Pre-K Storytime 12-29-11 Teddy Bears

Yesterday we had some fun with teddy bears.  I have a nice collection of teddy bears started for storytime but need more to make a full set.  If you have any teddy bears you're not attached to and need a home for, I would welcome them!

Memory Box:  G  (yes, it was a big letter G)

Game: Famous teddy bears.  We identified some famous teddy bears like Michael's bear from Peter Pan, Paddington Bear, Teddy Ruxpin (just for fun LOL), and the most famous stuffed bear of all, Winnie the Pooh.

Book:  My Bear Griz by Suzanne McGinness.  Billy goes on adventures with his bear Griz who is really his teddy bear.  The big G (from our memory box) appears in this book.

Book:  Teddy Bears, Teddy Bears by Harriet Ziefert.  All the kids got a teddy bear to move like the bears in this classic rhyme, "Teddy bears, teddy bears, turn around...." and so on.

Book:  Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough.  When a small boy named Eddie goes searching for his lost teddy in the dark woods, he comes across a gigantic bear with a similar problem.  I think this book is really funny, but I'm not sure if it went over the kids' heads a little bit.  Book reviews recommend it for Pre-S/ ages 2-5.






Movement: "Teddy Bear Playtime".  All the kids had a teddy bear and practiced throwing and catching, balancing, and identifying body parts.

Wiggle Worms 12-27-11

Animal Song: Grandpa's Farm

Letter of the Day: Hh for hippo (which we saw later in our book)

Book:  We've All Got Bellybuttons by David Martin.  All the animals in this books do things young toddlers can do: Clap, kick, wiggle their ears, and giggle giggle giggle when tickled! 

Movement:  We danced to one of my favorite songs "Wiggerly Woo" using colorful ribbons.

Flannel:  Baa Baa Black Sheep

Rhyme:  There Was a Little Turtle

Library closed Monday, December 26th

Wiggle Worms 12-19-11

Thanks for coming!  I know you're all busy this time of year so it's really nice that you take some time to come to storytime. 

I would love to own a library set of teddy bears, so if you have any non-sentimental ones please donate them!

Today we:

Animal Song: "If I Was a Bird"

Letter of the Day:  Ss for snake ssssssssss

Book:  My Bear Griz by Suzanne McGinness.  Billy loves bears!  With a little imagination his teddy bear becomes a Grizzly bear to have adventures with.

Movement:  "Teddy Bear Playtime" by Hap Palmer.  We had fun throwing our teddy bears up and catching them and having them sit on our heads.

Flannel: Santa's Hat

We ended storytime with a jingle bell parade around the library!  All of our staff and a bunch of high school students were out in the library clapping for the kids so it was really cute.  We paraded to "Kris Kringle's Jingle Bell Band"

Happy Holidays!!

Wiggle Worms 12-12-11

Thanks for braving the rain to visit with us today!

Animal Song: Old MacDonald

Letter of the Day: Bb for bus and ball

Book: The Boy on the Bus by Penny Dale.  When all the animals want to ride the bus it makes for a noisy bus ride!  We sang this book to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus".

Plush Balls:  We practiced following instructions, hand-eye coordination, and gross motor skills by rolling, passing, bouncing, and tossing plush balls  using the song "Roll, Roll, Roll Your Ball"

Flannel:  "Baa Baa Black Sheep".  We also used a purple, green, and blue sheep for this rhyme and change the ending a little bit.

Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full
One for my Master, one for my Dame
and one for your child's name who lives down the lane.

Finger Play:  "Rain is Falling Down" (so apropos)

Rain is falling down
Rain is falling down
Pitter patter, pitter patter
Rain is falling down
SPLASH!!

Pre-K - Butterflies

Thursday was a little bit of a smaller group, which worked well with our interactive books.  We read about caterpillars, butterflies, and moths.

Book:  Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek.  Lucy looks everywhere for her butterfly and finally finds it in the sky.  We identified lots of bugs in this book including a ladybug which was our memory box item.

Book: Don't Worry, Bear by Greg Foley.  The kids really helped me bring this book to life!  My colleague  read the book as I manipulated the felt board pieces to tell the story of a caterpillar who spins himself a cocoon.  Bear worries for caterpillar because it gets dark (turned the lights off), gets windy (we made gusts of wind), snows (we all threw packing popcorn in the air for a big snowstorm), and rains (spritzed some water).  Don't worry; caterpillar is just fine!  He emerges a beautiful moth.

Shakers: "Harry Caterpillar" is a song off the CD Exercise Party.  Harry Caterpillar wants to cross the street so he has to "wiggle and jiggle and roll himself over" all the way there.  I have a caterpillar puppet that turns into a a butterfly, which is exactly what Harry does at the end, so the puppet danced around with us.

Game:  Bibbity Boppity Boo with flannel butterflies.  Each child got a butterfly and I put their rhyming skills to the test.  "Bibbity Boppity Boo a  butterfly sat on my shoe", etc.

Letter of the Day:  Ll

Wiggle Worms! 12/5 and 12/6

Today we:

Animal Song: "If Animals Could Dance"

Letter of the Day:  Ff for fish

Book:  Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins is one of my favorite storytime books.  The illustrations are bold, colorful, and BIG.  This is a great book to check out and take home too since the pictures lend themselves well to lots of "what" questions for you and your toddler to discuss.

Movement: "The Goldfish" song by Laurie Berkner.  I usually do this with the Pre-schoolers, but the toddlers totally go the hang of this song!  Our little fish like to take naps, swim around, and do silly things like take showers.

