Preschool Story Time, 6/14/17

The story time I performed on June 14th was my last one for the foreseeable future! With baby #3 due to arrive in mid-October, I won't be available to volunteer at the church anymore, and with my oldest already starting to read, I'm going to be shifting gears away from public story time and more toward our own homeschool. Since I won't be blogging here much, if you are interested in the musings of a homeschooling Catholic mom,  you are welcome to follow me over at Read-at-Home Mom.

Book: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
I would never read this to a large group, but for our small intimate setting, it was perfect. My three-year-old loves this book, and I think she enjoyed sharing it with her friends. I was impressed by how much captivated the toddlers were - quieter books do sometimes work with 18-month-olds.

Song: Sunny Day

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake

Book: Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney
The rhythm of this book, the popular subject matter, and the brightly colored illustrations make it ideal for story time. It went over really well.

Songs with Shakers:

• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?
• Stop and Go
• ABCs

Book: Butterfly Butterfly by Petr Horacek
The surprise pop-up at the end of this book is always a hit - especially with families who have never seen it before.

Song: Fly Like a Butterfly
I kept the Butterfly Butterfly book open to the last page and moved its wings a bit as we sang this song.

Song: Butterfly Gals

Book: Sleepy Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Song: Mr. Sun

Song: Chickadee 

Preschool Story Time, 6/7/17

Book: Some Birds by Matt Spink
I have to admit that I hated the preachy "birds should be free" message at the end of this book, but I also thought it would be a crowd pleaser and I was not wrong. I also liked the eye-catching artwork, even if Birds by Kevin Henkes is an overall better choice.

Song: The Little Bird
I did this song without the ukulele, and had the kids do very simple motions. I think I still prefer it with the uke, but it went fine.

Rhyme: Two Little Black Birds

Book: Flamingos Fly by Douglas Florian
I chose this board book because my group is small, the pictures were bright, and the text invites lots of movement. Unfortunately, the movement aspect didn't really catch on, except with my own kids.

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer
This is a story about a grumpy penguin who washes his grumpiness away in the bath. It was probably the most forgettable book of the session, and the least truly bird-related story.

Song: Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Book: Quack and Count by Keith Baker
I lost a couple of the toddlers (including my own) during this book, but the preschool-age kids did seem to enjoy it.

Song: Five Little Ducks

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 5/17/17 (Garden Theme)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
This book was long, but the audience was attentive. It probably helped that they seemed to know Eric Carle's style.

Song: One Seed

Book: The Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel, illustrated by Anita Lobel
I hesitated to use this book because it's long and the pictures are hard to see but I wanted to try it anyway. To keep the kids engaged, I had the whole room buzz every time I mentioned the bee. I would probably not use it again without turning it into a flannel board or something more easily seen from a distance, but I was pleased with how well it went over, all things considered.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: My Garden by Kevin Henkes
I think this was the favorite of the session. The chocolate bunnies are always a hit!

Song with Ukulele: My May Garden
In addition to the verses shown in the link, I also added one of my own: Bees in the flowers, buzz buzz buzz... I played the ukulele and let the group make up their own motions, and they did better than if they had been following me!

Book: Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
This was a new-to-me book and I liked the way the story connected to the Mary Mary Quite Contrary nursery rhyme. I think it might have gone over better as the opening book to the session, but I would definitely use it again.

Songs with Shaker Eggs: 

• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?
• Shake Your Eggs and Stop (with ukulele, to the tune of Ella Jenkins's Stop and Go)
• ABCs/Twinkle/Baa (with ukulele)

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 5/10/17

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Splash Splash by Jeff Sheppard, illustrated by Dennis Panek
I bought this book specifically for my story time stash, but this group didn't take to it. I wanted them to echo the animals' sounds, but ended up not even asking them to do so because they seemed so quiet and reserved. I did, however, get the parents (and my own kids) to dutifully make all the animal sounds on the last page.

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake

Book: Blue on Blue by Dianne White, illustrated by Beth Krommes
I think the parents like this one. It was harder to tell about the kids.

Song: I Like to Feel the Raindrops Fall

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Song: Head and Shoulders

Book: This is the Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Donald Crews
I have never had great luck with this book at story time, but it went over better at this session than any other time I have read it.

