Builders and Diggers Drop-In Story Time, 4/30/13

Builders and Diggers Drop-In Story Time, 4/30/13

We're having rainy weather this week, so a lot of our regular story time attendees didn't make it in this morning. The group was probably about half of our normal size. 

Book: Building a House by Byron Barton
The kids liked this book much more than any group ever has, and I think I did a good job with the pacing. It can be tricky to read books where the sentences are broken up by page turns, but I took it nice and slow and gave the kids time to absorb all the visual details and vocabulary.

Song: Building a House
I have had better luck with this song in the past, but the threes in the group were into it. Sawing, hammering, and painting were easier for them to imitate than digging and pouring.

Flannel Board Rhyme: Down Around the Corner at the Hardware Store
They're finally beginning to like this rhyme. It probably didn't hurt that my "customers" were builders.

Book: Demolition by Sally Sutton
I thought this would go over very well, but I was wrong. The adults lost interest quickly and talked through the entire thing, and the kids were distracted. 


Letter of the Day: U

• Flannel Board Song: Red Umbrella Keeps Me Dry 
  I normally place one umbrella at a time on the flannel board when we sing this one, but I put them all up and took them down as we sang about them, and that worked a lot better. Adults - and the kids - like to know when something is going to end, and this gave them a visual way to count down.
• Song: Here We Go Up Up Up
  I threw this in because I was unsure about the next rhyme. Then I decided to just bite the bullet and do both.
• Rhyme: Up the Hill
  The kids were into this, but the adults were lost. I think it needed more introduction, and maybe a visual component. I'll try it again for sure.
• Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Little Unicorns
• Since I write a rhyme especially for this story time so I could use unicorns, I'm probably going to try sharing this for this week's Flannel Friday. The words are linked here as well.

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

Song with ukulele: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun 

Rhyme: This is Big Big Big

Song: Head and Shoulders 

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It


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.

Yummy in my Tummy Preschool Story Time, 4/26/13

 Yummy in my Tummy Preschool Story Time, 4/26/13

This story time was also strange - only one family came! Because the two kids were very quiet and not particularly focused, I skipped the flannel board and just shared the books and one song. Then they each colored a spoon. 
 
Book: Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

Book: Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Song with ukulele: Aikendrum 

Book: LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

Craft: Design a Spoon 
We used this image as a coloring page.

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.

Yummy in my Tummy Toddler Lap Time, 4/26/13

Yummy in my Tummy Toddler Lap Time, 4/26/13

This story time was unusual because hardly anyone showed up! By the end of the session, there were five kids in all, but for the first five or six activities, it was just me, the library associate, an au pair and a little girl. Everything was the same as the previous day's session, except that I exchanged I Like Vegetables for I Like Fruit because someone on Thursday took the veggie book home!


Book: Build a Burrito by Denise Vega


Flannel Board Song: We Eat... (based on We Eat Turkey)

We eat pizza, we eat pizza
Oh so good, oh so good.
Yummy yummy pizza! Yummy yummy pizza!
All gone! All gone!

Rhyme: Mix a Pancake

Book: I Like Fruit by Lorena Siminovich

Rhyme: Fingers


Book: Sam’s Cookie by Barbro Lindgren

Song: Mr. Sun

Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Song: Hands Up High

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

• Shake My Sillies Out
• Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?
• ABCs

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It


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.

Yummy in my Tummy Drop-In Story Time, 4/26/13

 

 Yummy in my Tummy Drop-In Story Time, 4/26/13

Book: Pete the Cat: Pete’s Big Lunch by James Dean
I don't normally read easy readers at this story time, but I thought they would like this one. I was half right - some of the kids really were attentive to it, but the ones who weren't into it really weren't into it. Some of the adults really liked it, though. I might use it again in a smaller group - either preschool or pajama story time.

Flannel Board: Going on a Picnic
I used food and kitchen clipart from kizclub.com to make this flannel board.

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
This book got a great reaction at the beginning and end, but no one seemed to be listening in between. 

Song with ukulele and flannel board: Aikendrum

Letter of the Day: T

• Song: I’m a Little Teapot
• Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
• Rhyme: I Have Ten Little Fingers
  I have never  used this rhyme in story time, other than with preschoolers, but it was surprisingly very well received.

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

Song:  Hands Up High

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It



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.