Flannel Friday: Gumballs In a Dish

This week's flannel board came about when I was preparing last Friday's drop-in story time. I knew the letter G was coming up for weeks, and I really wanted to include gum as one my G words, but couldn't find anything that matched what I was looking for. Finally, at the last minute, inspiration struck. I remembered the old jump rope rhyme from when I was a kid - Bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish. How many pieces do you wish? - and realized that changing bubblegum to gumball would be enough to make it a very obvious G word. Here is the result:

 

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish. 

How many gumballs do you wish?

Let's ask this boy up here. 

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish.
How many gumballs do you wish? 

He says he wants...

 

One gumball! 
Let's count. One! 

Now let's ask the girl down here.

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish.
How many gumballs do you wish? 

 She says she wants...

Two gumballs! 
Let's count. One!  Two!

Now let's ask the girl up here.

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish.
How many gumballs do you wish? 

 She says she wants...



Three gumballs! 
Let's count. One! Two! Three!

Now let's ask the boy down here.

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish.
How many gumballs do you wish? 

 He says he wants... 

Four gumballs! 
Let's count. One!  Two! Three! Four!

Now let's ask the girl down here.

Gumballs, gumballs in a dish.
How many gumballs do you wish? 

 She says she wants...

Five gumballs! 

Let's count. One! Two! Three! Four! Five!

No more gumballs in the dish. 

Great job counting!

 

Sources: The faces, which I already had on hand from my adaptation of The Doorbell Rang, came from Clker.com, as did the dish. The gumballs are cut out from a photo I found on Google images. The speech bubbles were a last-minute addition, and I created those myself in Microsoft Publisher.

 

There are several reasons why I love this flannel board: 

• It's simple. Half of the pieces are already on the board when I start, and very little movement has to take place between verses of the song. This makes it ideal for my large groups where lots of subtle little movements can't be seen by people in the back half of the room.  
• It's adaptable. As long as I have 15 images of it, the possibilities for what can be in the dish are endless. I am definitely going to use it with cookies during the holiday season, and chocolates near Valentine's Day. It would also work with everyday food like sandwiches, and multicultural foods - tacos, dumplings, etc.  
• It can work with or without the audience's help. I can stand in front of the room and do the entire thing without any input from the audience, which is often necessary at my big, nanny-filled story times. But in smaller groups I can ask the kids to decide how many to give each character (provided they choose between 1 and 5), or I can change it up, putting the numbers up in random order instead of numerically so that kids actually have to identify the number themselves by reading the word or recognizing the number.  
• The speech bubbles. I never thought of using speech bubbles on a flannel board before, but it makes so much sense to me now. It would be great to have a set for colors and letters of the alphabet as well, so that I always have the opportunity for flannel board figures to request certain things. I have a feeling this idea will come up again in a future flannel Friday post.
• It works! I have only presented this flannel board once so far, but it went very well. Everyone said the rhyme with me and helped me count and they clapped excitedly when we were finished.

Sarah of Read, Sarah, Read! is our Flannel Friday host this week. For more about Flannel Friday, visit the official website.

Drop-In Story Time, 10/5/12

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. 

I highly recommend taking a break when story time starts to burn you out. It wasn't quite intentional, but I wound up not doing this story time for almost two weeks, and coming back to it yesterday it was like I was a new person. I was relaxed, my transitions were smooth, and though the group was not as large as normal, they were engaged for the full thirty minutes. (My transitions are in red, because I want to remember how I did them.)

Song: The Rules Song
This is a song the other children's librarian and I wrote together to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. The basic structure of it is as follows:

Rule number 1, rule number 1
No eating in the library.
That's rule number 1. 

We name three more rules, and then rule #5 is "Have lots of fun at story time."I got the group involved by asking them to show me their fingers for each number.

Song: Way Up in the Sky

I have a whole book about saying good morning. It's called Hello, Day! 

Book: Hello, Day! by Anita Lobel

Wow, look at this beautiful moon. I'm going to put this book down so I can make a moon with my hands. Can you do this? Let's sing a moon song.

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Would you like to read another book? You would?

Song: If You’d Like to Read a Book

 Great! Here's a book.  It's called Little Blue Truck.

Book: Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle 

What a nice story. Those animals really helped that truck! I bet you can drive a truck. Can you show me your steering wheel?