Song: Mr. Sun

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

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

Book: Mother Mother I Want Another by Maria Polushkin Robbins, illustrated by Diane Dawson
We own the original version of this, and the illustrations are really too small for story time. The punchline also went right over the head of all the kids - and most of the adults, too. If I were ever to use it again, I'd probably get the newer edition from the library even though I am typically against re-illustrating old books.

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 5/3/17 (Bunnies Theme)

Due to a family emergency, I ended up cancelling story time for the entire month of April, including the Wednesdays before and after Easter. I had planned to do a bunny theme then, but decided that since none of these books explicitly referenced Easter, I'd read them in May instead.  I didn't have the chance to write up this session until 2 weeks later, so I don't have a lot of commentary. I noted what I could remember.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Home for a Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Garth Williams

Rhyme: Homes
I changed this rhyme so that the line about the bunny came first.

Rhyme: Here is a Bunny

Book: Rabbits and Raindrops by Jim Arnosky

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Moonlight by Helen V. Griffith, illustrated by Laura Dronzek
My three-year-old named this as her favorite of the session. But I got the impression she was the only one who liked it!

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: The Bunnies are Not in Their Beds by Marisabina Russo
This was probably too long to read at the end, but there was one child slightly older than all the others (a sibling of a toddler) who came in late, and I think this was the only book grabbed his attention so I was glad he was there to hear it. My own daughter also retold the book to me later at home.

Song: Little Bunny

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 3/29/17 (Friends Theme)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, illustrated by Beni Montresor
This is the first time in my long history of using this book at story time that it was a total flop. The audience was a bit young - average of 2 today, probably - but even the kids who were the right age just didn't seem to "get" the book. So disappointing.

Song with Ukulele: The More We Get Together
We sang the original version of the song, and then changed the word "get" to action words like clap, stomp, roll, and read. The group knew the song, and I think the novelty of the ukulele was appealing even though most of the kids didn't want to do the motions.

Book: My Friends by Taro Gomi
This book was the best of the session. It's very straightforward which seemed to resonate with the younger ones.

Song with Ukulele: Johnny Has One Friend
This is an Ella Jenkins song I've been singing with my kids. Even though it doesn't have much of an ending, the group liked it.

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers
I used this rhyme to make up for the fact that Johnny Has One Friend has no real ending. The kids loved it!

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Songs with Ukulele and Shaker Eggs: 

• Stop and Go
  This is another Ella Jenkins song. Instead of the motions she uses (walk, skate, etc.) I sang about shaking eggs, and then shaking them high, low, fast, and slow. The slow verse was too hard to sing and I got completely tongue-tied, but the parents and kids all loved this, and I want to use it again. 
• Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?
  This is the shaker song this group likes the most. We did it the normal way, I just played the ukulele instead of shaking an egg and pointed to the body parts between verses. 

Book: Little Bitty Friends by Elizabeth McPike, illustrated by Patrice Barton
This group got really restless once the shaker eggs were put away, and they barely paid attention to this book. I kept on with some of the rest of my plan, but I probably could have ended story time here.

Rhyme: This is Big Big Big

Song: Put Your Hands Up High
I threw this in because the group was so restless and I thought it might calm them down for the last book.

Book: A Year with Friends by John Seven, illustrated by Jana Christy
Thankfully, this was a very short book because everyone's attention span was pretty much spent by this point and only my own kids were listening.

Ukulele Medley: ABCs/ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/ Baa Baa Black Sheep

Goodbye Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 3/22/17 (Berries Theme)

This session was very well-attended: fourteen kids and nine adults, including me and the girls. I think this is the biggest audience we have had since the second week.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
This might be the longest book I've ever read to this group. One boy identified it as a favorite, and I think the older end of the group (ages 3 to 3 1/2) appreciated having a story with a bit more plot than usual. The toddlers were not too restless, except for my own who spent half the story trying to climb into my lap.

Rhyme: Two Little Brown Bears
I rewrote Two Little Black Birds to suit the theme of the book. This group really likes very simple fingerplays, so it worked great.

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake

Book: Jamberry by Bruce Degen
This book was a favorite of a few of the kids, including my toddler. I have never really used it in story time very much, but it's growing on me. The group was the most attentive for this book.

