Outreach Round-Up, 11/14/12 - 11/21/12

Public School Pre-K: Wednesday, 11/14
Books: The Grumpalump, The Day Ray Got Away, I'm Flying
Songs: If You'd Like to Read a Book, Hat Coat Pants and Shoes, These Are My Glasses
Game: Balloon Guessing Game (see here for details)
Notes: The theme was balloons. I'm Flying was an unexpected hit - not with everybody, but the kids who were into it were riveted.  I made up motions to go with The Grumpalump and it was hugely successful. The kids also had no idea it was a balloon until the end.

Public School Pre-K: Wednesday, 11/14
Books: The Grumpalump, The Day Ray Got Away 
Songs: If You'd Like to Read a Book, These Are My Glasses
Game: Balloon Guessing Game (see here for details)
Notes: This group was late coming back from PE, so we got cut short. Next time, though, I'll be  there in the morning, so it should be easier to get in a full session. 

Catholic School Pre-K: Thursday, 11/15
Books: The Grumpalump, Balloons Balloons Balloons, Molly Who Flew Away, Sally's Great Balloon Adventure
Songs: If You'd Like to Read a Book, Shake My Sillies Out,  These Are My Glasses 
Flannel Board: Five Balloons (to be featured on an upcoming Flannel Friday, hopefully!)

Catholic School 5th Grade: Thursday, 11/15 
Books: Frankenstein, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
Notes: These books were not that funny to this age group. The choices were too juvenile, even if it might have made a nice lesson in parody.

Catholic School Kindergarten: Friday, 11/16 
Book: Little Bear
Song: Hat. Coat, Pants and Shoes
Notes: None of these kids knew of Little Bear, but by the end, they were in love. Birthday Soup was the favorite story of the session.

Catholic School 1st Grade: Friday, 11/16 
Book: I am the Turkey

Rec. Center Cooperative Play Program: Wednesday, 11/21
Books: When Autumn Falls, Growing Vegetable Soup, Little Red Hen, Thank You Thanksgiving
Songs: I Like Soup (based on Laurie Berkner's "I Feel Crazy"), Sing a Happy Song, Bumpin’ Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon, If You're Thankful and You Know It, The Wheels on the Bus    
Rhymes: Corn Grows Tall, Two Little Turkeys
Notes: The kids loved singing about what they would put in soup. The funniest food ingredient they named was donuts. The funniest non-food ingredient was fire.  Two Little Turkeys was based on Two Little Blackbirds, but when the turkeys ran away, I said "gobble gobble gobble" and the kids just cracked up.

Drop-In Story Time, 11/20/12 (Thanksgiving Theme)

Friday's preschool story time was one of my best ever, and this Drop-In story time was one of the worst in history. I am stating right now that next year, I will not do a Thanksgiving story time for this age group. The books do not engage the kids or  the nannies, and no one wants to sing Over the River and Through the Woods. It's just not a toddler-friendly theme. In any case, here is what I presented to the large and restless Tuesday morning crowd.

Book: Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
I was disappointed that the adults wouldn't help me say "And Bear says thanks" each time it came up.

Rhyme: We Are Thankful

Book: The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
I think the kids in my neighborhood are the only ones in the world who don't like Todd Parr, but they really do not. The books are too simple for the preschoolers and too sophisticated for the toddlers.

Song: Let's Be Thankful 
I found this song, which goes to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, here, and played it on the ukulele.


Let’s be thankful for this day,
For our friends and for our play.
Let’s be thankful; let’s be glad,
For the food and things we have.
Let’s give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family.


Song: If You're Thankful and You Know It
I was so desperate to regain control that I mentally rearranged the entire story time on the spot and stuck this song in there immediately. I did as many motions as I could think of while I decided what to do next.

Rhyme: Mr. Turkey
In the end, I decided to proceed with the turkey songs and ditch the rest of my books. Then we just sang favorites until story time was over.

Rhyme: Four Little Turkeys
I borrowed the text from Five Silly Turkeys, decreased the number of turkeys from five to four, and shared it on the flannel board. 

Flannel Board Song: We Eat Turkey

Flannel Board Song: Five Little Pumpkins Round
I was so glad I'd brought my pumpkins into the story room. They always love this one. 

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up

Song: Rum Sum Sum

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Chickadee

One thing I will say about this story time is that a lot of kids did the motions to every song from Rum Sum Sum to the end, many more than I've ever noticed before. I'll call the story time a success on that front, but I will stick to a family theme this time next year!

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.

Preschool Story Time (Thanksgiving Theme), 11/16/12

This is the cozy little corner of my story time room that I set up for Preschool Story Time on Friday. (I staged this photo after the fact, but minus the turkey feathers, it looked exactly like this when the kids came in.)

