Libraries and books storytime

Preschool storytime started again at MNW today.  What a great way to start the week!

We started with "The More We Get Together" by Cedarmont Kids.  I think I should try to find a new song, but it's so easy for the kids to learn it and if I forget my iPhone, it's easy enough for me to sing a capella. 

I introduced myself and explained that later in the year, they'll come down and visit the library.  I'm going to do storytime every Monday for the four-year-olds (a morning and an afternoon class) and the Friday three-year-olds. 

I first read Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk:

I ended up winging it halfway through - it's pretty long in parts for new preschoolers - but what a fun book!  I see there's others with this character; I'll have to check them out.  I wish I had brought little blank paper booklets like Sam the Mouse used to create his books.  I don't think I'm ready for crafts in storytime, though . . .

Next I read Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen:

Then we did a fingerplay from this RIF site, "Open Shut Them" (I reworked it a bit so it was about books). 

Then I read Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss.  I love this book - and it's fun to show the students the first word in the title, and then have them read the title themselves. 

Then we sang a song, also from the RIF site, "Ten Little Children" (reading a book).  I think I worried the preschool teacher that I was going to sing the original song that has this tune . . .

Then I showed the book, Librarians by Dee Ready and talked about what librarians do:

 

Then I read The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore.  The kids did a great job remembering what it was that the rabbit, bear, mice, fox, and worm thought the book was (a house, a hat, a table, a bed, and a snack, respectively).  What good listeners!

 



Then we sang "The More We Get Together."  I did this rundown again for the TK class and will use it again during the week.  I also have Biblioburro by Jeanette Winters, A Book by Mordicai Gerstein, That Book Woman by Heather Henson, and Ron's Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corinne Naden to share with older students.

I'm looking into a program for preschoolers, 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, that I read about when I got caught up on my RSS this weekend.  If you're like me and have innumerable posts to read, just keep at it - don't delete!  You might miss something great like I would have, had I deleted them.  Of course, they are piling up again, and I found some new blogs to follow, too . . .

Boing!

I got the idea for this storytime from the great librarian at Confessions of a Real Librarian.  Boing!  (I'm really happy to report that all these books came from the MNW Elementary collection.  So often I go to a large library nearby and am frustrated that books that are ostensibly on the shelf are impossible to find.  This time, I relied on what was at hand, and I'm thrilled with the results.  I see we need to get a few titles - Bounce by Doreen Cronin would have been good - but still, a success all around.)

We started by singing our good morning song, and then we read:

Boing! by Sean Taylor.  Trampolines bounce.

Then we sang, "Hop, hop, hop kangaroo," to the tune of "Skip to My Lou."

Next we read:

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle.  Kangaroos bounce.  The kids did a great job of "reading" this one.  We'll have to do this again in May for Mother's Day.

Then we did the fingerplay, "Little Easter Rabbit":

Little Easter rabbit goes hop hop hop
See how his ears go flop flop flop
See how his eyes go blink blink blink
See how his nose goes twink twink twink
Pet his white coat so soft and furry,
Hop, hop, hop!  He's off in a hurry!

Then we read: 

Bunnies on the Go:  Getting from Place to Place by Rick Walton.  Rabbits bounce.  What a fun rhyming book about different modes of transportation.  Kids were able to show off what they knew - from tractors to even taxis!

Then we sang, "The Balls at Storytime":

The balls at storytime bounce up and down,
Up and down, up and down…
The balls at storytime bounce up and down all through the day

The balls at storytime bounce way up high…
The balls at storytime bounce way down low…
The balls at storytime bounce all around…

And we read:

 Balls by Melanie Davis Jones.  This is a simple book, but perfect for preschoolers to be able to show their knowledge.  Because, of course, balls bounce, too.

Then, I had the fun of doing a bit of charades with the students.  I told them I was a type of food that bounces when it cooks.  So then I knelt down in a ball, and said the stove is turned on, and . . . ouch!  It's getting hot!  Pop!  Pop!  Pop! and started jumping up and down.  Of course, at first the students looked at me like a crazy woman.  Donna later pointed out that kids today will think popcorn is made in the microwave.  How sad is that?  But after me telling them what I was, kids got it too and had fun with it.  Someone else told me they'd seen a storytime where the librarian brought a hot air popper and showed the students what popcorn does.  That seems fun but maybe not very safe - all those little faces around this hot appliance???

In any event, then we read:

Popcorn by Frank Asch.  Depending on your definition of the word, popcorn bounces.  What a delightful book!  Sam's parents leave him home alone so of course he throws a party.  The guests bring lots of popcorn seeds and Sam pops it - and it fills the entire house!  Not to be dismayed, he implores his friends to help him eat it.  And they do.    "I don't care if I ever see another piece of popcorn in all my life," one says.  I'd say!

