Pre-K Class Visit, 6/16

What an adorable group of kids! We have an elementary school right next door, but because we have been under construction, and they have also been under construction, we haven't quite had the chance to collaborate as we would have liked. But this teacher brought her Pre-K kids over on this, their second to last day of school, to have a little story time. And it was so much fun!

Here is what we did.

Song: Seven Continents on our Globe
Every child wanted to tell me every country everyone in their family had ever visited, but I shortened the conversation a bit by asking them to raise a hand if someone they knew had been to this or that continent. When they started interrupting me to tell me more than one relative, I just asked them to put up two hands. Even their teacher seemed to think that was a wise way to handle it. I patted myself on the back a little bit for that one!

Book: Papa, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee (2005)This one was recycled from this morning's story time. A very astute little boy in the front row got about halfway through this story and then said, "This boy worries about everything!" They all also thought the author's last name was hilarious. 

Song: Rum Sum Sum

Roughly half the class knew this song, so I asked them to sing loud and help their friends. It got the entire group singing along and they really learned the song quickly.

Book: Hunwick's Egg by Mem Fox, illustrated by Pamela Lofts (2005)
I love Mem Fox, and this book was just about perfect for this age group. Hunwick finds an egg, and befriends it, but his friends worry it will never hatch. I asked the kids to guess what kind of animal Hunwick might be (he's a bandicoot), and then to guess at what might be in his egg - and to my surprise, they actually responded! I'm definitely going to recycle this one for a Tales for Fours and Fives session - maybe next week.

Song: Taba Naba by The Wiggles from (It's a Wiggly Wiggly World)
By far, this group had the most success with this song - and the least frustration. I presented it differently this time, practicing the motions ahead of time, and gave a suggestion for which motions to make if they got stuck. It was great fun, and they were so cute, wiggling their little hips!

Tales for Fours and Fives, 6/16

Another day, another learning curve. It occurs to me, now that I've done four story times for this age group (including class visits), that my repertoire for this age is very, very limited. I've worked so hard on learning how to read and sing with babies and toddlers, but I haven't really spent much time with kids over the age of three. And though today's session went very well, and my attendance doubled (3 last week, 7 this week), I find myself uncertain about where to go from here. And I need to figure it out soon, because school's out next week!

One thing I know I'll be using is Anna's delightful secret weapon song, The Watermelon Song, but beyond that, I need pre-K and K suggestions! I'll be digging into my favorite blogs for more ideas later today, but in the meantime, here's what I did this morning:

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Song: Seven Continents on our Globe

Book: Earthdance by Joanne Ryder, illustrated by Norman Gorbaty (1999)
Very fitting for the summer reading theme, this book imagines what it would be like to be the Earth, spinning in space, crawling with animals and people, and filled with mystery. The text is highly poetic, with some instances of concrete poetry (icebergs that crack, for example), and the illustrations are very abstract, but the oversized pages and interesting colors drew me right in, and though the kids were very quiet, I think the story spoke to them on some level, too.

Song: Rum Sum Sum


 
Book: Papa, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee (2005)
This is a story set in Africa, and featuring the Masaai culture. A father answers his son's many questions about the depth and breadth of his love. This book introduces a lot of African vocabulary, but also speaks to the universality of a father's love. The boys in this audience especially liked the lion, and the father's promise to scare him off with his shield and spear.


Song: Boots by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Victor Vito)

Book: Perfect Square by Michael Hall (2011)
A perfect square faces adversity in the form of being poked full of holes, shredded, cut into strips, and shattered, but each time it makes the best of the situation by making something new out of its pieces. This book can be extrapolated in a lot of ways, and lends itself to a wonderful craft project (which I didn't do, but any library easily could.)

Song: Taba Naba by The Wiggles from (It's a Wiggly Wiggly World) 

Song: Turn Around by Hap Palmer (from Getting to Know Myself)


Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Only two more story times this week - a Pre-K class visit this afternoon, and baby lap time tomorrow. Then I get three days to relax before the next round!

8 Kids' Books About Dads

 Mitchell's License

by Hallie Durand, illustrated by Tony Fucile

2011 | 40 pages | Picture Book

Mitchell, who hates going to bed, is allowed to use his father as an imaginary vehicle in order to make bedtime more fun. (Read about my story time experience with this book here.)

Interrupting Chicken

by David Ezra Stein

2010 | 40 pages | Picture Book

Chicken, an enthusiastic little girl, can't contain her excitement when her father reads to her, and keeps interrupting with suggestions to help characters in danger. (Read my review of this book here.)

