Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain Drop-In Story Time, 8/2/13

 Sun, Moon, Stars, Rain Drop-In Story Time, 8/2/13

This story time has been a source of frustration for the past few weeks, because the adults have been so rude and difficult. In the past, what has sometimes worked is to change the format and structure of the story time so they can't anticipate what comes next and therefore can't figure out when it might be okay for them to talk. (They seem to have the idea that it's okay to talk during books, but they will sing songs. If I'm playing the ukulele, they will be quiet, but if I have a puppet, they talk. It's weird.)

This morning, I ditched the usual themed story time, and instead did something a bit different to change things up and hopefully get us out of our rut.  On the flannel board, I put up four items - a sun, a moon, a sky full of stars, and a raindrop - and as we read books and did activities for each one, I removed that flannel board piece. ("Sun, moon, stars, rain" is a line from "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by e.e. cummings, if you're thinking it sounds familiar.) I was a bit concerned that four books would be pushing it, but it wasn't at all, and this turned out to be one of the all-time best large-group story times I have ever done.

Book: The Sun is My Favorite Star by Frank Asch
I made sure to read this book with a very excited tone, and to stop and point out interesting tidbits in the pictures. I expected to have to scold them for talking, but to my great surprise, no one was saying a word! This book even got applause at the end!

Song with Sun Puppet: Mr. Sun

Song with Ukulele: You Are My Sunshine
I really like playing this song on the ukulele, and it tends to calm the whole room. Some of the kids even started to sing along! 

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
I find it helps to narrate a little bit of what is happening in the pictures between lines of the poem. This was the book I was most nervous about, but keeping a conversational tone helped the kids get into it, I think.

Song with Ukulele: Aikendrum
There was one adorable little boy in the back of the room who spontaneously started to clap during this song, which made my entire morning!

Book: I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown
They started to lose it around this time, but I brought them back by asking the group to tell me what color the different stars were on each page. Unfortunately, a couple of little boys right in front took this as an invitation to yell every line of the book back at me, so we kind of rushed through this one and quickly went into the next song.

Song: Stars Shining Bright

Book: Rain by Robert Kalan
This was a good, simple book to end with. The rainbow caught everyone by surprise and caused spontaneous applause. 

Song: I Like to see the Raindrops Fall
The kids always like this song, and most of the motions are easy enough for even a lot of the babies to do.

Some of the success of today's story time is owed to the fact that people are out of town and some of the problem nannies were not there,  but I think there is also something important about keeping books as the central focus. It might seem foolish to read four books in a session when they often don't allow me to get through two, but I actually think showing them that story time is mainly about stories, and is not just a sing-along with an occasional book does command greater respect from the audience. We'll see if a similar approach works next week!


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.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/21/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/21/13

This story time is such a rollercoaster. Some weeks it's just perfect, and I can't believe how wonderful it is. Other weeks - like this past one - it is just a disaster. Here's what happened this week. 

Welcome Message 

I got an idea about what kind of session this was going to be when I finished reading the message and a five-year-old girl told me, "You're not my friend." Rather than engage the comment as unfriendly or obnoxious or whatever she was trying to be, I used it as an opportunity to explain that there are lots of ways to close letters. Then I moved on to what I thought was going to be the most exciting part of story time. 

Read-Along 

I really wanted to use I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown, but we don't have enough copies in our system for every child to hold one in his or her hand. So I used our overhead projector to show the pages from the book on the wall. I really thought the kids would love this concept, and I expected it to combat the problem we normally have of kids reading ahead of me during the read-along. But in all my predictions about how things would go, I did not expect the kids to change the word "stars" to "farts." Early elementary school is my favorite age to work with, but I don't like the toilet humor. Furthermore, I don't think the parents like it when their kids come to story time and talk about farts the entire time. I did my best to remain calm. I said things like, "Oh, you're picking up on the "AR" sound. Are there other words that have that sound, too?" But they didn't care to indulge me and kept right on making poop jokes. I eventually just read the rest of the book to them quickly, then shut off the projector and took out my picture book. 

