The Circus Storytime (Preschool) 3.6.2013

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: “Today is circus day in storytime! The circus is so much fun! When you go to the circus, you get to see all sorts of fun and crazy things. There are performers and animals that do tricks, clowns, tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, jugglers, and so much more! Has anyone ever been to a circus before? Well we are going to go to a circus today in storytime. And who knows? By the end of the day, we might just get to perform a circus trick ourselves…!”

Song with Card Stock Pictures: (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Let’s all go to the circus today,
the circus today, the circus today!
Let’s all go to the circus today and watch the animals play!
See the lions jump through the hoops,
Through the hoops, through the hoop!
See the lions jump through the hoops
At the circus today!
See the big seals spinning balls…
See the little dogs jump and twirl…

Book 1: Tree Ring Circus by Adam Rex

“Another thing they have at the circus is clowns, and clowns can be a little crazy. So I think we need to sing a crazy song! Everybody stand up and we are going to sing a song called  “Boom! Boom! Ain’t it Great to be Crazy”.”
Song: Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
A horse, and a flea, and three blind mice (pat legs and clap for the whole verse)
Sat on the curbside playing dice
The horse he slipped and fell on the flea
“Whoops!” said the flea “There’s a horse on me!”
Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy! (pat, pat, clap clap, circle fingers at ears)
Way down South where bananas grow
A flea stepped on an elephant’s toe
The elephant cried with tears in his eyes and said
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”
Chorus
Way up North in the ice and snow
There lived a penguin and his name was Joe
He got so sick of black and white
He wore pink slacks to the dance that night
Chorus

Movement/Transition to the Floor: Circus clown, circus clown turn around!
Circus clown, circus clown blow kisses to the crowd
Circus clown, circus clown, bend down and take a bow
Circus clown, circus clown, sit down upon the ground
credit: adapted from Storytime Secrets

Book 2: Big and Little by John Stadler

Puppet: sneezing elephant
*click here to see a storytime post that has this whole puppet bit written out

Book 3: Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman

Movement Activity: jump through a flaming hoop! (hula hoop in red and orange streamers)

Goodbye Song!

The Letter A Storytime (Preschool) 2.27.2013

Welcome Song
Name Song

Dancing: We danced to ABC Rock by Greg and Steve before getting started. My preschoolers normally love to dance, but I think they were shy with having the dancing at the beginning of storytime. We will only dance at the end from now on.

Book 1: The Ant and the Grasshopper by Rebecca Emberley

Introduce Topic: “Today’s storytime is all about the letter…(hold up a picture of the letter A and give kids the chance to say the letter) A! What are some things that start with the letter A? alligators, ants, airplane, astronaut, aliens, apples…
As we said things that started with the letter A, I pulled out some flannel pieces that had those objects on them and by the end we had made a giant letter A out of all the pieces.

The idea for the letter puzzle came from Storytime Katie. I didn’t particularly like they way I presented it, but I do like the idea of a letter puzzle. I will continue to hunt for better ways to incoporate this idea.

Song: Apples and Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas. (4xs)
I like to ate, ate, ate, a-pples and banaynays (2xs)
I like to eat…e-pples and baneenees. (2xs)
I like to ite…i-pple and bininis (2xs)
I like to oat…o-pples and banonos (2xs)
I like to ute…u-pples and banunus (2xs)
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!
credit: childhood

Book 2: Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy

Flannel Story: If You’re Going to the Moon Wear Your Boots (tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It)

If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots (stomp, stomp)
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots (stomp, stomp)
If you’re going to the moon, then this is what you do
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots (stomp, stomp)
If you’re going to the moon, wear your helmet (pat head 2xs)
…If you’re going to the moon, wear your gloves (clap, clap)
credit: Mel’s Desk

Book 3: Andrew Drew and Drew by Barney Saltzberg

Goodbye Song

Craft: We did a Letter A coloring page

Trains Storytime (Preschool) 2.20.2013

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: “Today is all about trains! Who can make this sound? Chugga Chugga Choo-Choo! Very good! Has anyone ever ridden on a train before? Well today we are going to take a train ride through the magical power of books! But first, I think we need to start with a song. I’ll sing it once, and then I want you to join in with me.”
Song: Down by the station, early in the morning
See the little pufferbellies all in a row!
See the engine driver, pull the little lever!
Puff puff! Toot too! Off we go!