Of course we did a round of, "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed," too.

We closed of course with our goodbye song, "The More We Get Together."  What delightful preschoolers!

It's a colorful world

It may be dark and gloomy outside today, but it's colorful at preschool storytime!


"Good morning" song

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin

Welcome chitter chatter - "I see someone wearing orange!  Oh, I see someone wearing green."  But aren't preschoolers funny?  If you have a teeny tiny bit of green on your socks, that means you're wearing green.  I guess it's true, but so literal.  (Of course I encourage color recognition!)

If You Take a Paintbrush by Fulvio Testa

"Red Dress" rhythm - the students really liked this!  Mary wore a red dress, red dress, red dress, Mary wore a red dress all day long, while slapping their thighs.  It continues with Mary wearing a red hat, shoes, gloves, but then the end is Mary is a red bird, red bird, red bird, Mary is a red bird, all day long.  Shouldn't Mary be Mark or Martin since red cardinals are male?  Perhaps Mary is a scarlet tanager!

Alas, this is a male scarlet tanager.  The females are olive green.  I think Mary was Martin after all, but then what could he wear?  Guess we'll just stick with Mary!

Lemons are not Red by Lauar Vaccaro Seeger

"If you're wearing red, shake your head" (to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" - students loved this, but the only second part of the rhyme I remembered was "shake like a jello, be a fellow." 


   Blue - touch your shoe
   Green - bow like a queen
   Yellow - shake like Jello
   Brown - turn around
   Pink - give a wink

Color Dance by Ann Jonas 

"Little Boy Blue" rhyme 

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

"Baa Baa Black Sheep" rhyme

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

"The More We Get Together" (goodbye song)

What a great group!  The students really know their colors, and were such good listeners.  I think they could have listened to more books!  

Extra fun was when I had a kindergarten class in the afternoon and I read some of these books to them.  They read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, I just would turn the page early enough that they knew what the next picture would be.  They really knew their nursery rhymes, too.

Next week - monkeys!

Back to school - and back to storytime!

Today was a marvelous day as I did my first preschool storytime for a long time.  It could *not* have been better.  What a great group of kids, and only in school for three days!  They sat so well, and I was able to do a whole half-hour storytime with them!  I'm doing it again on Friday with three-year olds, but I might make it a little shorter.

Here was the fun!  Books are in italics, songs or fingerplays are in quotations.

"Good morning" sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday."  (Good morning to you / good morning to you / good morning dear preschool / good morning to you.)

If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff

"1-2 buckle my shoe"

Late for School by Stephanie Colmenson

"Two little houses all closed up tight"

The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

“The Wheels on the Bus”

Clifford Goes to Dog School  by Norman Bridwell

Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss

“The More We Get Together”

 I gave them a sheet to take home with a reminder that September is Library Card Month.  Go get your kids a library card!

I do need to get some better material as far as songs go.  It went pretty well, but I need to get a CD with children's music that is pretty straightforward (rather than the Raffi concert CD that I have, which includes a lot of banter with the crowd).  Any ideas?

This is the best job in the world!

Choo Choo! All Aboard!

Monday I finally did a storytime I'd had prepared for some time, a perennial favorite with kids of all ages:  trains!

We read:

Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon (took out the reference to an "old black man singing in the West" - not offensive so much as unnecessary),

The Train Ride by June Crebbin, pictures by Stephen Lambert,

All Aboard!  A True Train Story, written and photographed by Susan Kuklin (loved it when I explained that most trains today don't look like the old-fashioned ones pictured here, and a preschooler corrected me and said that the Harry Potter looks like this!),

and Trains:  Steaming!  Puffing!  Huffing! by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy.

We did the requisite train songs (Choo choo, the big train, is coming down the tracks! and of course,  Down by the station) and pretended we were on trains and were trains.  I also did a PSA warning the children to never, never play on train tracks, and in fact, had them raise their right hand (or whichever one they felt like :) to say, "I will never, ever play near train tracks." 

Alas, this is my last storytime at the public library.  I've accepted a position as a K-12 teacher-librarian and begin in July.  But in the meantime, I need to finish my practicum, pass my cataloging class plus my three summer classes, and my comprehensive tests.  We're trying to find a house to buy, getting ready to sell ours, and everything else, so for once, I can (sort of) concentrate on my classes.  I'll miss doing storytimes, but my school has a preschool, too, so I fully intend to do storytime, if even once a month.  I can't wait!

PU! What's that smell?

Evening storytime last night was lots of fun!  Started with the welcome song, then introduced the theme - what do you get when you mix melted snow + dirt?  That's right, MUD!  So we talked about dirty, stinky, and smelly stuff.  You might call it the anti-spring cleaning.  I had a fantastic group of kids and parents who were so engaged, you gotta love it!

