Opening Song (with ukulele): Hello, how are you?
I wasn't sure how a non-fiction title like this would go over with the kids, but they were surprisingly mesmerized. They loved learning the characteristics of the different animals' footprints, and as the follow-up activity showed, they could even apply what they had learned!
Flannel Board: Guess Whose Tracks
I printed out some Microsoft Clip Art showing different animal tracks and asked the kids to name the animal. The last one was a human footprint, which got a laugh.
More guessing in this book. They did well - when they didn't get the specific animal, they did know generally that it was a bird, or a frog, or whatever.
This book we acted out. I used a music stand to hold the book so my arms could be free to move. We didn't really have a specific set of movements; we just did whatever seemed to fit the action in the story.
Song: Move Like the Animals
I started us off with one verse, to the tune of Skip To My Lou ("Chomp like an alligator just like so...") and let the kids choose the rest. My favorite suggestion - "Jump! Like a chipmunk!"
This book was not the hit I expected. They were just not that impressed.
Song (with ukulele): Oh, Little Flower
I used the music stand and Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow to point out some different types of flowers. We sang about tulips, cornflowers, and other flowers - one for each color.
For this one, whenever we heard the word "spiral" we made a swirling motion in the air with one finger. They did a pretty good job, even if this book was the weakest of the entire session.
Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This
After the goodbye song, we turned on the bubble machine and popped bubbles for the last time. Based on the success of this program, we'll be offering a preschool story time with a similar format starting in September.
