Storytime at the Liberry: Forest Pals

It's still technically fall for two more days. I've seen a lot of ideas for hibernation story times,which is find for preschoolers but I think that concept goes right over a toddler's head.

Here is a animal themed storytime involving all sorts of animals you would find in a forest or your backyard. Feel free to swap out book to suite them to any time of the year

Welcome Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Welcome: Our ready to read skill is talking. Talk about what kind of animals you see outside. Not ones in a zoo but your own back yard. Which one is your favorite?

Book: Over in the Meadow - You can use what ever version you prefer or works with your crowd. I used Over in the Forest: Come and take a Peek by Marianne Berkes

Song: The Bear Went over the Mountain

Book: That Pup! by Lindsey Barrett George

Song: Grey Squirrel

Book: Who's in the Forest? by Phyllis Gershator- Just because some of them are out of diapers, doesn't mean they (and you the storyteller) can't enjoy a good board book!

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri

Storytime from the Liberry: Food Glorious Food

Nothing like a back to back storytimes about food...right before lunchtime...

I feel like this storytime has a curse on it. Not because its bad, but because it's busy. Rewind to 4 years ago when I first did this storytime and had a craft to go with it. Wouldn't you know it, 80 people showed up to the first one and the kids and parents would not share the supplies, even though they could see the place was a mad house. So I had sad kids with no materials to make their crafts and selfish parents (I won't call the toddlers selfish, that's their nature)

But, I decided to make a craft (a different one) and present this storytime again. I had about 35 prepped hoping that would cover both morning groups.

Of course I had 60 people show up to the first one! I got wiped out and had to print off more, cut them out and prep more supplies for the next group 20 minutes later, and clean up the mess the first group has made. And it was the day my co-worker was on vacation! She certainly would have helped me with the cutting and chaos if she were there, but alas I was flying solo.

Disclaimer: You might want to forgo a craft on this storytime if you don't want to end up jinxed like me.

Welcome Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Welcome:  Our Ready to Read Skill this week is Playing

Book: Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal- A story about a pea who dreads dinner every night...because he has to eat candy! Cheesiness and laughs all around.

Song: Way up High in an Apple Tree

Way up high in an apple tree
Two little apples did I see
So I shook that tree as hard as I could
Down came the apples
Ummmmm They were good.

Book: How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen- Another crowded pleaser.

Song: Popcorn Kernels- A scarf song that induced lots of giggles and smiles. Check out this epic playlist from the gals at jbrary.com of all types of songs to use in food-theme storytimes.

Book: Go Go Grapes by April Pulley Sayre- I told the kiddos to keep their scarves and pretend that they were cheerleaders. They could shout and wave their scarves when the book mentioned their favorite fruit. Obviously, they were really excited about this book.  If only they would get this excited about real fruits and veggies! There is a companion book Rah Rah Radishes just for vegetables.

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out- with scarves (because we can)

OK, time to put the scarves away. Give ourselves a big squeeze to make us calm and sit on our bottoms for one more story

Book: Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett- A book comprised of only 4 (5) words, so feel free to read it straight or make observations with your group.

Literacy Tip: Books like Go Go Grapes with it's many different types of fruit (lychee, durian, mangosteen etc.) are great for improving vocabulary, but simple books (Orange Pear Apple Bear) are also a good tool helping young reader gain confidence. With only 4 words to identity with pictures, young readers can quickly identify picture to words and might be able to help you read the story after only a few times through. Find a balance that works for your child.

Closing Song: The Wheels on the Bus


Craft: (If you Dare!!)  I actually had a very simple craft of  cupcakes printed out on colored paper. The kids decorated it with left over stickers as "sprinkles" Promoting fine motor skills? Yes! Healthy eating habits? Uh no...

Storytime from the Liberry: Look Your Best

This storytime is a combination of getting dressed and bath time themes.

Welcome Song: The Wheel on the Bus

Welcome: Our Ready to Read Skill this Week is Reading

Book: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. An oldie but a goodie!

Song: One Two, Buckle My Shoe

Book: Animal Baths by Bob Banner. The last pages go through all the actions of animals covered in the book and is a good segue into a motion activity for your group. Or you can always skip it if the crowd isn't feeling it.

Flannel Board: Five Elephants in the Bathtub You can download a template for this flannel song here you make up your own

Book: Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Small Elephants Bathtime by Tatyana Feeny- A new book just published this year. I read another one of her titles and they are pretty cute. As a small detail, I appreciated the typography in this book.

