1 2 3 Count with Me! Preschool Story Time, 2/8/13

 1 2 3 Count with Me! Preschool Story Time, 2/8/13

This story time looks so promising on paper, but the kids did not enjoy it. Most of them seemed bored, and the ones who weren't bored were out of their seats and in my lap (and too young for this story time.) I think part of it was the books - they were disappointed that I had Chicka Chicka 1-2-3 but not the original, and they didn't even like this Pete the Cat! Eggs 1 2 3 was too hard for them and they couldn't cooperate well enough to sing Over in the Meadow with me. I also read way too many books.  Next week, I have to rethink the structure of this story time, especially if there are going to continue to be so many toddlers.

Book: Chicka Chicka 1-2-3 by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson, and Lois Ehlert
This book is nowhere near as great as the original, but apparently Monday is the 100th day of school so the kids got excited about that.

Book: Ten Things I Love About You by Daniel Kirk
I thought this book would work because of its similarities to the Elephant and Piggie books, but I was wrong. Half the kids got up and and walked out of the room! I think part of that is just lack of discipline - the adults tell them they're free to come and go - but they also just didn't connect with the book. I was disappointed.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin
I don't understand a group of kids that doesn't enjoy Pete. Only a couple would chant with me, and the rest seemed bored bored bored.

Book: Eggs 1 2 3: Who Will the Babies Be? by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by Betsy Thompson
This was probably the book that went over the best, but they got bored halfway through, possibly because one of the little boys who I think is too young to be there kept getting up to say, "Mommy Daddy and my mommy and daddy mommy mommy daddy." And his nanny refused to do anything about it.

Song with ukulele: Over in the Meadow
I played this for kindergarten and first grade today, and I used the poster shown in the photo to help them keep up with me. They loved it more than I expected, but this group sat like stones and said nothing. One mom awkwardly tried to clap along, but even she was looking at me like I don't know what I'm doing. Trust me, ma'am, this stuff works at other times! 

Book: Birdsongs by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
This one I'm taking on class visits, I think, because it's great, and it suffered in this story time by being last. I hadn't really planned to read it, but I thought it might redeem the session somehow. I was wrong.

It's hard to keep kids' attention after school on Friday, but it's still better to have kids who are restless than to not have any preschoolers coming to story time. Friday is the only day these kids are not in other activities, so it's what we've got to work with. Next week, I'll look for more interactive things and maybe only read three books.

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.