Sending You My Love Drop-In Story Time, 2/15/13
The problem with Valentine's Day falling on a Thursday is that none of my Valentine's Day repertoire will work for my Friday story times! Thus, this morning's drop-in story time had a love theme instead. This picture was taken after story time in our staff kitchen, which is why the lighting is better than usual!
Book: Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon
This story is pretty short and sweet, but for babies and toddlers, it is somewhat long, so I wasn't sure how they would like it. I think the preschoolers who were at story time enjoyed it, and I know the adults did, as there was spontaneous thunderous applause after the last line. It's also kind of a tearjerker, but no one really teared up.
Song with flannel board: Five Little Penguins Riding on a Sled
This song is based on Monkeys on the Bed. I used the flannel board to force myself to slow down and count the penguins.
Book: The Way I Love You by David Bedford
I really like the way I read this one today. My husband pointed out to me once at home that my voice is always the same when I'm reading, and I started noticing it, too. It's not that I was reading without inflection, but that when I read certain recurring phrases that appear in a lot of books, I was always reading them with the same inflection without regard for the context. So today when I read this book, I really thought about how to make it interesting to the kids. And it worked! The kids seemed really interested in the main character and her dog, and the adults actually were quiet for almost the entire book.
Song: Love My Puppy, Yes I Do
We sang this song about a puppy, and then about a kitty. We did each verse twice, and I sang the first time through as though the pet was a boy, and the second time with female pronouns.
Book: Grandma Calls Me Gigglepie by J.D. Lester, illustrated by Hiroe Nakata
I have read this at story time in the past, but not in a while, so when I found it this morning, I was excited. There was one grandmother I noticed who seemed really pleased by it as she sat with her twin toddler grandsons.
Song with Poster: Old MacDonald
I've found that the adults do better when they have a visual aide to help them know what to sing and when to sing it. Since I wanted to play this on the ukulele, I decided it would be easier to make a poster than to manipulate flannel board pieces. I tried taping the poster to the whiteboard, but it fell on me twice, so in the end, I asked a nanny to hold it for me. She did a great job, and I actually think people paid better attention when one of their own was up front with me.
Letter of the Day: C
Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep
Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It
This was the best drop-in story time I've done in a while. The others have been good, but this one stood out somehow, possibly because of the great participation from the adults. I was also exhausted when it was over, which is always a good sign that a program has gone well!
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.
