Are You?
(This week's actions were clapping hands, waving arms, and tapping knees.)

Book: One Lighthouse, One Moon by Anita Lobel
I'm a big fan of Anita Lobel's books about Nini  - I actually read Nini Lost and Found at a story time back in March - and this one is probably my favorite of them all. It's divided into three parts. Part one focuses on Nini's week, in which she watches a human girl wear 7 different types of shoes - red on Tuesday, pink on Saturday, white on Sunday, etc. The second part focuses on the year and talks about how Nini spent each month. In February, for example, she avoided kisses on Valentine's Day.

Song: Five Astronauts Went Up In Space (with flannel board)
I wrote the words to this one, but the tune is the same as Five Little Ducks, or One Elephant Went Out to Play.

One astronaut went up in space

Upon the moon to play one day

He had such enormous fun

That he called for another astronaut to come!

(Repeat, counting up to five.)

Five astronauts went up in space

Upon the moon to play one day

They had such enormous fun

That they called for everyone to come!

My astronauts are five different colors (red, blue, orange, green, and purple), so we named the colors and then waved goodbye to each one. I left the moon on the flannel board to lead directly into the next song.


Song: Aikendrum (a cappella once, and once with Raffi; also with flannel board)
I introduced the different parts of Aikendrum's face - spaghetti, meatballs, cheese, and pizza - before we sang the song. Then we did it once without music so the grown-ups could learn the song, and once with the more upbeat Raffi recording. When we were finished, I waved goodbye to Aikendrum and turned the flannel board around to reveal a single star.

Book: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Michael Hague
I sang this book, and everyone joined in for the first verse and the refrain after all the other verses. During the first session, a little boy walked right up to me during this book and, holding out a Where's Waldo book, said, "Can you help me find Waldo?" It was adorable. And funny.  This book doesn't seem to have a cover image available anywhere on the internet, which strikes me as strange, but I guess it is out of print.

Song: One Little, Two Little, Three Little Stars (sung to the tune of "Ten Little Indians")

One little, two little, three little stars

Four little, five little, six little stars

Seven little, eight little, nine little stars

Ten stars in the sky! 

(Wiggle fingers to show stars are twinkling.)

Ten little, nine little, eight little stars

Seven little, six little, five little stars

Four little, three little, two little stars

One star in the sky!

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider (a cappella sing-along)
I brought out my sunshine puppet for this one, and held it up when we sang, "Out came the sun."

Book: Under the Sun by Ellen Kandoian
This story tells of the sun's travels throughout a 24-hour period. While children are still asleep in Hawaii, Russia, Japan, and China, the sun comes peeking through an American child's window! A simple introduction to the movement of the sun - even though it was published in 1987, and has some older-fashioned looking illustrations, it still works well for a contemporary audience.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in my Heart

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

This was the best story time I've had in a long time. I hope to do another one like it next week!

Family Story Time, 4/25

Monday is my most challenging story time day for two reasons. One is that I typically only work every other Monday, so there is no sense of routine for this group. They have a different experience each time. The other reason is that I have yet to see the same group twice. Last week, for example, I heard the group was almost entirely older kids - preschool and elementary school. Today, though, the group was half babies! Needless to say, what I prepared for older kids wasn't going to fly, so I had to get a little creative on the spot. Here's how everything unfolded. (Our theme was space.)


Opening song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene W. Field, illustrated by Giselle Potter
This is a beautiful interpretation of this old bedtime poem. Babies and big kids alike really enjoyed looking at the shades of blue and gold that make up the "sea of dew" on which the sailors travel through the moonlight. I don't know that kids fully understood the realization that Wynken and Blynken are eyes and Nod is a head, but they were clearly drawn to the book nonetheless.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Book: What The Moon Sees / What the Sun Sees by Nancy Tafuri
This two-sided book shows us what the moon and sun each see during their hours in the sky. We started with the moon side, then flipped over and read about the sun. The preschoolers in the audience enjoyed pointing out the various things they noticed, including the owl's small beak compared to the hugeness of the moon, and the fact that the bustling people were sharing a page with a yellow taxi. Our copy of this book is missing a page, which I didn't realize until we got to it,  but no one seemed to mind. I chose this book because it seemed baby-friendly, but it wound up striking a chord with everyone.