Craft: Decorate a Shoe- Just like Pete, the toddlers decorated their own white shoes in whatever color they wanted. We used markers and yes I punched the holes laced, and tied every single craft I handed out. I told the grown up that I wasn't expecting the toddlers to know how to tie their shoes at this stage in their development, but a lacing craft was good practice for them and their fine motor skills.

Craft Template from ZiggyZoom

Somehow my theme accidentally became heavy on the elephant theme. So might use some of these books again if I want to do an elephant storytime.

Storytime from the Liberry: Avast! Pirates!

When I was told in my new job that I was going to eventually take over for toddler storytime, I made of list of themes I wanted to talk about.

Pirates! was the first thing on the list.

September 19 is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. And this usually happens at the start of our fall storytime schedule. The best thing about this storytime is 90% of the picture books about pirates I find enjoyable, hilarious and really entertaining. Can't say that about every theme (I'm looking at you "getting dressed" books)

Also as I was prepping for storytime and gearing up for a new season, I did something new. I actually timed how long it took me to read each book, to make sure I wasn't going too slow or too fast. I discovered that I book that I thought was short, was actually the longest read in my set and therefore should not be used as the last story after the kids had been hyped up by shaking their sillies out.

timing how long it actually takes me to read a picture book to help plan storytime...because I'm crazy? #librarylife #storytime

— J. J. M. (@fromtheliberry) September 14, 2015

I also took a tip from the world of the restaurant kitchen. Make your last plate (book) as good as your first. (or in my case books) Service/Storytime can take a lot out of you, and you don't want to be close to the finish stuck with a book you really don't want to read. It will drag and you will drag. Even if you are exhausted you still have to finish strong. The last book you read should have as much enthusiasm as the first book you read. That just my way of seeing it. ( My inspiration mainly comes from  an awesome read about the industry Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney which I highly recommend)

Welcome Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Ready to Read skill this week is Talking. We practiced out best pirate voices with "Yo, ho ho." and "Arrrr"

Book: Peg Leg Peke by Brie Spangler - Lots of wonderful literacy opportunities in this unassuming book. As the reader you have to act as the voice of the narrator and the dog. You can break the fourth wall and engage with your group to talk back to the dog or answer questions. It has great words for vocabulary development (sextant, anchor and pekingese). Plus it's just really cute and about a dog who becomes a pirate. What else do you want? This is one of my favorite storytime books that I own in my personal library. We read it so much at home, my daughter has it practically memorized.

Song: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean

Book: Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors by Danna Smith

Song: Row Row Row Your Boat- the pirate edition!

Row, row, row your boat
Gently cross the sea
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily
A Pirate's life for me

Swap, swap swap the deck...
Walk, walk, walk the plank...
Hoist, hoist, hoist the flag....

Book: Pi-Rat by Maxine Lee- This book is just fun and silly for little ones and grown-ups. Full of puns and lots of pirate phrases


Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: I love my Pirate Papa by Laura Leuck- A good "awwww" book to end storytime. Very sweet.

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

Our activity was a treasure hunt. I taped red "X"s under tables and on low book shelves and placed a handful of plastic pirate coins. The kids had to find the x, and bring me back one coin in order to get a sticker. I let them keep both the coin and the sticker. This was an exercise in following directions as for my first two groups, I had many paper x handed to me instead of coins.

Enjoy me hearties!!

Summer Reading Storytimes

I'm emerging from the fog that is summer reading. I think my mind still hasn't registered that it's over.

We've had an awesome summer at my library with great programs, storytimes and activities. I will say the odd raining and cool weather might have played a part in driving people into the building.

We did the Collaborative Summer Reading program "Every Hero has a Story" and I created 5 toddlers storytimes for "Super Toddlers" I kept my same format, but in the summer time my group is a lot smaller and I can usually rely on my regulars, so I added a craft to every storytime.

Super Toddlers- Superheroes

I took inspiration from Literary Hoots' Ninja Storytime . Not all superheroes wear capes!

Books Read : Do Superheroes have Teddy Bears (Coyle), Ninja Ninja Never Stop (Tuell) Hoot Owl Master of Disguise (Taylor) and Hero Mom (Hardin)

For our craft, we decorated blank superheroes with markers and scrap paper. I ordered some per-made craft sticks from Oriental Trader that were really too small for toddlers. So I made up something else on card stock and let them decorate both of them.