Song: Head and Shoulders Baby

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Book: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
I didn't get much of a reaction at all to this book, so I decided not to push for a fourth book, especially since Blackberry Ramble was pretty long.

Song: Mr. Sun

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

• Milkshake Song 
• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?
• ABCs

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 3/8/17 (Up, Up and Away Theme)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: The Grumpalump by Sarah Hayes, illustrated by Barbara Firth
I traditionally have the kids perform hand motions to accompany this book, but this group is young (lots of toddlers) so I read it without the interactive elements and it worked just as well.

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Book: Molly Who Flew Away by Valeri Gorbachev
This book is a little bit longer than I realized, but most of the kids were into it.

Rhyme: Five Balloons in the Sky
I've seen others do this as a flannel board, but I made it into a fingerplay.

Book: Higher Higher by Leslie Patricelli
This was the hit of the session. A couple of moms took down the title to find it for their kids.

Song: Here We Go Up Up Up 

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Hello, Airplane by Bill Cotter
The illustrations really make this book, and there were a few kids who really reacted to them.

Song: I'm an Airplane
I find it impossible to get audiences to sing in a call and response format, so this song was a bit awkward, but the really little ones were able to do the motions, so that was a plus.

Book: I Want to be An Astronaut by Byron Barton
This group is not that big on nonfiction, but they did like this book.

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Shaker Egg Songs:

• Egg Shakers Up  
• Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?
• Chickadee
  I tried to put the shaker eggs at the end of the session to avoid having to collect them mid-session, so we just held onto them for the goodbye song. I didn't like doing this song with the shakers, however, and won't do it that way again. 

Preschool Story Time, 3/1/17 (Looking at Animals Theme)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Monkey See, Look at Me by Lorena Siminovich

This is the second time I have read this book to this audience, but there were a few different families in attendance this time, so it was new for at least half the room. There was one toddler boy in particular who got really into it and gleefully called out the names of all the animals.

Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys

Book: Mama, Look! by Patricia Murphy, illustrated by David Diaz 

This is a brand-new book, and I love the pictures. It worked really well as a one-on-one read at home, but somehow it seemed to lose momentum in story time, especially toward the end. I would want to try it again before saying it's not a story time book, but for this group, it just didn't work.

Song: Butterfly Gals 

This song always goes over so well. It seemed to be an even bigger hit this time than usual.

Rhyme: See See See

This was a repeat from last week, and the kids did better with it this time around.

Song: Mr. Sun

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

I threw this song in mostly for my own kids, who both love to sing it at home. It was a particular hit with the new families for whom the "punchline" was new. 

Song: Head and Shoulders

Book: What’s Looking at You, Kid? by J. Patrick Lewis and Renee Graef

I think this book was a little bit too similar to Mama, Look! and maybe a bit too long to be the final book. It went okay, but I felt like I needed to talk a lot about each page to create a sense of enthusiasm.

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

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

Song: We All Go Traveling By 

The original version of this song is transportation-themed, but I wrote my own verses to help it match the "looking at animals" theme. These are the four verses I used: 

• bluebird… tweet tweet tweet
• yellow duck… quack quack quack
• green frog… ribbit ribbit ribbit
• red snake… hiss hiss hiss

Song: These Are My Glasses

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 2/22/17 (Birds Theme)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting 

Book: Birds by Kevin Henkes
I was a little unsure about this book because it doesn't have a straight narrative, but this group really enjoyed it.

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Book: No Two Alike by Keith Baker
I really enjoying reading this aloud. It's really just about the concepts of same and different, but birds are the characters, so it was a good fit.

Rhyme: Two Little Red Birds

Book: North, South, East, West by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Greg Pizzoli
I borrowed this from the library for my three-year-old who has been learning about direction. When I first read it to her, I wasn't sure kids at story time would get it, but I decided to take the chance and I was pleasantly surprised. It did go over quite well.

Song: The Little Bird

Songs with Shaker Eggs: 

• Sing a Song of Sixpence 
• Shake Your Egg, Shake Your Egg and Sing a Happy Song 
• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Hooray for Today by Brian Won
This is a good story time book because of its bold illustrations and repetitive structure. It's kind of predictable, but no one seemed to mind.

Rhyme: See See See

Book: Mockingbird by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Paul Howard
I have noticed that singable books do well with this audience, so I decided to end with this one. It worked very well, even though I think some people were puzzled by the changed lyrics to Hush Little Baby.

