Baby Lap Time, 6/24

Wow, we have never had so many kids at this story time! Most of them were not babies, though, which made the room noisy, crowded and full of much more movement than usual. The babies didn't seem a bit distracted, though, and though I felt like things were out of control, everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves.

Opening Song: Clap Along With Me

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: ABCD Medley

Book: Global Babies by Global Fund for Children (2007)
The text of  this book is one complete sentence expressing that all babies around  the world are special, beautiful, and loved. The photographs of baby faces from around the world delighted these little ones, who pointed, clapped, and laughed.


Song: Los Pollitos

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Animal Babies in Polar Lands by Kingfisher Books (2004)

Song: You Are My Sunshine (a cappella)

Song: Let's All Go to the Circus (a cappella)

(to the tune of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”)
Let’s all go to the circus,

let’s all go to the circus,
Let’s all go to the circus

and have a lot of fun.

We’ll see the elephant wave his trunk,
we’ll see the elephant wave his trunk,
We’ll see the elephant wave his trunk,
and then he’ll say a-roo!

We’ll see the monkeys jump up and down,

we’ll see the monkeys jump up and down,
We’ll see the monkeys jump up and down,

and then they’ll say eee-eee.

We’ll see the horses gallop and trot,
we’ll see the horses gallop and trot,
We’ll see the horses gallop and trot,
and then they’ll say neigh.

We’ll see the lion roar,

we’ll see the lion roar,
We’ll see the lion roar,

and then he’ll say grrrrrr.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Chickadee

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Tales for Twos and Threes, 6/24

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Bee-Bim-Bop by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee (2005)

Song: One, Two, Three Climb Up the Mountain (in Chinese, from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))
This is a simple counting rhyme that children in China use to learn their numbers. There are also particular hand gestures accompanying each number, which we attempted to do.  (I did not sing the Chinese along with the CD,  but it is now stuck in my head anyway. This song is really catchy!)

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

Song: Little Stars (in Chinese, from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))
Same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, but the lyrics are in Chinese, and their meaning is slightly different.

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (in English, from from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))

Book: Has Anyone Seen my Emily Greene? by Norma Fox Mazer, illustrated by Christine Davenier (2007)
I remembered really liking this rhyming book when it was published. Dad has lunch ready, but Emily is nowhere to be found. She keeps on sneaking up behind her dad, but he never sees her - until, finally, she enters the room with a loud roar. This book reminds me a little bit of Noisy Nora, but the writing wasn't quite as polished. The heartwarming ending of the book lays it on pretty thick, and goes on just a bit too long. The parents really liked it, though - and the kids thought it was ridiculous and funny that Dad never once realized Emily was right behind him.

Song: Boots

Book: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback (1999)
I have always loved this story, about a man who uses and re-uses the same cloth from his old and worn overcoat, until he can't use it anymore, and then writes a story to tell us about it, thus making something from nothing. It was a perfect short book after the first two longer ones. Also, I really want to learn the song in the back of the book - not for story time, necessarily, just for me!

Song: Chickadee
This is the new favorite, and of course it's the one song I use in story time that isn't available on CD through the library. Oops!

Closing Song: Skinnamarink

I currently have no clock in my story time room. I propped one up in what I thought was my line of sight, but it slipped, and I couldn't see the big hand once it ticked past the two. So I think I shortchanged this group a little bit. But we had a good time anyway.

Flannel Friday: Kids of the World

I found some clipart on kizclub.com the other day called "Kids of the World." After brainstorming for days about what to do with it, I think I finally have some possibilities.

The first thing I did was blow up each image to make it much larger. I did this by taking a screenshot of each one and then increasing its size in Microsoft Word. I didn't know how it would work, but it actually wasn't bad. The images aren't blurry at all, and they're now a decent size to be seen from the back of my story time room.

I don't have them ready for the flannel board just yet, but here is what they look like, lying on my folding table at home. (Full disclosure: I have no cutting skills whatsoever. My boyfriend cut these out for me while we watched Jeopardy.)

 (countries represented from left to right: Germany, Vietnam, England, Ghana, Greece, Russia)

 (countries represented from left to right: Sweden, Kenya, Spain, United States)

 (countries represented from left to right: China, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands)

(countries represented from left to right: Korea, India, Saudi Arabia)

I have two ideas for what to do next, once they're all covered in contact paper and fastened with Velcro.

The first is to somehow adapt Raffi's Song "Like Me and You." This is the song where he names a series of children and the countries they live in, and then sings about how they're all basically the same, even if they have many differences. The only problem is that almost none of the countries represented in the clip art are mentioned in the song, so I'd be stuck trying to fit the ones I do have into the rhythm of the song. Which might prove difficult. (I'm so still going to try.) I'd use the song for my younger kids, mainly the baby/toddler group on Tuesdays.

The other idea was for my older groups: Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten. Using books like Hello World! and Say Hello, and various websites as guides, I have compiled a list of greetings from each country, and given each child a name that is common in that country. The idea would be to tell a simple story, introducing each character by name, then teaching the kids how to say hello in that character's language. There are eighteen of them in all, so it might be a bit much to do all of them in one session, depending on the  attention span of the kids, but I think it would be an interesting way to talk about the summer theme, and to expose kids to languages they may not have heard before.

I have to admit that I've hardly been using flannel boards since summer started. I'm hosting Flannel Friday next week, though, so I hope to have something to share by then! (Something simple, is the plan. I am complicating my life too much these days.)

Today's round-up is hosted by Anne, over at So Tomorrow. Make sure to check out everyone else's posts!