 Book 1: I Saw an Ant On a Railroad Track by Joshua Prince

Flannel Fun: We did a song for our flannel, and I taught them the chorus so they could sing a long with me. The tune is This Old Man
Chorus: With a choo-choo, toot-toot,
Hear the whistle blow
This little train comes chugging home!
(sing this after introducing each new train car)

This little car, painted…Black 
It comes chugging down the track
This little car, painted Blue
It has seats for me and you
This little car, painted…yellow
It shimmies and shakes like a bowl of jello
This little car, painted…green
It’s the fanciest car that I’ve ever seen
This caboose, it is…red
It will take you home to bed
credit: Storytime Katie

Book 2: Puff Puff, Chugga-Chugga by Christopher Wormell

Song: A peanut sat on a railroad track
His heart was all a flutter.
‘Round the bend came number ten.
Toot! Toot! Peanut butter!
Squish

Book 3: William and the Night Train by Mij Kelly of The Rain Train by Elena De Roo

Dance: Laurie Berkner’s Little Red Caboose – make a train around the library
I must say this was magical. Sometimes the preschool group can be a rowdy bunch, but when we put this train together they had their game faces on. And they loved moving in and out of the stacks.

Goodbye Song!

Strange Animals Storytime (Preschool) 2.6.13

Well, Groundhogs Day was just a couple days before this storytime, and I really really love groundhogs. I thought it would be great to do a groundhog themed storytime, but was pretty confident I wouldn’t find enough material. I settled for “strange creatures” instead.

Welcome Song
Name Song

Fingerplay: Open Them, Shut Them
Open them, shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open them, shut them
Open them, shut them
Put them in your lap, lap, lap
Creep them, creep them
Right up to your chin, chin, chin
Open wide…but don’t let them in!

Introduce Topic: “Today’s storytime is all about animals that are unusual; animals that we don’t talk about that much. You may have heard of some of the animals we will read about today, and you might not have heard of some of the animals we will read about today. And you may have heard of some of the animals we have read about, but never seen them.”

Book 1: Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow

 Flannel Fun: Five Sleepy Moose

Five sleepy moose on a great big hill
The first one said “I like lying still”
The second one said “I’m about to yawn”
The third one said “Please don’t wake me ’till dawn”
The fourth one said “My eyes are starting to close”
The fifth one said “It’s time for a doze”
So they pulled up their covers and all said “Goodnight!”
Then the five sleepy moose where out like a light.
credit: Harris County Public Library

Book 2: Have You Ever Seen a Sneep by Tasha Pym

Song with Puppets: We have so many cute puppets that hardly ever get used, and this storytime presented itself as a great opportunity to use all of them. So I packed them all up in a storytime box and we sang the following song. Each puppet got a verse, and we tried to move the puppet (as well as ourselves) the way that the song tells us to.
Song: Have you ever seen a groundhog, a groundhog, a groundhog
Have you ever seen a groundhog shuffle this way and that.
Shuffle this way and that way and this way and that way
Have you ever seen a groundhog shuffle this way and that.
Have you ever seen a Squirrel monkey…Swing this way and that
Have you ever seen a Hippo…lumber this way and that
Have you ever seen a Opossum…scoot this way and that
Have you ever seen a Porcupine…waddle this way and that

Book 3: Roly Poly Pangolin by Anna Dewdney

Goodbye Song!

Penguin Storytime (Preschool) 1.30.2013

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: Today’s storytime is all about an animal that lives where it is really cold. I wonder if you can guess what animal I am talking about if I give you some clues. It is a bird, but it doesn’t fly. It can swim really fast. It is black and white. Penguins!

Book 1: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

Action Rhyme: Penguins live in the South Pole where it is really cold, and sometimes it snows when it is really cold. Can you make snowflake fingers? (Wiggle fingers)Snowflakes whirling all around, all around, all around.
Snowflakes whirling all around until they land and touch the ground.