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 2/15/17 (Hugs & Kisses Theme)

This story time was originally planned for the 8th, before Valentine's Day, but then that session had to be canceled because my kids were sick, so I saved it and presented it on the 15th instead.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri
This went over best with my own kids, but everyone enjoyed making the animal sounds.

Rhyme: I Can Hug
I realized halfway through this that I was already sitting, so I wouldn't be able to sit down very slow like it says in the last line. I ended up changing the line to "reach down very slow."

Book: My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
My daughter and another little girl near her age both loved this book. The younger kids (under 2) were a bit restless.

Song: There’s a Little Wheel a Turning in My Heart

Book: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
I was correct in my assumption that this would be a good story time book. It has just the right amount of plot for my audience.

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big 

Songs with Shaker Eggs: 

• Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?
• ABC Song 

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Can You Cuddle Like a Koala? by John Butler
There weren't really enough kids old enough to act out the motions, but everyone did seem to enjoy looking at the animals.

Song; Cuddly Koalas 

Book: I Love You: A Rebus Poem by Jean Marzollo and Suse MacDonald
I had originally planned for the audience to do motions with me for each "I love you" in the text, but the group was pretty much done, so I zipped through it and called it a day.

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 2/1/17

For this story time, I again planned without a theme, and I was very happy with the results. I think this is the best story time I've done for this group since starting back in November and maybe even the best I've done since leaving the library. There were nine kids in all: three 3-year-olds, three 2-year-olds, and three one-year-olds, and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
There was one mom who seemed to really get this book and enjoy it. It was hard to tell what everyone else thought.

Song: Moon Moon Moon
The punchline at the end of this song about the moon looking like a pizza always gets a laugh and it did on this day as well.

Book: Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Kahl, illustrated by Ponder Goembel
I found this book at a used bookstore, and bought it for story time based on the recommendations of other librarians. This was my first time reading it, and it was everything I expected. The kids loved greeting the different pizza deliverers, especially the dinosaur.

Song: This is the Way We Make a Pizza

Songs with Shaker Eggs:

• Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?
• Shake Your Sillies Out 
• ABCs
• If You Have a Shaker, Bring it Up to Me 

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

During this song, my own daughter incited the other children to run and dance through the room. To calm them, I finished the song with a game of "Mr. Sun Says", in which I informed the children of actions Mr. Sun wanted them to take. It worked like a charm to get them all sitting down again. 

Book: The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins 

Song: One Little Finger

Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Book: Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 1/25/17

Our story time group was small this week, since the weather was nice. In attendance were my own girls (ages 3 and 1), a three-year-old boy, and two little girls around two. I decided to stick with my trend of unthemed story times, and it made planning feel so much easier.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Tinyville Town Gets to Work! by Brian Biggs
This was kind of long and a bit technical for toddlers, but they loved it. I think it was the combination of transportation and community helpers that really grabbed their attention.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Titch by Pat Hutchins
I think this was the only time I read this book at story time and felt that it went over well. I think 18-24 months is really the sweet spot for this story, and most of the kids were in that range.

Song: Sing a Song of Opposites
This song was a lot of fun, and even more so for me because my one-year-old started doing the motions along with me.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion, illustrated by Joyce Wan
The kids like the illustrations for this one. This is exactly the kind of book I have been wanting for this group - short, but with a bit of plot.

Rhyme: Wiggle Fingers

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
I am not sure I have ever read this at story time. I actually found it difficult to hold the smaller pages open, and doubly so because some of the kids moved their seats mid-story and I had to move the book to accommodate them.

Song: Butterfly Gals
I love this song. This group did too.

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 1/18/17

Little Bo Peep, age 1, "helping" Mommy set up for story time. 

Everyone who attended this story time was a repeat visitor. In addition to my girls (ages 1 and 3), there were 3 boys (all around age 2) and two girls (ages 1.5 and probably almost 3). I decided not to do themes for a while, so this was kind of a hodgepodge of books I own and some I borrowed from the library. I ran short, despite reading five books, so the end of the session is really just a sing-along of random favorites. I need to plan longer books for next time!

