Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter P), 7/10/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter P), 7/10/13

Attendees
I am so pleased with the number of kids who came to today's story time. Most of them were the older siblings of my toddler story time regulars, and others were graduates of preschool story time. There were about five kids who were able to read, and the rest consisted of a baby, five toddler siblings, and a set of twins whose first language is not English.

iPad Presentation
Instead of simply showing the kids labeled objects beginning with p and asking them to call them out, this time I wrote complete sentences to accompany each image. This way the kids who could read got to practice some sight words, while the ones who could not yet read the words were able to call out each image by name. I don't have the right to distribute the images I used, but my text is below:

This is a panda.
Here is a parasol. 
Look at the pumpkin. 
This bird is a parrot.
This bird is a penguin.
Wow! A pirate!
The pilot flies the plane.
This pickle is green.
Here comes the plumber.
Hi there, little pig!
Do you eat pancakes?
Time for pizza!

My favorite comment from a child during this segment of story time was, "The plumber plunges out the toilet and makes it work!" That about sums it up.

Poem
On Google Books, I found Phonics Through Poetry by Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz, which contains a poem entitled "The Plumber's Pledge". I told the kids to listen for the "p" sound in each line of the poem and to stand up or sit down each time they heard it. They got a big kick out of trying to keep up with the poem, which really uses quite a few Ps, and we did it twice to get them good and ready to sit and listen to a book. (You can read the poem in the Google Books preview below.)

  

Read-Aloud 
We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. I think this book was a little basic for the group, because most of the older kids remembered it as a book they read "when they were little." There were no complaints, however, and since there were so many toddler siblings, it ended up being a book everyone could enjoy.

Sequencing Activity
I used clipart and a kindergarten handwriting font to make a set of sequencing cards for the story. I asked questions to prompt the kids to retell the story. When we started our retelling, I had all the images mixed up on one flannel board, and as we figured out their order, I invited the kids up one at a time to put the images on a second flannel board in order. One little girl was really on the ball, so she was the one who answered me most of the time, but I did allow every child who wanted a turn to come up and place a card on the flannel board.

Bag of Verbs
I will never get over how much fun this is. I love how creative the kids are with their movements, and how enthusiastic they get over it. This portion of story time can get a little wild, and sometimes the parents who stay in the  room look at me like I'm insane, but I have never once had it become so chaotic that I couldn't get the group's attention back again. 

Matching Game
After the success of the watermelon matching game two weeks ago, I decided to make another one for this session. I called it "Opposites Pizza." I made a pizza out of posterboard and then glued little paper peppers to it, each labeled with a word. Then I cut out some green peppers with the opposites of those words printed on them and held them up one at a time. I asked the kids to read the word, then to tell me its opposite, and then to find its opposite on the pizza. I handled turns the same way as with the earlier sequencing activity - I made sure everyone who wanted a chance to put a topping on the pizza had the opportunity.

Write and Draw Activity
I found a coloring page of a blank pizza and gave one to every child, asking them to cover it with toppings beginning with P. Most kids just drew their "p" items, but one girl actually wrote a great list, with words like "pretty" and "pickles."

Summer has definitely rejuvenated this story time, and I'm so pleased to have so many parents who are invested in bringing their kids each week. I am hoping for another great experience next Wednesday!