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, 12/14/12 (Holiday Theme)

Figure out the Word: Latke
The idea behind this activity is for the kids to name the letters with me, but when story time started, the only child in the room was a child who didn't know any of them. So I quickly named the letters myself, pointing to the posterboard on which I'd written them, and showed him the word, then started our story. Thankfully, just as I turned to the title page, two more kids came in.

 

Book: The Golem’s Latkes by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Aaron Jasinski

Song: L-A-T-K-E
This is Bingo, but with latkes!

Rhyme: Santa Claus, Santa Claus, are you behind the _______ tree?
I didn't have time to make a flannel board for this, so I just cut out paper trees and a paper Santa and taped them to poster board. Thankfully, by this point four kids were in the room, and at least two of them were old enough to know their colors. Santa was behind the black tree because it was the only one that wasn't translucent enough to show Santa through the paper!

Book: Shall I Knit You a Hat?: A Christmas Yarn by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise
This was a flop. The kids had nothing to say about it at all!

Book: Merry Un-Christmas by Mike Reiss, illustrated by David Catrow
This was the hit of the session. I'm not sure all the kids got it, but they enjoyed it anyway.

Song with Ukulele and Musical Instruments: Jingle Bells
I handed out some of our triangles and rhythm sticks and let the kids play along as I played Jingle Bells on the ukulele. Most of them seemed to have no idea what to do. 

Song: We Wish You...

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.

Drop-In Story Time, 12/14/12 (Holiday Theme)

I feel such an obligation to offer a holiday story time, but I don't think this group cared one way or the other. The only things that went over really well were The Christmas Alphabet, which I sang with the help of some signs mounted on construction paper, and We Wish You... (where we wished everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, joyous Kwanzaa and a happy new year.)

I had different plans for the end of the session, but a nanny took it upon herself to take apart my music stand, move it where I could not get to it, and throw out my music, so... there were some last-minute changes because I couldn't play the ukulele. But anyway, here it is. Next year, I'm seriously considering skipping the holiday theme. Let's hope I remember I said that!

Book: How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Flannel Board Song: I Am Lighting all the Candles 

Book: On the First Night of Chanukah by Cecily Kaiser

Book: Fa La La by Leslie Patricelli

Song: Ten Little Reindeer

Book: Christmas Parade by Sandra Boynton

Song: Christmas Alphabet

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

Song: Sing a Happy Song

Song: I’m a Little Teapot

Song: Five Little Snowmen Riding on the Sled

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

Song: We Wish You... / Let’s All Do a Little Clapping

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.

Holiday Preschool/School-Age Story Time, 12/15

This is my last story time until the New Year. But fear not - I'll be posting some other things in the time in between, including a Flannel Friday tomorrow.

The average of today's audience was between 5 and 6 years old. There were roughly 15 kids in attendance.

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?
Okay, older kids hate to sing. At least at this library. And particularly when the songs are somewhat babyish like this one. I have to spend my next two weeks off from story time figuring out a new opening for my school-age story times.

Book: The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, retold and illustrated by Rachel Isadora (2009)
I like this African take on the famous poem, and the kids did, too. Rachel Isadora is such a great illustrator.

Rhyme: Rudolph, Rudolph
Stay tuned... this will be my Flannel Friday tomorrow!

Song: Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Book: I'm Not Santa! by Jonathan Allen (2008)
This book is cute, but ruined by the super-sappy ending. My group was not impressed.

Book: Eight Winter Nights by Laura Krauss Melmed, Elisabeth Schlossberg (2010)
This is more of a poetry collection than a story, and though the kids seemed to like it, they didn't really react very strongly when it was done.

Rhyme: Spin Little Dreidels
Not the hit it was this morning, but still fun. 

Song: Let's All Do a Little Clapping
Definitely not a hit. These kids didn't want to sing.

Book: Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani (2005)
Except they did want to sing this one. Especially the threes and fours.

Song: Five Little Snowmen Riding on a Sled 
Probably the hit of the session. 

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Baby/Toddler Holiday Story Time, 12/15

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: The Eight Nights of Chanukah by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Elivia Savadier (2005)
This book provides its own great interactive opportunity by starting each verse with "I clap my hands to see..." My group got really into the clapping, even if the story wasn't of great interest.

Flannel Board Rhyme: One Menorah Candle
This was a lot of fun! I'll definitely keep it for next year. 

Action Rhyme: Spin Little Dreidels
Thanks to @librarylady61 on Twitter for providing me with this very successful rhyme. This was the hit of the story time!

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Let's All Do a Little Clapping

Book: My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz (2003)
I think I'll skip Kwanzaa next year - the entire group talked through this story and it was clear it held no appeal for them.

Book: Christmas Tree! by Florence Minor and Wendell Minor (2005)
Love this one! I brought most of the attention back by switching immediately to Christmas, which, it became clear, was what everyone was looking for.

Flannel Board Song: Five Little Presents
This was a great success which made me very happy. A little more complicated than what I'd like to do all the time, but just perfect for the holidays.

Book: Let There Be Peace on Earth by Jill Jackson, illustrated by David Diaz
This is a pretty book, and there is very little text, but somehow it didn't keep the attention of my group. But it's tough to do more than two books with them - I pushed it today!

Song: We Wish You...
We sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, but changed the words so that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were included.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This