Thanksgiving

For the last week of November, and our final week of storytimes before taking a break for the month of December, we learned about being thankful, saying "thank you" in sign language, and turkeys.

Books:
Over the River: A Turkey's Tale - Derek Anderson
Apple Cake - Dawn Casey
Thanks for Thanksgiving - Julie Markes
Bear Says Thanks - Karma Wilson

Activities:
1. Apples in a Bowl (repeat from the Trees storytime from a couple weeks ago)

2. Turkeys Went Out to Play
One turkey went out to play, 
On a bright Thanksgiving day.
He had such enormous fun,
He called for another turkey to come.
"HEY, TURKEY....gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble."

3. The Leaves on the Trees (Tune: "Wheels on the Bus")
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
Orange and red, orange and red.
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
All around the town.

Repeat with: 
The leaves on the trees come twirling down
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Source: Jbrary

Bears

We learned about bears this week and, as the weather gets colder, I'm about ready to hibernate just like a bear!

Books:
I'm Going to Give You a Bear Hug - Caroline B. Cooney
Chu's Day - Neil Gaiman
We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen
Big Bear, Small Mouse - Karma Wilson*

*I taught the kids the ASL sign for "Big" and "Small", and we signed throughout the book every time it said "big bear" and "small mouse".


New Activities:
1. Grrr, Grrr Went the Big Brown Bear One Day
Grrr, grrr went the big brown bear,
Grr, grrr went the big brown bear one day,
And they all went grrr, grrr, grrr.
BUT...
We know bears go huggy, huggy, hug,
Huggy, huggy, hug, huggy, huggy, hug.
We know bears go huggy, huggy, hug,
They don't go grrr, grrr, grrr.
Source: Jbrary


Repeat Activities:
1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear (from previous Bears storytime)

Reading List: High Interest/LOW Lexile

These are books intended for an older, more mature, audience (young adults). They feature themes and topics that are high interest for this age group while also being low readability (lower reading levels/Lexile Levels). This sets struggling older readers up for reading success.


Lexile 300's:
Alire-Saenz, Benjamin - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe [HL 380]

Lexile 400's:
Alire-Saenz, Benjamin - The Inexplicable Logic of My Life [HL 450]
Napoli, Donna Jo - Alligator Bayou [HL 430]

Lexile 500's:
Asher, Jay - Thirteen Reasons Why [HL 550]
Blume, Judy - Forever... [HL 590]
Budhos, Marina Tamar - Watched [HL 550]
Cerrito, Angela - The End of the Line [HL 530]
Chapman, Erica - Teach Me to Forget [HL 580]
Colasanti, Susane - So Much Closer [HL 560]
Donnelly, Jennifer - Revolution [HL 560]
Evans, Richard Paul - Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 [HL 500]
Fisher, Catherine - The Hidden Coronet [HL 580]
Fisher, Catherine - The Lost Heiress [HL 590]
Han, Jenny - It's Not Summer Without You [HL 560]
Jones, Carrie - Captivate [HL 530]
Jordan, Sophie - Firelight [HL 560]
Key, Watt - Dirt Road Home [HL 540]
Kropp, Paul - Caught in the Blizzard [HL 590]
Levithan, David - Another Day [HL 560]
Magoon, Kekla - The Rock and the River [HL 550]
McMann, Lisa - Wake [HL 530]
Napoli, Donna Jo - Storm [HL 520]
Napoli, Donna Jo - The Wager [HL 580]
Nielsen-Fernlund, Susin - Optimists Die First [HL 580]
Perkins, Stephanie - Lola and the Boy Next Door [HL 570]
Peters, Julie Anne - She Loves You, She Loves You Not [HL 510]
Proimos, James - 12 Things To Do Before You Crash and Burn [HL 540]
Rowell, Rainbow - Eleanor & Park [HL 580]
Sepetys, Ruta - Salt to the Sea [HL 560]
Stratton, Allan - Borderline [HL 560]
West, Kasie - P.S. I Like You [HL 570]
Williams, Carol Lynch - Waiting [HL 540]