Song: This next song involves a lot of movement, so we are going to practice some of those movements right now. The first movement is a waddle. Penguins waddle when they walk. Can you show me how that looks? The next movement is swimming. Penguins are really fast swimmers. Can you show me what it looks like to swim? The last movement is sliding on our bellies. Penguins slide down glaciers made of ice on their bellies, so let’s all get down on our bellies and pretend to slide down a glacier. Good! Now let’s sing our song and see if we can remember our moves!
Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin.
Did you ever see a penguin waddle this way and that?
Waddle this way and that way and this way and that way,
Did you ever see a penguin waddle this way and that!
Did you ever see a penguin…swim this way and that…
Did you ever see a penguin…slide on its belly this way and that…
credit: Storytime Katie

Book 2: Penguins by Liz Pichon

Song: This is the way we dress for the arctic,
dress for the arctic, dress for the arctic.
This is the way we dress for the arctic because it’s so cold there.
We’ll wear pants and jackets today, jackets today, jackets today.
We’ll wear pants and jackets today because it’s cold outside.
I took suggestions from the kids for the rest of the verses, and as we sang the song we acted out putting on each of these clothing items.

Flannel Fun: I am Looking For My Mother

Book 3: A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis

 Dance: The Penguin Polka by Teresa Jennings

Goodbye Song!

Red and Green Storytime (Preschool) 12.19.2012

So this was my last storytime before the holidays, and I didn’t want to do a Christmas storytime for obvious reasons, but I thought maybe I could do something that alluded to this time of year. So I chose to do a storytime on the colors red and green. It went well, but I wasn’t crazy about the theme.

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: Today’s storytime is all about the colors red and green. Who can name some things that are red? Who can name some things that are green? Now I want you to look down at your clothes and see if you are wearing any red or any green.

Action Activity: (we clapped to the beat as we did this chant)
If you’re wearing red today, red today, red today;
If you’re wearing red today, please stand up!
If you’re wearing green today…
If you’re wearing clothes today…
credit: my awesome coworkers!

“When I think of red things and green things, I think of apples because apples can be red or green. We are going to do a rhyme about apples. What color should our apples be today?”
Rhyme: Way up high in the apple tree, (reach hands way up high)
two (red or green) apples smiled at me. (make hands into fists)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could, (shake your arms)
and down came the apples. (bring arms down)
Boy, were they good! (rub your belly)
credit: Perry Public Library

Book 1: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London

 Flannel Fun: tune of This Old Man. (instruct the kids to shake when we “shake that tree”. Practice first)

Four red cherries
On the tree.
Two for you and two for me.
So-o shake that tree and watch them fall
One, two, three, four. That is all!
credit: Story Time Secrets 

Song: (this is a popular bounce we do in our Mother Goose storytime. For Preschool storytime we just bounce ourselves)
Bumpin up and down in my little red wagon
Bumpin up and down in my little red wagon
Bumpin up and down in my little red wagon
Won’t you be my darlin’!
One wheel’s off and the wagon’s saggin’… (repeat 3xs)
Won’t you be my darlin’!
I’m waving to my friends in my little red wagon… (repeat 3xs)
Won’t you be my darlin’!

Book 2: The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

Song: (tune: Baby Bumblebee)
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
Won’t my mommy hide behind the door.
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
STOMP! STOMP! ROAR!
Uh oh. The dinosaur is getting bigger!
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
Won’t my mommy hide behind the door.
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
STOMP! STOMP! ROAR!
Uh oh…He’s getting even bigger.
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
Won’t my mommy hide behind the door.
I’m bringing home a baby dinosaur.
(Clap hands together) Oops. He squashed me!
credit: ??

Song: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree (hold up five fingers)
Teasing Mr. Alligator, “You can’t catch me. (put thumbs to temples)
You can’t catch me”
Along comes Mr. Alligator quietly as can be (put hands together in front of your body and ‘swim them’)
And SNAPS that monkey right out of that tree! (make a big alligator clap)
repeat until there are “No more monkeys swinging in the tree)
credit: childhood

Book 3: Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

*words cannot describe how much I love this book

Goodbye Song!

