Bedtime!

Storytime Theme: Time for bed!

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Tiger Can't Sleep by S. J. Fore

Movement Song: Five Little Monkeys; From DLTK-Teach

Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed

One fell off and bumped his head

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said:

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

(Continue with 4, 3, 2, 1)

Transition Song: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Book: Creak! Said the Bed by Phyllis Root

Song: Penguin Dance from Jack Hartmann's CD "Get On Board the Transition Train"

Flannel Board Story: Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party.

This story is based on the book "Bearsie Bear and the Suprise Sleepover Party" by Bernard Waber.  It was the very first flannel board story that I learned during my field study at the West Allis Public Library!

Here's Bearsie Bear, all tucked into bed.  Just as he's falling asleep, he gets a surprise visit from his friends.  One by one, they show up at his door, wanting a place to sleep.  Pretty soon, he has a crowded bed!

Then he hears another knock on his door, and who should show up but Prickly Porcupine!

Prickly porcupine jumps into bed and, of course, pricks everyone with his quills.  They make prickly porcupine promise to lay very, very still, if he's going to sleepover with them. 

Fingerplay: Five in the bed; From Miss Mary Liberry

There were five in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over.  Roll over."

So they all rolled over and one fell out.

(Continue with 4, 3, 2, 1)

Book: Counting Ovejas by Sarah Weeks

This is one of the few bilingual books where the Spanish is simple enough so that I can read it in both languages!  I also made a flannel board to go with it. From: Storytime Katie

Song: Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Craft: Bear in Bed

We colored bears and added googly eyes.  Then we decorated their sleeping bags and put them to bed!

Let it Snow!

I'm back after a little bit of a break from storytime!

Theme: Let it Snow!

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London

Movement Activity: Stand up and Stretch

Transition Rhyme: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Book: There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro

Flannel Board Activity: Build your own snowman

I cut out different pieces of a snowman from felt and then the kids got to build their own snowman!

Song: Silly Dance Contest from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

Flannel Board Fingerplay: Five Little Snowmen; From Tickle the Clouds

Five little snowmen, all in a row (hold up five fingers)
Each with a hat (pretend to put on hat)
And a big red bow (pretend to tie bow)
Out came the sun (circle arms over head like sun)
And it stayed all day
And one little snowman melted away (remove one snowman).
(Continue with 4, 3, 2, 1)

Book: Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Craft: Snowmen!

The kids decorated their own snowmen today.  I cut out the snowballs, hat, and nose.  The kids glued them on and added the eyes, mouth, scarf, etc.  Then my coworker gave me the idea to mix shaving cream and glue together and use it as snow!

Winter Animals!

Theme for Wednesday, December 3rd: Winter Animals

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Movement Activity: Stand up and Stretch

Stretch up to the sky
Stretch down to the ground
Shrug your shoulders up
Shrug your shoulders down
Roll your hands in a circle slowly
Roll your hands in a circle quickly.

Transition Rhyme: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Book: Waiting for Winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser

Flannel Board Activity: Quilts Galore! From Busy Crafting Mommy

Five colorful quilts with patches galore,
One covered Rabbit and then there were four.

Four colorful quilts as pretty as can be,
One covered Kitty and then there were three.

Three colorful quilts with patches red and blue,
One covered Fox and then there were two.

Two colorful quilts made just for fun,
One covered Squirrel and then there was one.

One colorful quilt left out in the sun,
It covered Puppy and then there were none.

Here are the animals...

Covered with quilts!

Flannel Board: Five Hedgehogs; From Mrs. Andre's Library

Five little hedgehogs sitting on the floor
One fell asleep and then there were four

Four little hedgehogs, cute as can be
One rolled away and then there were three

Three little hedgehogs visited the zoo
One stayed with the bears and then there were two

Two little hedgehogs hungry for dinner
Race to finish.  We have a winner!

One lonely hedgehog wiggling his snout.
"Where are my friends?" he began to pout.

(bring other hedgehogs back)
"Where we are, here we are, don't you worry.  Let's go outside, hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Five hedgehogs!

Song: List of Dances from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Makes it Noisy in Boise, Idaho!

Book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Song: Silly Dance Contest from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

Craft: Hibernating Bear; From Kiboomu

We made hibernating bears! We glued brown and white half-circles onto the paper and then added eyes for the bear.  The kids decorated the paper with crayons and most of them added ears/nose/mouth to the bear!

Houses and Homes

Theme for Wednesday, November 12: Houses and Homes

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Huff & Puff by Claudia Rueda

Movement Activity: Stand up and Stretch

Stretch up tall
Stretch down low
Shrug your shoulders up
Shrug your shoulders down
Roll your hands slowly
Roll your hands quickly

Transition Song: Touch Your Ears and Touch Your Nose

Book: The Napping House by Audrey Wood

Activity: Habitat Matching Game from Falling Flannelboards

We started with pictures of seven different types of habitats.  The kids then picked an animal and had to match it to its habitat.