Super Toddlers- American Heroes

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. So when I get a chance to do a storytime about it, I go for! While it's not a great choice for a read aloud at this age group- John, Paul, George and Ben by Lane Smith is a must read at this time of year. Books about parades and summer picnics are also good choice to round out a Fourth of July storytime.

I reused a firework  flannel from Chinese New Year storytime

Books Read: Yankee Doddle (Hoberman), Fourth of July Mice (Roberts) Red White and Blue (Wardlaw)

Firework painting was our craft. It was very impressive! Most of kids were very focused on creating the fireworks while only a few treated it as a finger painting craft. I created firework stampers out of pipe cleaners and let them dip them in red, blue and silver paint. You can make a fire work shaped brush out of forks, straws or q-tips. Defiantly doing this again!

Super Toddlers- Construction Heroes 

Construction always seems a crowd pleaser regardless of age or gender.  You should do a mud/dirt/sand sensory bin. However you can also be like me who did enough of those already this summer and make a three little pigs sensory bin out of craft sticks, red LEGO bricks, and straw. 

Early literacy tip for parents: Most of these construction story often involve building something. Clues are hidden in the text so see if you and your child can guess was the "surprise" building at the end of the story. (A park, pool, roller coast etc.)

Books Read: B is for Bulldozer (Sobel) Huff and Puff (Rueda) Tip Tip Dig Dig (Garcia) Machines at Work (Barton)

Including playing with the story/sensory bin, I also let the kids doddle with white chalk on blue construction paper to create their own "blue prints"

Super Toddlers- Community Heroes

Can't forget our firefighters, mail carriers and sanitation workers! As an activity, I played Oscar the Grouch's "I love Trash" and literally scattered trash on the floor for the kids to pick up. Surprise, they love it! So I made them promise to their homes and pick up all the trash all the time.

Books Read: Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do (Heling)*, Smash! Mash! There Goes the Trash (Odanaka) Shhh! Everyone is Sleeping (Markes) This is the Firefighter (Goodwin)

Reading tips: With the book Shhh! Everyone is Sleeping- all the community helpers are sleeping in their work places. Ask you group if a librarian sleeps/lives in the library, etc. Most people do not, but some do (firefighters, the president etc.)

For our craft we made a community hero belt. Each kid got several coloring pieces of hammers, toothbrushes, police badge and brown construction paper to make a belt. I knew this was a bigger and more time consuming craft than others. I offered the craft as a take home for anyone who wanted it. 

(P.S. This author has a similar formatted book about sports. Planning ahead for SRP 2016! )

Super Toddlers- Storybook Heroes

This is a general theme less storytime. I used a selection of fairy tale, nursery rhyme books as well as some classic favorites. Chose what ever books, rhymes and fingerplays that suite you!

For our craft, we made simple paper plate crowns and covered them with loads of stickers, foam pieces and stick on jewels

We like many other libraries take a break in the month of August. So now I face with the awkwardness of parents asking me why I don't have story times and activities this month. What is the most efficient way of tell them we are on break without making the staff seem like we are lazy?

Storytime from the Liberry: The Letter M

I beg your pardon for not being up to date on my storytime posts. I was doing really good and scheduling time to post after each storytime every week....

That was about 5 weeks ago (the shame!)

The Letter M

If you have an older/more attentive group you can start out by asking them what things begin with the letter M. Moms, mountains, motorcycles, monkeys, moose and mustaches!

For interactive props, I cut up black mustaches and glued them on large craft sticks. The toddlers got to play with them throughout storytime and used them in our first book. And it quite delightful  (and surreal) to read a story to a room full of toddler and babies sporting little mustaches !

Welcome Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos  

Song: Open Shut Them

Book: Ten Naughty Little Monkeys by Suzanne Williams

Fingerplay: Three Little Monkeys
Three little monkeys sitting in a tree (Hold up 3 fingers)
Eating a banana just like me (pretend to eat a banana)
One had a frown (Frown)
One had a grin (Smile)
And one had banana all over his chin! (rub chin)

Song: ABC Song
 

Book: Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root - An action/movement book similar to "Going on a Bear Hunt" Onomatopoeia words for increasing vocabulary and phonological skills.