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (a cappella, sung twice, second time with hand motions)

Book: Our Stars by Anne Rockwell
This is a non-fiction book. It would have been really good for 6- and 7-year-olds, but it did not fly for little ones. I wound up paraphrasing most of the text and quickly rushed us to the end, as a few kids actually wandered out of the room. Oops!

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)


Song: Aikendrum by Raffi (from Singable Songs for the Very Young)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Book:  Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon by Dan Yaccarino
Far and away the best book of this session. Rhyming text tells of a boy's imagined trip to space. He suits up, lifts off, and explores, then lands back on Earth in time for a hero's welcome and a snuggle back in his own bed. Brightly colored illustrations show the differences between Earth and space, and my favorite line describes the entire experience perfectly: "There's outer space all over the place!" 

Closing Song: Skinnamarink


The tentative plan at this moment is to repeat the space theme for Baby/Toddler story time tomorrow, with different books, but we'll see if I carry that through, or change my mind at the last minute!

Baby Lap Time, 4/22

I didn't have a theme for this week, and actually even deviated from my plans. It's Spring Break here, so many siblings and older kids came along to story time, and it was tough to keep everyone focused on what I was doing with so much chaos all around. We did our best, though. Here's what we sang and read.

Opening Song: Clap Along With Me
I've been experimenting with different opening songs for this group, and I think I've finally settled on one I like.
 
Song: Numbers Are Our Friends

Song: ABCs (a cappella sing-along)

Book: A Was Once an Apple Pie by Edward Lear, illustrated by Suse MacDonald (Orchard Books, 2005)
This book is pretty long, but I wanted to do an alphabet book and this is the only that has been checked in for weeks and weeks. I probably could have done just a few letters, but I did read the whole thing. The babies seemed drawn to the illustrations, and I probably could have done more with the rhythm if not for the aforementioned chaos.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus
This is not the most baby-friendly song in the world, but I needed something high-energy to bring everybody back after that long book!

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider (a cappella sing-along)
This was great! Every adult in the room sang along, and the babies loved watching our fingers climbing up and up.

Book: Uh-oh! by Rachel Isadora (Harcourt, 2008)
We watch as a baby goes through the day making mess after mess. A perfect book for babies, but not really for older kids. The big kids were bored and restless. It's fun to say "Uh oh" over and over again, though. It has a nice sing-song rhythm to it. Some of the moms jumped in on the refrain, too, which added to that effect. Rachel Isadora is one of my go-to story time authors.

Song: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Using the flannelboard cut outs I found on kizclub.com yesterday, I sang this song with no musical accompaniment. I decided to forgo the usual version where the refrain is, "Perhaps she'll die" and changed it to "Oh me, oh my." This is a trick I picked up at the Wimpfheimer Nursery School, when I worked there back in college. The nannies and moms adjusted quickly and sang right along with me. At the end, when she eats the horse, we sang, "She had a tummyache of course!" It was almost perfect, except that an older sibling got right up in the front of the room and announced, "Actually, she died." Too funny! Oh well. I don't have an objection to the death theme, I just felt weird singing it to babies.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes

Song: Tony Chestnut Knows I Love You 

Book: Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett (Simon & Schuster, March 2011)
A lonely chameleon changes shade and shape to mirror potential friends - a yellow banana, a brown boot, a swirly snail, etc. Nothing seems like a good fit, though, until he meets another chameleon. Then they both shine bright with all the colors of the rainbow. The chameleon's comic little face draws you into the story, and the illustrations - including the one showing the white chameleon on a white background - are gorgeous and fun. Even the big kids got into this one. If you read this to a group, don't forget to show the end papers - the chameleon looks drab at the start of the book, and bright as can be at the end. A new favorite.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