Lexile 600's:
Armstrong, Kelley - The Awakening [HL 630]
Balog, Cyn - Unnatural Deeds [HL 630]
Brashares, Ann - The Whole Thing Together [HL 670]
Bray, Libba - Beauty Queens [HL 690]
Bray, Libba - Going Bovine [HL 680]
Chibbaro, Julie - Into the Dangerous World [HL 660]
Condie, Ally - Crossed [HL 630]
Condie, Ally - Matched [HL 680]
Cooney, Caroline B. - Janie Face to Face [HL 660]
Couloumbis, Audrey - Not Exactly a Love Story [HL 660]
Draper, Sharon M. - Just Another Hero [HL 660]
Draper, Sharon M. - Panic [HL 610]
Garcia, Kami & Stohl, Margaret - Beautiful Creatures [HL 670]
Gardner, Whitney - You're Welcome, Universe [HL 610]
Grant, Michael - Fear [HL 610]
Han, Jenny - The Summer I Turned Pretty [HL 600]
Hand, Cynthia - The Last Time We Say Goodbye [HL 680]
Hand, Cynthia - Unearthly [HL 600]
Hartinger, Brent - Three Truths and a Lie [HL 670]
Jones, Carrie - Entice [HL 660]
Keplinger, Kody - Run [HL 600]
Konigsberg, Bill - Honestly Ben [HL 660]
Konigsberg, Bill - Openly Straight [HL 680]
Konigsberg, Bill - The Porcupine of Truth [HL 670]
Levithan, David - Every Day [HL 650]
Lunetta, Demitria - Bad Blood [HL 630]
Mead, Richelle - Last Sacrifice [HL 690]
Mills, Emma - This Adventure Ends [HL 630]
Older, Daniel Jose - Shadowshaper [HL 690]
Polisner, Gae - The Memory of Things [HL 680]
Poston, Ashley - Geekerella [HL 660]
Rubin, Lance - Denton Little's Death Date [HL 660]
Rubin, Lance - Denton Little's Still Not Dead [HL 670]
Sanderson, Brandon - The Rithmatist [HL 680]
Schmatz, Pat - Bluefish [HL 600]
Simmons, Kristen - Metaltown [HL 690]
Stiefvater, Maggie - Blue Lily, Lily Blue [HL 690]
Stiefvater, Maggie - The Dream Thieves [HL 690]
Yoon, Nicola - The Sun is Also a Star [HL 650]
Zentner, Jeff - Goodbye Days [HL 620]

Lexile 700's:
Anderson, Laurie Halse - The Impossible Knife of Memory [HL 720]
Bracken, Alexandra - Brightly Woven [HL 760]
Bray, Libba - The Diviners [HL 730]
Bray, Libba - Lair of Dreams [HL 720]
Carson, Rae - The Bitter Kingdom [HL 760]
Carson, Rae - The Crown of Embers [HL 730]
Cashore, Kristin - Bitterblue [HL 790]
Cast, P.C. - Hidden [HL 740]
Clare, Cassandra - City of Bones [HL 710]
Clarke, Cat - The Lost and the Found [HL 720]
Crowley, Cath - Words in Deep Blue [HL 730]
Dashner, James - The Maze Runner [HL 770]
Delaney, Joseph - A New Darkness [HL 770]
Deuker, Carl - Gutless [HL 730]
Duff, Hilary - Devoted [HL 760]
Egan, Catherine - Julia Vanishes [HL 790]
Fortunati, Karen - The Weight of Zero [HL 740]
Gardner, Sally - The Door That Led to Where [HL 710]
Hirsch, Jeff - Black River Falls [HL 700]
Jones, Carrie - Endure [HL 700]
Kaplan, A.E. - Grendel's Guide to Love and War [HL 700]
Kaufman, Sashi - Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature [HL 790]
Khorana, Aditi - Mirror in the Sky [HL 790]
Klavan, Andrew - Game Over [HL 720]
Klavan, Andrew - Hostage Run [HL 760]
Kontis, Althea - Enchanted [HL 770]
Kontis, Althea - Hero [HL 780]
Kozlowsky, M.P. - Frost [HL 710]
Maas, Sarah J. - Throne of Glass [HL 790]
McManus, Karen M. - One of Us is Lying [HL 730]
Miles, Elizabeth - Envy [HL 740]
Miles, Elizabeth - Eternity [HL 700]
Miller, Lauren - Free to Fall [HL 730]
Niven, Jennifer - Holding Up the Universe [HL 770]
Pearson, Mary E. - The Beauty of Darkness [HL 760]
Pearson, Mary E. - The Heart of Betrayal [HL 780]
Pierce, Tamora - Bloodhound [HL 730]
Powell, Patricia Hruby - Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case [HL 720]
Roth, Veronica - Divergent [HL 700]
Roth, Veronica - Insurgent [HL 710]
Shepard, Sara - Hide and Seek [HL 740]
Shepard, Sara - The Lying Game [HL 730]
Stiefvater, Maggie - The Raven Boys [HL 760]
Stork, Francisco - Marcelo in the Real World [HL 700]
Summerill, Erin - Ever the Hunted [HL 740]
Taylor, Whitney - Definitions of Indefinable Things [HL 730]
Yovanoff, Brenna - The Space Between [HL 760]