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Two Little Monkeys by Mem Fox 

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

With enough research and effort this could easily be an all monkey story time with a focus on counting (add in 5 little Monkeys). A pursuit worth the effort for an older crowd, but I'll bet my toddlers might get bored with it pretty quick.

If you interested in doing a storytime that is all mustaches, look no further than the valuable resource that is Sunflower Storytime.

 

Storytime from the Liberry: Get the Giggles

My success story! I recently went a a refresher workshop on Every Child Ready to Read. I learned a lot of new information and got to visit my favorite bubble tea place afterwards so it was a win-win for everybody. One of the more awkward parts of a job is a storytime presenter is talking to the parents on how they can carry on with reading and other activities at home to help their child learn. It's also a reminder to them that what library staff do when we present a storytime; we are doing it to benefit and teach our preschool patrons. We aren't just putting on a show because we love to perform and hear ourselves talk.(All though my degree is in theater and I often joke to myself that I pull off a one man show 3 times a week)

It's hard having to calm the chaos of a rowdy room to insert a literacy tip that you pray that it sticks. Last week I had one of my co-workers tell me a patron stopped in and asked for interactive picture books, a tip I had mentioned at my last storytime. My response! "They listened! Someone actually listened!"

Get the Giggles Storytime for Toddlers

Early Literacy Tip: Grown-ups, you'll notice that all of the stories I picked today aren't the traditional ones with beginning, middle and end. They are interactive, which is great to engage your child in "reading" with you. Kids this age aren't going to sit still the entire book of Make Way for Ducklings, and that is okay. Ask me later about some other interactive stories that will make reading book more fun for the both of you.

Opening Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Don't Push the Button by Bill Cotter- Interactive as the story and pictures change as the child helps the grown up reader push the button. Similar to Press Here by Herve Tullet

Song: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Book: The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli- Our crocodile friends swallows a watermelon seed. Can we guess what will happen? Will it grow inside of him?

Song:Walking Walking
Great for wiggly kids- Tune is Frere Jacques

Walking, walking, walking, walking
Hop, hop, hop, hop. hop. hop
Jumping, jumping, jumping
Jumping, jumping, jumping
Now we stop! Now we stop!

(Other actions- swimming, swaying, flying, skipping etc)

Book: The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone- If you never read this book or had it read to you as a kid, go read it right now!

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Can you make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas -Interactive because this book speaks to the kids, instead of just being something read to them. Lots of opportunities for jumping, moving and using your imagination. Kid that won't sit still for a storybook? Read them this!

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

When you choose a great selection of books, it really shows in your presentation of storytime. Many people have said it over and over again so I'll add my voice to the chorus, choose books you love to read! It helps you get exicited for storytime to start and motivated as you read and process. All these books I consider my A-Team, book that I enjoy reading, possibly over and over again.

The patron in question did actually find me when I was working at the desk and I gave her some more suggestions for interactive stories.

I Spy Book or Spot it Books
Counting Books (What comes before or after...)
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Mo Willems Books
Jan Thomas Books
Any book that the narrative asks the reader to guess what will happen next
Any book that the character breaks the fourth wall and addressed the reader directly
Books with comic book bubbles
Chester by Melaine Watt
Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long
Huff & Puff by Claudia Rueda
Going on a Bear Hunt or similar action stories
Lift the flap, touch and feel for babies and toddlers.

And more that I can't think of right now. Have any Early Literacy success stories or favorite interactive picture books to share. Leave them in the comments!

Storytime From the Liberry: Ducktales

How to do a storytime about ducks at your library

Step 1: Call it Ducktales
Step 2: Gather your books and supplies.
Step 3: Play the theme from Ducktales before your storytime starts. Watch as the parents listen and chuckle at your joke. Shout "Woohoo!" Enjoy your storytime
Step 4: If no one laughs or notices, take bittersweet comfort in know you are the coolest person in the room.

I've done this storytime two year ago, and the parents just thought my pun was a riot. Fast forward to the present, with most of the caregivers' noses are glue to their phones and oblivious to all, my "comic genius" falls on deaf ears. Sigh. Oh well let's read some books about ducks!

Opening Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Welcome: My usually spiel with my penguin puppet helper. Afterward I made him say quack. "Quack? Do penguins say quack, friends? What bird says quack?"