 Hop on Pop

by Dr. Seuss

1963 | 72 pages | Easy Reader

Dr. Seuss teaches kids to read using wild and wonderful combinations of rhyming words, including that famous sentence, hop on pop, which encourages kids everywhere to jump on their fathers' stomachs.

 Alvin Ho series

by Lenore Look, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

2008 - present | Chapter Books 

Alvin is afraid of many things, but his father still encourages him to always be a gentleman. (Read my review of Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes
here.)

 Mallory McDonald series

by Laurie Friedman

2004 - present | Chapter Books

When Mallory has problems, she visits the wish pond in her neighborhood to find comfort - Dad is usually the one who finds her there and helps her sort out whatever is wrong. (Read my review of Mallory's Guide to Boys, Brothers, Dads, and Dogs here.)

Turkey Monster Thanksgiving

by Anne Warren Smith

2003; 2011 | 112 pages | Chapter Book

Katie worries that people will judge her for not having a mother, but her father turns out to make a wonderful single dad. (Read my review of this book here.)

 Because of Winn Dixie

by Kate DiCamillo

2001 | 192 pages | Middle Grade

With the help of a smiling stray dog, India Opal Buloni and her preacher father come to terms with the loss of Opal's mother, who abandoned the family.

 Hugging the Rock

by Susan Taylor Brown

2006 | 170 pages | Young Adult Novel in Verse

After her mother leaves her father, Rachel struggles to form a relationship with her dad, who has shut down in the absence of his wife.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 6/14

Wow, what a marathon! This was my second week of doing three story time sessions in a row, and I did a lot of singing, so my voice was almost totally wiped out at the end. I'll have to pace myself better next week. But all in all, we had a good time, and we topped last week's attendance by 5 kids (up from 125 to 130).

Here's the program as it unfolded:

Opening song: Hello, how are you?

Book: The Fathers are Coming Home by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Stephen Savage (2007)
A sweet and simple story about dads coming home to their babies of various species. The illustrations are bold and eye-catching, and the theme of fathers returning to their children after time away is comforting and reassuring. A lot of  the kids were drawn to the pig page, in particular, and they snorted and oinked when I read that the father pig grunted.

Flannel Board Song: Daddy's Ties
This was a lot of fun. I had just enough three-year-olds who felt confident in their colors to shout out the names from the audience, and to make it last a little longer, we sang about each tie twice.  I even saw one dad take the opportunity to talk to his son about his own ties. Lovely!

Song: Taba Naba

Book: W is for Wombat by Bronwyn Bancroft (2005)
This is almost an alphabet book, except there's no letter X. Each page depicts a different Australian animal or object in funky, bright, and textured illustrations. I especially love the flies for F, and the koala for K. 

Song: Cuddly Koalas (to the tune of Frere Jacques)
I found at least two versions of this, and adapted the motions to what I thought would work for this group. It was great! We sang it three  times, and by the end, everybody was doing the motions - even the babies were making attempts!

Cuddly koalas, cuddly koalas (make rocking motion with arms)

Possums, too, possums too (make circles around eyes with fingers and thumbs)

Wallabies and wombats, wallabies and wombats (tap knees in rhythm)

Kangaroos, kangaroos (hold up two hands and hop like a kangaroo)

Book: Market Day by Lois Ehlert (2000)
I swore I wasn't going to do a third book, but then I realized how short I was running in the first session, and threw it in there.  I liked the rhyming text and the repetition of the journey out and back to the market, but I lost most of the adults by this point in the two busier sessions (1 and 3) and probably should have stuck to just the two books. Next week, I'll try again.

Song: Chickadee by Lisa Monet (from My Best Friend)
This is a new favorite for me - we count down the birds and flap our arms for the chorus. I enjoy flapping more than anyone else, I think!

I mixed and matched songs like crazy toward the end of each session, mainly because I couldn't stand doing the same thing three  times in a row. I even managed to skip Wheels on the Bus once, but only after making sure the kids who cry when I don't do it weren't present. (I've had some suggestions for Wheels on the Bus replacements, but the problem isn't finding new songs. It's getting my audience to accept anything but what they're used to. They won't let me have a bus-free week!)


Song: Wheels on the Bus (sessions 1 and 2)

Song: Monkeys on the Bed (session 1)

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends) (session 2)

Song: There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in My Heart (session 3)

Song: Where is Thumbkin? (session 3)

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Song Between Sessions: We All Sing with the Same Voice by Lisa Monet (from My Best Friend)