Lexile 800's:
Brant, Wendy - Zenn Diagram [HL 800]

Trees

With the leaves finally changing and a chill in the air, we talked about trees this week!

Books:
Tap the Magic Tree - Christie Matheson
Green - Laura Vaccaro Seeger
The Busy Tree - Jennifer Ward

Repeat Activities:
1. Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree (from previous Jungle storytime)

New Activities:
1. The Leaves on the Trees (Tune: "Wheels on the Bus")
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red, 
Orange and red, orange and red.
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
All through the town.

Repeat with:
The leaves on the trees come twirling down
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Source: Jbrary

2. Apples in a Bowl
Three red apples in a bowl.
One fell out and started to roll (roll arms),
Where did it go?
It hit my toe! (touch apple to toe),
How many apples in the bowl?
Count down...
Source: I used a couple laminated apples I had on-hand and the Five Strawberries in a bowl rhyme and bowl from a previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime.

3. Bee Behind the Tree
Little Bee, Little Bee, are you behind the red tree?
Source: My library assistant made these GORGEOUS flannel trees and we have a bee that we Velcro behind them. It makes for a beautiful, and fun, hiding game!

Pets

This week our topic was pets!

Books:
Children Make Terrible Pets - Peter Brown
Fetch - Jorey Hurley
Hickory Dickory Dog - Alison Murray
Dino - Diego Vaisberg

Repeat Activities:
1. BINGO (from previous Pets storytime)
2. Little Mouse (from previous Letter "M" storytime)*
*and I hid different animals, as well as little mouse, behind the houses

New Activities:
1. "Dear Zoo" by Rod Campbell
This was a flannel of the well-known book by Rod Campbell. Instead of lift-the-flap pages, we had each animal hiding behind their flannel boxes and I lifted them to share what animal the zoo sent me.
2. "Bark, George" by Jules Feiffer
We have this as a flannel but I chose three animals that George "ate" and did it as a puppet show. We have a enormous dog puppet and then I used a mailbox, that we usually use to introduce the letter of the day, to hide the eaten animals inside of. I put the mailbox under the flannel board with the opening facing up. That way I could hide my hand behind the flannel board as I reached "inside" of George to pull out the offending noisy animals.

Halloween

Last week we learned about Owls. It was not much different than the previous Owl storytime from a few years ago, except for a few new reads, so I am not creating a new post for it. And this week we learned all about pumpkins and Halloween.

Books:
Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins - James Dean
Monster Trouble - Lane Frederickson
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin - Mary Serfozo
Pumpkin Trouble - Jan Thomas


Repeat Activities:
1. My Little Pumpkin (from previous Halloween storytime)

New Activities:
1. Pumpkin Bread Chant 
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, bread,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, head.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pie.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, eyes.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, cake,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, shake.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, stew,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, BOO!
Source: Jbrary


2. If You're a Ghost (tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO,
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO.
If you're a ghost and you know it, and you really want to show it,
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO!