6 Novels in Verse for Kids

•  What My Mother Doesn't Know
  (Young Adult)
  by Sonya Sones
  Sophie doesn't want to date geeky Murphy for fear of what her friends will say, but Dylan, the socially acceptable boyfriend she chooses instead, might not be all he's cracked up to be. I love this book because it's so true to life - as Jennifer Hubert said in her review on Amazon.com - "No woman will be able to read this heartfelt verse novel and not find a bit of herself in Sophie's secret, sexy thoughts." Any girl who has ever been boy crazy will see herself in Sophie's story.
• Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
  (Young Adult)
  by Ron Koertge
  Kevin plays baseball, but when he's diagnosed with mono, he finds himself reading - and then writing - poetry to pass the time. As he writes, he discovers his own thoughts and feelings about his friends, his dad, playing baseball, and his mother's recent death. It's hard to find accessible poetry that middle school kids will actually want to read, but Ron Koertge makes it difficult not to like Kevin.  The book also has a sequel entitled Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs.
• The Realm of Possibility
  (Young Adult)
  by David Levithan
  In my opinion, even David Levithan's prose is poetry, but this book is written in verse, and it's one of my favorites. Each poem is from the point of view of a particular teenager. Some are best friends, some are halves of the same couple; all attend the same high school. What emerges as the story goes on is a portrait of this group of kids, and an understanding of what makes them tick, what motivates them, and how they feel about one another. The poems are as diverse as their speakers, and each poem is very emotional. Read this one with tissues on hand.
• Song of the Sparrow
  (Young Adult)
  by Lisa Ann Sandell
  This may be the best historical fiction novel I have ever read. It's a retelling of the story of the Lady of Shalott, where Elaine is a teenage girl, raised by the men of the Briton army after her mother is killed. She mends the men's clothing, and heals their wounds, while pining for the love of Lancelot and trying desperately to get along with Guinevere, who treats her like a servant rather than a friend. The original story has a tragic ending, but this book takes a more uplifting approach. The language is beautiful, and the story is so engaging, I could easily have read it in one sitting. My full review from when I read this back in 2009 is available on  Goodreads.
• Home of the Brave
  (Middle Grade)
  by Katherine Applegate
  Kek is a Sudanese refugee whose father and brother were killed in front of him, and whose mother was left behind when he came to live with his aunt in Minnesota. This beautiful story tells of his adjustment to American life, and how he slowly carves a niche for himself in his new home. This book is amazingly well-written and really personalizes a situation that kids may have heard about on the news.
• The D- Poems of Jeremy Bloom
  (Middle Grade)
  by Gordon Korman and Bernice Korman
  It's becoming part of the weekly routine to include one book from my childhood. This week, I'm including D- Poems, because it was probably the first book I ever read that was written entirely in poetry, but which told a whole story. I can remember reading  this book over and over again, late into the night, enjoying the same joke - that Jeremy signed up for poetry because he thought it was pottery. The poems that come out of his accidental semester are hilarious and get at the heart of what middle school is really like. Sadly, this book is out of print now, but it is remains a favorite of mine.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/19 (Special Jazz Story Time)

Each library in my system was asked to do a Jazz-themed story time during the month of April. I chose to do it for babies and toddlers because that is my largest and most stable story time, and I knew I would have a big audience. It was definitely a different kind of story time than usual, and I think that confused some people, but overall, it was a nice opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and learn some new books and songs.

Opening song: Hello song

Song: ABC's


This song was fun because it sings the alphabet three times through, getting a little bit faster each time. I was thankful for some of the older siblings in attendance, who helped the little ones get into it by singing along at top volume.

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book


Book: Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie

A musical family scats, sings, swings, and bops the baby to sleep. Lots of great rhythm and movement in this book. I felt silly reading it all, but it was worth it. With a book like this, the more you ham it up, the better!

Song: Session 1: The Wheels on the Bus; Session 2: The Wheels on the Bus

The jazz songs I used in the first session weren't very successful, so I didn't use as many in session 2.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes (Session 2 only)

Book: A Tisket-A Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald, illustrated by Ora Eitan

I played Ella Fitzgerald singing this song, and turned the pages of the book along with it. I absolutely love  the song, and though the book didn't 100% follow the recording I had, I think it still worked well. A little boy mourns the loss of the little yellow basket that held a letter for his mother. He's convinced a little girl took it, and spends the rest of the book searching for it. The song leaves us hanging, without ever finding out the fate of the basket, but the book resolves the ending, and we find out the little girl didn't take the basket at all - there were two yellow baskets all along.

Song: Session 1: Ten Little Monkeys; Session 2: Monkeys on the Bed


Book: Jazzmatazz by Stephanie Calmenson, illustrated by Bruce Degen

This book features a baby and his animal friends playing and tapping along to jazz  music. They all play the same rhythm, which is  repeated again and again throughout the book: "Doo-dat ditty-dat, ditty-dat doo!" as each animal shows off his or her talent, then hands the spotlight over to the next one. A good rhyming story, with repetition that makes it easy for the audience to join in and read along with you. 