Introduction: We started story time with the hello song, and then I asked the kids to help me figure out the word of the day (on the green poster board in my not-so-great handwriting.) Clearly, our local schools are doing their job, because as soon as I pointed to the word, one little four-year-old called out, "Thanks!" Normally, the preschoolers I see are not yet reading, so this was a surprise. But we still went through and named the letters and it worked out fine. 

Book: Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette
We started with this short rhyming book because I thought it would spark a great discussion about what we're thankful for. Unfortunately, only two kids really wanted to say anything. One little girl said "kitties" several times, and another little guy (the "Thanks" reader) said he was thankful for his house. The rest were too little or too shy.

 

Book: Too Many Turkeys by Linda White, illustrated by Megan Lloyd
This book really resonated with some kids and was too long for others. We had some toddlers and twos kind of wander in, and they got restless during this book. It was nice, though, to read a story about turkeys that isn't expressly about Thanksgiving.

Song: Turkey Pokey
This is the Hokey Pokey, but with wings, drumsticks, and tail feathers. It was cute. 

Song: Sing a Happy Song

Activity: Turkey Match

The idea for this has been brewing in my mind for a long time, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to test it out. I found a turkey image on Clker.com, then copied it 6 times in word and altered it so that each turkey had one of the letters in turkey on its chest. I used a template for a tie from Google Images to create the feathers, which I recolored in MS Paint. I added the letters to the feathers in Word as well. When it was time to play the game, I quickly counted up the number of kids in the room and divided up the feathers evenly. Then we sang the following verse, to the tune of You Are My Sunshine: 

Let’s help this turkey
This little turkey
whose feathers all have gone astray.
He needs some friends to help him find them
In time for Thanksgiving Day.

 The kids brought their feathers up when their letter was called. Even the littlest kids did it with the help of their parents. It was great! The game went on a little long, so in the future I might pick a shorter word, but otherwise, it's a really fun game, and not too hard to put together.

Book: The Day Ray Got Away by Angela Johnson, illustrated by Luke LaMarca
I took a different route with this year's Thanksgiving theme and read this quirky little book about parade balloons. There was one little boy who absolutely loved the book. The entire time, he was front and center, pointing and grunting. (He was a bit young to be talking.) The older kids had mixed reactions, but overall, it was a good choice.

Guessing Game: Name the Balloon Shape
I'm working on coming up with new ideas for preschool story time activities, and this was an experiment that went very well. I found some pictures of balloons on Google, then pixellated them using FotoFlexer. I mounted the pixellated version on one side of a piece of construction paper, then the real versions, with labels, on the reverse.  The turkey balloon pictured above was the most difficult one to guess. All the others were way too easy. Still, it was fun, and the kids laughed through the whole thing.

Song: If You're Thankful and You Know It

I looked forward to this story time for weeks, and I was thrilled with how it turned out. I am really looking forward to stepping up my preschool story time game even more in January!

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.

Drop-In Story Time, 11/16/12 (Family Theme)

 

Book: My Mom and Me by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
The flaps on the pages of this book were awkward for me to handle. I'd have to memorize the text, I think, to use it again effectively.

Rhymes: Mommy’s Glasses / Daddy’s Glasses (based on Here Are Grandma's Glasses)

Book: Dad and Pop: An Ode to Fathers and Stepfathers by Kelly Bennett
Surprisingly, this one wasn't well-received. I'm not quite sure why. 

Song: Where is Thumbkin? (family edition)

Book: One Special Day by Lola Schaefer
This is such a sweet picture book about new siblings. It's the only one in this bunch that was checked out at the end of story time, and the mom told me she was going to read it to her son who is a new big brother!

Flannel Board Rhyme: Knock Knock, Who's There?
Presentation is key with this one. I haven't had great luck with it in the past, but today, there was so much applause we did it a second time!
 

Book: Do Like Kyla by Angela Johnson
I didn't think most people were listening by this point and wondered whether the fourth book was one too many, but then I heard a few awws from some adults and looked up to see several kids staring at the book with rapt attention. Not everyone was listening, but some people obviously enjoyed it, and I'm trying to remember that this is the important thing.

Song: Here We Go Up Up

Letter of the Day: Letter N

• Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
• Let’s Make a Noise
• Five Little Nails

Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep
Song with ukulele: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Song: Rum Sum Sum

Song: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

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.

Pajama Story Time, 11/14/12 (Shapes & Shadows Theme)

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharatt

Book: What's Going on in There? by Geoffrey Grahn

Song: Clap, Stomp, Wiggle

Book: Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Flannel Board: Triangle Tricksters

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Song with Puppets: Goodnight by the Laurie Berkner Band

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.

Drop-In Story Time, 11/13/12

I'm starting to like themes, but only ones like this where there is so much great material. We had a rainy morning, so attendance was about 50% of normal, and I got through four books and tons of songs with no interruptions at all. I might save some of this stuff for next week when I got the rec. center. 

