Preschool Story Time: Alphabet (Sidekicks)

Date presented:  July 23, 2015

This story time was based on the theme suggestions from the 2015 CSLP Summer Reading Manual.  My goal was to have eight weeks of programming based on the theme:  “Every Hero Has a Story.”  To be honest, not all of those themes turned out to be great ideas.  Combined with the fact that these were some of the first story times I did, and we didn’t have much in the way of structure, well…let’s just say that you may have to be forgiving of some of the elements.  But, one of my goals for blogging about my story times is to include the good and the bad, so that hopefully others will learn, too.

Introduction

When I presented this story time, I didn’t have much of an introduction set up.  Since the parents tended to be running late, I would spend the first five minutes or so talking to the kids and parents as they came in, and sometimes teasing what we were doing in story time that week.  These story times were held in an open part of our children’s section, so they were visible throughout parts of the library and to anyone who was in the children’s department.

Welcome Song

We used the same welcome song in preschool story time each week.  It was taught to me by my boss when I took over story time as the welcome song that families were used to, and I kept it as part of my story times.

Welcome, Everyone (Tune:  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Welcome, welcome, everyone.

Now you’re here – let’s have some fun.

First we’ll clap our hands just so.

Then we’ll reach and touch our toes.

Welcome, welcome, everyone.

Now you’re here – let’s have some fun.

Credit:  Adapted from Public Library Program Ideas

Letter of the Day

Each week, we had a Letter of the Day for story time.  For preschool groups, I gave an introduction to the topic that we were going to do, and a hint about the important word or words before asking them to guess the letter.  Some weeks the kids could guess the letter on the first try, and some weeks we spent a little more time trying to figure out what the letter might be.  We showed two cards:  one that showed the letter of the week, and one that showed how to make the letter in sign language.  This week was L for Letter.

iPad Technology

During this summer, we had hoped to incorporate technology into story time with our iPads.  When I was planning, I picked a Storybots ABC video for each week that corresponded with the letter of the week.  This plan should have included the video “The Lovely Letter L,” but after trying this in one or two story times, I determined that our setup didn’t really allow it to work.  The screen on the iPad was too small for most of the audience to see (we didn’t have a way to project it), and honestly, the parents and kids alike were confused by why we were doing it.  So, this technology ended up dropped out of the outlines.

Story Box

This summer I introduced something a little different for my preschool story times.  Instead of having the books and activities in a particular order, which is how I normally do story time, I wanted to make it more interactive.  So, I created Ms. Jaime’s Story Box, a wooden box that contained everything I needed for story time.  I would include the books that I planned to read, as well as any flannel stories I wanted to share, and wooden music notes to represent songs.  The goal was for children to pick something out of the box to start the story time, and then pick another element once we’ve finished the first.  I don’t remember now the order that we shared things in (the hazards of not blogging about story time when it happens), but overall, it got to be part of story time that the kids were really excited about.  It was sometimes crazy, and our story time was sometimes disjointed, but it was a lot of fun.  For the purposes of blogging, though, I’ll just list the books and elements in the order that I planned them.

1st Book

Alphabet Rescue by Audrey Wood – I picked this book specifically because it featured both capital and lowercase letters, which was central to the concept of letters as “sidekicks” as outlined in the manual.  I also thought the idea of fire trucks would go over well, especially with the boys.  However, this book was a pretty awkward read and just fell flat with the audience.

Song/Rhyme/Activity

Our “Clap Your Hands” song was a staple for story time each week, and usually happened sometime after our first book as a transition to our next element.  Since the kids were usually excited about pulling out a book or a flannel story, the music notes didn’t really get selected as often.  As the weeks went on, I prompted them for when we would share a song, which let us work music in a little more regularly.  This is another song that I inherited from the previous children’s librarian, but it was such a hit with our groups that it was impossible not to include it each week.

Clap Your Hands

Clap, clap, clap your hands,

Clap your hands together.

Clap, clap, clap your hands,

Clap your hands together.

Clap a little faster now,

Clap along with me.

Clap a little slower now,

Clap along with me.

Continue with:  nod your head, shake your heads, stomp your feet, and (sometimes) shake your hands.

Credit:  Adapted from KIDiddles

2nd Book

Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier – I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking when I picked this book.  On the one hand, this book is adorable and hilarious, and the illustrations are great.  On the other head, it’s definitely not a good choice for a preschool audience that has no concept of wordplay or how letters make up words.  They enjoyed some of the pictures and the overall changes, but it had nothing to do with actually understanding the humor of the book.  If I were to use this one again, it would definitely be in one of my school age story times instead.

Flannel Story

For this week, I had a flannel version of the classic Bill Martin, Jr. picture book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  In theory, I planned to use this by saying the rhyme while the kids brought up the different letters to put onto our tree.  In practice, though, this was pretty much a real-life interpretation of a tree full of letters crashing down.  While some flannel stories work well for group participation, this one really doesn’t since it relies on the specific order of the letters and taking turns.

 

Song/Rhyme/Activity

I always included a second song or rhyme in my outlines for this group, although I very rarely included them in the story time session.  For this theme, I chose the action rhyme “Act Out the Alphabet” to practice different letter sounds partnered with movement.

Act Out the Alphabet

Move your body like a monster, chomp your arms like a shark

Pump it up like a body builder, take a bow like you’re a star

Here’s your chance to be an actor – do your best

Act out the alphabet!

A says a a alligator, alligator.  B says b b bounce, bounce.

C says c c cold, cold.  D says d d dive, dive.

E says e e exercise, exercise.  F says f f fishing, fishing.

G says g g gooey, gooey.  H says h h hula, hula.

I says i i insect, insect.  J says j j jiggle, jiggle.

K says k k karate, karate.  L says l l laugh, laugh.

M says m m march, march.  N says n n nod, nod.

O says o o opera, opera.  P says p p pull, pull.

Q says q q quiet, quiet.  R says r r run, run.

S says s s surf, surf.  T says t t tickle, tickle.

U says u u under, under.  V says v v vibrate, vibrate.

W says w w wag, wag.  X says x x like in box, like in box.

Y says y y yawn, yawn.  Z says z z zig-zag, zig-zag.

 

Credit:  Adapted from Jack Hartmann

3rd Book

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker – I love Keith Baker’s books, especially any featuring the peas!  This was probably the most popular book of the entire story time.  The illustrations are cute and engaging, the rhyming text is just fun to read, and the vocabulary introduced is interesting without being too complicated for a preschool audience.  There’s nothing I don’t love about this book, and I would definitely use it again.

Goodbye Song

We ended story time with our goodbye song, which is always the same each week.  We always sang “The More We Get Together” from the Baby Love Song Time CD.  The response varied from week to week.

Craft

This week’s craft was as simple gluing craft, matching up letters on a printable tree template from First Grade a la Carte.  Not only was this craft an absolute nightmare to prepare (I cut out all of the letter bubbles in advance), the kids just weren’t into it because they didn’t really understand the point.  They enjoyed coloring, but other than that, there was nothing great about this one.

How It Went

Unfortunately, I did this outline before I started keeping really detailed story time notes, so I don’t have any details about specific reactions or attendance for the week.  While I like the idea of having a letters/alphabet theme is fun, it’s actually pretty challenging to plan, and I don’t know that I would use it again.  In the context of the summer reading theme, I didn’t like it at all.  While there are a couple of good elements from this story time, it’s definitely in the category of learning experience rather than stellar example.