Song: There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in my Heart

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends) (Session 1 only)

Book: What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, illustrated by Ashley Bryan

I can remember loving What a Wonderful World as a kid. I have a very clear memory of being at some sort of Girl Scout event and  watching a nature video where this song played in the background. I sat there fighting back tears and had no idea  why. So I decided this would be a good way to  end story time, by introducing the kids to a song maybe they haven't heard yet. Ashley Bryan's colorful interpretation of the song is beautiful, and many of the adults sang along with the help of the words on the pages. The kids don't know who Louis Armstrong is yet, but hopefully, someday they will.


Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

5 Kids' Books About Libraries

• That Book Woman
  (Picture Book)
  by Heather Henson and David Small
  It's the 1930's and Cal lives in Appalachia. The Book Woman is a Pack Horse librarian, who brings books to remote areas. Cal is resistant to her deliveries at first, because he can't read, but ultimately becomes inspired by the librarian's visits and begs his sister, whose bookishness previously annoyed him, to teach him to read, too.
• Read It, Don't Eat It!
  (Picture Book)
  by Ian Schoenherr
  Various adorable animals are shown treating books badly. The accompanying text reminds us in a humorous way that we need to treat library books with respect.
• Because of Winn Dixie
  (Middle Grade)
  by Kate DiCamillo
  This book is not just about libraries, but it has a wonderful librarian in it. Miss Franny tells stories to Opal and her dog, Winn Dixie, gives them special candies called Litmus Lozenges, that somehow manage to taste sad, and becomes one of the many adult friends Opal makes during her first summer in Naomi, Florida.
• Please Bury Me in the Library
  (Picture Book)
  by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone
  This collection of poetry about books, reading, and libraries is one of my favorite poetry books of all time. Among other truly brilliant observations, it gives us one of my favorite quotations: "A bad book owes to many trees / A forest of apologies."
• Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library!
  (Middle Grade)
  by Eth Clifford
  I read this book when I was in elementary school. We started reading it in school, and I went home and read the rest of  the book ahead of the class. I remember specifically that I was scolded by my teacher and asked not to do that again. It was such a good story, though! Two girls are trapped inside a library during a blizzard, and various scary things happen. An intriguing premise and just scary enough.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/12

This was the most disorganized morning, and I was barely prepared for the 10:00 session.  I actually went into the room and sang three songs before I realized I hadn't brought any books into the story time room with me! I quickly put on Shake Your Sillies Out (thank God for Raffi!) and snuck out to grab them, but because I was so flustered, I didn't really feel like I was in control for the rest of the session.

Between sessions, though, I regrouped, and did the following program for the second group, which was huge and had at least 45 kids! (I used the same books and most of  the songs, but changed the order around quite a bit.)

Opening song: Hello song

Song: ABC's (a cappella sing-along)
I put the letters up on the flannel board and pointed as we sang. It's a great sing-along because all the adults know it, as do many of the older kids. I think I'll be doing it for a few weeks, just for a change. My goal is to get away from farm animals for a bit, before I get completely sick of them. 

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: Garden of Opposites by Nancy Davis

This book is really bright and exciting to look at, even if there aren't many words.  I read the words, and then pointed out different interesting things about the illustrations. I don't think the concept of opposites necessarily made sense to the babies and toddlers, but they definitely loved seeing the inside of an apple and they also really liked the sharp gardening scissors which are the opposite of a dull shovel. I had another book on deck, in case this one didn't work, but it worked quite well, and I'd recommend it for a Spring- or flower-themed story time.

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes


Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: Counting in the Garden by Kim Parker

This one is a floral counting book where animals and insects hide among the blossoms and stems of different plants. I got everyone involved by having them count the different animals and bugs with me. Things got a little bit tricky as the numbers got bigger, though, because the inchworms and butterflies blended in so well, I almost couldn't find them all. The parents were very understanding, though, and when I found inchworm number nine, one mom actually said, "Good job!" 

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends) 

Song: Five Little Ducks (from Where is Thumbkin?)
This is a new one for my story time group, and this version is a little bit faster than I would like, but we used ducks on the flannel board and during the second session, especially, the kids really seemed intrigued. 

Song: Monkeys on the Bed


Rhyme: Five Pretty Flowers (I borrowed this from Mel's Desk, and then adapted it slightly)
I butchered this rhyme completely for session one, so I actually wrote a cheatsheet for session two. I didn't like leaving the ending just hanging, so I added my own verse to the end. Unfortunately, some little fingers couldn't resist "helping" me with the flowers, and the end of the rhyme got cut off by his grown-up coming to get him from the front of the  room. I also think this group is puzzled by rhymes and would rather have songs, which I don't fully understand. Still, though, I think it's a good one. I'm a sucker for rhymes about counting to five, and I do plan to try it again.

