Dig Into Reading (Reading): Family Story Time, 6/15/13

Dig Into Reading (Reading): Family Story Time, 6/15/13

*No photo this time - it's too hard to predict what I'll read when all ages are invited! Credit for the image above goes to mycutegraphics.com.

 
Today was the first session of my library's new Saturday afternoon story time. We are offering this every week until school starts, because so many families have asked us to do Saturday programming. Only two kids joined me today, but I asked them to bring their friends in the future, and one dad promised to let his son's playgroup friends know about it. I think attendance will grow as summer gets in full swing.

Because there were only two kids and neither seemed to love singing, we just sang the hello song, goodbye song, and one other song, and read four books, then colored for a few minutes.

Book: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
The kids were so quiet, it was hard to tell whether they enjoyed this book or not, but they seemed interested. 

Book: We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems
This was definitely the book they loved most. Neither of the two boys who came to story time had ever seen it before, so it was great to see  them laugh at the jokes for the first time.

Book: Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson
This book didn't get much of a reaction during the reading itself, but the kids clapped when it was over.

At this point, I asked if we should read one more. The younger of the two boys - who was three - told me he wanted three more! (One was enough, as I knew it would be.)

Book: Quiet! There's a Canary in the Library by Don Freeman
The younger boy liked this book a lot. The older one seemed to be kind of over me at this point, and I definitely felt the "you're a lame librarian" vibe coming from him when I then said we would sing before we left. 


Song: These Are My Glasses

Coloring Page: I re-used my bookshelf coloring activity from my book-themed Read-Along story time back in April.  Both boys liked it and spent a good amount of time coloring. The younger boy also took a break to show me his "out of control superhero moves" and his dinosaur stomping.


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.

Dig Into Reading (Digging Dogs): Preschool Story Time, 6/14/13

Dig Into Reading (Digging Dogs): Preschool Story Time, 6/14/13

Book: The Digging-est Dog by Al Perkins
Two kids came to story time - a girl who is almost four, and a boy who I think is three. The little boy's eyes welled up with tears on the first page of this book, where the dog is lonely and sitting beside the "for sale" sign, and it was all I could to keep reading to get him to the happy parts ASAP.

Flannel Board: Doggy, Doggy, Where’s Your Bone?
Credit for this idea goes to two sources: DLTK's Crafts for Kids, which provided the rhyme, and Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes who gave me the idea to have different animals hide the bone.  I had an elephant, hippo, lion, walrus, and snake, and hid the bone behind the walrus. He was the last one guessed, so we had a great time pulling every animal off the board and being surprised each time it wasn't there. I used a slightly altered version of the rhyme linked above:


Doggy, doggy, where's your bone?
Someone took it from your home.
It wasn't me.
It wasn't you. 
Was it the _______ at the zoo?

The kids had a ball with this flannel board. I want to do some more like it this summer! 

Song: Head and Shoulders
Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

We had been sitting for so long, we did not one, but two action songs!

Book: Dig! by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
This book is a lot like Zimmerman's Trashy Town. It follows a backhoe operator through one day on the job. The kids were very quiet, but I think they liked the story.


At this point, the little boy had to leave, and  the little girl seemed tired and restless, so I asked her mom if she would want another story, or if she would prefer to move on to coloring. Coloring won, so we skipped Harry the Dirty Dog and finished the session with a coloring page.

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.

Dig Into Reading (Digging): Toddler Lap Time, 6/14/13

Dig Into Reading (Digging): Toddler Lap Time, 6/14/13

Book: Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo
The text in this one is pretty long for a board book, but the kids were really interested in looking at the different vehicles. We had one little girl join us who has just graduated from baby story time, and even she was with me the whole  time, smiling at me curiously as I read.

Flannel Board: Goodnight Builders
I am kind of in awe that I wrote this rhyme, because it gets better each time we do it. The kids were glued to the flannel board and when we got finished, one little boy said, "All gone!"

Book: Dig In by April Jones Prince
This book is cute because the little workers get together to build a pizza. The book has moveable parts, but the ones in my copy don't move easily, so I didn't bother with them.

Flannel Board: Worm Friends
Everybody wanted to hold a worm! This rhyme is just right for toddlers, and they had a ball counting the worms and saying goodbye to each one by color.

Book: One Mole Digging a Hole by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt
I have been hoarding this book for months because I was worried it would be lost or stolen before I could use it at story time. It was worth the wait. The illustrations are bright, bold, and funny, and I got a kick out of seeing the different animals working in the garden.

Rhyme: Summer Dance
I was looking for a brand-new action rhyme and this one was a definite hit. I really recommend grabbing rhymes from Highlights High Five magazine. I've used a lot of things from there and most of them are really wonderful. This will become a weekly addition to this story time for this summer!

Activities with Foam Flowers:

• Rhyme: Flowers Up, Flowers Down
• Song: There’s a Flower On My Head

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun
It was a good thing Mr. Sun was on hand because our little toddler newbie cried a bit when she gave me her flower back and the puppet was a good distraction!

Song: ABCs

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers

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.

Dig Into Reading (Mud): Drop-In Story Time, 6/14/13

 Dig Into Reading (Mud): Drop-In Story Time, 6/14/13

What an amazing story time! It was a huuuge group, but a lot of nannies I haven't seen all year are back for the summer, as well as a lot of preschoolers who are in that in-between stage after school lets out and before summer camp begins. I can't remember the last time an audience sat quietly for books and actually seemed to enjoy them, and this was, by far, the best reception I have had for the magic envelope. I hope this is a sign of pleasant Friday mornings all summer long! 

Book: Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham
Since the group was so interested in this book and the adults were so well-behaved, I was able to really get into reading it with a lot of expression and  a lot of dramatic pauses. I can always tell when I'm performing a book well, and this was probably one of my top ten read-alouds ever.

Song: I Like to See the Raindrops Fall
I added a verse to this song to make it more suitable for the mud theme.


I like to feel the squishy mud, 
the squishy mud, the squishy mud. 
I like to feel the squishy mud 
on a stormy day.

Book: One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
I wish I had remembered to ask everyone to quack at the end of each page. That's a tip I picked up from Saroj Ghoting and have used in the past, but I was so shocked by how well things were going, I basically just forgot. 

Song: Pigs in the Mud
This is not my favorite song, but it has simple motions that I find most of the kids pick up pretty quickly. They really got into it, and the adults actually seemed to think the song was cute.

Magic Envelope: Dog
I think it was hugely helpful that all the kids know what a dog is. Sometimes I think they might not know what to expect from the magic envelope even when I tell them what is supposed to come out, but this time, there was excitement all around. We put a collar, a dish, a leash, a doghouse, a bone, and "woof woof!" inside the envelope and pulled out... Bingo the dog!

Flannel Board Song: BINGO
I used yellow letters to spell BINGO then changed them to purple one by one. We clapped the purple letters and sang the yellow ones. It was definitely the best performance of BINGO we have ever had.

Ukulele Medley: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Song: The Wheels on the Bus


Song: If You're Happy and You Know It


Song: The More We Read Together
I have decided to definitely keep using this at the end of the story time, but possibly not in place of If You're Happy. I know it might not make a difference, but ending on a reading-related note makes me feel like I'm doing more of my part to remind the adults that story time is as much about reading as it is about singing, etc.


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.