Sharing and a Parachute

Thankfulness and Sharing

We had so much fun with a sharing and thankfulness storytime. Sometimes having a group of 8-10 small three-year-olds is perfect. 

"Bow Wow Wow, whose dog are thou? You are _______'s dog. Bow Wow Wow."

As people walked in we wrote down the names on our Dry Erase board, so at each child's name we passed the stuffed dog around the circle until it got back to me. 

We skipped adults, so the small group of kids on the carpet worked out beautifully. 

We had the best conversation with Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willems, many preschoolers had strong feelings about Gerald sharing or not sharing. 

I made a Stone Soup Flannel and handed out the vegetables to the children so that they could each add a vegetable to the soup pot. 

We then shared the Parachute and the songs we came used were:

• If you're happy and you know it shake the chute...jump around
• Popcorn, popcorn sizzling in a pan. We started this with the children holding, but once they got underneath at the end, we had to sing it 2-3 times with them underneath. 
• Parachute up, parachute down, parachute dancing all around the town. Shake it on your shoulders, shake it near your head, shake it at your knees and tuck right into bed. (We all got under the parachute at this last line. We had to sing this three times also. I think the preschoolers could have played with the parachute for the whole half hour!
• We did a round of ring around the rosy, but this was not nearly as popular, and so was harder to coordinate properly; our circle got smooshed and lopsided. 

For our craft we made bookmarks to give as gifts with stickers, since we have a crazy drawer full of stickers, and they had fun. 

We're Going on a Bear Hunt Activity

This book is a favorite of many and very fun to read to groups large and small.  While planning my bear storytime I came across an activity made for this book that is perfect for preschool storytime. When the kids color the page and cut out the figures they can retell the story to others, make up their own related story or practice inventing sounds for the different environments mentioned in the book.   Here is the handout:

Found on PinkStripeySocks.com

Animal Storytime

hello!

this month I am doing animal themed storytimes for babies.

today's picture books were darling:

babytime picture books

sweet book with opportunities for animal sounds & movements

focuses on counting & simple math concepts

songs & rhymes :

• spots, spots, spots, spots
• alice the camel has 5 humps
• two little black birds
• the walrus washes his winter coat (shakers)
• baa baa black sheep (on the ukulele)

flannel:

flannel i made for cat goes fiddle-i-fee!

Foodie Baby Storytime

Hello!

I had a wonderful baby storytime with a culinary focus at Sebastopol, inspired by Atinuke's new beautiful picture book:

I used these foodie songs/rhymes within my outline:

• Bread & Butter
• Toast in the Toaster
• 5 Little Tofu Dogs
• Tops & Bottoms Hand Washing Song
• Bananas Unite! (with flannel board)
• The Milkshake Song
• We Ask for Milk Like This (with sign language)
• Mix a Pancake (with scarves)
• Popcorn Kernels (with scarves)

These flannel characters were fun to make. I paired them with the Bananas / Oranges / Avocado / Yellow Corn UNITE! song. It was a crowd pleaser  :}

Merry Storytime! -Courtney

Thanksgiving Storytime

Thanksgiving Storytime

Thank You Bees by Toni Yuly

I discovered Toni Yuly about a year ago and I love her books.  They are perfect for Babytime and Toddler Time.  I used the same Thanksgiving books every year, so I was excited when this one came out, because it is a new book!  The toddlers can join in with saying "thank you".  This is a win in my book.

I also play Raffi's "Thanks a Lot" during bubble time.  I love that song, it's so simple and nice.  

Happy Thanksgiving!  Gobble!  Gobble!

Halloween Storytime

Halloween Storytime...BOO!

Every year we do an annual Halloween Storytime and it's by far one of my favorite storytimes to do. 

Books:

You can read this anytime of year, but I like to present it at Halloween Storytime, or during my "monster" storytime.  The kids can yell "GO AWAY".

I like that this book has ghosts, but the ghosts are not scary.  I also like the point out that there are only three colors used to make this book, white, black and orange.  

This is Bill's favorite Halloween Book and we cannot have a Halloween Storytime in Windsor without reading this book.  It's not in the"Halloween" collection, but it fits nicely with our storytime.

Fingerplays:(Ask for the Words, if you want)

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Sitting on a Wall (I do this bounce/fingerplay every week starting in October until Thanksgiving)

Two Little Bats

Flannel:

Brown Bat, Brown Bat, What do you See?

Songs:

We are Monsters by Mr. Eric and Mr. Michael on the Bouncy Blue CD

Itsy Bitsy Spider by Hap Palmer on the Early Childhood Classics

There's a Spider on the Floor (with Scarves) by Raffi

Happy Halloween!

Apple Storytime

Apple Storytime

I love doing Apple Storytimes this time of year.  I always look forward to reading my favorite apple book, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall.  I point out the pictures, talk about the changing of seasons, and show how important bees are at the end.  I usually follow it up with Buzz, Buzz, Buzz by Laurie Berkner.  I also always use this poem, that I found a long time ago and still use it.  I have the flannel and I use hand motions.

Apples

Apples, apples, one, two, three,

Apples for you,

Apples for me.

Apples big,

Apples small,

Apple trees tiny,

Apple tress tall.

                                                 Apples sour,

                                                 Apples sweet,

                                                 Apples, apples, are nice to eat.

Happy Fall!