 Song: Drive, Drive, Drive Your Truck / Row Row Row Your Boat

One place we might go in a truck or a boat is the beach. A bear lives near this beach. This book is called Bear's Day Out. 

Book:  Bear’s Day Out by Michael Rosen

You really helped Bear on his day out. Give yourselves a hand!

I'm going to put a letter on the board. Look, the letter G! And look, a friend who starts with G! Who is this? That's right, a giraffe! I know a poem about the giraffe.
 
Letter of the Day: Letter G 

• Poem with Puppet: Giraffes Don't Huff
  This poem is all about how giraffes don't make any sound. At the end of the poem, we all said, "shhhh" together.
  
  Two more words that start with G are "Grandma" and "glasses." Can you put some pretend glasses on your eyes?
   
  
• Rhyme: Here are Grandma’s Glasses
  One more G word. These are... gumballs!
  
• Flannel Board: How Many Gumballs?
  I am especially proud of this flannel board, and I want to wait until this week's Flannel Friday post to reveal it. Stay tuned!

Good counting everybody! Now let's sing some more.

Songs with Ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

That was so nice, we'll keep singing. Let's clap.

Song: Sing a Happy Song

Song: Bumpin’ Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon

Song: Chickadee

Baby Lap Time, 10/4/12

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. 

It's hard to believe we have already been offering lap times at my branch for a year. They have become so popular, this time around we actually divided them into two groups - Toddler Lap Time for walkers and Baby Lap Time for non-walkers. I'm alternating weeks between the two groups, but this week it was my turn to be with the babies. I will miss the continuity of being with them every week, but I'm looking forward to also having a turn with the toddlers, many of whom were in my first lap time group last year.

I introduced a new hello song for this session, to the tune of London Bridge, where we sing hello to our toes, knees, tummy, hands, head, and then to all of our friends. The words are posted on the hello and goodbye song page along with all the others.

This session had a theme - Up and Down - which I forgot to actually announce to the group, but I doubt anyone noticed. Almost everyone is new to lap time at our library, so it was a very awkward start for me, as I could feel them sort of looking at me, sizing me up and wondering if what I'm doing is legitimate or just foolishness. I did a great job, but for  the first time ever, no one clapped or said thank you when I finished  the session. Such a weird feeling.

Anyway, here are my baby lap time activities for Up and Down. 

Rhyme: Cheek Chin 

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Book: The Bridge is Up by Babs Bell

This is the perfect audience for this book. Lots of repetition and a very simple plot.   

Rhyme with Puppet: Hey Diddle Diddle

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Tony Chestnut

Song: Head and Shoulders 

Book: Subway by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by Karen Katz
Another with one with repetition, and bright colorful pictures. It also has a good rhythm. I mentioned these things to the parents, who stared at me blankly. 

Song: Bumpin' Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon 

Song with Puppets: I'm a Little Monkey

Songs: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Book: All Fall Down by Helen Oxenbury

Song: This is the Way We Clap Our Hands

Preschool Story Time (Dog Theme), 9/28/12

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. 

Our preschoolers have started complaining that songs and rhymes are "boring," so I decided not to incorporate as many of those into this story time. Instead, we read some longer books, and thanks to our partnership with Scooby-Doo and Cesar Millan's National Family Pack Walk, we also offered a craft at the end of the story time.

Book: The Digging-est Dog by Al Perkins
The kids loved this one. Even though a baby cried through a few pages of the story, they didn't lose focus. They were so invested in the story. A grandmother even commented afterward that she had never seen a group this age sit so still and so quietly for so long.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Book: Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
This is always a hit. I love this book.

Song: Bingo
I can't do this song at the bigger story times because no one seems to understand when to clap and they don't wait for instructions. This group loved it. One of the pickier little girls left singing her own silly version of the song after story time was over.

Book: The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra and Sal Barrasco, pictures by Mark Buehner
I could not have anticipated how much they would enjoy this. The rhyming text irritated me, but the kids really got into it.

Craft: Paper Bag Dog Puppets 

I have never seen people make such a mess with craft supplies. They refused to throw scraps in the garbage, they ground tips of crayons into the floor, and most of them didn't bother to clean up after themselves in the slightest. It was so bad, I have decided that any future crafts we offer will be pre-packaged kits to take home. The kids did enjoy making their puppets, though.