Preschool Story Time: Bugs

Date presented:  July 18, 2016

This story time was based on a theme that generally fit well with summer and outdoor activities, rather than focusing on a specific summer reading theme.  In hindsight, though, I actually prefer bugs as a spring theme more than a summer theme.  This story time was done with my second library system, and includes more structure than some of my original story times.  Each week, we included the same opening song, a host puppet greeting, and a movement song in the middle of story time.  Our branch utilizes co-presenting, in which two story time staff alternate presenting content during the session.

Introduction

For each story time, we walked the children’s area approximately five minutes before the session to welcome families and direct them to our story time room.  Once the first group of families was seated in the room, story time started promptly; additional families were welcome to join late.  We started each story time with an introduction to the presenters, as well as a reminder of the basic rules of story time.  It might have sounded something like this:

“Welcome of our preschool story time!  My name is Miss Jaime, and we also have our friend Miss Meredith here for story time today.  Today’s story time is intended for children between the ages of 3 and six, but if you’re here with older or younger siblings, that’s okay, too.  If at any time during today’s story time you need to take a break, please feel free to step out of the room and come back in again when you’re ready.  If you need them during your visit today, we have family restrooms available in the children’s area and full-service restrooms in the lobby.”

Welcome Song and Announcements

Way Up in the Sky

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly.

Way down in their nest, the little birds rest.

With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,

The little birds sleep all through the night.

Shhh….they’re sleeping!

Then UP COMES THE SUN.

The DEW FALLS AWAY.

“Good morning, good morning!” the little birds say.

Credit:  Adapted by Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen

After our welcome song, we shared announcements for families, generally information about upcoming programs that might be happening and of interest to the audience, or holiday closures at the library.

Host Puppet Greeting

Each week, the lead presenter of our story time brings his or her host puppet to greet the children.  Each host puppet has its own personality, based on the presenter.  After the welcome song, the host puppet comes out to share his or her bit, which might be a song, telling jokes, or really anything that the presenter might want to do.  On my weeks as lead presenter, my host puppet is a black kitten named Shadow who shares a song with the audience.  After the host puppet visits, he or she takes a nap until the end of story time, when the children have a chance to interact with the puppet.

1st Book

Tiny Little Fly by Michael Rosen – I’ve shared this book a few times in story time.  Sometimes it’s a hit, and sometimes it falls flat.  For this group, the reception was mixed.  They didn’t participate much in the refrain, but did seem to enjoy calling out the animals.  Still, the book is beautiful and fun to read, so I would definitely use it in story time again.

Song/Rhyme/Activity

In between stories, we included a rhyme, fingerplay, or flannel that related to the theme.  With this library, we present flannels, but the audience is not involved in handling the pieces or putting things no the board.  We did, however, try to create some kind of interactive element for families to participate in during the presentation.  My library has a several variations of the “Little Mouse, Little Mouse” guessing game, and it turned out that we had one for worms on hand.  It’s a simple guessing game to find which colored apple the little worm hides behind.  As expected, this was a huge hit with the group – they wanted to keep playing for the rest of story time!

Little Worm, Little Worm

Little worm, little worm,

Playing hide and seek.

Are you under the [color] apple?

Let’s take a peek!

Credit:  Adapted from Anne Clark (So Tomorrow)

2nd Book

Soup for One by Ethan Long – This is one of my favorite books to read at story time, because it’s so easy to make it dramatic and interactive.  I tend to use really dramatic voices and exaggeration while reading, and encourage the families to count along with me while reading.  For this group, though, it turned out to be a quiet read.  Still, we had several parents that encouraged counting along with the story.

Movement Song

In the middle of our story time, we pause for a dance break with the preschoolers.  We switch the song out with the different sessions (spring, summer, and fall) to help keep things interesting.  The dance break gives the wiggly kids a chance to work out some of their wiggles before we continue, and it also helps to break up the books and other elements.  For summer, we shared “Bluegrass Jamboree” by Hap Palmer, from the album So Big:  Activity Songs for Little Ones.