Out in the garden

Growing in the sun

Were 5 pretty flowers

And I picked one...

(count down until there are no flowers left)

Out in the garden 

growing in the sun

Are five new flowers I planted

Count them one by one

Book: This is the Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Donald Crews

This story is a cumulative rhyme about a sunflower growing night and day in the narrator's front yard. Donald Crews of Freight Train fame is the illustrator, and I love the way he shows the effects of different types of weather and light on everyday things, like flowers and buildings and even grass. There is a page in this book where it's raining that I just absolutely love. I also love the surprise ending, when one sunflower becomes a whole patch.

Song: There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in my Heart

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Family Story Time, 4/11

We had our first real warm day today - over 80 degrees! - and I think it's because of that, that my story time crowd was hyper and distracted. I didn't help, either, by changing our routine, and introducing some new songs.

The theme was animals, and I sort of divided the session in half, with farm animals in the beginning and zoo animals at the end. I had roughly a dozen kids in attendance, and a handful of adults.

Opening song: If You're Happy and You Know It (from Where is Thumbkin?)

Direct quote from a four-year-old as the music began: "I hate this song!" Oops!


Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes


Book: Seven Little Rabbits by John Becker, illustrated by Barbara Cooney

When story time started, and for the duration of this book, I had one baby and four preschoolers in the room. Since the book is very repetitive - "Seven little rabbits / walkin' down the road / walkin' down the road / Seven little rabbits / walkin' down the road / to call on old friend toad" -  I had envisioned a kind of call and  response with the audience, but it didn't quite happen that way.  Instead, they sat perfectly silently and watched me read. One little boy really liked the way the book slowly counts down to one little rabbit walking down the road, but otherwise, I couldn't tell if they were bored or what. But the book is fantastic, and if I'd had  a larger group, with more adults to help me out, that call and  response thing would have worked and been a lot of fun. It would also be awesome to do with a flannel board, but time to work on making those is scarce at the moment.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed
The size of my audience nearly tripled during this song, which created a sense of chaos that we never fully bounced back from.

Song: Five Little Ducks

I used the flannel board for this song. Unfortunately, I don't know the song as well as I thought, and I was a bit scattered with the hand motions. and the older kids, who are usually my helpers, were laughing themselves silly over one of the toddler's dance moves. I'm determined to try this again, maybe with tomorrow's group.

Song: I Had a Rooster
I love this song, and have since childhood, but it wasn't a hit today at all. Part of it might be that kids who live in the city aren't as familiar with farms as maybe I was at age four, but it also has some loud and almost scary sounds in it, particularly when Pete starts growling like a lion. I also have an incomplete set of farm animals for  the flannelboard, so we started the song with no rooster and never really established a sense of focus. I'll do it again, but not without the  right props.


Book: I Bought a Baby Chicken by Kelly Milner Halls, illustrated by Karen Stormer Brooks

This is a silly book about a family that goes to the pet store and comes home with way too many chicks. All concentration was lost by this point, and the more I played up the humor of the story, the worse it was. But the book is very funny, and if I'd had a big toddler group, we would have done some counting, and I think I would have gotten a bigger laugh at the end when the narrator of the story says it's lucky she didn't go shopping for a cow.

Song: Going to the Zoo
This was a good one. The kids did whatever silly motions I came up with - tapping our knees, waving our arms, pretending to swim - and a couple of them had all the words to the chorus down by the time we were done.

Song:  The Keeper at the Zoo (adapted from here)
We used zoo animal puppets to show which animal we were singing about, and just repeated the verses until we ran out of animals. My puppets are apparently difficult to distinguish, because not even the adults could recognize my monkey. Oh well.

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper at the zoo

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper feeds the [lion]

The keeper feeds the [lion]

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper feeds the [lion]

(Substitute other zoo animals for each subsequent verse)

Book: Zoo Borns by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland

 

This book is awesome - close-up photos of cute little baby animals from all around  the world with little first-person introductions giving the first name of the animal, as well as its species. I should probably have led with this one and done only one other short one, but I didn't, so this book got the short end of the stick. The older kids loved it, but the smaller ones were totally done with me by this point and the noise level in the room just rose and rose.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus
To redeem myself with the little ones who were so lost during the second half of  story time, I did one of their favorite songs. Instant calm and joy overcame us all.