Book: Swim Duck Swim by Susie Lurie- A sweet story in rhyme with accompanying photos of one adorable duckling.

Song: All the Little Ducklings

Book: A book of Babies by Il Sung Na -One of my personal favorite authors. Great book about baby animals, eggs and perfect for the start of spring.

Song: Ten Little Ducklings
I made ten flannel silhouettes of rubber ducks so we could practice counting before we started. They lasted all of ten seconds before some sticky toddler fingers made off with them. But at least the flannel pieces got their attention so that we could all stand up and do the song together.

Tune: Ten Little Indians
One little, two little, three little ducklings
Four little, five little, six little ducklings
Seven little, eight little, nine little ducklings
Ten ducklings in the pond.

Extra Verses- Quack quack quack, quack, quack little ducklings....
Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim little ducklings





Book: Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long- If your kids and grownups aren't giggling at the end of this book, check their pulse because they might be dead.

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Five Little Ducks by Ivan Bates (Illustrator)- The best part of being your own storytime boss is you can make your own rules. The version of this song that I remember (and most of my group seems familiar with ) doesn't fit with the words in this book. So I sang the version I was comfortable with so I wouldn't get flustered with my words.



Way back in the day, when I was in middle school, I recall vividly going to the elementary school across the street to help read to the kids. The extra challenge was this was a school that had a large population of handicapped students, and the group I read to were mostly confined to wheelchairs and had serious developmental delays. This situation might strike fear in the heart of adult librarians, but I was a blissfully ignorant  6th grade kid who knew nothing about that. I knew how to read stories. I knew I should hold the book out to face the kids and turn it so everyone could see the pictures. I wasn't nervous if the my audience understood me or not. I guess one could call this the cockiness of youth.

The first book I read was a Ducktales book. I don't recall the title but it was a standard Golden Book format cranked out due to the popularity of cartoon show. It was way too long to be read out loud, but I wasn't given a choice in my material to read. I read for another 30 minutes, picking up one book after another. After I was done I was thanked by the teachers and I felt great...and not just because my volunteer work had excused me from class.

I was the oldest child in my family. I read books to my little brother and sister. I read out loud to my stuffed animals. But my first public performance of a storytime was in 6th grade.

And the book was Ducktales.

Woohoo!

Go Green Week: Storytime-The Color Green

I had two very energetic sessions of toddler storytime yesterday. It was one of the those times it was hard to tell who is more excited about storytime; me or the kids.

This was a new storytime for me I hadn't tried before, talking all about the color green.
I used my "flannel" props from this post here to get the kids talking about what they see in their world. Thankfully, we finally have a hint of spring weather so we could look outside and actually see green grass instead of snow. Plus I get to read some of my favorite books!

Opening Song: Wheels on the Bus

Welcome: Talking about green in our world
Grass and flowers are green; spring is coming. Shamrocks are green. It’s St. Patrick’s day soon. Having a green thumb means you are a good gardener. Lots of animals are green especially frogs, lizards, and snakes, Lots of green food is good for you like lettuce, spinach, avocados and peas!

Book: Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson- Be still my heart. Could this be a possible replacement for Brown Bear Brown Bear? I think so!

Song: Five Little Leprechauns 

Book: Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - I love this book and it always gets me and the grown ups giggling. I always look for an opportunity to read it. Little Pea loves being a pea, except for dinner time. Because when your a pea, you have to eat candy for dinner and Little Pea hates candy!

Song: Freeze Dance Song - Green Light Go by the Not-Its
This works great because the command for stopping is built into the song, so no need to awkwardly reach behind and stop a CD to signal it's time for freeze. I had a sign with Go in Green and Stop in Red that we used to to help the kids. I also gave them a choice. They can get up and dance with me or they can just watch me dance like a fool for the next two minutes. Thankfully they joined with me.

Book: The Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner- Another one of my all time favorites. Obviously, the key in reading this out loud is not to just rely on the pop ups. Open your mouth real wide and speak slowly. Be as comical as possible.

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Green by Laura Seeger 

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

I gave my kids the assignment to go and find something green this week and tell their grown ups about it.  As an added bonus, lots of the books I pulled to be checked out after storytime went out! 

Storytime from the Liberry: Toddler's Chinese New Year

I wished my toddler storytime group a "Happy New Year!" yesterday.

They just stared at me blankly (but to be fair they do that a lot)

I corrected myself "You might be thinking, 'Whoa you are a month late wishing a happy new year' so I will say instead Happy Chinese New Year."

