6 Kids' Books About Acting

	Starring First Grade by Miriam Cohen Jim rescues a classmate who gets stage fright.
	Star Time by Patricia Reilly Giff Two girls compete to be the star of their after school program's play performance.
	Marty McGuire by Kate Messner Marty, a tomboy, puts her own spin on her role as princess in The Frog Prince.
	Dixie by Grace Gilman Emma's puppy doesn't understand why she's so busy when she lands the role of Dorothy in the school play.
	Castration Celebration by Jake Wizner Disgusted with men, Olivia writes a play to exercise her frustrations. (Mature content - definitely best for older teens!)
	Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan Tiny Cooper, a gay teen, writes a musical about his life while tangling with two Will Graysons.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 11/8

I was sick last Tuesday, so felt a bit rusty today, but quickly fell back into the routine. All told, across three sessions, there were roughly 125 children in attendance, plus almost that many adults.

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: Itsy Bitsy Babies by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (2010)
A diverse cast of babies perform various infant behaviors. This one's by Margaret Wild, but it would pair well with the similar Mem Fox, Karen Katz, and Helen Oxenbury titles.

Rhyme: Here is a Ball for Baby
This was a new one for us today. The most awkward part is the motion for umbrella, because there just isn't a clear, natural way to make a hand motion resembling an umbrella. Otherwise, though, it was a good choice. 

Rhyme: Corn Grows Tall
I was looking for a fall rhyme that didn't involve Halloween, and hit on this one after searching for harvest rhymes. It's pretty simple, and I saw some of the twos and threes getting into it.

Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri (2007)
One of the great things about performing the same story time three times is that you really get to know your books. There is so much going on in this one, but it's all in the illustrations, and I didn't pick up on half as much as my audience did. Nancy Tafuri's larger-sized books also work well for big groups like mine!

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders 

Song: Hands Are For Clapping 

Flannel Board Song: Grandpa Wore His Blue Scarf
This is one of  the many permutations of Mary Wore Her Red Dress I have sung in the past year. I think I have one for almost every occasion at this point, but today's was about four family members - Grandpa, Grandma, Daddy, and a little girl - who are "starting to  feel a little bit chilly in this Fall weather" and decided to put on their scarves. Grandpa's is blue, Grandma's is green, Dad's is red, and the little girl's is a rainbow made up of the other three colors. The final verse of the song, which is about the little girl's scarf, went through a couple of revisions as the morning progressed.

Session one got this rendition: "The little girl wore her striped scarf..."
Session two heard, "The little girl wore her rainbow scarf..."
And session three got the best option. I named the little girl: "Mary wore her rainbow scarf..."

The third option was by far the least tricky, and the entire flannel board went over pretty well with everyone. 

Song: One Little Finger 

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It (a cappella)
In my effort to decrease the amount of recorded music I use in story time,  I decided to include an old favorite that almost everybody knows. It was a success. When I sing this a cappella, I always include clapping hands, stomping feet, beeping your nose, and shouting hooray.
 
Song: Chickadee

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Preschool Story Time (Fantasy Theme), 11/7

This story time is such a rollercoaster for me, but today was far and away my best performance. Attendance was low, and not every child there was the right age, but I was just so on, and so prepared, and it was a great feeling.

Here is my set list:

Opening Song: Hello, how are you? 

I decided to replace my usual second introductory song, If You'd Like to Read a Book, with two action rhymes instead. It wound up being a wise decision.

Rhyme: Fierce is the Dragon
This is a rhyme I wrote this morning when I realized that I needed just one more filler item and couldn't find one that felt right to me. It's based on the format of Blue is the Lake, but I don't think it paints a picture in quite the same way. Here are the words and actions: 

Fierce is the dragon 

(hold up hands like claws and make a mean face)

Brave is the knight

(hands on hips, sitting up very straight)

Pretty is the princess

(make the ASL sign for beautiful)

Tiny is the sprite

(hold two fingers up with very little space between them)
Tall is the giant 

(hold hands far apart in a vertical position)
Quiet is the queen 

(put a finger to your lips and whisper)
Silly is the jester

(put hands on either side of your head and wiggle fingers)
Happy is the king

(make the ASL sign for happiness)

This went over so surprisingly, I'm going to have to come up with more excuses to use it. Maybe I'll just do it at baby/toddler story time for the heck of it.

Song: Where is Thumbkin? (Royal Family Edition)
I am not crazy about Where is Thumbkin? but it always works well in a pinch. I simply replaced each finger with the name of a member of the royal family.

• Thumb: King
• Pointer: Queen
• Middle Finger: Prince
• Ring Finger: Princess
• Pinky Finger: Royal Baby

Book: Where the Giant Sleeps by Mem Fox, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky
I've read this one before, but I finally paid attention this time and slowed down enough to point out the interesting aspects of the illustrations. 