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Saturday Story Time: Chicks & Bunnies, 4/9

Saturday Story Time is not a regular occurrence in my library branch, since we are often so short-staffed, but we have a lot of demand for it, so I'm trying to commit to doing one a month. This was our first one, with a theme of Chicks & Bunnies. I planned two sessions, thinking that this would be a really popular program, but I had two small groups: eight kids in session one at 10:00am, and ten kids in session two at 11:00am.

Opening song: Hello song
For the verses, we clapped our hands and made bunny ears with our fingers.

Rhyme: Flowers Tall and Small

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

I'm getting tired of these two; it might be time for some new five-finger rhymes.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book (session 2 only - session 1 was mostly babies, and they seemed restless, so I skipped it)

Book: Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by John Butler

This book is adorable. I know it's lame to say books are cute and not say anything more constructive about them, but this one really is absolutely adorable. The wee little chick is the littlest chick in his family, but that doesn't stop him from walking tall, peeping loudly, and finding the biggest seed in the farm yard. I chose this book not only because it went with the theme, but because of the warm and gentle depictions of the various farm animals - especially the pig. Illustrator John Butler manages to humanize the animals without making them look like people, which seems like a really impressive feat to me. If you like this one, also try Wee Little Lamb and Wee Little Bunny by the same author.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Flannel Board Rhyme: I went to visit the farm one day...

My cow for the flannel board mysteriously disappeared between sessions, so I was sans cow for session two. I hope she resurfaces, as she is the first animal mentioned on our CD's version of Old MacDonald!

Book: Whose Chick Are You? by Nancy Tafuri



I really like Nancy Tafuri's books because she draws from a really neat perspective, making me feel like I'm right inside whatever setting she depicts right along with the animals. In this book, an unidentified egg hatches and neither the chicken nor the duck nor the goose nor the bird can figure out who the gray little chick inside belongs to. But the swan mother knows, because it's her baby! This is a toddler-friendly version of The Ugly Duckling, with a theme similar to P.D. Eastman's classic Are You My Mother?

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Rhyme: Hop Your Bunny
I adapted this from a rhyme called Dance Your Fingers.  I first heard it on Wee Sing for Baby.

Hop your bunny up, 

Hop your bunny down,

Hop your bunny to the side,

Hop him all around.

Hop him on your shoulder,

Hop him on your head,

Hop him on your tummy,

And then put him to bed.
(Make bunny ears with two fingers, then follow the rhyme's directions. For "put him to bed" I just lay the "bunny" down on the palm of my opposite hand.)

Book: The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard




I couldn't resist this oldie but goodie. I loved the Golden books as a kid, and once I found out this book didn't mention Easter, I realized it was perfect to share in a public library story time. It's a bit on the long side for babies and toddlers, but they seemed to like it anyway. A rabbit finds an egg and just knows there is something inside it. All attempts to make it come out are unsuccessful, so the bunny falls asleep. Then the egg hatches, and the duck who pops out wonders why this bunny won't wake up. A sweet story of friendship, which got an "awww" from a couple of moms. This would have been perfect with a preschool audience. It also reminded me somewhat of The Poky Little Puppy.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Closing song: Skinnamarink

Baby Lap Time, 4/8

Baby Lap Time did not have a theme this week.  I just picked some books, and basically stuck with the same songs as last week. Not too many babies actually attended, and we had a lot of preschoolers who lingered after the 10:00 preschool story time and came to this one as well. In all, there were around 15 children, each with an adult.

I'm learning that babies pay much more attention to the books than toddlers. I think I could have read three more and they'd have been just as happy.

Opening Song: If You're Happy And You Know It

Song:  Clap Along With Me

Book: I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges, illustrated by Shari Halpern (2001, Harper Collins)

A little boy playing with toy trucks in a sandbox sings the praises of every kind of truck imaginable. His favorite truck? The ice cream truck, of course! Bold colors against a  white background make this book a really appealing thing for babies to look at. And of course, the toddlers in the group can't  resist trucks, especially after many of them attended my transportation-themed Baby/Toddler story time on Tuesday.

Song: Open, Shut Them

Wee Sing for Baby has a version of this, but it's a little bit different than the one I know, so I just sing it on on my own. 

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Another sing-along. The moms and nannies know this one well, so I use it to really get them involved.