The Chinese Zodiac has interested me ever since I was a kid, reading over the place mats at the Chinese buffet while chowing down on fried rice. Indeed, I was one of those women desperately trying to conceive during 2012 so I could have my firstborn be born in the Year of the Dragon.

I found a storytime idea for Chinese New Year in Artsy Toddler Storytime which has a whole year of storytime themes incorporating arts and craft activities. I adapted mine since I can never count on a small or large group. I might have 30 plus kids and no space to put up finger painting tables (Much less keep kids from tearing into them before stories are done)

2015 brings us the Year of the Sheep (or Goat depending on your sources) Children born under this new year are suppose to have calm, gentle and creative personality.

Since there are more picture books about sheep than goats, I'm sticking with sheep. Half the books deal with Chinese New Year/Culture, the rest are about sheep.

Books:
My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz *
Round is a Mooncake by Rosanne Thong* - She also has two other books that deal with colors and
numbers with Chinese culture. A good pick for a multicultural storytime.
Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw- Or any in this series. I find them all cute and funny.

My Lucky Little Dragon by Joyce Wan- Shorter Board book if you do baby storytimes, totally adorable.

*These books I shorten for time an attention span. You can do this easily without losing the whole story.

Activities:
Fireworks, parades, dragons, holidays there are so many direction you can go with this. Here's what I did.

Fire Little Firecrackers- I told the kids we would have indoor fireworks. How exciting is that? The flannel idea came from Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends
The firecrackers were made from red felt with white pipe cleaners attached with hot glue. The fireworks were made with felt and curling ribbon. I curled several dozen strands of ribbon (Only cutting myself twice) taped them together in bundles before stapling them to the felt. 

As you can see here, this firework flannel has many uses not just for Chinese New Years but also 4th of July, patriotic holidays and a Letter F themed storytime. This was one flannel story that my group really responded well to. It's defiantly a keeper!

I try not to lean on the crutch of doing the same storytime every year. I have at least two years rotation. I only have a handful that I repeat because they involve common and popular themes. I think this one is going into that select group. All you have to do is change the animal every year and your have something new. So be on the look out for Monkeys in 2016!

 
 

Storytime From the Liberry: Good Sports

A storytime about sports in the dead of winter? Yep!

A sports storytime has been on my bucket list for a while since its a great opportunity to include movement and action in our learning. I drafted up an idea for a sports storytime about three years ago and got inspired to put it into action after reading Sunflower Storytime's post about a football story time. It was their idea for having a football storytime this time of the year because of the Super Bowl.

Disclaimer: I really do not care about football. However we live in a big football town and saying to you don't care about the local college team tantamount to treason. I try to remain neutral and accept that some people really just love football and I'm just a person who prefers an opera house to a football stadium)

Out Ready to Read skill was talking so we talked about all the excited sports things than have been happening in our city recently (We hosted the NHL All Star game and our college football team just won the national championship, guess where I am?)

Books: 

Goodnight Football by Michael Dahl

Peanut and Fifi have a Ball by Randall de Seve- This book touched on several concepts at once. Sharing and when it's hard to share. Playing together and using your imagination.

Spot Loves Spots by Eric Hill

Last week I had a hard time choosing books because there were so many good choices to pick from. This time there where still many good choices, but many were too wordy. For a preschool or family storytime, yes. But not for toddlers. We did extra activities in place of the usual 4th story book.

Instead of focusing on traditional sports, you can also use storybooks about balls.

Songs and Activities:

This is the Way we Bounce the Ball and Flannel Board came from Sunflower Storytime

We did a counting rhyme
A little ball (make ball with fingers)
A bigger ball (make ball with hands)
A great big ball I see (make ball with arms)
Let's count them, one two three.

Storytime from the Liberry: Make Mine Music

Why pay big bucks to sign up your toddler for fancy drum circle sessions when you can come to my music story time and do it for free?
I have never understood the phenomenon behind music classes for babies and toddlers and why people shell out major bills just sing to their kiddo. Probably because I already do that stuff at home. Half my conversations with my daughter are some sort of music. I don't need to fork over 100 bucks to have some person tell me its good for her development to bang on some pots and pans.

