Opening song: Hello, how are you?
I've been itching to read this book to a group, and was glad for the opportunity today. I heard some complaints that the illustrations were too derivative of Sendak in some parts, but I still enjoyed it. Anything that blurs make-believe with reality makes me happy.
Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big
Back in December, at a staff development presentation I did, someone suggested making the hand motions in this rhyme more complicated by having folks make their hands bigger, smaller, shorter, taller, etc. in increments, instead of all at once. We tried that today, and it seemed to go over pretty well.
Rhyme: Fingers
I really was at a loss for another rhyme I felt like doing, so I ended up repeating one from Tuesday. It's easy enough for everyone to try, but I think preschoolers do it best because they have the best motor control in their fingers!
I so didn't plan it this way, but this book turned out to be the perfect bridge between a book about a "king" and a book about shoes. I love it when things come together so well! This story was a little more involved than I think the group was ready for, but they still seemed to mostly pay attention.
Song: I'm a Little Teapot
My arch-nemesis, aka our new iPod, stopped dead in the middle of this song, so we just kept on without it. Unfortunately, this iPod situation is really messing with my story time momentum, and I felt somewhat awkward from this song on.
Song: Turn Around
When you're feeling down on a story time, bring in some Hap Palmer. He cheers me right up. I wish I'd thought to do Sammy, that's an even better one for preschoolers.
Song: Hands Are For Clapping
The iPod inexplicably stopped this song on our first try, then skipped half the first verse during the second. I think it has to do with whether the iPod is paused or not when it's plugged into the dock. I'll have to investigate further.
I am so late in becoming a fan of Pete the Cat. I think the books are often checked out, so I never see them, and it's only because of blogs that I really understood what I was missing. Since I didn't have the tune in mind for the sung parts, I downloaded the recording and played that, but if I repeat this book, say, next week, during my Pre-K class visit, I'll do the singing myself. The recording just doesn't leave enough time for the kids to guess colors or anything like that. But what a great book. Even the message is great!
This was one book too many. I could have stuck with three and ended with The Wheels on the Bus or something instead. But it's hard to gauge thirty minutes when I'm so used to doing twenty. Also, someone had put their jacket in front of the clock, so I had to use the iPod as my timekeeper, which caused a super-awkward ending as I struggled to find the time and see if it was close enough to 10:30 to be done. (It was.)
Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This
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