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

Book: Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker (1999, Sandpiper)

I have become such a fan of 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe lately. I love Anna Grossnickle Hines's version, but it was checked out, so I went hunting for another one, and now I think I love Big Fat Hen even more. The illustrations are huge and inviting, which is great for baby eyes, and there is actually a lot going on in the pictures that would also make it a good title for one-on-one reading with slightly older kids. The numbers in the rhyme correspond to the number of various insects, as  well as the number of eggs waiting to hatch on each page. And at the end, we get to see a big fat hen, all of her friends, and their many, many chicks. A great twist on the original nursery time, and definitely my favorite of the three books we did today. And I remembered to linger over each page, and let the babies take everything in, which is something I've been working on, so that made me feel good.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

We have a recording that I use on Tuesdays, but for this one I just sang and used puppets. We sang about the cow, horse, chicken, cat, and dog.)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Book: Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett (2008, Simon & Schuster)

I am new to Emily Gravett's books, but they're growing on me. Despite the grammar issue in this book (it should really be Monkey and I!), the repetitive story of a girl and her stuffed monkey going to see various other wild animals, such as penguins, kangaroos, and elephants, is very sweet. I especially love the subtle way the illustrations set us up for the animals - in every other illustration, the little girl mimics the behavior of  the animal that is then shown on the next page. Perfect for babies - and toddlers, too.

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

6 Diary Books for Kids

 

I used to keep a pretty detailed journal, from age 13 to about 21. I've always been fascinated by what people write in a diary, and there are so many children's and YA books written in that format. Here are some of my favorites:
  

• A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal 1830-32
  (Middle Grade)
  by Joan W. Blos
  Fourteen-year-old Catherine Cabot Hill relates the events of a pivotal year in her life, when her father remarries and her best friend dies. I remember very few of the details of this book, since I read it only once, when I was 12, but I'm including it today because I remember it as one of the most readable historical fiction novels, and the one that got me interested in the genre, when previously I wouldn't touch them. 
• Dear Dumb Diary: Let's Pretend This Never Happened
  (Middle Grade)
  by Jim Benton
  This is the first volume in a series about middle schooler Jamie Kelly. She uses sarcasm and a sense of humor to battle the usual dramas of preteenhood. It's hard to find funny books for girls, but this series fits the bill. 
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
  (Young Adult)
  by Sherman Alexie
  Junior, a 14-year-old Spokane Indian who was born with water on the brain explores his cultural identity after he is given the opportunity to attend a white school off the reservation where he has grown up. This book is funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Great little drawings illustrate Junior's sense of humor as he relates the events of his life. Sherman Alexie is a brilliant writer, and I recommend this semi-autobiographical book very highly. 
• Kindergarten Diary
  (Picture Book)
  by Antoinette Portis
  Five-year-old Annalina, who is nervous about starting "Big School," keeps a diary during the month of September that shows how she slowly gets used to her new routine in kindergarten. Her class's mantra is "We are room 2K. We are fine!" This is a really good book for playing up the positive side of going to school and calming the nerves of nervous newbies. 
• Diary of a Fly
  (Picture Book)
  by Doreen Cronin; pictures by Harry Bliss
  Written from a fly's point of view, this book gives us an idea of what it might be like to be an insect. It's laugh-out-loud funny, even for adults! 
• Keena Ford and the Secret Journal Mix-Up
  (Chapter Book)
  by Melissa Thomson
  After Keena accidentally leaves her journal at Tiffany Harris's house, she is forced to switch over to a notebook borrowed from her teacher. Tiffany refuses to give back the journal and instead blackmails Keena into doing favors for her by threatening to share Keena's secrets with their classmates. A good one for readers just starting to get into chapter books.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/5

I had a lot of transportation books hanging around my desk this week, so I combined them into a themed story time. Both sessions were identical with the exception of one song. Session one had about 20 children, and session two had 32.

Opening song: Hello song
For the verses, we clapped our hands, tapped our heads, and wiggled our fingers.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Drive, Drive, Drive Your Car (session 1); If You'd Like to Read a Book (session 2)

Book: The Bus for Us by Suzanne Bloom

The text on every page of this story is the same. A little girl named Tess asks, "Is this the bus for us, Gus?" The illustration shows just the bumper of a vehicle, and the audience has the chance to guess whether they think it's a bus or something else. After a taxi, a garbage truck, an ice cream truck, and various other vehicles pass by, the bus finally arrives and Gus says, "Let's go!" During the first session, there wasn't much of a reaction to this book, but the second group applauded when the bus arrived.