3rd Book

Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek – I’ve used this book in story time for a variety of ages, and usually it gets pretty good response.  I love the beautiful illustrations, and that it includes so many different colors.  However, for this group, it just didn’t work well.  The response was okay, but nothing great.  This may be due to the small group size, or maybe it just wasn’t a good fit.

Song/Rhyme/Activity

Just like the first half of story time, the second half also includes a rhyme, fingerplay, or flannel related to the theme that breaks up the books.   This week, we used a flannel about different bugs that we might see outside, called “We’re Going on a Bug Hunt.”  The only modification that we made was in putting the firefly as the last bug, to transition to our final story.  It worked well, since most of the kids were able to identify the bugs listed with only minimal prompting.

We’re Going on a Bug Hunt

We’re going on a bug hunt!

We’re going to catch a big one!

What a sunny day!

Are you ready?  Okay!

Oh, my!  A ladybug!

A red and black ladybug

Crawling on a leaf.

Crawl, crawl, crawl.

Oh, my!  A firefly!

A brown and yellow firefly

Flickering in the sky.

Flicker, flicker, flicker.

Oh, my!  A bumblebee!

A black and yellow bumblebee

Buzzing through the air.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Oh, my!  A grasshopper!

A big, green grasshopper

Hopping through the grass.

Hop, hop, hop.

Oh, my!  A dragonfly!

A shimmery, purple dragonfly

Darting across the sky.

Dart, dart, dart.

Oh, my!  A butterfly!

A beautiful orange butterfly

Fluttering through the air.

Flutter, flutter, flutter.

Oh, my!  A spider!

A huge, black spider

Spinning on its web.

Spin, spin, spin.

I think it’s time to go home now!

Bye, huge black spider!

Bye, beautiful orange butterfly!

Bye, shimmery purple dragonfly.

Bye, big green grasshopper!

Bye, black and yellow bumblebee!

Bye, brown and yellow firefly!

Bye, red and black ladybug!

See you on our next bug hunt!

Credit:  Adapted from Storytime ABC’s

4th Book

The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle – We saved this book for the end, since our copy includes fireflies that light up the room.  As we get to the last page, the presenter who is not reading will turn off the lights, so that the kids get the full effect of the fireflies lighting up.  This was by far the favorite book of the session.

Literacy Tip

One of our story time expectations is to include a literacy tip for parents each week.  Personally, I like to work mine in either directly relating to something in a book, or at the end of story time as a way to wrap up everything that we’ve shared.  This week’s tied into the book Tiny Little Fly, and went something like this:

Parents, you can share a lot about books before even reading the story.  Look at the cover of the book.  Talk about the illustrations and ask questions about what you think this story is about.  What do you think this story will be about?  As you get ready to read, point out the title and the author of the book, too.

Goodbye Song

Instead of a goodbye song, we share a bunch of silly goodbye waves, adapted from Rob Reid.  We have everyone get up on their feet before we run through the whole list.

Goodbye Waves

Wave high.

Wave low.

I think it’s time –

We’ve gotta go.

 

Wave your elbows.

Wave your toes.

Wave your tongue.

Wave your nose.

 

Wave your knees.

Wave your lips.

Blow a movie star kiss

With your fingertips!

 

Wave your ears.

Wave your hair.

Wave your belly

And your derriere (a French word for your bottom)!

 

Wave your chin.

Wave your eyes.

Wave your hands

And say goodbye.

Credit:  Adapted from Rob Reid

How It Went

Overall, this session was okay.  There are a lot of different books that you can use for the theme, and it works well for spring or summer story times.  This group was small, which often impacts how effective I feel a story time is.  I would definitely try this theme again in the future, although I would likely experiment with some new titles.

Preschool Story Time: Play/Sports/Pretend

Date presented:  July 11, 2016

This story time was based on a theme that generally fit well with summer and outdoor activities, rather than focusing on a specific summer reading theme.  This story time was done with my second library system, and includes more structure than some of my original story times.  Each week, we included the same opening song, a host puppet greeting, and a movement song in the middle of story time.  Our branch utilizes co-presenting, in which two story time staff alternate presenting content during the session.