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara

Rhyme: Little Jackie Jack Frost
I found several Jack Frost rhymes and songs, but each one had something about it that I didn't like. I finally just pulled a few of them together into my own version. It went like this:

Little Jackie Jack Frost pinched my nose
Little Jackie Jack Frost pinched my toes
I went into my house and I shut the door
Then little Jackie Jack Frost didn't pinch me anymore! 

Book: Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin and Fumi Kosaka
The ending of this book got a nice giggle from a few people.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Rhyme: This is Big Big Big

Book: Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald
I could feel that the audience thought there should be more to this book after the brachiosaurus is revealed. I can't say I disagree.

Song: Stomp Like a Dinosaur (tune)
This was a hit. The motions were just simple enough for two-year-olds. We stomped, flew, and chomped all around.

Song: Here We Go Up Up Up
I threw this in because I knew I still had 10 minutes to go and I wasn't sure how I was going to fill it. It felt out of place to me, but I don't think anyone else noticed.

Song: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Book: Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale, illustrated by Salley Mavor
The kids were surprisingly into this book, which I did not expect.

Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 1/11/17

I was supposed to return to story time on January 4th, but my whole household caught a bad cold, and I wound up having to cancel. So my first story time of the year was yesterday. I decided to return to my original approach from when I first started performing story times, which is to avoid themes and simply read good books. It made planning a lot easier, and I think the story time flowed better than the others I have done recently. There were 8 kids in attendance including my own, and here is what we did:

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle
This book was very well received. With the exception of my three-year-old and her friend, all the other kids were under two years old and this was just right for them. The two big kids happily filled in the names of the animals for me, and my one-year-old stood right up front grinning ear to ear.

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake

Book: Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Ted Rand
I asked the kids to show me the different parts of their bodies as they were named by the text. That worked well for this age group and it seemed to keep the adults' attentions.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood
This book has always been hit or miss at story time. This was probably the best it has ever been received.

Rhyme: One Elephant in the Bathtub

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Little Penguins by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Christian Robinson
This book has a very brief text, but slowing down the pace and being careful not to flip through the pages too quickly helped make it work.

Song: One Little Two Little Three Little Penguins

We sang this song as follows: 

One little two little three little penguins

Four little five little six little penguins

Seven little eight little nine little penguins

Ten little penguins... waddle! 

In subsequent verses, I replaced waddle with other actions: sneeze, turn around, jump, sit right down. 

Rhyme: Five Little Penguins Riding on a Sled

Song: Chickadee

Preschool Story Time, 12/14/16 (Christmas Theme)

This was our last session until January, and it was small, but everyone in the audience was a repeat attendee. My husband also came along, so I didn't have to worry about my toddler's usual weekly meltdown, which was a nice change of pace. I liked the plan, but I think I am still planning for those big boisterous groups I used to see in DC, and I still need to make some adjustments to suit this audience's personality a little better. But I expect the story time to grow during the winter months, too, so a lot of what I plan for the future will depend on that. In any case, here is my Christmas story time set list:

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Christmas Tree! by Wendell and Florence Minor

Flannel Board: Lights Shining Bright on the Christmas Tree
I made a Christmas tree for the flannel board with enough Velcro attached to the front to hold four lines of lights and a star. I added one string of lights per verse of the song, then changed the lyrics to accommodate the star in the last verse. I had to use my homemade hand-held flannel board in order to be able to manage all the moving of the pieces, and this made the transition from verse to verse more awkward than I was expecting.

Song: My House Has a Christmas Tree
I wrote this piggyback song based on Old MacDonald Had a Farm after seeing this video from King County Library System. I changed the words to eliminate references to Santa, since it seemed weird for him to have a tree, and to make the syllables in the lyrics match the tune.

Rhyme: Five Little Snowmen Riding on the Sled

Book: Jingle-Jingle by Nicola Smee

Song with Ukulele: Jingle Bells
This was probably the best activity of the whole story time. This group does well with familiar songs and stories - I think I need to incorporate fewer obscure items into future story times.

Book: Christmas Parade by Sandra Boynton

Song with paper props: Christmas Alphabet 
When I originally used this song at story time, I had an entire whiteboard ledge to spread the letters out on. I thought I could simply show one letter at a time and have it work the same way, but the song goes by too quickly for that to be feasible. This was the flop of the session. I wish I had found this video before the session - it's Makaton sign language, not ASL, but it would have been fun to learn, and I think the kids would have liked it much more than my lame paper prop.