Song: There's a Little Wheel A-Turnin' in my Heart

Book: Trucks Go Pop by Bob Staake

This is a really short pop-up book with not many words, but it was neat and a great crowd-pleaser. Some of  the details - like the slow truck being labeled "molasses" and the "green" truck being used for recycling - would be better viewed up close, and only funny for the adults or older kids, but it's fun to share a pop-up book every now and then. I was very careful to hide it between sessions, and afterwards, though, because toddlers and pop-up books don't mix up close.

Song: Five in the Truck
This song was a bomb the first session, and a wonderful hit during the second. I brought out my stuffed hen both times, and that seemed to get the kids' attention, but I wish I'd had a truck or a feltboard to go with it. If I keep using this one, I'll have to make one.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Book: Down by the Station by Jennifer Riggs Vetter, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz

This book takes the traditional "Down by the Station" song and extrapolates it to include all other types of transportation, from buses, to trucks, to construction vehicles, to airplanes, and rockets. Animals take the place of people as drivers, passengers, and workers. I sang the entire book, and really enjoyed the positive reactions people had to it.  I would definitely do it again.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Book: Window Music by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by Wade Zahares

I never do 4 books, but this week we had the pop-up, and one book that was more like a song with pictures, so I went for broke. This book shows what a passenger on a train might see from her window, and also introduces some of the sounds associated with travel by train. One little girl in the first session loved it so much, she  repeated every line after me - for that alone, it was worth it. 

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Closing song: Skinnamarink

Baby Lap Time, 4/1

I had never worked with babies at all before this job, so even though I have been doing this program for a month now, I still get pretty nervous beforehand. Previously, I was handing out song sheets and adhering pretty strictly to the order they were printed in, but this week, I changed things a little bit and used a format similar to my Baby/Toddler Story Time on Tuesday. It worked very, very well, and I felt a lot more at ease.

Opening song: If You're Happy and You Know It
This is a really great, upbeat version of this song, but our CD player started skipping so we had to ditch the recording halfway through and finish singing on our own. Thankfully, I remembered the last two verses - beep your nose, and shout hooray.

Book: Pots and Pans by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Diane DeGroat

I love Patricia Hubbell books for babies and toddlers, and this one is especially great because of all the wonderful crashing and banging sounds. The book is a lot more fun than listening to actual banging on pots and pans!






Song: Open, Shut Them

Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (close hands)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (close hands)
Give a little clap, clap, clap (clap three times)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (make two fists)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (make two fists)
Lay them in your lap, lap, lap (pat knees three times)
Creep them, creep them, (creep fingers up to your chin)
creep them, creep them
right up to your chin, chin, chin (tap chin)
Open wide your little mouth (open mouth)
But do not let them in (hide fingers behind back)

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

Here is the beehive (make a fist)
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees. (shake head)
Wait, and  you'll see them
Come out of  the hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (hold up one finger at a time)
Bzzzzz! (wiggle fingers and/or tickle baby)


Book: I'm a Baby, You're a Baby by Lisa Kopper

This book is older (1995) but was absolutely perfect for this group. The refrain "I'm a baby, you're a baby" repeats on every other page. Facing pages show various animal babies. We made the sounds for each animal, and every baby in the room was clearly engaged. 









Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (no CD, just me singing!)


Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Book: Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming

Different wild animal babies are oh so sleepy, but where is mommy's sleepy little baby? She's hiding at the end of the book, with a big yawn and a stuffed monkey. Some more really good repetition in this one, and beautiful, colorful illustrations that drew the kids right in. Some of  the moms got into it, too, and started to read the repeated parts along with me.






Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Clap Along With Me


Song: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes


Song: Tony Chestnut Knows I Love You
This is a song I've been wanting to do forever, and I finally got the guts today. Some of the moms said it was cute, so I think we'll probably do it again next time. 

(Point to each body part as it is said.)
Toe, knee, chest, nut
nose eye love you.
Toe knee nose.
Toe knee nose.
Toe, knee, chest, nut
nose eye love you.
That's what toe knee nose.


Song: ABC's
I have been looking for a good recording of  the alphabet song for a long time, but finally decided we'd just sing it all together. Next time, I might include ASL signs for the letters, if I get really brave.

Song: Goodbye

We wave goodbye like this.
We wave goodbye like this.
We clap our hands for all our friends.
We wave goodbye like this.