Spiders! Pre-K and Family Storytime

What a great week to read about spiders in all my programs! 

See what I did with the toddler groups here
See what I did with the baby group here

Pre-K:
28 kids
4 siblings
22 adults
(This is time time of year attendance goes down - Fall Break, cooler weather, etc - which is a GREAT time to do really hands-on activities with the kids). 

Memory Box:  Cow from The Very Busy Spider

Books: 

Aaaaarrgghh! A Spider! by Lydia Monks: This spider just wants to be a family pet!  Every clever attempt to win the family over (dancing, bathing, catching flies) is met with a chorus of, " Aaaarrgghh! A Spider!" 

This makes for a very loud, interactive read.  The spider in the book is a bit small, so Fluffy the Spider* took center stage and acted out all the lines.

*Puppeteered by Miss Lesley in Pre-K ST and Miss Erica in Family ST

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle: The farm animals keep trying to play with the spider, but page after page, she is just too busy building her web.

As I read this book, a library co-worker* helped build a web using the prop below.  The piece of black flannel is about 3 feet wide.  The outline of the web is comprised of white yarn glued to the felt.  There is a piece of Velcro glued at all the junctions.

*Olive, Allison, Lesley, and Erica all stepped in on different days

As the spider starts spinning her web, my co-worker used yarn that sticks to the Velcro points to build the web one strand at a time.

Web in progress

 

Completed Web

 

 

Flannel:  "The Spider Catches a Fly"

After reading The Very Busy Spider, we decided that the spider needed help catching more bugs.  Each child was handed a laminated bug with Velcro on the back with the instructions to just hold their bugs and wait.

After going over which bugs they each had, they brought them up in groups to stick on the spider web as the adults sang:

The spider catches a fly
The spider catches a fly
Hi ho the dairy-o
The spider catches a fly

 

 

Movement / Music Activity: "Spider on the Floor"

There are several versions of the song.  I love the one by David Polansky.

 

** Correction!  If you listed to the sample I previously included, that is not the version I like. This is the version I like by David Polansky sample here

 

Tying the plastic ring spiders to yarn beforehand gives the spiders a great little bounce!

 

 

Rhymes:

"Litte Miss [or Mister] Muffet"

Little Miss Muffet
sat on her tuffet
eating her curds and whey (pretend to eat)
Along came a spider (wiggle fingers beside you)
and sat down beside her
and frightened Miss Muffet away! (JUMP up!)
 
"Itsy Bitsy Spider"

 

The kids sang along using the plastic spiders from the activity earlier as I showed the pictures in this book by Lorianne Siomades.

Letter(s) of the Day:
Fluffy the Spider lays amazing eggs!  I truly don't look at them beforehand.  I cover my ears and close my eyes while the children take a peek and then the shout out WORDS that start with that letter sound.

I then guess the letter on the egg based on their word clues;

G- grape, gorilla (words that helped me guess)
D- dog, daddy (words that helped me guess)
B- ball, bunny (words that helped me guess)

My Hair Accessory:

 

Miss Erica All Ready for Evening Family Storytime:

Yes, Miss Erica has managed to dress for EVERY theme since starting Family Storytime with me.  She is a black widow today, complete with red hourglass and spider web tights.

 

Family Storytime:  This weekly program is designed for children ages 2 to 7, but all family members of all ages are welcomed.  We do lots of activites to get children of all ages involved!

 

Thursdays @ 6 pm

 

NO EVENING FAMILY STORYTIME ON HALLOWEEN, OCT 31st

Owls: Pre-K and Family

Yup, it's that time of year again.  October just seems like the perfect time to read about owls.

We started by looking at all different kinds of owls:

We ascertained that Hedwig from Harry Potter is a Snowy Owl and identified what kind of owl Ollie the Owl is.  Can you Figure it out?

That's right!  He's a Great Horned Owl!

Memory Box: Hedgehog from Little Owl's Night

Books:

Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood: A curious little owl decides to stay awake and enjoy all the colors of daytime.
Tip: Before reading, prepare the kids to only shout out the appropriate color when you point to the group so they aren't all shouting colors out as soon as you turn the page.  My group did great!

I'm Not Cute by Johnathan Allen:  Baby Owl gets upset when the animals call him cute.  But he IS adorable, isn't he?
Prop: My finger puppet helped cue the kids in the say Baby Owl's refrain, "I'm NOT cute!"

Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan: Little Owl enjoys a lovely night visiting all the nocturnal animals.
Discussion: Nocturnal

Letter of the Day:  Oo for owl
We made the letter O with our bodies and then did this yoga pose called 360-degree Owl

 

Flannel: "One Little Owl"
I played the first verse of the YouTube Video to teach everyone the song and then we sang it using my flannel pieces below.  "One Little Owl" link here

 

We used this sign for tree every time we sang the word "tree'

One little owl said, "Whoo, whoo"

Two little owls said, "Whoo, whoo"

Three little owls said, "Whoo, whoo"

As they sat in the old oak tree

 

One little squirrel said, "Crunch, crunch"....

One little crow said, "Caw, caw"

Sorting Game:  Nocturnal or Diurnal?
(Family Storytime)

We sorted these animals:

 

Nocturnal

 

Diurnal (daytime animals)

 

Movement/Music Activity:  "Mr. Owl"
Enormous thanks to Lisa Shaia at http://thriveafterthree.com/ for this song.

We came up with dance moves for Mr. Owl, Mr. Bird, and Mr. Kitty and sang with these animals.  It's basically a really fun call and response song.  It's recorded by Kimmy Schwimmy

 

Additional Songs/Videos:

 

"Ten Little Owls" YouTube link here

"Nocturnal Animals" Play song and find lyrics here
(I used this song with puppet and some sign language last year)


Evenig Family Storytime Pictures:  "Dancing to Mr. Owl"
Join us on Thursdays @6pm
Geared toward children ages 2 - 7, but all family member welcomed!