Introduction

For each story time, we walked the children’s area approximately five minutes before the session to welcome families and direct them to our story time room.  Once the first group of families was seated in the room, story time started promptly; additional families were welcome to join late.  We started each story time with an introduction to the presenters, as well as a reminder the basic rules of story time.  It might have sounded something like this:

“Welcome of our preschool story time!  My name is Miss Jaime, and we also have our friend Miss Meredith here for story time today.  Today’s story time is intended for children between the ages of 3 and six, but if you’re here with older or younger siblings, that’s okay, too.  If at any time during today’s story time you need to take a break, please feel free to step out of the room and come back in again when you’re ready.  If you need them during your visit today, we have family restrooms available in the children’s area and full-service restrooms in the lobby.”

Welcome Song and Announcements

Way Up in the Sky

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly.

Way down in their nest, the little birds rest.

With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,

The little birds sleep all through the night.

Shhh….they’re sleeping!

Then UP COMES THE SUN.

The DEW FALLS AWAY.

“Good morning, good morning!” the little birds say.

Credit:  Adapted by Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen

After our welcome song, we shared announcements for families, generally information about upcoming programs that might be happening and of interest to the audience, or holiday closures at the library.

Host Puppet Greeting

Each week, the lead presenter of our story time brings his or her host puppet to greet the children.  Each host puppet has its own personality, based on the presenter.  After the welcome song, the host puppet comes out to share his or her bit, which might be a song, telling jokes, or really anything that the presenter might want to do.  On my weeks as lead presenter, my host puppet is a black kitten named Shadow who shares a song with the audience.  After the host puppet visits, he or she takes a nap until the end of story time, when the children have a chance to interact with the puppet.

1st Book

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen – I picked this book because I hoped that there would be good participation in the repeated actions and refrain, but with this group, there was not as much participation as I would have liked.  As a result, the story fell a little flat, which wasn’t the best start to the session.

Song/Rhyme/Activity

In between stories, we included a rhyme, fingerplay, or flannel that related to the theme.  With this library, we present flannels, but the audience is not involved in handling the pieces or putting things on the board.  We tried to create some kind of interactive element for families to participate in during the presentation.  For this week, I chose a flannel owned by the library system.  Called “Guess the Sport,” it was a guessing game that gave clues to identifying different sport balls.  This worked really well with the group because it was simple enough for the children to guess the correct answer, and they enjoyed playing.

Guess the Sport

I am a ball.

I can bounce.

If I swish through the hoop,

It’s two points that count.

What am I?

[Basketball]

 

I am a ball.

My color is brown.

If I make it to the end zone,

It’s a touchdown!

What am I?

[Football]

 

I am a ball

With two colors, not one.

If I’m kicked in the goal,

You may have won.

What am I?

[Soccer ball]

 

I am a small ball,

Not soft but hard.

Hit me with a bat –

I’ll fly out of the yard!

What am I?

[Baseball]

 

I am not a ball.

My name is puck.

If I fly off the ice,

You better duck!

What am I?

[Hockey puck]

Credit:  Ramarie Beaver with the Plano Public Library System

2nd Book

What Shall We Do When We All Go Out? by Shari Halpern – I chose this book hoping that the parents would participate in singing the verses as we progressed.  It turned out to be a really cute story, and the parents quickly joined in with singing along.  It’s always more fun when the parents are participating than when you are singing by yourself, and I love that it easily transitions to its own literacy tip if you want to include it.

Movement Song

In the middle of our story time, we pause for a dance break with the preschoolers.  We switch the song out with the different sessions (spring, summer, and fall) to help keep things interesting.  The dance break gives the wiggly kids a chance to work out some of their wiggles before we continue, and it also helps to break up the books and other elements.  For summer, we shared “Bluegrass Jamboree” by Hap Palmer, from the album So Big:  Activity Songs for Little Ones.

3rd Book

Let’s Play in the Forest While the Wolf Is Not Around by Claudia Rueda – I love everything about this book.  It’s an absurdly catchy tune to sing, you can exaggerate the wolf when you read, and it’s easy for even the youngest listeners to catch on to what is happening and sing along.  I usually try and have the parents and kids help with each “Wolf, are you there?”  Unfortunately, this group just wasn’t as excited about reading this book as I was.