Other verses:
If you're a black cat and you know it, say MEOW
If you're a skeleton and you know it, SHAKE your bones!
Source: Sunflower Storytime

Nursery Rhymes

This week we are sharing books about nursery rhymes (and, of course, singing some of our favorite nursery rhymes aloud)! 

Books:
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe - Jane Cabrera
Maria Had a Little Llama - Angela Dominguez
Hickory Dickory Dog - Alison Murray
Mary Had a Little Glam - Tammi Sauer
The Lady With the Alligator Purse - Nadine Bernard Westcott


Activities:
1. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (from previous Farm storytime)*
*Our flannel has different colored sheep that you can change out the wool color for:

2. Hickory Dickory Dock (from previous Mice storytime)

Friends

Last week our letter was "F" for friends.

Books:
Peanut Butter & Cupcake - Terry Border
Carrot & Pea: An Unlikely Friendship - Morag Hood
Naptime With Theo & Beau - Jessica Shyba

Activities:
1. Two Little Bluebirds (see Flannel Project)
Two little bluebirds sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and the other named Jill.
Fly away Jack, Fly away Jill.
Come back Jack, Come back Jill.
Two little bluebirds sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and the other named Jill.
Source: Traditional

2. Out in the Garden

Out in the garden early in the morning,
Sat four little orange carrots in a row.
Here comes little rabbit out to eat them,
Crunch munch, crunch munch, and off he goes.
Count down...3, 2, 1
Source: Me & my Library Assistant*
*This is a variant of a rhyme my library assistant uses. I made some of my own tweaks to use at storytime with flannel carrots and a puppet rabbit.

Numbers

We are counting and learning our numbers (1-10) this week!

Books:
Ducks Away! - Mem Fox
Stack the Cats - Susie Ghahremani
The Big Storm: A Very Soggy Counting Book - Nancy Tafuri
Dog Loves Counting - Louise Yates


Activities:
1. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (from previous Space storytime)
2. Jumping and Counting - Jim Gill (recorded song)
3. Elephants on a Spider's Web (from previous Spiders storytime)
4. Duck Behind the Truck (from previous Trucks storytime)*
*I hide cupcakes with the numbers 1-5 behind the other trucks. I had the kids help me count up to the number we found on the cupcake when we didn't find the duck.

Squirrels

It is finally starting to feel (somewhat) like fall, so we learned about squirrels last week!

Books:
Where Are My Books? - Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep - April Pulley Sayre
Acorns Everywhere - Kevin Sherry
The Busy Little Squirrel - Nancy Tafuri


Repeat Activities:
1. Five Little Acorns and the Squirrel (from previous Autumn storytime)
*We use a laminated clipart of acorns and a puppet squirrel. It's easier for us to grab the laminated acorns with puppet hands from the flannel board while doing this rhyme than flannel acorns.


New Activities:
1. Five Little Squirrels
One of my Library Assistants made the flannel for this rhyme with a template I gave her. She did a wonderful job and it is lovely!

One little squirrel went out to play,
Up in the branches on an autumn day.
He had such enormous fun,
He called for another squirrel to come.

Count up...2, 3, 4, 5...

Five little squirrels went out to play,
Up in the branches on an autumn day.
They had such enormous fun,
Then scurried home 'cause winter had come.
Source: Miss Jaime's Library Journeys



Other Book Options:
That Pup! - Lindsay Barrett George
Last Song - James Guthrie
Those Darn Squirrels - Adam Rubin
Ol' Mama Squirrel - David Ezra Stein

Music

Last week we learned about Fall. I did not reinvent the wheel with that storytime theme so you can look at my past Fall or Autumn storytimes for most of what I did last week. 

This week we learned about music! I like to do this sort of theme when I am going to be out one or two of my storytime days. It is hard on your voice if you sing that much at 6+ storytimes, but I love this theme so I still like to use it every so often!

Books:
Monster Bookie - Laurie Berkner
The Itsy Bitsy Spider - Rebecca Emberley
Old MacDonald Had a Truck - Steve Goetz


Activities We Did:
1. Wheels on the Bus [traditional]
2. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (from previous Monkey storytime)


Additional Book Ideas:
Farmyard Beat - Lindsey Craig
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car - Kate Dopirak
Hush, Little Bunny - David Ezra Stein

ABCs

This week we are learning about our ABC's!