Rhyme: Here is a Giant

Here is a giant who is tall, tall, tall.
And here is an elf who is small, small small.
The elf who is small will try, try, try
To reach the giant who is high, high, high 

This was definitely the weakest link in the chain today, but the kids still really liked trying to stretch as high as a giant. 

Song: There is Clapping in the Castle
Another unexpected hit! We did it twice, because the kids really got into it.  I downloaded the free MP3 from Nancy Stewart's website and played it on my laptop. (Careful when you click the link; it starts playing right away!)

Book: Over at the Castle by Boni Ashburn, illustrated by Kelly Murphy (2010)
This book was too long for the really young twos, but for the fours and fives, it was just right. They loved picking out the dragons in the latter portion of the book when they start creeping in close to the castle, and they needed only slight prompting to figure out that the dragons had lit fireworks at the end. A great book for this theme.

Action Song: Curtsy Like a Princess 

(Tune: Skip to My Lou)
Curtsy like a princess just like so

Curtsy like a princess just like so

Curtsy like a princess just like so

Curtsy like a princess!

Bow like a prince just like so...
Juggle like a jester just like so...
Fly like a fairy just like so...
Roar like a dragon, just like so...

Flannel Board Song: Royal Crowns
I owe a lot to my Twitter colleagues on this one! Melissa from Mel's Desk suggested singing "The princess wore her blue crown..." etc. based on Library Quine's "The pirate wore a blue patch..." song. I instantly loved the idea, because I have already used that song a handful of times (Daddy's Ties, Grandpa's Ties, Grandma's Scarves) and knew my group would be familiar with it. Initially, I planned to have the princess wear five different-colored crowns, but then I decided to get a little more creative, and I gave each of four members of the royal family his/her own crown to wear. The king wore red, the queen purple, the prince blue, and the princess yellow.

I sang about each crown as I put it on the character's head, then we sang about each one once more. If I did this again, I'd like to print four more identical crowns with a crazy pattern and sing about the family wearing its fancy crowns!

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharatt (2008)
This author is some kind of story time genius. This book is fantastic, and gorgeous to look at, and the kids and parents all loved it.

Flannel Board Song: Five Little Fairies
This leftover from my Irish story time last week was actually the inspiration for this entire story time. I saved it for last because the final fairy says goodbye because it's time to go home. The perfect ending to what I would call an almost-perfect story time.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

I really think the reason this story time was so much more successful than others had to do with luck as much as skill. I was definitely better-prepared than usual, even though my rhymes and songs weren't fully memorized, and I chose a theme that was a bit of a challenge so I really had to engage with it to make it work. But it was also a really slow afternoon here today, and I had very few kids, and no babies. With a different set of kids, things could have gone a lot worse. But I enjoyed this so much, I can't wait until I have the chance to repeat it!

Also, for the record, my goal was to fill 30 minutes, and this session lasted about 28. Perfect. 

---

Other books I considered reading for this story time include:

• King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood
• Princess Hyacinth by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Lane Smith
• Fairly Fairy Tales by Esme Raji Codell, illustrated by Elisa Chavarri
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 
• The Key to the Kingdom by Betsy and Giulio Maestro

I couldn't find any other Fantasy story times. If you have done one, or know someone who has, and there's a post about it, let me know, and I'll link it!

Flannel Friday: Thanksgiving Post #1: Thanks a Lot

This is my first of three, possibly four, flannel boards for Thanksgiving.

Last year, during Fall and Winter I was still so new to this job, I had no idea what I was doing, and therefore didn't make any flannel boards at all to use for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. So though it might seem like overkill to do several for just one holiday, I am creating these now in the hopes of being prepared not just for this year's holiday season, but next year's too.

This flannel board idea was inspired by this Raffi song, which I remembered vaguely from my childhood. After tracking down the lyrics, I realized it would make a nice simple flannel board for my toddler groups, and maybe even for my preschoolers.

Here's what I came up with:

Thanks a lot
Thanks for the sun in the sky

 
Thanks a lot
Thanks for the clouds so high 

Thanks a lot
Thanks for the whispering wind

 

 Thanks a lot

Thanks for the birds in spring

Thanks a lot
Thanks for the moonlit night

Thanks a lot
Thanks for the stars so bright

Thanks a lot

Thanks for all I've got.

My thought is to avoid talking about pilgrims and Indians, despite how prevalent those topics seem to be on many of the sites I've visited, so I'm focusing more on turkeys, family, food, and giving thanks (in a generic, secular sense). I don't plan to play the recording, since I'm not sure the library has it, and I wanted to focus on the more concrete ideas, instead of the abstract ones at the end. I'm also trying to do more of my own singing, because I think it makes a difference to the behavior of my audience.

All clip art in this post comes from the Open Clip Art Library. 

This week's Flannel Friday host is Anne at  So Tomrrow. Don't miss the round-up! Also check out Flannel Friday's boards on Pinterest, and the list of previous Flannel Friday round-ups, also at So Tomorrow.