Owls - Wiggle Worms

I usually don't theme the Wiggle Worms (toddlers) program, but today we did a couple of owl-y things:

Ollie Owl and Me

Letter of the Day: Oo for Owl

Book: 
Hello, Day! by Anita Lobel.  Various animals greet the day in their own unique voices, except for the owl who welcomes the night.

Flannel:  "One Little Owl"
I played the first verse of this cute Youtube video link here

We sang the same song again with my flannel below.  Each time we sang "tree" we did this sign

 

One little owl said, "Whoo, whoo"

Two little owls said, "Whoo, whoo"

Three little owls said, "Whoo, whoo"

as they sat in the old oak tree

 

One little crow said, "Caw, caw"....

One little squirrel said, "Crunch, crunch"...

 

Movement Activity:

 

We threw two buckets of fabric autumn leaves around the room while I played:

 

"It's Fall Again" from Seasonal Songs in Motion and

"Falling Leaves"from Alphabet Volume 1

 

 

 

The kids got to choose an owl sticker before they left:

 

Another fun owl counting video to check out:

 

YouTube video link here



 

Autumn: Pre-K and Family Storytimes

It is officially AUTUMN!  Even though we don't see typical autumn weather and seasonal changes in our part of Arizona, it's fun to talk about other parts of the state (and out of state) and use our imaginations.

 

Books:

 

*Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze by Maureen Wright:  Big Bear thinks his tremendous sneezes are causing the leaves and apples to fall off the trees and the geese to fly away, but the autumn wind finally convinces him otherwise.

 

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert:  A child, in simple yet informative narrative, shares the life-cycle of his favorite tree and ends with his favorite time of year.

 

A is for Autumn:  Bright photographs and simple text present a variety of fall scenes. We used this for our letter(s) of the day.

 

Discussion:  What happens in the fall?  It gets cooler, leaves change color and fall, we start wearing jackets, geese fly south towards warmer weather, and we can pick apples and pumpkins

 

 

 

 

Book Extension

 

*After reading Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze I told the kids that the author got it a little wrong.  Bear sneezes don't sound like "Aa-chooo".... Bear sneezes sound like this:  "Rroaar-chooo"

 

Bear gave all of his friends his sneezies and the kids all made various animal sneezing sounds with me:

Music / Movement:

 

"The Leaves on the Tree" by The Learning Station.  Listen ( here )

 

We signed "O" for orange and "B" for brown and acted out the other motions

 

Letter(s) of the Day: From A is for Autumn

 

Ending Activity:

 

After clear instructions on how we'd use the parachute (othewise chaos ensues), we all stood around the paracute and made a gentle breeze.  As the autumn breeze got stronger and stronger, I dumped in two buckets of fabric autumn leaves.

 

 As the adults lifted the parachute above our heads, I had the kids go underneath as leaves fell down all around them.  It's a beautiful sight to look up too and see all the leaves flying over the parachute.

 

I played the songs:

"Falling Leaves"

"It's Fall Again"

Pictures from evening Family Storytime:

 

We tossed some leaves around for a little bit afterwards

 

The kids love to pick up the leaves and put them in the buckets.  Go for it!

 

 I don't know if you can tell, but there are a LOT of fabric leaves in play.  You really need a lot for the effect.

 

Muggs from Paws 2 Read sat in on storytime this evening.  Some of her friends will be back on Saturday, October 19th from 10:30 to 12.  Come back and read or share a story with a registered therapy dog.

Baby Time - Autumn

I don't post about Baby Time nearly enough.  I love this group.  I love the care-givers!  I love the babies! 

Depending on weather, time of year, etc. this program (for babies ages birth to around 20 months and their caregivers) brings in an average of 50 to 80 participants each week.

There is a lot of repetition, but we keep it fun along the way! 

These friends make an appearance every week:

Roly Poly Beetle
(Roll baby's hands - or your hands - accordingly)

Roly poly roly poly up up up
Roly poly roly poly down down down
Roly poly roly poly out out out
Roly poly roly poly in in in
Roly poly roly poly clap clap clap
Roly poly roly poly lap lap lap

Mr. Bear (recorded music)

After we wake up Mr. Bear, he sings hello to all the babies and then we wave to him and clap together:

Today he was so excited about fall sports, he wore his Arizona Cardinals jersey

Every week we also:

• Sing "I Wake Up My Hands" (recorded music)
• Sing an animal song with puppets (recorded music)

This week we sang "If Animals Could Dance"

• Read a book as a group (Today we read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle)
• Read board books one-on-one with our babies
• Reading should be a fun activity for babies!  If they are getting antsy, it's ok for them to walk around while you read or just put the book down.  No need to finish it.
• Books are fun!  Leave books in your toy baskets at home.  If baby just wants to play with the books, that's fine!

Some of our babies reading with care-givers today:

 

• Sing a bouncing song (recorded music)

Today we sang "The Leaves on the Tree" by The Learning Station (Listen here)

 

 

• Dance to music with shakers (Today we played with scarves instead while I played "Falling Leaves") (Listen here)
 
• Do a prop rhyme

 Today we did "I Found an Apple on the Ground" (idea from Storytime ABC's

 

• End with bubbles

Other Rhymes We Did This Week:

 

Tommy Thumbs

 

Jack is Quiet

 

There Was a Little Turtle

 

We always end with social time.  Thank you, adults, for being so focused on your babies during the program!