Books We Read:
LMNO Peas - Keith Baker
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr.
ABCs on Wings - Ramon Olivera


Activities:
1. Apples and Bananas (traditional song)
*We learned our vowel sounds along with the American Sign Language signs of "eat", "apple", and "banana".
2. Mr. Rabbit (from previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime)
3. Airplane Hiding Game (from previous Vacation storytime)


Additional Book Ideas:
The Magic of Letters - Tony Johnston
ABC Dream - Kim Krans
Apple Pie ABC - Alison Murray

Eat

Everyone was hungry by the end of storytimes this week, but we talked about eating!

Books We Read:
Ten Hungry Pigs - Derek Anderson
Every Color Soup - Jorey Hurley
Nanette's Baguette - Mo Willems


Activities We Did:
1. Five Hungry Ants (from previous Picnic storytime)
2. Vegetable Soup - aka "Stir, Stir, Stir, the Soup" (from previous Food storytime)


Additional Book Options:
Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli - Barbara Jean Hicks
The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza - Jennie Palmer

Additional Activity Options:
*There are SO MANY to choose from! Go to one of these themes for more ideas of activities and/or books to choose from:
Apples and Bananas
Food
Fruit
Fruits and Vegetables
Picnics

Monkeys

This week is all about monkeys!

Books:
Please, Open This Book! - Adam Lehrhaupt
Spunky Little Monkey - Bill Martin Jr.
Still a Gorilla! - Kim Norman


Activities:
1. Bananas Unite! (from previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime)
2. Five Little Monkeys*
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, (jump up and down)
One fell off and bumped his head! (pull one monkey off and touch head)
Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said, (make phone your pinky/thumb out on one hand and put up to your ear)
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" (shake your finger and head)

Count down...4, 3, 2, 1

One little monkey jumping on the bed,
He fell off and bumped his head!
Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said,
"Put those monkeys back in bed!" (put monkeys back in bed!)

*One of my library assistants made a bed on a paint stick that works perfectly with a set of small monkeys we had. For each monkey that I took off, I put it on the back of the flannel bed. After the last verse to put the monkeys back in bed, I just rotated the stick around and all the monkeys were already in bed again!*

Additional Book Options:
Monkey and Me - Emily Gravett
Warning: Do Not Open This Book! - Adam Lehrhaupt
Good Night, Gorilla - Peggy Rathmann

Rain

After a summer of very few storms we have had all the rain the past week, which is perfect for this week's theme of rain!

Books:
Splish, Splash, Ducky! - Lucy Cousins
Planting a Rainbow - Lois Ehlert
Rain - Robert Kalan
Raindrops Roll - April Pulley Sayre


Activities:
1. Come Under My Umbrella - Sign Language song (from previous Language storytime)

2. Planting a Rainbow (from previous Flower storytime)

3. Ella Behind the Umbrella
Ella, are you behind the purple umbrella?

One of my library assistants made the flannel for this. It's very simple - different colored cardstock umbrellas on flannel backing. The little girl sticks to the backside of the flannel with Velcro so it makes the hiding game SUPER easy!

Additional Book Options:

Split! Splat! - Amy Gibson

Raindrop, Plop! - Wendy Cheyette Lewison

The Big Storm: A Very Soggy Counting Book - Nancy Tafuri

Chickens

This week we are learning about chickens!!!

Books:
Chicken Story Time - Sandy Asher
Big Fat Hen - Keith Baker
Five Little Chicks - Nancy Tafuri
Is Everyone Ready for Fun? - Jan Thomas

Activities:
1. If You're a Chicken and You Know It
If you're a chicken and you know it, flap your wings, (flap, flap)
If you're a chicken and you know it, flap your wings, (flap, flap)
If you're a chicken and you know it and you really want to show it,
If you're a chicken and you know it, flap your wings. (flap, flap)

Repeat with: 
Scratch your feet (scratch, scratch) 
Peck your beak (peck, peck)
Source: Jen in the Library


2. Ten Eggs and a Hen
5 eggs and 5 eggs, that makes 10,
Sitting on top is mother hen.
Cluck [clap], cluck [clap], cluck [clap], what do we see?
Ten fluffy chicks, yellow as can be. 
Source: King County Library System

I made a double-sided laminated flannel for the rhyme:

3.  Little Chick Behind the Barn Door (from previous Farm storytime)
Little chick, little chick, come out to play. 
What colored barn are you hiding behind today?