Book: Just a Little Bit by Ann Tompert, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
I wanted to make this into a flannel board, but couldn't get the animals big enough to be seen and also simultaneously small enough to fit onto the seesaw I made. I'm working on it, though. 

Flannel Board Song: One Elephant Went Out To Play

Book: Peanut Butter and Jelly by Nadine Bernard Westcott
 I read this as written, but in the future I think I'll sing the refrain I grew up with: "Peanut, peanut butter and jelly."

Song: If You're an Elephant... (Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)
...flap your ears
...stomp your feet
...swish your tail
...wave your trunk
...say, Aroo!

Book: My Elephant by Petr Horacek
This was a hit with the parents and the threes, all of whom laughed when I asked who had an elephant at home. 

Rhyme with Puppet: I Asked My Mother for Fifty Cents 

Book: Sitting in my Box by Dee Lillegard, illustrated by Jon Agee
This book is just not very good. I tried it once last year and it flopped, and it was okay today, but still not a hit.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Letter of the Day: Letter M
(I opted not to cut the letter out of felt. I just wrote it on the board.)

• Song: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
• Song: Moon Moon Moon
• Song: One Little Monster 
• Song with ukulele: Do You Know the Muffin Man? 

 Songs with ukulele: ABCs/Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Clap, Stomp, Wiggle
This one was fun - I could also use with my pre-K and K groups.

Song: Rum Sum Sum 

Song: Tommy Thumb

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.

Outreach Round-Up, 11/1/12 - 11/9/12

Catholic School Fifth Grade: November 1, 2012

• Short Story: "Three-Century Woman" from Past Perfect, Present Tense by Richard Peck
• Notes: I was supposed to do reader's theater with this group, but the hurricane took us out of work for two days, and I never got a script together. This made a nice consolation prize. One of the girls took this book out right away, and many of the other kids were interested in knowing abouy Peck's other books.

 Nursery School Class: November 2, 2012 

• Books: When Autumn Falls, Growing Vegetable Soup, The Busy Little Squirrel  
• Rhyme: Corn Grows Tall  
• Flannel Board Song: I Like Soup (based on Laurie Berkner's "I Feel Crazy") 
• Song: Brown Squirrel 
• Notes: The teacher requested a harvest theme. This group was late, and I had a class scheduled right behind them, so they got a somewhat abbreviated session.

Catholic School Kindergarten: November 2, 2012

• Book: Let's Go for a Drive by Mo Willems
• Song: Hat, Coat, Pants, and Shoes
• Notes: This latest Elephant and Piggie book has the worst ending of the entire series. 

Catholic School First Grade: November 2, 2012

• Book: Stella Louella's Runaway Book
• Notes: This book is excellent. A winner every time.
  

Catholic School Fifth Grade: November 8, 2012

• Reader's Theater: A Donkey to Market
• Notes: The kids were shockingly into this. They read with lots of expression and their teacher prompted a nice discussion about the themes of the story afterward.
  

Catholic School Third Grade: November 9, 2012

• Book: Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets by Kathleen Krull
• Notes: A huge hit. They got a little rowdy and thought Prairie Dawn was Miss Piggy, but it was such a success I'm building a program around this book for December. 

Drop-In Story Time, 11/9/12 (Calendar/Seasons Theme)

This theme is one I've been wanting to do for a while, and it finally came together this past week. I liked it well enough that I'm going to replace some of the books and try it again with the preschoolers in January.

Book: A Year of Beasts by Ashley Wolff 

Song with Flannel Board: Twelve Months Song 
I sang this song a cappella, on my own, with just 12 clipart pieces (one for each month, from philipmartin.info) and the nannies broke out into applause when I was finished. Go figure. 

Book: Snowy Flowy Blowy by Nancy Tafuri
I told the group we'd be learning about the seasons in this book, then followed it up with three songs, each about a different time of year.
 
Flannel Board Song: One Red Mitten

Song: Baseball Player
I did this one three times because there was a little boy in the center of the room having the time of his life.

Rhyme: Climb a Tree

Book: Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak
I blew up the pictures for this one on the copier so everyone we would be able to see. It was one the best performances I've ever done of any book, but it was largely unappreciated. Some moms who were new to story time just couldn't seem to stop talking, even when the group as a whole was asked to stop. 

Letter of  the Day: Letter L

• Rhyme: Blue is the Lake 
• Rhyme with Puppet: Ladybug, Ladybug
• Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Little Leaves (based on Five Little Apples - changed "juiciest" to "most colorful")

Song with ukulele: ABCs/Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It 

Song: Where is Big Toe?

Song: Monkeys on the Bed 

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.

Toddler Lap Time, 11/9/12

This toddler lap time session was much better than Thursday's, but I still had the feeling I was just bombing. This stuff would all work for the big drop-in story times, though, so I can definitely reuse it.