Song with Ukulele: ABCs

Song with puppet: Mr. Sun

Book: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star illustrated by Julia Noonan
This seemed to be the book that held everyone's attention the best. Again, it's a familiar song. We are fans of the familiar in this group.

Song: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
This was my goodbye song. We sang the chorus and then action verses like this:

Let's all do a little clapping
Let's all do a little clapping
Let's all do a little clapping
To spread Christmas cheer! 

In the final verse, we waved.

Story time starts up again the first week in January! I'll be back then with more plans to share.

Preschool Story Time, 12/7/16 (Letter S Theme)

Today's story time attracted lots of repeat attendees, and I think these are the families who will form our core group as the year goes on. Not including me and my two girls, we had two moms and two dads, accompanied by a total of 7 kids. The theme, which existed solely to help me organize, was the letter S. 

To begin with, my own one-year-old freaked out at the thought of being held by someone else, and spent the whole first song of story time shrieking and being carried around by the children's programming coordinator from the church. She was not the only crying child, but she was the loudest and most persistent. This made for a very humbling start to the session - but I think it also made the other parents feel more comfortable about their toddlers' behavior.

In any case, here is the plan I used:

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Spectacular Spots by Susan Stockdale

This is the second week in a row that I opened with an informational book, and I didn't feel like it was well-received. I think I need to start looking for books that people already know and love and see if that stirs up a little more enthusiasm.

Flannel Board Song: Ladybug Has One Black Spot 

Instead of making a felt ladybug with detachable spots, I printed the same ladybug six times, each with a different number of spots, then covered it with contact paper and attached Velcro. It worked fine. I also changed the word "pretty" to "lovely" in the lyrics because I thought it sounded better.

Book: Snow by Manya Stojic

I think this book was the hit of the session. I'll have to remember to use Rain by the same author in the spring when I do a spring weather theme.

Rhyme: Five Little Snowmen Riding on a Sled

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

I did this song differently than I ever have before, with these verses: 

• Shake my sillies out...
• Clap my sillies out...
• Stomp my sillies out... 

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby 

This was a last-minute addition and it was not the best. I should have used Hands Up High but didn't think of until I got home.

Book: Mice Squeak, We Speak by Tomie dePaola

I asked everyone to make the animals' sounds as I read, and though they did, I felt a bit like they were humoring me. Again, stories with plot is what this group wants, so I'll be working on finding more of those.

Flannel Board Song: We All Go Traveling By 

Based on last week's success, I repeated this one, singing it this time. Probably the favorite activity of the session.

Song: Mr. Sun

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming 

This was too long for a fourth book. I wish I had used this author's Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy, instead.

Goodbye Song: Chickadee 

I am still thinking of replacement goodbye songs. This one is working less well each week.

Preschool Story Time, 11/30/16 (Wheels Theme)

Last week's story time was very small - just two families besides my own - which was too bad, because I liked the plan I used. Hopefully in a few months, I can use it again with a bigger audience. (Note: I am not 100% certain of the order in which I actually performed these. I think I have incorporated all the changes I made on the fly, but it's possible that the windshield wiper rhyme and the traveling flannel board are in the wrong places in the line-up.)

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: What Do Wheels Do All Day? by April Jones Prince

Song: There's a Little Wheel a Turnin' in My Heart
I usually do the Laurie Berkner version of this song, but I changed it up to make a little more straightforward. These are the verses I used:

• ...little wheel a-turning
• ...little drum beating
• ...two hands clapping
• ...two feet stomping 

Book: Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car by John Burningham
I am puzzled as to why only my own children seem to love this book. This group generally seems to prefer books with plot, so I tried to give them this simple story, and they didn't really take to it.

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light

Rhyme: I'm a Windshield Wiper 
I wish there were more to this rhyme. It feels so awkward when you come to the end of a single stanza and it's just done. I may need to write an additional verse if I want to use it again.

Song: Bumpin' Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon

I did my usual verses:

• Bumpin' up and down
• The wheels turn around...
• Waving to my friends...

