WinterFest Story Time #2, 12/8/12

This second WinterFest story time took place at 11:30, and it was the most popularly attended session of the day, with about a dozen kids. The crowd ranged in age from babies to early elementary school, so it was a bit tricky to keep everyone's interest, but we did our best. One challenge that made it especially hard was that one little boy - probably a kindergartener - decided he would say no to every question I asked and immediately say the opposite of anything I had to say. By keeping the tone light, I managed to get him to stop being so silly, and that the end he came up and chatted with me about books, so it wound up being a nice experience.

Flannel Board: Little Snowball, Little Snowball Are You Under the ____ Mitten?
I have never done any variation of this flannel board before, but I know so many of my Flannel Friday colleagues love it. Now I see why. It took them four guesses to find the snowball - and the child who finally found it was so proud!

Flannel Board Song: One Red Mitten
This was a dud with this group. The older kids lost interest quickly, and not even the adults were responsive.

Book: The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming
The older kids complained about the repetition in this book, but they helped me out anyway, repeating "a red cap with a gold snap" each time through. 

Rhyme: Frozen is the Lake
This is my winterized rewrite of Blue is the Lake.

Book: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr
This was a hit with the older boys. A lot of  the little kids left the  room at this point and came back later for the singing.

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: Jingle Bells by Maryann Kovalski
The kids loved singing this - it was very cute. 

Book: Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara

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.