Preschool Story Time: Dragons (Heroes in Storybooks)

Date presented:  July 30, 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 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 D for Dragon.

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 “Dee Doodley Doo,” 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

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin – I picked this book because really, who can resist a book that has both dragons and tacos.  I love everything about this book.  It’s catchy, it’s funny, and it’s just the best to read aloud.  Of all the books that I shared for this theme, and all the dragon story times that I’ve done since then, this is by far my favorite title.

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

Me and My Dragon by David Biedrzycki – At first, I picked this book because we didn’t have a ton of books about dragons available, but when I started looking at it, it’s really a cute story.  I think my favorite part is the beautiful illustrations that are included.  I also love that this book includes real life moments and concerns that kids can easily recognize.

Flannel Story

For this week, I used a flannel called Ten Dizzy Dragons.  I haven’t blogged about it yet for a Flannel Friday post, but I will.  As far as flannel stories to use with a group, this one worked pretty well, because I could hand out different dragons and have the children take turns bringing up a dragon to add to the story.  I had a set of magnetic numbers that I used to help the children know when it was their turn to bring up a dragon to add to the board.  Since the board had a magnetic backing as well as the flannel overlay, we could put up both pieces.

Ten Dizzy Dragons

Ten dizzy dragons lived long, long ago

In a land filled with magic where few people can go.

The first dragon wore a garland of flowers.

The second dragon had strong magic powers.

The third dragon flew wildly through the air.

The fourth dragon lived in a jewel-filled lair.

The fifth dragon liked to blow pretty bubbles.

The sixth dragon rescued people in trouble.

The seventh dragon wore a crown made of gold.

The eighth dragon had a heart brave and bold.

The ninth dragon was very sad – he was a bit of crier.

The tenth dragon breathed smoky red fire.

Ten dizzy dragons lived long, long ago

In a land filled with magic where in your dreams you can go.

Credit:  Sunflower Storytime

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 “Dragon, Dragon, Turn Around” to practice following directions and also work some of the wiggles out.

Dragon, Dragon, Turn Around

Dragon, dragon, turn around.

Dragon, dragon, touch the ground.

Dragon, dragon, fly up high.

Dragon, dragon, touch the sky.

Dragon, dragon, swing your tail.

Dragon, dragon, shake your scales.

Dragon, dragon, give a ROAR.

Dragon, dragon, sit on the floor.

Credit:  Sunflower Storytime

3rd Book

The Trouble with Dragons by Deb Gliori – This book was the one book in this story time that just didn’t work.  This book really has a great message, but it was completely lost on the audience.  They just weren’t engaged in the story, and consequently, they weren’t very attentive.  I might try this book again in the future, but if I did, I would probably give it a better introduction and put it somewhere in the middle, between engaging elements.

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 a simple paper plate dragon.  This picture shows what the finished product looked like, roughly.  The craft was pretty easy for the kids to put together, but it involved a lot of prep on my end.  I used this template for a dragon from Bug, Boo, and Bean to create the dragon pieces.  I cut them out of construction paper, and put all the needed pieces, plus the eye and brads, into individual bags before story time to make it easy to hand out the pieces when we were ready to start the craft time.

 

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.  Dragons is a really fun theme, but in the time that I’ve done it since, I’ve looked for (and found) some better books that seem to resonate more with the audience.  The key to success for dragons, for me at least, is to find books that are fun and a little magical, to give the whole story time a really magical vibe.

 

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.

Preschool Story Time: Cowboys (Heroes throughout History)

Date presented:  July 16, 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 C for Cowboy.

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 “Crazy for C,” 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

There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant by Helen Ketteman – I picked this book because it’s adorable.  I’ve used it in a few preschool story time since, and it really depends on the audience whether or not it works well.  It really needs an attentive audience who enjoy the cumulative effect of the story.  When I read it, I try at add some ridiculous drawling for the cowpoke just to keep things interesting.

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

Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas – This is seriously one of my favorite books of all time to read in story time.  I mean, who doesn’t love Jan Thomas?  This book is short enough to work with just about any audience, and I have so much fun reading it because of course the cowboy sings in a warbling, exaggerated drawl.  I always have the cowboy act super surprised at the answers that the kids give, like I have no idea that a flower wasn’t really a huge, hairy spider.  This one is almost always good for laughs, and I definitely recommend using it.

Flannel Story

For this week, I used a flannel that I previously created for Texas history story time, called “Dress the Cowboy.”  Since I wanted to include both cowgirls and cowboys in my story time, I made a second set to “Dress the Cowgirl,” which I’ll post about at some point in the future.  This one was a little chaotic because some of the pieces are a little small, but it’s a lot of fun to do.  I said the rhyme with the different things that our cowboy needs to get dressed, and the kids brought them up to put in the right spot on the cowboy until he was dressed.  Trying to do both a cowboy and a cowgirl was a little much for the group, though, so in the future I think I’d stick with one or the other.