Flannel Board Rhyme: We All Go Traveling By
I found this song at the last minute the night before story time and decided to give it a shot. It was the hit of the session and has become a favorite of my three-year-old at home as well. I chanted it for this session because I wanted to break up the singing, but would prefer to sing it.

Book: The Bus for Us by Suzanne Bloom
The guessing game element of this book has always worked really well for me, but it didn't grab this group. Even though the audience was small enough to gather around the book, the kids didn't seem to care much whether the bus ever came. Weird.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
I wasn't sure the group thought this was funny, but it may have just been the small size of the group inhibiting their reactions overall. With some of the kids who normally come, but miss this session, it would have been a huge hit.

Goodbye Song: Chickadee
This is working less well as a goodbye song as time goes on. I may need to consider a new one for the new year.

Preschool Story Time, 11/16/16

Attendance was back down this week. This was partly because my moms group was on a field trip, so none of the members could make it to story time. I'm not sure why others who have previously attended didn't come, but the most likely theory is that it was one of the last reasonably warm days we're going to have. (I hope it's not that they were scared away by how big the audience was last time!) In any case, I enjoyed the story time, and I think the kids did as well. 

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Hello, Day! by Anita Lobel
The audience agreed with me that rabbits do not make a sound. I'm still not sure what Anita Lobel was thinking. But this was a nice way to break the ice with a new group. Even the oldest child in the room, who was around six, got into making the animal sounds.

Song: When Pigs Get Up in the Morning
I forgot to bring stick puppets so I had to just hold flannel board pieces in my hands. I only had three animals with me, and that felt like too few, so I had everyone use their hands to make a duck for the final verse. Though it was a decision I made on the fly, I liked it a lot, and I want to make better use of "props" we can all make with our hands. Because I have to travel by bus to the story time, and I rely on a friend to transport my supplies, I've become a lot more interested in limiting the number of props I use.

Book: Bear's Day Out by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds
I like this book because it has great rhythmic refrains on every page that the kids can repeat. I was a little nervous that my small audience would be shy about repeating them but that was not the case at all.

Song: Sunny Day
I realize as I'm looking at this plan that I basically only read books and sang songs. I really should have switched this song out for a fingerplay or action rhyme, especially since this group has responded well to action rhymes. The song was fine, but I don't like the hand motions as much as I used to. Blue is the Lake would have been a good alternative.

Song: Mr. Sun

Book: Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim
I threw in one Thanksgiving book since we're not having story time next week. (This is the perk of doing volunteer story times: no obligation to have story time on days when it is unlikely anyone will show.) This book never seems to read completely clearly on its own, so I did a lot of additional talking about the details in the illustrations. I would have preferred a different book, I think, but it's hard to get holiday books from the public libraries so I made do with what was available.

Song: Thanks a Lot
In the past, I have done this Raffi song as a flannel board, but I needed an action song and decided to use simple motions instead of images. It worked really well. Everyone sang along and did the motions, and it was probably my favorite part of the whole session. Here are the motions we used:

Thanks for the...
...sun in the sky (hands over head in a round shape)
...clouds so high (raise hands in the air and wiggle fingers)
...whispering wind (finger to lips, say "shh")
...birds that sing (flap arms like wings)
...moonlit night (hands over head in a round shape)
...stars so bright (hands up, wiggle fingers) 

Song: Five Little Pumpkins Round
I have never done this as a fingerplay, and probably would not choose to do so again. Still, the kids liked counting the pumpkins/fingers and it filled just enough time to make the session last as long as I wanted it to.

Songs with Ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep
I'm going to take a break from the ukulele for a few weeks, mostly because I was having my friend keep it for me so she could shuttle it back and forth every week, and I was missing having it at home to practice and to use with my own kids. This medley is fine, but I don't need to rely on it to refocus the group like I did when I was doing story time at the library. I'd rather learn something new and interesting and reintroduce it in a month or so.

Book: Tell Me About Your Day Today by Mem Fox, illustrated by Lauren Stringer
I'm not entirely sure the meaning of the illustrations in this book translated to everyone in the audience, but it's a sweet book, with a gentle rhythm and reading it aloud was a pleasure.

Song: Goodnight
Since we sang good morning to the animals at the start of story time, we sang them to sleep at the end. We used the same duck technique as mentioned above.