Moods

I usually like more concrete themes especially since I plan for toddler storytimes AND preschool storytimes. Toddlers have a limited attention span and rarely sit long enough for a very short book. But this week I decided to mix it up and we learned about a more fluid concept of feelings and moods. 

Books We Used:
Even Superheroes Have Bad Days - Shelly Becker
Grumpy Pants - Claire Messer
Hooray for Hat! - Brian Won


New Activities:
1. If You're Happy and You Know It 
*We used Literary Hoots feelings and emotions version of a very familiar song.*

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands,
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands,
If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it,
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

Repeat with:
If you're sad and you know it, wipe your eyes...
If you're mad and you know it, stomp your feet...
If you're scared and you know it, hide your face...
Source: Literary Hoots

2. Happy and Sad Faces 
A few years ago one of my library assistants made a flannel of happy/sad buckets for a school-age program about the book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" They are awesome and I did not want to get rid of them. I found stock images online of happy and sad children. I laminated the photos and put Velcro on the backs of them. Then, I had the kids help me match the emotion on the faces of the children with the happy or sad bucket. 

Additional Book Options:
Mad, Mad Bear! - Kimberly Gee
If You're Hoppy - April Pulley Sayre
Funny Face, Sunny Face - Sally Symes
Mouse Was Mad - Linda Urban

Ocean

It has, so far, been one of the hottest weeks of the year. Who doesn't want to spend the day cool by the ocean when it heats up?

Books:
Row, Row, Row Your Boat - Jane Cabrera
The Pout-Pout Fish - Deborah Diesen
This is Not My Hat - Jon Klassen
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean - Kevin Sherry


Repeat Activities:
1. Whale Behind the Pail (from previous Water storytime)*
*This time I hid several other ocean themed flannels behind the pails. Sometimes the kids find what I am hiding so fast or they can see a piece of it peeking out. They thought it was hilarious to find a fish or a seashell instead of the whale they thought they were going to see.


New Activities:
1. Slippery Fish with sign language (see Jbrary's video of it for the song + signs)*
*I shortened the song and only sang the fish, octopus, and shark verses but we sang it twice through.

Fruit

Watermelon, strawberries, bananas, oh my! This week our theme is all about fruit!

Books:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
The Watermelon Seed - Greg Pizzoli 
What's a Banana? - Marilyn Singer
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR - Don and Audrey Wood


Repeat Activities:
1. Five Big Strawberries (from previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime)
2. Bananas Unite (from previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime)


New Activities:
1. Apples and Bananas (Jbrary's version)
Surprisingly, I have never sung the whole version of Apples and Bananas at a storytime before. I decided to sing the song at our preschool storytimes this week using sign language for "eat", "apples", and "bananas". The kids thought it was HILARIOUS!

Parades

It is very fitting for the 4th of July holiday that we are learning about the new theme of parades this week!

Books:
Pugs in a Bug - Carolyn Crimi
Dinosaur Parade - Shari Halpern
A Parade of Elephants - Kevin Henkes
Baby Parade - Rebecca O'Connell
The Night Parade - Lily Roscoe


*The activities I did for this particular topic was dependent on the book*

Repeat Activities:
1. Wheels on the Bus (I used this flannel after "Baby Parade" or "Pugs in a Bug")
2. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (I used this flannel after "The Night Parade") (from previous Night storytime)
3. Elephants in the Bathtub (I used this flannel after "A Parade of Elephants") (from previous Bathtime storytime)
4. Five Dinosaurs Went Out to Play (I used this flannel after "Dinosaur Parade") (from previous Dinosaur storytime)

Movement

It has been done before and it is always a fun storytime week when we do movement! The kids get up even more than they usually do and get their wiggles out. And there are SO many different songs and activities to do at this type of storytime - the options are limitless!