Song/Rhyme/Activity

Just like the first half of story time, the second half also includes a rhyme, fingerplay, or flannel related to the theme that breaks up the books.  We used the rhyme “Football, Football,” with the children guessing which helmet the football might be hiding behind.  Just like any other variation of the Little Mouse game that I’ve ever presented in story time, this one was a huge hit with the audience.

In between stories, we included a rhyme, fingerplay, or flannel that related to the theme.  With this library, we present flannels, but the audience is not involved in handling the pieces or putting things on the board.  We tried to create some kind of interactive element for families to participate in during the presentation.  For this week, I chose a flannel owned by the library system.  Called “Guess the Sport,” it was a guessing game that gave clues to identifying different sport balls.  This worked really well with the group because it was simple enough for the children to guess the correct answer, and they enjoyed playing.

Football, Football

Football, football,

Where do you hide?

Are you in the [color] helmet?

Let’s peek inside.

 

 

Credit:  Adapted from Literary Hoots

4th Book

Playground Day by Jennifer Merz – I picked this story because it shows all kinds of fun and imaginative play at the playground.  Unfortunately, at this point in the story time our attention was waning, but it has great opportunities for guessing and my co-presenter did a great job of engaging the audience.

Literacy Tip

One of our story time expectations is to include a literacy tip for parents each week.  Personally, I like to work mine in either directly relating to something in a book, or at the end of story time as a way to wrap up everything that we’ve shared.  This week’s was adapted from the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy, and went something like this:

Parents, going to the park or anywhere outside is a great chance for your child to explore their limits, learn about the outside world, and try new things.  It’s learning, but it’s fun, too!  For now, though, it’s time for us to wave goodbye to our friends until next week.

Goodbye Song

Instead of a goodbye song, we share a bunch of silly goodbye waves, adapted from Rob Reid.  We have everyone get up on their feet before we run through the whole list.

Goodbye Waves

Wave high.

Wave low.

I think it’s time –

We’ve gotta go.

 

Wave your elbows.

Wave your toes.

Wave your tongue.

Wave your nose.

 

Wave your knees.

Wave your lips.

Blow a movie star kiss

With your fingertips!

 

Wave your ears.

Wave your hair.

Wave your belly

And your derriere (a French word for your bottom)!

 

Wave your chin.

Wave your eyes.

Wave your hands

And say goodbye.

Credit:  Adapted from Rob Reid

How It Went

Overall, this session was a success.  I think part of what made it successful was combining play, sports, and pretend together, because the theme could be sufficiently broad to bring in a variety of items to engage the audience.  I also liked that it worked well with the summer time feelings, and I would likely try it again in the future.

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.

 

Early Learning STEAM Programs: Art Start

In April 2017, I presented with a coworker on Low Cost/No Cost STEAM programming ideas at the Texas Library Association annual conference in San Antonio.  Today’s post will share one of the program ideas we talked about, an early learning program that combines story time and art for a STEAM-based program for little learners.

The Program

Art Start is a program offered by the Plano Public Library.  It’s described in our program brochure as:  Stories to inspire your little artist, followed by a different hands-on art activity each week.  Things may get messy!  Smocks and materials provided.

Intended Audience

This program is designed for children between the ages of a 3 and 6 years old, the same audience that we target with our preschool story times.  Parent/caregiver participation is required, and adults stay in the room and work with their children during the program.  To keep costs down and the room manageable, we limit the number of families allowed in each session.

Cost

A typical session costs $5 to $10 for simple crafts, with a greater investment for continuing supplies or more elaborate programs.  Funding for our Art Start program is provided by a grant from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC).  The activities are easily modified based on craft supplies that you already have on hand.

Supplies

This program requires basic craft supplies, easily modified based on the activities you choose.  Think craft essentials like crayons, markers, construction paper, and paper towels.  It’s easy to choose your theme for the week around supplies that you already have on hand, or pick projects that use similar supplies to make the most of what you do order.

How It Works

Staff read a book related to the day’s art project.  When I present this program, I also include a related element like a flannel story, just to incorporate a little more of the story time feel.  However, the focus is really on the art.  After the story time portion, we explain a little about process art.  The focus with every project is on the process of creating the art rather than the finished product.  One of the most important things to do as a facilitator of this program is to encourage the parents/caregivers to work with their child, instead of doing the project for their child.  The program lasts approximately 30 minutes, with about 10 minutes for the welcome and story and the remainder of the time for art.  Depending on the project, the room can be set up with tables and craft supplies, but it’s also great to allow plenty of free space to work on the floor as well.

