Baby/Toddler Story Time, 2/21/12

I've been building up to this for months, but finally, this morning I actually had the courage to forgo recorded music and do all my own singing at my most crowded story time of the week. I wasn't sure what would happen, honestly, or if people would go for it,  but at the end of the day, after three amazing sessions during which hardly anyone chatted with their neighbors, texted, or just simply ignored me, I have to say it was the best decision I've ever made.

Recorded music, for my groups, has always been the signal for the adults to stop paying attention and start just hanging out. Somehow, by eliminating the sound that drowns out their talking, I got them to stop talking at all. I will continue to promote the recordings from which I take my songs, and I'm sure I'll still throw in the occasional recorded song, but I'd really like that to become the exception rather than the rule. And since my library is not ordering anymore music, it seems like a good time to focus more on the music we can provide on our own. It's a lot easier to provide the words and tune for families to take home with them than to track down the one or two copies of a CD we have left. This also makes a good segue into when I will eventually bring my ukulele to story time - hopefully this summer.

So... here is my very first a cappella Baby/Toddler Story Time:

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Hello, Goodbye by David Lloyd, illustrated by Louise Voce (1998)
I wanted to read some new books this week - and by new, it turns out, I meant old. This 1998 title is a simple story of a single tree, whose inhabitants and visitors say hello, and then goodbye when it starts to rain. I got everyone involved by having them buzz like bees and chirp like birds, and by the end of the story, each group was so into it, they were saying hello and goodbye unprompted.

Rhyme: Wiggle Fingers

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: Hoot, Howl, Hiss by Michelle Koch (1991)
This was a great animal sounds book. The animals are divided into categories according to habitat, and all of them have some sound associated with them. I don't really have a monkey noise that I use, but the adults did their own for me, and when it came to whistling like a marmot, we just tried to whistle. The ending was kind of abrupt and strange, but it didn't matter. This book got tons of participation and tons of applause.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Flannel Board Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Book: Knick Knack Paddy Whack by Steve Songs, illustrated by Christiane Engel (2009)
It killed my voice to sing this much three sessions in a row, but this book demands to be sung! It got a little old around the number five - there's only so many times an old man should play knick knack, honestly! - but the kids seemed to like the novelty of singing instead of reading a book.

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

• ...clap your hands
• ...pat your knees
• ...stomp your feet
• ...beep your nose
• ...tickle your tummy
• ...shout hooray!

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

• ...doors...open and shut
• ...wipers...swish swish swish
• ...driver...move on back
• ...horn...beep beep beep
• ...babies...waa waa waa
• ...grown-ups...shh shh shh

 Song: Chickadee
I said last week that the calypso beat was essential for this song, but this group did very well without the recording. I think it's all in how well I sell them on it. It also helped that most of the caregivers were regulars and could sing all the words from memory.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

I Can Read Feast for Beginning Readers, February 2012

Welcome to the I Can Read! Feast for Beginning Readers for the month of February 2012. This monthly meme, created by Terry Doherty of The Family Bookshelf, celebrates easy readers and illustrated chapter books to encourage kids working to become successful readers.

All this week, I'll be collecting your reviews and other posts related to books for beginning readers. Please comment to this post with a link to your contribution, or send me an email at sharingsoda@gmail.com. On Friday, I will post a round-up of everything you submit.

Don't have time to write something new? No problem! Anything posted in the last year - since February 2011 - is eligible. Need more information on easy readers and chapter books? Visit Terry's informative post here. Hosts are needed for the rest of the year! Click here to sign up as a host for any month, March through December. 

I look forward to reading and sharing your submissions!

Hail to the Chief: A Presidents Day After School Story Time, 2/16/12

My new approach to after school programs is receiving very interesting reactions from our after school crowd. For one thing, it's attracting not only the original group of kids who have attended afternoon programs since we opened last year, but a whole new set of kids who have never come to programs before. On the other hand, though, people - especially parents - seem puzzled by the fact that I let the kids color and work on crafts while I read. I think most of them feel better once they see it in action, but still, I feel awkward a lot of the time, and I'm working on ways to make that less obvious.

One of  the goals of this program, believe it or not, is to focus more on books and less on "fluff." Rhymes and songs have their place in story times for very small kids, but for older kids, I've noticed they start distracting them from the focus of story time, which is, in a word, reading. So instead of drawing out the afternoon by starting the craft at 3 and then trying to do a thirty minute story time at 4, I've combined them, and as future weeks progress, I hope to link the crafts more and more closely to the books, and to literacy in general.