So I'm inviting all parents to a "free preview class" of my toddler storytime were we sing together, read stories and have fun. As a bonus, if you enjoy your first session you can continue to come to our storytimes for free! As many as you want! No cost to you! Act now!

(Maybe I'm in the wrong business, I should start charging for this)

The title for this story time comes from the overlooked Disney film of the same name.

Books:
I had a really hard time deciding on what books to read because their are some many to choose from!
I narrowed my selection down to five but still was only able to read four at each storytime.

Baby's Got the Blues by Carol Diggory Shields- This book is hilarious. Very appealing for the grown ups in the crowd.
Can you Dance to the Boogaloo by Alice Lickens
Boom Bah by Phil Cummings- This book as great opportunities for movement and audience participation.
Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig
The Orchestra Pit by Johanna Wright

Songs and Activities:
Our ready to read skill this week was singing (duh!) so we did lots of songs and dancing on top of our usual stuff.

Old MacDonald Had a Band -Classic Piggyback method. I do have to warn my group ahead of time but sometime "farm" slips in there a couple times as we sung. Raffi has a version on CD

The Grand Old Duke of York - Can You Dance to the Boogaloo ended with the line "Just don't you dare sit still" so it was a great transition to get the kids up on their feet.

We Wave Our Scarves Together- This song comes from the gals at jbrary
Our baby storytime librarian ordered these rainbow dancing scarves (similar to these) which helped out with the dreaded "I want this color!" whining that usually happens. I happily passed these out exclaiming, "They are all the same color. We will all have rainbows!!" I also feel this could be a simple DIY craft for libraries on a budget.

We ended our session with music instrument free play time. I sat back and smiled watching the kids go nuts and just wanting to take on any old fart who dared complained about children making too much noise in the library.

Storytime From the Liberry: Polar Pals

This week's theme is penguins, polar bears and other cold weather creatures. Because it's still below freezing where I am and it's okay to discuss these things. An added bonus was that my storytime puppet Tickles is a penguin so this was a special storytime for him and "he" was very excited to talk to the kids about it.

Even though map skills are probably way beyond a toddler's understanding, I posted our big world map on the wall and took time to discuss different animals and where they lived. We pointed out where we lived first, (USA) than I placed pictures of polar bears, walrus, beluga whales etc. on the top in the map in the Arctic circle or "In the North" to make it simpler. I asked then if penguins lived up north and than place one penguin on Antarctica ("in the south") But I also had more penguins which I placed on the map in South Africa, the South American coast, and New Zealand.

My map is not crocked, its on its axis!

Will these kids remember this stuff after storytime? Probably not! But they were very focused when we talked about the map and the different animal friends. Therefore they were then excited to hear the stories.

Books

Some how all my books this session were short and cute, not that I'm complaining.

Polar Bear Morning By Lauren Thompson
I read the companion book Polar Bear Night during my PM storytime

Baby Penguins Everywhere by Melissa Guion
A charming book with cute illustrations by a debut author; this short story captures the essence in becoming a new parent. A lonely penguin suddenly becomes a surrogate mother to a multitude of baby penguins. Cute for the kiddos and strikes a note with parents.

I am Small by Emma Dodd
This is one of my favorite books. It's just so sweet, especially the last few pages. Now that I'm a mom, this book hits me right in the feels! If you can get a copy without the dust jacket, all the better because this story starts and ends on the end papers.

Breathe by Scott Magoon
Sometime there is a book that just appears at the right time and it's just perfect! This was that book for me. I reserved it after seeing it on a recommended read lists from jbrary.com. It was a great "calming down" story as I encourage the kids and grown ups to take a big deep breathe with me whenever I said the word "breathe" We did this right after Shake Our Sillies Out. Also it's about beluga whales one of my favorite animals!

Songs and Activities

One Two Buckle My Shoe

Snow Songs: Have the kids wave their arms and fingers like snowflakes falling. Funny dancing is highly encouraged

Tune: Twinkle Twinkle

Snowflakes, snowflakes dance around

Snowflakes, snowflakes, touch the ground

Snowflakes, snowflakes, in the air

Snowflakes, snowflakes, everywhere

Snowflakes, snowflakes dance around

Snowflakes, snowflakes, touch the ground

Way up high in the winter sky
Two little snowflakes caught my eye
Down to the ground they fell without a sound
And before long it was snowing all around.

 What are your favorite books about polar animals? There are so many great penguin books I haven't featured here.