Song: Chickadee
I'm not completely sold on this as a goodbye song. For some reason, this audience just doesn't seem to love it as much as previous groups. But I'm going to stick with it for now and see if it catches on more.

Preschool Story Time, 11/9/16 (Houses Theme)

This week's story time (the second ever at this location) had triple the attendance of last week's session. (There were six families last week.) There were five moms (including me) from my own mom's group, two families who belong to the church who were repeat attendees from last week, and a bunch of other families who attended today for the first time. Since leaving the library, I haven't done a story time for an audience of this size, and it felt great to be back in my element.

When I was planning this story time, I initially borrowed a bunch of construction books from the library, but then realized that houses made a much more interesting theme, and wound up using books I owned to plan a story time around that topic instead.

Opening Song: Story Time is Starting

Book: Stanley the Builder by William Bee
I have always liked the Stanley books, but have had mixed results using them in story time. The bulldozer on the cover of this book won over most of the kids, however, and it was a nice way to introduce the theme.

Song: Builder Stanley Had a Shop
During the planning process, I considered using Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop, but then decided it would be easier to do an abbreviated version as a flannel board. Old MacDonald became "Builder Stanley" and we sang about his saw (which went "zzzt zzzt"), his screwdriver ("squeak squeak"), his hammer ("tap tap"), and his pliers ("pinch pinch.")

Flannel Board: Little Mouse, Little Mouse
I had never done this activity in story time before, and I really didn't like it. There were too many kids for them to take individual guesses, so I had kids calling out random colors, and of course, the first time through, they guessed it on the second try, so I had to surreptitiously hide the mouse again with everyone watching me. I love doing this game one-on-one with my own kid, but in story time, it just seems like a group can't really get anything out of it. I will definitely do more flannel boards for this audience, but not this one.

Book: A House is a House For Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Betty Fraser
Because I have to take the bus to story time with two small children, my friend picks up my books the day before and drives them to the church for me. Unfortunately, this means I didn't get a chance to read through this book before my performance, which means I didn't remember until I was in the midst of sharing it at story time that it is super-long. To their credit, the group really stuck with it, and one member of the audience (a grandmother) actually came up to discuss that specific book with me afterwards. So, it wasn't a total failure, but that was a big rookie mistake I will not be making again.

Rhyme: I Want to Build a Little House
This is a rhyme I found the day before story time and spent some time memorizing. It was worth it. The kids did a beautiful job with it, and it's so ingrained in my memory now that I'll be able to pull it out any time I need an extra rhyme.

Book: We Were Tired of Living in a House by Liesel Moak Skorpen, illustrated by Doris Burn
I love reading this book aloud. The text is so pleasing to speak and to hear, and the plot is basic enough to be followed by toddlers, but not boring for adults. This book has been reillustrated but we own the original, with the black and white illustrations, and it was a big hit. I'm disappointed in myself for allowing it to be overshadowed by the length of the previous book; we may revisit this story in a few months to give it its proper due.

Song: We're Climbing Up Our Tree
Using the Farmer in the Dell as my model, I created a piggyback song specifically to accompany this book. I wrote a verse about each of the places the children in the story go to live before returning home.

We're climbing up our tree.
We're climbing up our tree.
Heigh-ho, the derry-oh! 
We're climbing up our tree.

We're splashing in our pond...
We're stomping our cave...
We're swimming in our sea...
We're sleeping in our house...

This was really well-received. I think everyone in the room participated!

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun
I had another book and activity planned here, but realized I was probably going to run overtime if  I didn't skip ahead, so I pulled out the sunshine and sang the song twice through.

Song: Moon Moon Moon
To gear up for the last book, which has a night-time focus, we sang this song. The "pizza pie" line at the end got a big laugh.

Book: The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes
This book was the perfect length for a final story, and also set the tone for winding down and saying goodbye.

Song with Ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep
The uke was really out of tune. If I'm saving this until the end, I need to retune live in front of the audience. Which I hate. But it must be done.

Goodbye Song: Chickadee
I decided to use this as my goodbye song instead of repeating the same song from the beginning. Story time ended on a weird note mostly because there was some confusion over whether I or a representative of the church was meant to make housekeeping announcements. But we'll get that right next week. I invited the kids up to hug Mr. Sun, but only a handful did so. I'm still not sure whether the group has fully warmed up to me, but it has only been two weeks.