B is for Books Storytime (Preschool) 1.23.2013

So I had done two letter themed storytimes before (M for May and S for something I don’t remember), and I thought it would be fun to do another. So I chose B because B is for books. As I was preparing this storytime at the circulation desk, one of my preschool regulars came in and asked what I was doing. When I explained that I was getting ready for our letter B storytime tomorrow, he asked me what happened to A. Which, as it turns out, was a very good question. Whatever did happen to A? So I took his suggestion to heart and, after doing B of course, I went back to the beginning and started doing some letter themed storytimes every couple of weeks, starting, of course, with the letter A. These storytimes have turned out to be some of my fovorite storytimes that I do.
For now, here is B…

Welcome Song
Name Song

Song: Before we started this song, we practiced counting to 10 and then backwards from 10.
One little, two little, three little bunnies (hold up fingers as we sing)
Four little, five little, six little bunnies
Seven little, eight little, nine little bunnies
Ten little bunnies hopping! (turn 10 fingers into bunny ears)
Ten little, nine little, eight little bunnies
Seven little, six little, five little bunnies
Four little, three little, two little bunnies
One little bunny hopping!
credit: Click Here!

Introduce Topic: I had a picture of a letter B on our flannel board, and I told the kids that the word bunny starts with B and the letter B makes a sound like this “Buh”. I asked them if they could make that sound. I also asked them if they could think of anything else that started with that letter.

Book 1: Small Bunny’s Blue Blanket by Tatyana Feeney

Beanbag Activity: (tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It)
Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair
Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair
Put your beanbag on your hair, and leave it just right there
Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair.
Other verses:
Put your beanbag on the ground…step and step around
Put your beanbag on your toe…lift it high and lift it low
Put your beanbag in your hand…toss is up and watch it land
credit: SLC Book Boy (I think)

Book 2: Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Song: Baby Bumblebee
I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee (cup hands and swing them back and forth)
Won’t my mama be so proud of me
I’m bringing home a baby Bumblbee
Ouch! It stung me! (shake hands)
I’m squishing up my baby bumblebee (clap hands together and smoosh them around)
Won’t my mama be so proud of me
I’m squishing up my baby bumblebee
Eew! It’s yucky!
I’m wiping off my baby bumblebee (wipe hands on pants)
Won’t my mama be so proud of me
I’m wiping off my baby bumblebee
Now my mama won’t be proud of me!
credit: childhood

Puppet Song: I had a very cute bear puppet, and I hid him behind my back as we sang this song. (tune: Where is Thumpkin?)
Where is bear, where is bear
Here I am, here I am
How are you this winter? Very tired thank you
Go to sleep, go to sleep.
We then shouted “Wake up bear” so we could sing the song again
credit: Storytime Katie

Book 3: The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli

Fun with Bubbles: I blew bubbles as the children said this rhyme:
Bubble, bubble come and land,
in the center of my hand
credit: don’t remember…

Goodbye Song!

Down on the Farm 1.16.2013 (Preschool)

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: “Today’s storytime is all about the farm! What kind of things do you find on the farm?”

Song: Old MacDonald
*for this version I gave each child a chance to suggest an animal

Book 1: Hungry Hen by Richard Waring

Song: Farm Chores (tune: This is the way I wash my hands):
This is the way we plant our seeds, plant our seeds, plant our seeds
This is the way we plant our seeds so early in the morning.
This is the way we water our seeds….
Our seeds grow up….
We pick our food….
We eat our food….
Before we sang this song, we talked about how there is more than just animals on a farm. There is food as well. When we sang the song, we did gestures that mimicked each action.
credit: Storytime Katie <- love her, by the way! great blog!

Fingerplay: Way Up High in the Apple Tree:
Way up high in the apple tree (reach arms up high)
Two little apples winked at me (make hands into fists and wink)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could (shake your arms)
And DOWN came the apples (bring arms down when you say “down”)
Boy, were they good. (rub belly)
credit: Perry Public Library

Flannel Fun: Five Little Piggies Rolled in the Mud

Five little piggies rolled in the mud
Squishy-squashy, squishy-squashy, felt so good!
The farmer took one little piggy out
“Oink, oink, oink!) he did shout.
(repeat until all the piggies are out of the mud)
No little pigges rolled in the mud
They all stayed clean and oh so good
The farmer turned his back and then…
Those five little piggies rolled in the mud again!
credit: I inherited this one from my supervisor

Book 2: Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Puppet Fun: Over in the Barnyard (I did this with chick finger puppets):
Over in the barnyard, early in the morning
See the yellow chickies standing in a row.
See the busy farmer getting them their breakfast.
Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!
And off they go!
credit: Storytime Katie

Song: We’re on the way to Grandpa’s Farm (w/ card stock pictures of farm animals):
We’re on the way, we’re on the way (clapping to the beat and stamping our feet as we sing)
On our way to grandpa’s farm.
We’re on the way, we’re on the way
On the way to Grandpa’s farm.
Now…down on Grandpa’s farm there was a great, big horse. (Show photo of horse)
The horse…he makes a sound like this: Neigh Neigh!
The horse…he makes a sound like this: Neigh Neigh!
(Repeat with other animals)
credit: the awesome head of our children’s department gave me this one

Book 3: The Long Nosed Pig Pop Up by Keith Faulkner

 Goodbye Song!