Books:
Don't Push the Button! - Bill Cotter
Fly! - Karl Newsom Edwards
Everybunny Dance! - Ellie Sandall
Can You Make a Scary Face? - Jan Thomas
Wild One - Jane Whittingham


Repeat Activities:
1. Bananas Unite! (I have used this song in MANY storytimes! It is WONDERFUL for so many different topics. See Jbrary for the dance and lyrics.) 
2. Wheels on the Bus 

Space

Last week, while I was on vacation, my library assistants presented storytimes about the Zoo. My plans were very similar to a Zoo theme I did several years ago.

This week, as we kick of Summer Reading, we did the theme of SPACE to coincide with Collaborative Summer Library Program's theme this year of Universe of Stories.

Books:
Life On Mars - Jon Agee
I Want to Be an Astronaut - Byron Barton
If I Were an Astronaut - Eric Braun
Where is the Rocket? - Harriet Ziefert


Repeat Activities:
1. If You're Going to the Moon (from previous Space storytime)
2. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (from previous Space storytime)


New Activities:
1. Rocketship Run - Laurie Berkner Band*
*So, not necessarily a new activity per se, but we had a new flannel that I made with Mr. Keith last month. We played the song this week for the Space theme and are using it weekly over the summer at our Preschool storytimes! 

2. Where is the Rocket? 
I actually used the book as an activity. I had the kids make their hands into rockets and I used a flannel rocket. I paper-clipped some of the pages together but we used our "rockets" to do the activities on some of the pages. The kids loved it!

Flowers

While I am away on vacation next week, our theme will be flowers! We have not done a storytime yet about flowers so I will share my plans!

Books:
The Tiny Seed - Eric Carle
What Does Bunny See? - Linda Sue Park
Counting in the Garden - Kim Parker
Bloom Boom - April Pulley Sayre
This is the Sunflower - Lola M. Schaefer


Repeat Activities:
1. Five Pretty Flowers (from previous Garden storytime)

New Activities:
1. Using a new flannel of Planting a Rainbow, we are singing the Gardener Plants the Seeds from a previous Garden storytime.
2. Flower Pot Matching Game
One of my previous Library Assistant's made this a couple years ago. At the time I did not use it but it could work at a preschool storytime. I am not sure where she found the idea but she planted "seeds" in each of the pots with their help. Then, they matched the correct flower to its pot. They also counted and worked on colors so, all-in-all, it is a fun game that works on several different skills!

Travel

Similar to vacations or transportation, but this week we talked about travel. I felt it was appropriate since I am about to go on vacation AND summer is when a lot of the kiddos will be going on trips!

Books:
My Car - Byron Barton
The Airport Book - Lisa Brown
Calling All Cars - Sue Fliess
I Love Vacations - Anna Walker
Penguin on Vacation - Salina Yoon


Repeat Activities:
1. Traffic Light
2. Pilot Behind the Airplane (from previous Vacation storytime)

New Activities:
1. Five Little Seashells*
Five little seashells, lying in the sun.
Along came ____, and took this one home.

*I used a line from a previous seashell flannel but simplified it. I'm not great at memorizing lots of lines of flannels so the more repetition and the simpler they are the better! I used puppets and had them pick up a seashell off of the flannel board.

Flannel Project: Dragons

My latest flannel project was to re-make a dragon flannel we already had. The original "flannel" was laminated but this time I made an actual flannel version.

The rhyme we use with this I found on the Falling Flannel Boards blog.

Five little dragons with great big scales,
One lost his balance and bumped his tail.
He cried, "Ouch!" and breathed some fire,
And then flew away, higher and higher.
Count down...4, 3, 2, 1

Parties

What a better way to kick off the first full week of our summer storytimes than with the theme of PARTIES!

Books:
Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish - Beth Ferry & Tom Lichtenheld
If You Give a Pig a Party - Laura Numeroff
Bears and a Birthday - Shirley Parenteau 
Don't Spill the Beans - Ian Schoenherr
A Birthday for Cow - Jan Thomas


Repeat Activities:
1. Five Cupcakes (from previous Celebrations storytime)
2. Hi, Pizza Man (from previous Food storytime)*
*I remade the flannel because the version I had belonged to a library assistant that retired. I laminated animals holding a pizza box. We had a PIZZA PARTY and different animals delivered our pizza so we practiced what we would say to them. 