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 song “Western Animals” so that we had an excuse to make different animal noises.

Western Animals Song (Tune:  The Wheels on the Bus)

The coyotes on the prairie go howl, howl, howl

Howl, howl, howl, howl, howl, howl

The coyotes on the prairie go howl , howl, howl

All day long

Repeat with:

The rattlesnakes…rattle, rattle, rattle

The horses…neigh, neigh, neigh

The cows…moo, moo, moo

The jackrabbits…jump, jump, jump

Credit:  North Mankato Taylor Library

3rd Book

Buckamoo Girls by Ellen A. Kelley – This book was probably the least well received of the entire story time.  It was a little long, and honestly, the kids were a little confused about the idea of having cowgirls instead of cowboys.  I originally included it because I wanted to show both cowboys and cowgirls.  Also, since the Buckamoo Girls are literally cows, I think it was a little more abstract than what my audience is typically used to.

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

For this week, I went with a very simple cowboy boot craft.  I printed this cute boot template on cardstock and cut it out, and let the kids decorate with crayons, markers, and stickers however they wanted.  It was simple enough to not require a ton of prep and worked for both the intended audience and the younger siblings who joined.  The cardstock was good because it held up better than just paper for our more enthusiastic artists.

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.  Overall, this theme wasn’t a complete failure, but I would definitely make modifications before using this outline again.  It’s hard to find cute cowboy stories that are short enough for the preschool audience, but there are some good titles out there.  I’ve reused parts of this element in future cowboys story times with pretty good success.

Preschool Story Time: The Hero Inside Me

Date presented:  July 9, 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 M for Me.

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 Mighty M,” 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

Super Hair-O and the Barber of Doom by John Rocco – I picked this book because it fit beautifully with the theme.  Superheroes within ourselves?  Exactly what I was going for with this outline.  And I absolutely love John Rocco’s illustrations.  I’m lucky enough to have a picture he drew at the Illustrator Sketch-Off at TLA one year that’s Super Hair-O of Texas.  But I digress.  As far as story time books go, this one was just okay for my audience.  They like the dramatic pacing when I read it, but they didn’t really make the connection of the internal hero.

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

Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney – I picked this book because Llama Llama is such a classic character, and the books are fun and easy to read.  And, since many of my story time friends were either siblings or enrolled at least part time in a preschool program, sharing seemed like a good message.  Of the books that we shared, this one was probably the favorite.

Flannel Story

For this week, I went through some of our existing resources to see what we had that might work.  I found this set of Children of the World felt pieces, which we used for the song Ten Little Children.  If memory serves correctly, the song is included with the resource book for the flannel pieces.  As far as flannel stories go, this one was a bust.

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 “Let’s Move” as a way to get some of the wiggles out.

Let’s Move!

Hold your right hand high.

Hold your left hand high.

Shake your fingers and clap, clap, clap!

Stretch your right arm out.

Stretch your left arm out.

Take a little hop and turn once about.

Bend and touch your toes,

Then stretch up to the sky.

Like a little bird spread your wings and fly!

On your right foot, hop.

On your left foot, hop.

Jump with both feet…then it’s time…to…STOP!

Credit:  Adapted by Amanda Struckmeyer in the 2015 Collaborative Summer Library Program Early Literacy Manual

3rd Book

Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna Dewdney – Because one Llama Llama story isn’t enough!  I thought since Llama Llama was generally well received, a second Llama Llama book would work well with the audience.  The response was mixed – some were excited to see Llama Llama back again, but some found it repetitive.  Unlike the previous title, the concept of bullies was a little more abstract for this group and they weren’t as interested.

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

For this week, I thought that a friendship rainbow chain would be a cute and simple craft.  I got the idea from Kindergarten-Lessons.com.  I used a diecut that we had in the building of a little boy and girl holding hands, and gave each child a rainbow of choices to string together.  We decorated the faces on each of the children.  Overall, it was a pretty simple craft, although the hands on the children were a little too small and flimsy for more enthusiastic glue users.

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.  Overall, this theme wasn’t a complete failure, but I would definitely make modifications before using this outline again.  The idea of “Me” works as a theme that I’ve since used, but the good citizenship/hero aspect was a little abstract.  Elements of this story time have appeared in “All About Me” and “Friends” story times that I’ve done, which have been more successful.  In terms of character repetition, I’ve since found that repeating the character from one week to the next, instead of within the same story time, is a more successful strategy.