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?
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
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.
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!
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)
