Pajama Story Time, 8/29/12

Pajama Story Time started catching on toward the end of the summer, so we're going to keep it going this Fall. We changed our time slot from 6:30 to 7 which has made it even easier for a lot of our families to come, and I think we can count on seeing a good group every week. This week was a bit trying, as we had a couple of three-year-olds who were very disruptive and parents who decided they didn't want to do anything about it, but I got them moving around and involved and that seemed to help enough to get us through to the end. In any case, here is the  run-down of activities, all of which matched a pets theme.

Opening Song (with ukulele): Hello, how are you?

Book: Teeny Weeny Bop by Margaret Read MacDonald, illustrated by Diane Greenseid (2006)
This was probably the best received book of the story time. Adults and kids alike thought the silliness was funny, and they joined on the very refrains, all of which were modeled after the nursery rhyme that begins "To market, to market." I'll be using this with preschoolers again for sure. 

Rhyme with Puppets: Two Little Kittens 
I had a much older girl in the audience - she was maybe 6 or 7, versus the others who were 3 and under. I thought it would be nice to let her help me out by holding the puppets, but the other kids immediately started crying and screaming and demanding to hold the puppets. *sigh* The pair of misbehaving three-year-olds never really calmed down after that, and the older girl, too, began to fool around and disrupt story time.

Book:  Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)
Well, this was too long. Wayyyy too long. I could have pulled it off with our normally quiet pajama story time group, but this week it was just not a good idea. I'll save it for class visits where behavior is not an issue.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up

Flannel Board Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb
I changed the colors of Mary's lamb and sang about fleece that was "red as a rose," "green as the grass," and "black as night." Everyone sang along, which was great because at my morning story times, adults normally don't!

Book: Mary Had a Little Lamp by Jack Lechner, illustrated by Bob Staake
I really wasn't sure how this would go over, but it was surprisingly good. The parents laughed, and the kids seemed to like the illustrations.

Song with Puppets: Goodnight by the Laurie Berkner Band (sung a cappella)
Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This