Flannel Project: Five Green and Speckled Frogs AND Rocketship Run

I had the fortune of spending a week in April at the same library as Mr. Keith of Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime fame. We worked on a couple storyboard projects together. I cannot claim ANY of the credit for the ideas - they were all Mr. Keith. 

Mr. Keith makes storyboards, wrapping flannel backing around a poster board. Then he decorates them with felt to match the flannel story you are using. 

Since the Summer Reading Theme is all about the universe, we both were planning on using Laurie Berkner Band's "Rocketship Run" song. I had a laminated flannel I have used in the past for the song but, together, we made a storyboard complete with a sun, moon, stars, Earth, and a rocketship.

His second project of the week was to make Five Green and Speckled Frogs complete with their own bog. I helped make the frogs, the log, and some of the background bushes/cat tails. He used his artistic eye to make the finishing touches and put the whole thing together.

At the end of the week, returning to my home library, I felt like I had returned from summer camp with my crafts in-hand! 

Thanks, Mr. Keith! You are a flannel wizard!

Flannel Project: Traffic Light

I made a traffic light flannel a couple months ago to go along with one of my favorite transportation rhyme (with sign language!). 

You can see the signs in the Jbrary video. I do not use the same sign for "Go" that they use, though. Their video does not show the proper American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "Go" but you can see the proper word demonstrated here.

Stop Says the Red Light:

STOP says the red light,

GO says the green,

Now just WAIT says the yellow in between.

That's what they say and that's what they mean,

And we all must obey them, even the queen.

Mice

This week our theme was mice! There are so many flannels and books related to mice, especially our favorite "Little Mouse Behind the House" flannel, so this was a big hit.

Books:
The Lion Inside - Rachel Bright
Lunch - Denise Fleming
Little Mouse - Alison Murray
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR - Audrey Wood


Repeat Activities:
1. Hickory Dickory Dock (from previous The Letter 'M' storytime)*
*I did make a brand new flannel to go along with the rhyme!

2. Little Mouse Behind the House (from previous The Letter 'M' storytime)**
**This is also a flannel we do regularly that is an audience favorite.

3. Five Big Strawberries (from previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime)


New Activities:
1. Lunch 
Flannel story based off of book by Denise Fleming*
*This lovely flannel was made by one of my library assistants! It was a huge hit!

Flannel Project: Baby Shark

If you haven't seen the song "Baby Shark" by Pinkfong, it is all the rage right now.

We are going to use it as one of our movement/break songs at storytimes this summer so I decided to make a flannel to go along with it!

Siblings

I have done storytimes on family members before but never siblings so I remedied that this week and we learned about brothers and sisters!

Books:
Little Brothers & Little Sisters - Monica Arnaldo
King Baby - Kate Beaton
Tiptoe Joe - Ginger Foglesong Gibson
Little Big Girl - Claire Keene
Ninja Bunny: Sister vs. Brother - Jennifer Gray Olson
The Brother Book - Todd Parr
The Sister Book - Todd Parr
One Busy Day - Lola Schaefer


Repeat Activities:
1. Wheels on the Bus - Family Version (from previous Dads storytime)


New Activities:
1. Jack and Jill (Ms. Rhymetime)
2. No More Monkeys by Asheba 

Flannel Project: Two Little Bluebirds and Planting a Rainbow

I was busy over the weekend at work making several flannels! Normally it is fairly busy but, this particular weekend, it was quiet both Saturday and Sunday so I used my time to make a few flannels that we needed!


Flannel Story: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
I was inspired by Mr. Keith's flannel version of "Planting a Rainbow" on Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime. I did not make quite as many different types of flowers but I did try to make one of each of the colors to have a true rainbow.

Flannel: Two Little Bluebirds
This classic song (Two Little Blackbirds) is one that we sing regularly at our baby storytimes. I wanted a flannel to go along with the song but, with our flannel board being black, I wanted the color of the birds to stand out. Therefore, we have bluebirds instead of black!