Dig Into Reading: Drop-In Story Time, 6/4/13

 Dig Into Reading: Drop-In Story Time, 6/4/13

Summer has begun! This was my first story time of the summer reading program, which means it was a bit on the crazy side. This group was not the largest we've had, but they were very, very noisy, and rude, through the entire story time. On the plus side, though, we were able to sign up about 50 of the kids for summer reading, with more to come on Friday.

Book: Underground by Denise Fleming
My groups typically like Denise Fleming, and one enthusiastic little girl in the front was eagerly repeating each word I read right after I said it. The rest of the room basically acted like I wasn't there, though, which was really annoying.

Flannel Board: Worm Friends (Credit for this adorable idea goes to K from Storytime ABCs. Thanks, K!)
One mom continually sits right up front with her little girl, who then has a need to touch everything. None of the other kids could see the flannel board worms because she kept taking them off. Somehow, though, we managed to make it  to the end of  the rhyme.

Book: Potato Joe by Keith Baker
This is one of my favorite books, which I have never been able to really sell at a story time. I crack up every time Watermelon Moe comes on the scene, but I am always laughing alone.

Song: Hands Up High 

Book: Dig Those Dinosaurs by Lori Haskins Houran
This book got the best response, but even through this one, two women in the front just talked and talked despite repeated pointed glances from me.  The kids got into the rhythm of the text and I heard some of them  trying to chant it with me.

Song with ukulele: Stomp Like a Dinosaur (based on Fly Like a Butterfly)

Magic Envelope: Build a Library

• Ingredients:
• Book
• Computer
• DVD
• Librarian (There's also a male librarian image here.)
• Story Time

Learn about magic envelopes on Sharon's blog.

Song with Underground Animals: I’m Going Down to the Library
We sang about a worm, rabbit, groundhog, chipmunk, and ant going to the library.

Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

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.

Colors: Red Toddler Lap Time, 5/31/13

 Colors: Red Toddler Lap Time 5/31/13

Book: Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood
This group was small, so they paid more attention to the book because they had more room to move in close to examine it. Still, though, they didn't seem to have any real connection with it. 

Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Book: Little Robin Redbreast illustrated by Shari Halpern
This book went over better than it did on Thursday - the kids seemed to like the cat.

Rhyme with Stick Puppets: Two Little Red Birds

Song: Bumpin’ Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon

Book: Yoo Hoo Ladybug by Mem Fox
This is a brand-new book, and I wouldn't use it with a big group, as the ladybug on each page is very tiny. A kid also got stepped on by a grown-up during this book and there were tears and we just never quite settled down to enjoy this last story. 

Rhyme: Ladybug, Ladybug

Activities with Foam Butterflies

• Song: Fly Like a Butterfly
• Rhyme: Butterflies Up, Butterflies Down
• Song: There's a Butterfly on My Head

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun 

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

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.

Colors: Blue Drop-In Story Time, 5/31/13

 Colors: Blue Drop-In Story Time, 5/31/13

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake 

Book: Baby Bear Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff
This book is long and the text is somewhat poetic, which can cause it to be a flop. This group was pretty interested, though, and I think it helped that this was the only long book.

Flannel Board Song with Ukulele: Bluebird, Bluebird Through my Window
We sang about each color twice, because I had two birds of each color.

Book: Blue Sky by Audrey Wood
This book has never done well in story time, but today it hit the right notes with this particular group. They oohed and aahed over the illustrations and generally seemed to enjoy it. What might have helped is that  I kept my pace slow and let myself linger over each page a little bit.

Song with Puppet: Flutter Flutter Butterfly
This song is the only song I know that brings complete and utter quiet to the entire room. I think it must be the puppet that just mesmerizes them - but adults and kids alike act like they're under a spell while I'm singing this song. 

Book: Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett
I need to remember that this book doesn't work. It just doesn't. The plot of the story is not clear, and the kids get distracted easily. Next time I do this theme, I do not want to use this book.

Magic Envelope: Little Boy Blue

We recited the Little Boy Blue nursery rhyme, then made Little Boy Blue in the magic envelope using a horn, a cow, a sheep, a haystack, and corn. Not all the kids understand fully what is happening when we do a magic envelope, but they are really into it nonetheless. I also notice that he adults are more attentive to this part of story time than to any other. 

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun 

Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Hands Up High


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.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/30/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/30/13

Attendees
Today's story time started out very small, with just one newly-five-year-old boy and one first grade girl. I was nervous about catering to the abilities of kids at such disparate stages of development, but I was quickly calmed by the fact that both kids were really into everything I was sharing with them. Both could read a little, too, which was great! Halfway through the action song listed below,  three more kids came in, so our total for the day was five.

Discussion: What Can You Do With Water? 
The kids thought this question was tricky, but they came up with swimming, splashing, drinking, washing hands, and using an umbrella to keep the rain away. They also informed me that water is in oceans and rivers.

Name That Fish
I took down the names of all the fish and sea creatures in Marianne Berkes's Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef, then found photos of them to show the kids on the iPad. They recognized the clownfish, the stingray, and the dolphin, as well as the seahorse and the pufferfish. The others we learned together.

Over in the Ocean Action Song
Once we had all our sea creatures named, we sang the song from the Marianne Berkes book - without the book. I had the kids call out the numbers and act out the different creatures' movements  according to the suggestions Berkes provides in the back of her book. All the kids - except the two youngest and quietest - got really into it.

ISH Chant 
I wrote my own chant based on the ING chant on the website for Ling and Ting Not Exactly the Same, which I used at a previous story time. We made the words fish, dish, wish, and squish, and the kids could read all of them but the last one.  

Read-Along 
I found this poem on Scholastic's Teacher website, and printed it up for the kids to read. We read the poem twice. The first time we used a call and response format. The second time, we just went straight through the poem. I also asked the kids to identify the two words in the poem that were also in our ISH chant. They found fish, and I helped them find wish.

Bag of Verbs 
We acted out ten verbs in all, based on what the kids chose from my bag. The highlights were wiggle, hop, and shuffle.

Read-Aloud 
Our read-aloud this week was A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer (who is apparently Dr. Seuss's wife!) The kids were great about making predictions and they all said they enjoyed the story. I would have liked to do more to have the kids interact with the text, but I was a bit stumped about how to make that happen.

Write and Draw Activity

I created this write and draw activity. The image is of a fishhook dangling into the water, and the questions beneath the image ask, "What would you use for bait?" and "What kind of fish do you think you would catch?" Some of the kids didn't get it and just colored the page. One boy invented a fish called the "ocean stinger" who had an elaborate backstory, including the fact that he must be caught with chocolate cake filled with strawberry yogurt and blueberries. The first grade girl drew a fish and a crocodile, and a deep-sea diver, but assured me the crocodile was friendly to people.

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.