Sample Topics

Some of the outlines that have worked in the past include:

• Balloon painting
• Chalk with buttermilk
• Feather painting
• Folded paper prints
• Fruit prints
• Glitter art
• Hole punch collage
• Ice painting
• Paper cutting
• Sand art
• Shaving cream art
• Tape resist art
• Texture rubbing

Resources

This program is very open ended, so it’s easy to customize to the type of projects that your patrons find most interesting.  Many crafts can be found and modified from Pinterest.

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.

Preschool Story Time: Family Heroes

Date presented:  Thursday, July 2, 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.

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 F for Family.

iPad Technology

During this summer, we had hoped to incorporate technology into story time wiht 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 “F is Fun,” 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

Flip, Flap, Fly! by Phyllis Root – I picked this book because I just love the illustrations in it.  Seriously, the pages are absolutely gorgeous, and the rhyming text makes it such a great read for story time.  I love the anticipation of what the little bird will see next, and the hesitation that you can add while reading to see if the audience will help you “read” the story.

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

One Hundred is a Family by Pam Muñoz Ryan – I picked this book because it showed a variety of families, and I wanted something that would appeal to the different types of family dynamics that might be present in my story time.  However, the book fell a little flat with the audience.  They weren’t interested in counting, and most of the concepts depicted didn’t really make sense to them.

Flannel Story

For this week, I had two flannel stories created:  Mommy’s Dresses and Daddy’s Ties.  Both are variations on the song “Mary Wore Her Red Dress,” and practice basic color concepts.  My thought was that we should have something to represent both the mommies and daddies of the families, so I created pieces for both.  Unfortunately, my dresses are apparently not up to preschool standards, since they were convinced that Mommy’s dresses were actually Daddy’s tank tops.  But, in terms of simplicity and color identification, they were a hit easily customized to the number of children in story time who wanted to participate.

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 simple fingerplay “Where is the Family?”  It uses the familiar song “Where Is Thumbkin?” to name the different family members on each finger.

Where Is the Family?  (Tune:  Where Is Thumbkin?)

Where is daddy, where is daddy?

Here I am, here I am!  (Hold thumbs up.)

How are you today, sir?

Very well, I thank you!  (Bend thumbs as if they are interacting with each other.)

Run away, run away!  (Hide hands behind your back.)

Continue with the rest of your fingers for the other verses:  mommy (pointer finger), brother (middle finger), sister (ring finger), baby (pinkie), and the family (whole hand).

Credit:  Adapted by Julie Dietzel-Glair in the 2015 Collaborative Summer Library Program Early Literacy Manual

3rd Book

What Sisters Do Best/What Brothers Do Best by Laura Numeroff – I love Laura Numeroff’s books, and this one felt like the perfect fit for story time.  Our previous stories had talked about babies growing up and the different types of families, and our flannel stories got mommies and daddies, so I wanted something that covered siblings as well, especially since several of our regular families included siblings attending together.  This book is beautiful and simple, so the kids were able to relate to it and stayed intrigued in the story.  They loved the idea of a flip book, too – two books are always better than one!  The only hiccup with this one was that they were disappointed that the text was exactly the same in both stories.

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 making our own family trees would be a really cute craft.  On paper, this seemed like a really great idea.  I found an adorable 3-D family tree craft, and cut a bunch of trees and leaves out from simple templates ahead of time.  In practice, however, this craft was an epic failure.  Even though I made the trees out of construction paper, they weren’t sturdy enough to stand on their own (cardstock might have worked better).  The kids had fun gluing on the leaves, but they didn’t really understand the concept of adding the different members of their family to their tree.  Most of them ended up bored with the activity, and the parents ended up doing most of the crafting.

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 families makes a great story time theme, and the kids did seem to enjoy talking about their families.  I’ve done the family theme with preschool since, using different books, and it’s been more successful than this outline was.  I’d count this one as a learning experience in picking better materials to relate to the audience.