It was a fun way to incorporate a STEAM activity into our storytime! (And the kids had a lot of fun with it!)

Song: Crazy Dance Contest from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

Flannel Board Activity: Bird Houses; from Spectacular Story Time

We've done this one before, but I thought it would be a fun one to bring back!

Empty Bird Houses...

The birds are home!

Book: Ned's New Home by Kevin Tseng

Craft: Shape Houses! From The Measured Mom

We built our own houses today!

I put out triangles, squares, and rectangles and let the kids design a house.  They colored it in and added stars, grass, trees, etc.

Halloween Party!

Storytime for Wednesday, October 29: Halloween!

We had our Halloween party at the library yesterday.  It was so much fun - the kids came dressed in their costumes and we went trick-or-treating around the library!

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

Fingerplay: Five Little Pumpkins

Transition Rhyme: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Book: In a Dark, Dark Wood by David Carter

Flannel Board: Swish-Swoosh
Based on the book "Clip Clop" by Nicola Smee
From Storytiming

There's a great explanation on Storytiming's blog about this flannel board story.  Basically, I told the story using the words from "Clip, Clop" but I substituted the animals for Halloween characters and said "swish-swoosh, swishity-swoosh" as the refrain.

Song: Crazy Dance Contest from Jim Gill's CD "Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes"

Book: What's in the Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharrett

This book was a big hit with the kids.  They loved it!

Craft: Cat Masks

We made cat masks by glueing the head, ears and whiskers on the cat.  Then the kids decorated it and added the popsicle stick to make it look like a mask!

Community Helpers, Part II

Community Helpers, Part II!

On Tuesday, I visited a preschool to do my second community helpers storytime for them.  We talked about specific types of community helpers, including veterinarians, carpenters, teachers, and more!

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Bark, George! By Jules Feiffer

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Transition Song: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Book: Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop by Lisa Shulman

Activity: Police officer, police officer, what do you see?
Based on the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? by Bill Martin
From: Themed Storytime Ideas

Police officer, police officer, what to you see?
I see a farmer looking at me.

Farmer farmer, what do you see
I see a construction worker looking at me

(continue with other community helpers)

I printed out pictures of different community helpers and glued them on card stock.  Then I held each picture up as we named each community helpers.

Police Officer!

Farmer!

Song: Icky Sticky Bubblegum

Flannel Board: Down around the corner; From Storytime Katie

Down around the corner in the bakery shop
Were five yummy cookies with sprinkles on top
Along came ______(insert name) with a dollar to pay
He/she buys a cookie and takes it away!

(continue with 4, 3, 2, 1)

After we'd taken away all the cookies, I brought out cookie monster and we fed him the cookies!

Yummy!

Book: Dinosaur Vs. School by Bob Shea

Song: Tutti Ta, from Johnny Only's CD "Kid's Music You Can Dance To!"

Red, Orange, and Yellow

Theme for Wednesday, October 22: Red, Yellow, and Orange!

Opening: Open, Shut Them

Book: Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

Fingerplay: Way Up High in the Apple Tree; Adapted from Jen in the Library

Way up high in the apple tree (pretend to point to a tree)

Five little apples (hold up five fingers)

Smiled at me (smile)

So I shook that tree as hard as I could (pretend to shake tree)

And down came an apple (motion with your hand an apple falling)

Mmm it tastes good! (rub tummy)

Repeat with 4, 3, 2, and 1 apples

Transition Song: Touch your ears and touch your nose

Touch your ears and touch your nose

Now bend down and touch your toes

Wiggle your fingers and turn around

Now bend down and touch the ground

Clap your hands, count 1, 2, 3

Now sit down so quietly.

Book: Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Flannel Board: Chocolate Chip Ghost! From Storytime with Miss Tara

What color are ghosts?  They're white!  After I placed the ghosts on the flannel board the kids and I talked about what kind of food ghosts eat - we came up with white-colored foods like vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, and mashed potatoes.  

But then the first ghost finds a red strawberry!  He eats the strawberry and he turns...red!  I flipped over the ghost to show the kids the red-colored ghost.

Pretty soon all the ghosts have tried different-colored food: 

The second ghost ate chocolate

The third ghost ate bananas

The fourth ghost ate broccoli

The fifth ghost ate a pink-colored popsicle

The sixth ghost ate some blueberries

The seventh ghost drank some orange juice

And the eighth ghost ate a chocolate chip cookie.  What color did he turn?

Brown with chocolate chips!  

Movement Song: List of Dances, from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

Book: Lemons Are Not Yellow by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Movement Song: Silly Dance Contest from Jim Gill's CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

Craft: Fall trees!

We colored in our trees and then glued on pieces of red, yellow, orange, and brown paper.  I also handed out a basket for the kids to color and glue onto their pictures!