Tales for Twos & Threes, 10/7

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Lisa Falkenstern (2009)
This story follows a tree through its life cycle, showing all of the animals and insects that make their homes around and inside it.  There are some great animal illustrations in this book, especially of the owl and the squirrels.

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington (1990)
This is a quick little story about the growth and carving of a pumpkin. It was the perfect short book to follow the longer first book I read.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Hands Are For Clapping

Flannel Board Song: Five Little Pumpkins
They loved this one! I was a little uncertain at first, but they clapped so hard at the end. I've discovered that it helps to say The End at the end of a flannel rhyme or song so they know it's over. That seems to make a big difference.

Song: One Little Finger 

Song: Tommy Thumb

Flannel Board Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (a cappella)
I normally don't do two flannels in one story time, but I couldn't find all my farm puppets, so this was a backup plan. It worked fine - but I have to maybe cut out the dog and cat next time, because it started getting a little lengthy.

Song: ABCD Medley
One of the nannies (jokingly, I hope) asked me to learn Frere Jacques in Arabic. I do know it in Spanish, I could throw that out there, but I think Arabic is a reach for me!

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Now I'm off to do Baby/Toddler Lap Time!

Tales for Twos and Threes, 8/26

This story time was great. I had fun, the kids had fun, and the adults had fun. This combination of books, songs, and rhymes is a winner!


Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue by Peter Catalanotto (2005)
Mrs. Tuttle has a special way of telling apart the 16 calico kittens she recently gave away to the various helpers in her community. I'm working on adapting this to the flannel board, but it requires more cutting than my hands are interested in doing!

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake (three times)
(Original source: Mel's Desk)

Blue is the lake
Hold arms out in a circle in front of you
Yellow is the sun
Move arms, still in circle, overhead
Silver are the stars when the day is done
Wiggle fingers overhead
Red is the apple
Make a round ball with your fingers in front of you
Green is the tree
Hold arms up like branches
Brown is a cookie for you and me
Rub tummy!

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big (twice)

Book: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999)
This book is always a huge hit, and it went especially well today because many in the group had not heard it before.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Turn Around

Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Enormous Dinosaurs 

Song: One Little Finger 

Song: Tommy Thumb

Song: The Wheels on the Bus (Raffi)

Song: ABCD Medley 

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Tales for Twos and Threes, 7/29

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?


Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

 

Book: Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen (1982)
This was the perfect choice for this age group. Just enough text, and just enough invitations to interact with me. And the message that sometimes it's the smallest ones that make the biggest differences was delivered in a unique and amusing way. This was also surprisingly a good one for introducing the parts of a boat, such as the bow. 

Song: One Little Finger

Book: A Mighty Fine Time Machine by Suzanne Bloom (2009)
I debated and debated about whether to do this book, and it would have worked well if the audience had been just a bit older. I had a lot of toddlers and babies, and not so many twos and threes. But the few older kids who got engaged with this book really loved it and said so.  

Song: Shake My Sillies Out  

Song: Head and Shoulders 

Song: Clap Along With Me 

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (a cappella with puppets) 

Song: Turn Around 

Song: Wheels on the Bus


Song: ABCD Medley 

Song: Skinnamarink

Tales for Twos and Threes, 7/15

I finally had some early literacy training this week (with Saroj Ghoting), mainly on the six skills kids need to get ready to learn to read (letter knowledge, print awareness, print motivation, vocabulary,  phonological awareness, and narrative skills). I knew, vaguely, that reading to babies and toddlers was important, and that it was good to repeat things, and to expose them to rhyme, and to new words, but I didn't really know why, so I often felt like I was muddling through things. But having that sense of direction made a world of difference in the way I approached today's books. I'll make some notes about that when I mention the books below.


Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Can You Cuddle Like a Koala? by Jim Butler (2003)
This is a great action book, which wound up being perfect for this age group. Each page shows an animal doing an action that the kids could then mimic. We cuddled like koalas, swung like monkeys, and crept like mice. We also made some noises for animals whose sounds we could identify (mainly the frogs.) This was a good book to use for print motivation. I made the story interactive and fun, and as a result, reading the book wasn't something I had to get done, as it often has been at some of our busy story times, but a fun experience. I even ended by telling the kids how much fun I had, and I wasn't even faking it.

Song: Cuddly Koalas

 

Book: I am a Backhoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines (2010)
This story shows a little boy acting like different construction machines and vehicles. One very savvy little girl in the audience guessed the name of every machine without hesitation- and she was about 95% correct. She was a bit older than the other kids, maybe around four years old, so it's possible I was wrong when I thought this book would be too immature for fours and fives. I think the main early literacy skill touched on here was the vocabulary of all the different machines. (The same little girl who knew her backhoes and dump trucks snuggled up next to me at the end of story time, and said, in a very serious, quiet voice, "I like it when you read.")

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Song: Head and Shoulders

Flannel Board Rhyme: Five Pretty Sandcastles

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It (a cappella)

Song: One Little Finger

I found this song on a CD I downloaded, but now I can't find it, so I don't know who the singer was. In any case, here are the words and actions. And here is a tune similar to the one I use, that I found on YouTube. When I find my actual tune, I'll add it to my Wiki and link to it from my song index page here on the blog.

