Summer Baby Lap Time #4, 8/2/12 and 8/3/12

This week, the second session varied quite a bit from the first. I took out some of the things I didn't feel confident in and threw in some more of our old lap time favorites. Here are the two sessions: 


Thursday Session

Opening Song: Please Tell Us Your Name 
I was going to try singing a hello song where I didn't actually have to ask anyone their child's name, but there were a few kids I was shaky on so I did this is this way one more time.

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Book: Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Jane Dyer (2004)

Song with Puppets: Goodnight by the Laurie Berkner Band (sung a cappella)

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Song: Tony Chestnut 

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby

Book: Itsy Bitsy Babies by Margaret Wild and Jan Ormerod (2010)

Rhyme: This Little Baby

Bounce: All the Little Babies

Rhyme: Jack Be Nimble

Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb

I used my different colored sheep again and sang about five different lambs.

Song with Shaker Eggs: ABCs

Song with Shaker Eggs: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Song with Shaker Eggs: Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?

Goodbye Song: Shaker Egg Goodbye Song

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Friday Session

Opening Song: Hello, _________

To the tune of Goodnight Ladies, I sang hello to every child by name. I have finally learned most of these kids' names so it was easy to do and much quicker!

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Book: Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Jane Dyer (2004)

Song with Puppets: Goodnight by the Laurie Berkner Band (sung a cappella)

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Song: Tony Chestnut 

Book: Itsy Bitsy Babies by Margaret Wild and Jan Ormerod (2010)

Bounce: All the Little Babies

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Rhyme: Jack Be Nimble

Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb

Song with Shaker Eggs: ABCs

Song with Shaker Eggs: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Song with Shaker Eggs: Shake My Sillies Out

Song with Shaker Eggs: Can You Shake Your Egg with Me?

Goodbye Song: Shaker Egg Goodbye Song

I was especially touched on Friday when a mom told me, "I never knew my daughter liked books until we came to story time. Now we read at home." This is why we have story times for babies. If anyone ever asks, I now have that anecdote to share. Just a lovely thing for a librarian to hear. 

Baby/Toddler Lap Time (Green Theme), 8/3/12

We're trying to really get our library patrons back on board with our guidelines and rules of behavior. Therefore, on Friday morning, every adult coming in to story time got a list of the rules on a colorful handout, as well as a kind, but firm spiel from me. Within 10 minutes of the start of my story time, though, they were right back to breaking all the rules. I don't know what else to do!

In any case, though the adults made it difficult for the kids to enjoy the books, here is my green-themed story time.

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake 

Book: Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (2012)
This was a better story time than I imagined. I just wish the adults could try to focus, even if the book isn't their favorite, because the kids enjoyed it.

Song: One Seed by the Laurie Berkner Band

Book: Stanley Mows the Lawn by Craig Frazier (2005)
I like the snake in this book. Again, the kids were interested,  but not the adults.

Flannel Board: The King of Green

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up

Song: One Little Monster 

Book: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley  (1993)

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle  (1969)
I had two more songs planned, but I just couldn't take the rudeness anymore, so we ended after this book.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Pajama Story Time, 8/1/12

Last week's Pajama Story Time attracted a pretty decent audience - 6 kids altogether, I think - but they were of such disparate ages if was hard to keep them engaged. The first book was great; the others were a bit of a struggle.

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: What's Looking at You, Kid? by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Renee Graef (2012)
This was the hit of the session. All of the kids enjoyed naming the animals - even the biggest ones.

Book: Alice the Fairy by David Shannon (2004)
This is shockingly not a great read-aloud, and especially not for such a mixed age group. 

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Book: The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tracey Pearson Campbell (2006)


Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Book: A Summery Saturday Morning by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Selina Young (1998)
I still think I could make the repetition and rhythm of this book work for me, but it didn't on this particular day. 


Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Moon-Themed "On the Road" Story Time #4, 7/30/12

This is the first in a backlog of story times I have yet to post about, and it's the last in the series of moon-themed story times I performed at other branches in my system this July. All of my experiences were wonderful, but this one especially impressed me because there were so many kids in the 3 to 5 age range and because they were so attentive and so engaged. I had a great time! 

Opening song (with ukulele): Hello, how are you?

Book: The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tracey Pearson Campbell (2006)

Song: Moon Moon Moon

Song (with ukulele and flannel board): Aikendrum
This is the only group where everyone clapped and pretended to strum all the way through this song. I think this was partly because I have gotten way more comfortable playing it since the summer started. 

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up

Book: What's Up? by Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granstrom (1997)


Song: Five Little Martians (based on One Little Monster)

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby

Book: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene W. Field, illustrated by Giselle Potter (2008)

Song: Stars Shining Bright 

Book:  Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon by Dan Yaccarino (1997)
The best part of this story was having everyone count down with me from five.


Song: Five Astronauts Went Up in Space

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This