Dirt Boy by Erik Jon Slangerup

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas

Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup

Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemsha, and of course, I had to end with:

I Stink! by Kate & Jim McMullan

We also sang Barney's clean-up song (I didn't call it that - do kids watch Barney anymore?), did wishy-washy-wee from Kindermusik fame, and a rhyme about 5 green garbage trucks (had the kids come up and help with that).  I considered Oscar the Grouch's "I Like Trash," but opted for more fingerplays and less recordings. 

This was my last evening storytime before I start my job in July as a K-12 teacher librarian.  My elementary practicum cooperating librarian is also a K12TL, and she does storytimes with fingerplays in her preschools and kindergarten.  So I will still get to have fun with these little ones!  And not to brag (okay, maybe a little), they actually applauded.  What the heck!  But the greatest was when I got hugs from like six different kids.  That absolutely rocks.

What's new, buckaroo?

I hadn't done storytime for a few weeks and this week I'm doing it four times (two themes)!  My first theme was "What's New?" and it featured picture books all published in 2011.

 

Hello Goodbye and a Very Little Lie by Christianne Jones

Monster Day at Work by Sarah Dyer

Penny Loves Pink by Cori Doerrfeld

Mr. Duck Means Business by Tammi Sauer

Cat Secrets by Jeff Czejak

Rhymes and fingerplays were "Five elephants in the bathtub" which was new for me, from the filing cabinet, and then two fun ones from the ladies at the Hennepin County Librarian up north:

And:

Mmmmm!  Delicioso!

Storytime - Winter Wonderland

I did the evening storytime this month at Main Library!  The apropos theme was "Winter Wonderland."  First our opening song, then the line-up went:

 

Snow Dance by Lezlie Evans, illustrated by Cynthia Jabat,

 

All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee,

If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor,

Touch the Sky, My Little Bear by David Bedford and Jane Chapman.

I also told a super-cute story on the flannelboard about a penguins.  The kids loved it!  I also did a few fingerplays and songs, and we all had a great time.  My secret weapon for storytimes is definitely the fingerplays and songs.

Until next time!

Storytime - Mittens!

Storytime Tuesday!  My topic is mittens, apropos since there's a good foot of snow on the ground.  The official title is really "Mittens for Kittens - And Boys and Girls, Too."  But today, it was only boys at my storytime, go figure!  I'm doing it tomorrow too at another branch so we'll see on the turn out.  We sort of expect a bit more than usual because of the school kids coming, but then our regulars are busy and didn't come out as they usually do.

Nevertheless, it was lots of fun, and here are the books I read.  I started with Knitty Kitty by David Elliot:

Then I read A Hat for Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke:

Then I read The Mitten by Jan Brett:

And finally, I read The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellogg:

I did some songs and fingerplays too - "Where oh where did my blue mitten go?" (and old, and new, etc.), and the kids "retold" the story The Mitten with animal pictures and a song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell."  Initially it was more of a solo endeavor, but by the end, some of the boys were singing, too.

I'm doing Winter Wonderland next week (snowmen, penguins, polar bears, and hockey) and the week after, I think I'm doing blankies and quilts if I can find enough books.

But for now, I have to go find books to return - my library doesn't have a limit, and I brought my 16-year old to the library today and he checked out a bundle, and with my own bundle, I now have over 50 books checked out.  Eeeeek! 

Run, run, just as fast as you can!

I did storytime this week at the two public library branches (rather than at the Headstarts where we do them, too).  If I do say so, I rocked it!  At one, a grandma told me that his son never sat still for storytime like he did for me.  And for the other, a mom came up and asked me if I was a substitute.  I said no, I'm just new, and she said, "Oh - you're really good."  Whoo!

I figured out, though, that this creates pressure for the next time.  I have to rock it every time!  And I know what I did to rock it - I did a storytelling, rather than a book reading, to begin.  This allowed me to have eye contact with each of the children and preschoolers LOVE that.  Then also, I did three different fingerplays which were very intuitive so the kids could follow along quickly.  So I'm getting ready for next time - the week after Christmas I'm at the branches again, doing one on mittens, and the next week at the main library with the theme winter wonderland.  More on those later.

So here's the stories I did:

The Gingerbread Boy - my own telling of it, with a few clip art pictures - from a book! - that I colored with crayons.  FYI, do not use anything other than Crayola.

Then, I read The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson:

Then I read The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff:

Then I read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, again by Numeroff:

In between, the fillers were "One little gingerbread boy on the tray/He jumped up and ran away/Catch me, catch me, oh catch me if you can/You can't catch me!  I'm the gingerbread man!", "Where oh where is my gingerbread boy?", and "One little, two little, three little cookies."  Too much fun!