Picture Book Read-Aloud 

I was excited to read Stars, which is one of my favorite picture books, and I thought this group was old enough to actually understand it. Sadly, they were too silly to sit and listen to more than a page at a time. I try not to turn this into a highly academic environment, but I did eventually have to say that if we didn't stop talking about bathroom things, we'd have to go sit with our grown-ups out in the library instead of finishing story time. Thankfully, the next activity was interactive and we were able to get back on track - mostly.

Making a List 

I asked the kids to think of what they would wish for if they could wish upon a star. This is their list. (Answers related to poop were ignored, and they stopped making those comments eventually.)

I think making lists and word clouds is going to work really well with this story time going forward. They seem to focus the best when there is a discussion going on, and not as well when we're sitting and reading. I also had three more kids come in during this activity who were much more engaged and ready to participate than the kids who sat through the stories at the beginning. Perhaps it would be a better idea to do this brainstorming and chatting at the start of story time, and then read to them later when they've settled down. Typically, I start story times right away with a book because the kids' attention spans are short, but this group might need a different approach.

Craft 

I had the kids write their names on construction paper, then gave them some stars to turn their names into constellations. We had several kids try to write "poopy" as their name, but they got over it when I didn't react.  Some of the kids spent more than 30 minutes on their projects. The only issue was that parents kept asking me if their kids could leave. They didn't understand that story time was over, and when the kids weren't done with their crafts and didn't want to leave, the parents were asking me to close the room so they could get their kids to leave willingly. I'll have to work on setting better limits on exactly when we will be "finished." 

I love this story time so much, and I look forward to it as the highlight of  each week. It's been a great challenge for me so far, and it's giving me opportunities to stretch my story time muscles beyond the usual, mostly predictable crowds that attend the other ones. It keeps me on my toes if nothing else, and I can only imagine it will get better the more I do it. Now it's time to head back to the drawing board and figure out what this coming week's will look like!

Baby/Toddler Story Time (with Ukulele!), 6/26/12

Opening Song (with ukulele): Hello, how are you?
A few people seemed excited about the ukulele when I brought it in, but they were less enthusiastic when I actually played it. I didn't expect them to think I was a musical genius, because I'm not, but they just seemed sort of puzzled as to why I bothered to bring a musical instrument. (After the fact, one nanny did tell me she and the little girl with her loved it and hope to hear more next time, so maybe it will catch on...)

Song (with ukulele): Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Book: I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Joan Paley
This is one of those rare easy readers that can work for babies and toddlers. Kids actually started repeating the lines of the book after I read them, and they seemed to get really excited by the different colored stars. 

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up
This is really cute as an action song, but I also reminded everyone that the little ones who don't walk yet can roll their hands instead.

Book: Stars! Stars! Stars! by Bob Barner
The back matter for this book lists Pluto as a planet, so it's probably not one libraries should be keeping on their shelves as an informational book. The text of the story proper only mentions Pluto's orbit, not anything about its planetary status, however, so it works fine for story time. The bright, bold illustrations are perfect, even if the information about the planets goes a little bit over the little ones' heads.

Song: Stars Shining Bright
They really get into this song. I saw some older kids - even elementary school aged! - singing along with me by the end.

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby
I am so happy to have this song in my repertoire now. I was really going to lose it if I had to sing Shake My Sillies Out all summer!

Song: The Wheels on the Bus
I have started singing this song before the third or fourth book to regain silence. The verse where the parents go "shhh shhh shhh" works like a charm and manages to restore order without me having to look like a bad guy.

Book: This Little Light of Mine by Raffi, illustrated by Stacey Schuett
I have never shared this song at story time because I was always worried it sounded too religious. Raffi's version is much more secular, and the illustrations focus on kids putting on a play, so I felt much more comfortable singing it. It also went nicely with the stars theme I had going!

Song with Puppet: Mrs. Moon
I used the moon I shared in my recent Flannel Friday post. Most of the nannies know Mr. Sun and they joined right in singing about Mrs. Moon to the same tune.

Book: A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na
This book went over better than I expected. I lost them towards the end, but they still seemed to like most of the animals. I have a good action song to go with this one, which I'll have to remember to use the next time.

Song: One Little Finger
I brought this song back out of retirement after a short break. Everyone remembered it so well!

Song: ABCs

Song with Puppets: Goodnight by the Laurie Berkner Band

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This