Here's what the program looked like this week:

The Craft: Lincoln Penny Pendants 

  
I. Supplies

• Star template
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Glue
• Hole Punch
• Yarn
• Pennies

II. Prep

The only preparation I did ahead of time, aside from dividing the supplies amongst four tables, was to cut lengths of yarn so the kids could just grab one in their selected color and attach it to their necklaces. I also created an example pendant, pictured below, to give the kids an idea of how to put them together.

III. Process

Most of the kids - except one family whose mother insisted upon it - did not layer their stars, but just used one and stuck a penny on the center of it. The library only has one hole punch, so making sure everyone got the chance to punch a hole was a bit of a tedious task, to the point that next time, I might go back to punching holes ahead of time. Even though I didn't really plan on latecomers, some kids also came in just  for the craft after the stories were over, and the last child didn't finish until right before we closed at 5:30.

The Read-Alouds: Books About Presidents

Book 1: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (2004)
Farmer Brown's duck decides to run for president of the farm, and from there launches an unexpectedly successful political career. Though this is not nearly as great as Click, Clack, Moo, and some jokes went over the kids' heads, they still really liked it. I actually wish I'd read a second funny one to keep the laughter going after this.

Book 2: George Washington's Birthday: A Mostly True Story by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Barry Blitt (2012)
This is not a great read-aloud, and really only a useful book for kids who have already learned about the life of George Washington. Events that happens on his fictitious seventh birthday hint at and parallel events in his real life. The kids seemed to like it, but I know they didn't really "get" it. It also confused the heck out of a mom who was actually quizzing her kids on what they learned at story time. (Oy.)

The Book Display: More Presidential Books

For the first time ever, I displayed books in a story time that I wasn't going to read, and kids actually looked at them. A brother and sister spent almost half an hour with a chart of U.S. Presidents, just figuring out who was dead and still alive. Their favorite discovery was that Adams and Jefferson died the same year and were in  fact friends. Talking to them about that chart, which was in the back of Hanoch Piven's What Presidents Are Made Of, was the highlight of my entire afternoon.

Here's the full list of what was on display: 

• What Presidents Are Made Of by Hanoch Piven
• Madam President by Lane Smith
• My Teacher for President by Kay Winters
• Presidents' Day by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell
• The Worst of Friends by Suzanne Jurmain, illustrated by Larry Day

Baby Lap Time, 2/15/12 & 2/16/12

Opening Song: Say Hello

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Rhyme: Two Little Penguins
I am trying to vary the activities I do at lap time so that there are more props. For this rhyme, I used two of my flannel board penguins as stick puppets.

Bounce: Mother and Father and Uncle John
It took a long time for my Fall group to at all warm up to this bounce, but both Winter groups get a kick out of it. I've noticed some of the nannies doing it with their charges 

Book: All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri (2012)
This book is a new favorite for me. We read it at Baby/Toddler story time on Valentine's Day, and then repeated it at both lap time sessions even though Valentine's day is over. I would consider flannelizing this as well, especially because it focuses so heavily on mothers in the end, and it would be nice to be able to switch that up, especially when I am in a room with a bunch of stay at home dads.

Flannel Board: I Have Five Kisses
I adapted this after Valentine's Day so it can be used year-round.  I also simplified it for the babies.

Song: Tony Chestnut

Song: Head and Shoulders

Songs and Rhymes with Shaker Eggs: 

• Jack and Jill
• Little Miss Muffet
• London Bridge
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Book: Hello, Baby by Mem Fox, illustrated by Steve Jenkins (2009)
A baby started crying partway through this book, and one of the adults commented that I was scaring him with the illustrations in this book. I was kind of offended, to be honest, since I think it was totally unrelated to the book, but that's the way it goes.

Song: I'm a Little Monkey
I did this with one puppet on Wednesday, then realized we have two monkey puppets and did it with two on Thursday. It wasn't a huge hit, because it was new, but I think I'll repeat it next week, and probably again this Spring. 

Bounce: All the Little Babies
I needed a new bounce, so I pulled together lines from different versions of this song. It's to the tune of Shortnin' Bread, and it seemed like it was a pretty big hit.  These babies love leaning to the left and right, so there were lots of giggles.

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

• ...clap your hands
• ...beep your nose
• ...tickle your tummy
• ...shout hooray

Song: Where is Big Toe?

Goodbye Song: Open, Shut Them Goodbye Song