Crazy Cat Party Storytime 1.9.2013 (Preschool)

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: “What kind of animal makes a sound like this: meow? Does anyone have a cat? What is a baby cat called?”

Song: Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty
Before we sang the song, I told the kids we were going to pretend that we have a cat; and we made one hand into a fist. Then I had them pet their kitty very gently as we sang this song:
Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur.
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr.
credit: Well I got this song from The Big Bang Theory (I’m kind of obsessed). I know others know it from childhood.

 Book 1: Four Fierce Kittens by Joyce Dunbar

Flannel Fun: Five Little Kittens

Down around the corner at my mom’s pet store
Were five little kittens and not one more.
Along came a customer with a nickel to pay,
And he took a cute little kitten away.
I then asked the kids which one should he buy, before taking one away and continuing on with the rhyme.
credit: Mel’s Desk

Song: If you’re a cat and you know it say meow
(other verses: lick your paws, pounce like this, do all three)
credit: Stories with Ms. Jenna

To get the kids back down to the ground we pretended to be a cat and take a cat nap

Book 2: Friends by Michael Foreman

Movement Activity: Kitty cat, kitty cat turn around.
Kitty cat, kitty cat touch the ground.
Kitty cat, kitty cat stand up on your toes.
Kitty cat, kitty cat touch your nose.
Kitty cat, kitty cat say “Meow”.
Kitty cat, kitty cat sit on the ground.
credit: adapted from childhood

Song: Old MacDonald (I use card stock photos of different animals on the farm when I do this song)

Book 3: Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin

Big Finish: We talked about the different ways cats move, and dance to “The Cat Came Back” by Fred Penner

Goodbye Song!

It’s a Celebration Storytime 1.2.2013 (Preschool)

This storytime happened very close to New Year’s, but I was worried there wouldn’t be enough material out there to do a New Year’s themed storytime. So instead I went with something broader – celebrations.

Welcome Song
Name Song

Introduce Topic: “What did we celebrate recently? Who knows what year it is now? People do lots of different things to celebrate the new year. What do you do?”

Song: (tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
Cheer, cheer cheer the year
A New one’s just begun!
Celebrate with all your friends,
Let’s go have some fun!
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
A brand new year is here!
Learning, laughing, singing, clapping, through another year!
credit: Storytimes at the Library

Book 1: I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman

Counting: We practiced counting to ten, and then backwards from ten before we did this next activity:
Action: pretend to be fireworks: There are no words for this – just action. Clap your hands down low, keep them together as you wiggle them up making firework/whistling noises. When you get to the top, clap them again. Then wiggle your fingers down one side saying “Oooh”, down the other side saying “Aaah” and down the middle saying “Wow!”
credit: got this one from a coworker

Noise Makers: I passed out noise makers, and sang this song:
We’re shaking on our shakers
We’re shaking on our shakers
Hi-Ho the dairy-o
We’re shaking on our shakers!
We’re shaking way up high
We’re shaking way up high
Hi-Ho the dairy-o
We’re shaking way up high!
We’re shaking way down low…
We’re shaking in a circle…
After that song, we did this fun diddy getting faster and faster and faster every time we did it:
And shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and stop!
credit: RussTV

Book 2: The Snow Parade by Barbara Brenner

 Song: (tune: This Old Man) I used a typical New Year’s party hat
On my head, I wear my hat
It is such a silly hat
That my head will wiggle waggle to and fro
Where else can my silly hat go?
Take suggestions from kids
credit: ???

Book 3: If You Give a Pig a Party by Numeroff or Snow Magic by Harriet Ziefert

Big Finish: dance to Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill

Goodbye Song!