One little finger, one little finger, one little finger (hold up one finger)

clap, clap clap  (clap hands)

Point to the ceiling (point up with one finger)

Point to the floor (point down with one finger)

And put it in your lap.

Two little fingers, two little fingers, two little fingers (hold up two fingers)

clap, clap, clap (clap hands)

Point to the ceiling (point up with two fingers)

Point to the floor (point down with two fingers)

And put them in your lap.

(Repeat with three, four, and five fingers.)

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: ABCD Medley

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Chickadee

Song: Skinnamarink

Tales for Twos and Threes, 6/24

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Bee-Bim-Bop by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee (2005)

Song: One, Two, Three Climb Up the Mountain (in Chinese, from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))
This is a simple counting rhyme that children in China use to learn their numbers. There are also particular hand gestures accompanying each number, which we attempted to do.  (I did not sing the Chinese along with the CD,  but it is now stuck in my head anyway. This song is really catchy!)

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: Little Stars (in Chinese, from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))
Same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, but the lyrics are in Chinese, and their meaning is slightly different.

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (in English, from from Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu, illustrations by Kieren Dutcher (2010))

Book: Has Anyone Seen my Emily Greene? by Norma Fox Mazer, illustrated by Christine Davenier (2007)
I remembered really liking this rhyming book when it was published. Dad has lunch ready, but Emily is nowhere to be found. She keeps on sneaking up behind her dad, but he never sees her - until, finally, she enters the room with a loud roar. This book reminds me a little bit of Noisy Nora, but the writing wasn't quite as polished. The heartwarming ending of the book lays it on pretty thick, and goes on just a bit too long. The parents really liked it, though - and the kids thought it was ridiculous and funny that Dad never once realized Emily was right behind him.

Song: Boots

Book: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback (1999)
I have always loved this story, about a man who uses and re-uses the same cloth from his old and worn overcoat, until he can't use it anymore, and then writes a story to tell us about it, thus making something from nothing. It was a perfect short book after the first two longer ones. Also, I really want to learn the song in the back of the book - not for story time, necessarily, just for me!

Song: Chickadee
This is the new favorite, and of course it's the one song I use in story time that isn't available on CD through the library. Oops!

Closing Song: Skinnamarink

I currently have no clock in my story time room. I propped one up in what I thought was my line of sight, but it slipped, and I couldn't see the big hand once it ticked past the two. So I think I shortchanged this group a little bit. But we had a good time anyway.

Tales for Twos and Threes, 5/20

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Book: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (published 2004, 2005 Caldecott Medal)
I was supposed to have a bedtime story time on Wednesday night, but no one showed. So I was left with moon songs and no reason to sing them! I fixed that by reading this book, which was the definite favorite of this session, and which has such lovely, simple moon illustrations. (I especially love those endpapers!) Several kids were excited to see this one, and shouted out that they had it at home.

Song: Moon Moon Moon by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Victor Vito)
I am developing an obsession with Laurie Berkner's music, and I've been dying for something new in my repertoire, so I gave this one a shot. It's a little slow to get started, which is good, usually, for my baby/toddler bunch, but these kids got lost in the spaces between verses. It does have some nice hand gestures, though, provided by Laurie Berkner herself in the liner notes,  and it's a really pretty a cappella arrangement with beautiful harmonies. It would do better at bedtime, but I loved it anyway.


Flannel Board Song: Aikendrum by Raffi (from Singable Songs for the Very Young)
I loved this song when I was a kid, but I couldn't tell if these kids liked it or not. Playing upon a ladle is not an easy concept, apparently, and no matter how I try to explain it, even the parents look at me like I'm a bit touched in the head sometimes. But I like making his silly face with my flannel board pieces.

Book: Tony Baloney by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (January 2011)
This book arrived brand new at our library this week, and I fell immediately in love. I'm probably going to review it on my book blog eventually, but I'll just briefly say it's a silly story about a middle child forced to live with a bossy older sister and "exasperating" babies. His stuffed animal serves as his therapist and best friend, and though Tony doesn't like trouble, it often comes to find him anyway. It's absolutely adorable, and though there were some babies in the crowd who fussed through it, the preschool audience was glued to the book the entire time.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Ollie the Stomper by Olivier Dunrea (2003)
I admit that I chose this book solely because it had boots in it. I wanted to do Laurie Berkner's awesome dancing song about boots, and wanted a book to go with it. But it is a funny little tale about three goslings - Gossie and Gertie, who have boots, and Ollie, who does not. Gossie and Gertie each give one boot to Ollie, and when he tires of them, all three ditch the boots and go for a swim. And who wouldn't want to be called a stomper?

Song: Boots by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Victor Vito)
Oh, how I love this song. And so did a lot of the little girls in my audience today. They were bopping around in their imaginary black boots, brown boots, frog boots, dancing boots,  and rain boots. I made some felt board boots to go over each one before we started, but managed to forget dancing boots, so we ended up doing a hokey-pokey like dance for that verse. I think I might try this again with fours and fives this summer, because it's so much fun.

Song: Turn Around by Hap Palmer (from Getting to Know Myself)
I always do this one when I have a lot of three year olds. They are good at following directions, and they like stomping loudly and softly. 

Song: Skinnamarink