Rhyme: This is Big Big Big

Book: Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails by Nancy Tafuri

Flannel Board: Mary Had a Little Lamb

Song with Puppets: When Cows Get Up in the Morning

Song: Way Up in the Sky
 

Book: Rise and Shine by Nancy White Carlstrom

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Flannel Board: The Farmer in the Dell

Book: When the Rooster Crowed by Patricia Lillie

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby 

Songs with Shaker Eggs: 

• Shake Your Sillies Out 
• Can You Shake Your Egg With Me? 
• Shaking Your Shaker

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.

Baby Lap Time, 11/8/12

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Mommies Say Shhh! by Patricia Polacco

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Book: Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli

Song: Head and Shoulders
 
Song: Tony Chestnut

Flannel Board: Let’s Make a Noise 

Song with Puppet: Buzzing Buzzing Bumblebee

Songs: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Nursery Rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle

Song: All the Little Babies

Song: Where is Big Toe? 
  
 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.

Toddler Lap Time, 11/8/12

Toddler Lap Time is the most difficult story time I've had this Fall, and this week was the last week. I'm glad to have some time off from it, because starting in January, I'll be offering it weekly, and I need some time to think about  how to improve what I've been doing. It's strange because I have no problem with story times for 100 toddlers, but in a room of 20 kids in the same age group, I feel like nothing works. Strangely, the smaller group seems way more hectic than the large group, and I haven't been able to put my finger on why. I probably just need to get into a better rhythm with this group, as the story time was started by someone else, and figure out what's going to make it work for me. I am hoping to incorporate scarves and maybe even beanbags or the parachute starting in January, because right now, all the kids do is bang on the door and all the adults do is chat with each other about how cute that is.

In any case, here is Thursday's session. I'll post separately about Friday's because it was completely different.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Mommies Say Shhh! by Patricia Polacco

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Flannel Board: Let’s Make a Noise

Book: Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Book: Meeow and the Pots and Pans by Sebastien Braun

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Songs: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star


Song: Sing a Happy Song 

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

• Shake My Sillies Out
• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?
• Sing a Happy Song
• Shaker Egg Goodbye Song 

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.

Pajama Story Time, 11/7/12

Another week with only two kids! This time it was a regular who was sleepy and a first-timer, who was basically climbing the walls. They both had a good time.

Book: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
This didn't go over very well, which was a surprise. 

Book: Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze by Maureen Wright, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
I like this book's unsual approach to teaching kids about the wind. The kids liked it, too - especially when they got to pretend to sneeze!

Song:  Big Bear, Little Bear

Book: You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Barbara Firth
This is always a nice book to read at a family story time. Parents always "aww" at the ending. 

Rhyme: Two Little Bear Cubs

Song: Goodnight 

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.

Drop-In Story Time, 11/6/12

This is the first time in a long time I have been able to focus mainly on books. I've almost completely removed the phrase "the end" from my vocabulary. Since I no longer signal to them that the book is done,  the adults now actually pay attention and stick with the story. Because they pay attention, they spend more time pointing things out to the kids and helping the kids engage with the story. I've also noticed many of the one-year-olds (graduates of last year's Baby Lap Time) have really started participating with the motions on a lot of the songs. This was one of the best story times I've had all Fall. 

*Note: I did not have the ukulele for this story time.

Book: First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
I get more comfortable with this book the more times I use it in story time. The group seemed really engaged with it this time, and lots of the little ones were pointing at the illustrations.

Rhyme: Five Eggs and Five Eggs

Book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
I personally do not enjoy Lois Ehlert that much, but I do appreciate that kids are drawn to her brightly colored illustrations, and the text is at just the right level for my toddler-heavy story time groups. I also used this book with great success with a group of three-year-olds during an outreach visit last week.

Flannel Board Song: I Like Soup
I started out thinking I would use Laurie Berkner's "I Feel Crazy so I Jump in My Soup" but then realized it was a little bit too physical for my little guys. So then I played with it a little bit and came up with a similar song to the same tune.


I like carrots, so I put them in my soup.
I like carrots, so I put them in my soup.
I like carrots to I put them in my soup.
And then I stir up my soup!

I printed out some vegetables from kizclub.com's clipart section, found an image of a soup pot on Clker.com and had an instant flannel board. The kids seemed to like stirring. The adults were not very impressed, however, with a soup made of potato, corn, onion, carrot, and mushrooms. Oh well.

Book: A Good Day by Kevin Henkes

Song: Sunny Day

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Song with Puppets: Do You Know...?

Book: Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambeault, illustrated by Ted Rand 

Song: Head and Shoulders

Letter of the Day: Letter K

• Song: Cuddly Koalas
• Flannel Board: Five Little Kisses
• Rhyme with Puppets: Two Little Kittens

Songs: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Song: Where is Big Toe?

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.