Preschool Story Time: July Themes

Recently, my library announced (to staff, anyway) that we will be moving to a year-round story time format in January 2018.  We’ll have story time 52 weeks of the year, with no breaks.  While the supervisors have started talking about the logistics for how this might work, I’ve decided it’s more important than ever to start going through my old story time outlines to really get a feel for what’s worked and what hasn’t.  So, I’m dusting off the story time outline binders, and breaking out the computer once again to *hopefully* start blogging regularly about story time.  For each month, I’ll post a placeholder that includes all the themes that I’ve done, and eventually, these will link to the individual blog posts about those story time as well.  I’m also working on some updates to the rest of my website to make it easier to find information.

Since we’ve just wrapped up July, what better place to start?  Here’s a list of the July themes that I’ve used in story time so far:

• Alphabet (Sidekicks)
• Birds/Owls
• Bugs
• Build It
• Cowboys (Heroes throughout History)
• Dragons (Heroes in Storybooks)
• Family Heroes
• Frogs
• The Hero Inside Me
• Imagination
• Outdoor/Summer Fun
• Play/Sports/Pretend
• Zoo

Sometimes the themes related to the Collaborative Summer Library Program theme for the year, and sometimes the themes matched up well with programs that we were offering in the library that week.  What are your favorite story time themes for July?

Flannel Friday: Happy Birthday, Moon

I can’t believe that it’s been so long since I posted!  Even more, I can’t believe that it’s Flannel Friday’s fifth birthday!  I’ve been so inspired by all the posts that I’ve read, and I can’t wait to see what the next five years bring.  Happy birthday!  As it turns out, I have the perfect birthday flannel.  At my library, we’ve done both space and birthday themes this session, and this flannel works perfectly for either.  So, here’s my contribution:  a flannel version of Frank Asch’s Happy Birthday, Moon.

What You’ll Need

The pieces are all from designed from various clipart pictures I found.  There is, of course, Bear and Moon, and a top hat (I did make sure it had a purple band like the one in the book – that detail seemed important).  There is a bare tree, a river, a canoe, a series of small trees together for a forest, and a mountain range.  I also created a miniature piggy bank and a pile of coins for Bear to buy the hat.  The pieces aren’t to scale (Bear is bigger than the mountains, I think), but I needed them smaller to fit on our board and honestly, they were easier to make that way.  The kids didn’t seem to mind, either.

The Story

I use this one by retelling what happens in the picture book.  The best part is that you can be as detailed or not as you want, depending on the audience.

Tips for Use

Since we co-present our story times, we had one person serve as the narrator and Bear, and the second person served as the Moon.  It turned out really cute!

Can’t Get Enough?

Hopefully it won’t be as long before I share again.  In any case, I’ll be keeping up with the round-ups and getting more great ideas.  This week, our host is Mollie at What Happens in Storytime.  For more information about Flannel Friday, visit the website here, or join the Flannel Friday Facebook group, or check out the Flannel Friday boards on Pinterest.  Happy Friday, everyone!

Flannel Friday: Ice Cream Colors

I’m running a little bit behind today, but I am determined to get this post up in time for Flannel Friday.  Last year for Halloween, I did a Halloween-themed story time.  Unfortunately, it didn’t go over well at all with the parents.  So this year, I decided to switch things up a bit.  In honor of Halloween candy, we did a Candy and Desserts story time this week instead.  After looking at our book selection, I decided on an ice cream cone flannel story to add variety to the types of desserts we talked about.

What You Need

Here are all the ice cream cones that I created.  I took the simplest clipart template that I could find and cut out the cones and tops and then glued them together.

The Story

Here’s the rhyme that I used with it:

We have ice cream, the best in town!

Let us begin with chocolate BROWN.

This ice cream is lime and GREEN.

It is the creamiest we’ve ever seen.

YELLOW ice cream is lemony and tart.

We like it from the very start.

ORANGE sherbet is next, oh so sweet.

Everyone thinks that it’s a great treat!

Scoops of BLUEberry make this a lucky day.

We just want to cheer, hip, hip, hooray!

RED ice cream is a cherry delight.

This ice cream cone is a heavenly sight.

Vanilla CREAM (or WHITE) is a popular flavor.

It tastes very good to an ice-cream craver.

PURPLE ice cream really gives us a kick.

Good and yummy till the very last lick.

Now let us scoop some bubble-gum PINK.

It is sweet and yummy, the best we think.

Ice cream, ice cream, what a cool sensation.

We love ice cream in any combination!

I slightly adapted this rhyme from Fun with Friends at Storytime to work with the colors that I had.  Kathryn’s rhyme originally had mint ice cream, but I didn’t think that my green was very minty looking, so I went with lime instead.

Tips for Use

With both my toddler and preschool groups, I handed out the ice cream cones and we waited our turn to put up the right color.  I loved that this turned out to be a great time for parent interaction, since the parents this week were great about encouraging their children to wait their turn to put up their ice cream rather than swarming the board.  With my preschool group, we also talked about what flavors we might be missing and what colors they should be in between putting up more ice cream cones.

Can’t Get Enough?

This week, our host is the wonderful Storytime Katie, one of my favorite blogs for inspiration and ideas.  For more information about Flannel Friday, visit the website here, or join the Flannel Friday Facebook group, or check out the Flannel Friday boards on Pinterest.  Happy Friday, everyone!

Flannel Friday: Dotty the Dinosaur

It’s Flannel Friday time again!  I missed last week (I was on vacation), but I’m excited to share again this week.  This week in story time, we did dinosaurs.  I actually created two different flannel stories, but I only have time to share one here today.  Today I’m sharing my version of “Dotty the Dinosaur.”  I originally got this idea here.

What You’ll Need

Here’s the rainbow horde of dinosaurs that I created:

The patterns for everything in this set are just modified clipart images that I thought were cute and tied in with the theme.  I had an idea of the colors that I wanted for the dinosaurs, and then I chose food for each to eat based on what I thought would be easy to create for the colors.  Here’s the finished food:

The Story

To summarize this story, Dotty is a green dinosaur who has always eaten green foods.  One day, she decides to try something else, and, wouldn’t you know it, it changes her color.  Each time she eats something new, it changes her color:

By the end of the story, Dotty can’t decide what color she wants to be, so she just eats everything and becomes a polka-dot dinosaur instead.

But, for anyone who wants it, here’s the rhyme that goes with it:

Dotty the Dinosaur loved to eat

Things like lettuce and string beans.

That is why her dinosaur skin

Was colored a lovely GREEN.

One day she saw some cherries

And ate them all that day.

Later, Dotty the Dinosaur

Turned bright RED they say.

Dotty just loved colors,

So the next day she ate two

Bushes filled with blueberries

And turned the color BLUE.

The next day she saw some grapes

And ate them on the spot.

Then Dotty turned quite PURPLE

From her bottom to her top.

Next she ate a banana;

It made her feel quite mellow.

And wouldn’t you know it, next thing

Dotty turned bright YELLOW.

Then she ate some juicy orange,

Just a little slice.

And when Dotty turned ORANGE she thought,

“Isn’t this quite nice?”

Then she found some cotton candy,

Quite tasty, don’t you think?

And once Dotty ate it up

She turned the color PINK.

Dotty couldn’t decide now

Which color she liked best.

So Dotty just ate everything.

Was her skin an awful mess?

No, Dotty now had dots

Of color everywhere.

Dotty now was different,

But Dotty didn’t care.

Dotty loved her new skin,

She liked it quite a lot.

Now she was the only dinosaur

With a coat of polka dots!

Credit:  Adapted from Jean Warren

Tips for Use

I originally planned on using the rhyme to go with this one, but when I told the story with my preschool group, I just made it up as I went along.  I put up the different foods that Dotty was eating, and my helpers brought up the color dinosaur that she turned.  I used this for an outreach story time this morning and adapted the same approach, with the children shouting out what Dotty was eating and what color she turned.

Can’t Get Enough?

This week, our host is Melissa at Mel’s Desk.  For more information about Flannel Friday, visit the website here, or join the Flannel Friday Facebook group, or check out the Flannel Friday boards on Pinterest.  I can’t wait to see what everyone is sharing this week!