Flannel:  We reviewed concepts like "big and small (or little)", "happy and sad", and "polka dots and stripes"

Finger Play:  We did a "new" finger play that was one of my favorites as a kid when I went to storytimes. 

The Little Turtle

There was a little turtle.

He lived in a box.

He swam in a puddle.

He climbed on the rocks.

 

He snapped at a mosquito.

He snapped at a flea.

He snapped at a minnow.

And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.

He caught the flea.

He caught the minnow.

But he didn't catch me.

5th Annual Caroling in the Library!

I always have such a blast organizing and doing this program with my colleague, Allie Burke, while the rest of our staff help direct the flow of traffic and add to the holiday cheer.  We put this event on every year for the families in our community. 

The PHS students baked 150 gingerbread men for children to decorate and take with them. These students also baked the dozens of gorgeous cookies and set out hot beverages for the pubic to enjoy during the evening.  Their culinary instructor, Angela Stutz, helps cater this event.

The PHS choir, led by their instructor Joe Little, sang many of favorite Christmas songs and provided all the lyrics so families to carol along.

The evening concluded with pajama storytime which I led and my (twin) sister helped me with.  She is awesome enough to help me every year (and I think we throw a few people off every year too LOL).  I read some of my old favorite books but added some new books and activities as well.

Books:

Dream Snow by Eric Carle
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone

 


Flannel Activities:

"Santa's New Suit":  Santa was all ready for Christmas...except for all the soot on his suit.  His elves washed his suit but then it shrunk in the drier.  Not only would Santa be cold if he wore it, he looked plain old silly.  His elves made him a beautiful blue suit and then a yellow suit, but they were the wrong color.  Oh well, it was Christmas Even by then and Santa would have to make due with one of those suits...but then Mrs. Clause surprised him with a gift she had been working hard on!

"Santa's Hat": Santa is definitely in a few predicaments this Christmas!  In this flannel, he has so many hats the children had to help him figure out which one was the right one.

"My Kittens Mittens":  We hung mittens up on a clothes line just like the cats did in Three Little Kittens.  We put the audience's rhyming skills to the test with this one as we helped my kitten look for her lost mitten:

My poor little kitten lost her mitten
and started to cry, "Boo hoo"
So I helped my kitten look for her mitten
Her beautiful mitten of blue

I found a mitten under my  mother's bed
But it wasn't the right one
because it was ..... red

I found a mitten under the kitchen sink
But it wasn't the right one
because it was .... pink, etc.

 

Baby Time - November 30, 2011

I had so much fun with you at Baby Time this week!  We did a new activity, I saw lots of familiar and friendly faces, and the energy was really great.  It was the perfect Wednesday-pick-me-up!

* “Ball Time”

 From  The Baby Bonding Book for Dads :

Very early on babies like looking at balls, balloons, and stuffed-animal-style balls.

Once they can grasp, babies like soft-stuffed balls, and you can play little games of holding them out and pulling them back, tug-of-war, and gently tickling their noses or tummies with the ball.    As you hold a ball out to your child to grasp, you're not just bonding with the baby and offering him a toy, you're teaching him a skill set that will come in handy later.  More than fun, your baby's actually hard at work on eye-hand-coordination.

 
On Wednesday:

Mr. Bear

Rhyme: Roly Poly

Song: I Wake Up My Hands

Rhyme: Jack is Quiet

Animal Song:  If I Was a Bird (Rotate weekly)

Rhyme:  Popcorn (Rotate weekly)

Books: Board books (Rotate weekly)

Rhyme : This Little Piggy (Rotate weekly)

Rhyme:  Robbie Rabbit

Bouncing Song:  Wheels on the Bus (Rotate weekly)

Rhyme:  Rickety, Rickety Rocking Horse(Rotate weekly)

*Activity: Ball (Rotate last Wednesday of the month)

Bubbles

* On the last Wednesday of the month, it's fun to deviate from the usual shakers we use to end storytime.  This week all the babies got a plush ball and we played the song "Roll, Roll, Roll Your Ball" and got some practice rolling, bouncing, passing, and tossing.

  

Wiggle Worms!

It was very nice to see so many happy faces today!  I know you all had busy weekends so thank you for making it to storytime this morning.

I really hope to see you again on Thursday evening for Caroling in the Library for an evening full of cookies, cookie decorating, caroling, and pajama storytime.  I'll be in my pajamas!

Today we:

• Animal song: "If I Was a Bird"
• Letter of the Day:  Cc for cat

• Book:  What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas.  Fortunately, Fat Cat will not sit on any of his barnyard friends; but where will he sit?!
• Movement: "Wimoweh" ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight").  I love watching toddlers pretend to be sleeping lions and then pop up to dance with their scarves when I say, "Wake up, little lions!"
• Flannel:  House:  This is one of  my favorite flannels because of all the silly things you can hide in the smallest house.  It's also a really easy flannel to make.  Today there was a pig in the house and then we said the little piggy rhyme.

Perry will reopen on Friday

I hope there weren't too many of you who came to Perry for Wiggle Worms or Baby Time  today =(  Perry will reopen on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Perry Library Closed - Tuesday - Until "further notice"

Hi Tuesday Wiggle Wormers- I hope most of you got an email alerting you to Perry's closure for some emergency maintenance.  I'm sorry I won't see you before Thanksgiving, but I hope it is wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving! - Pre-K

No storytime next week (Thanksgiving) OR December 1st!!!

There is no storytime December 1st because of our big evening event: Caroling in the Library.  Please join us in the evening for cookie decorating, caroling, and storytime.

Today we had fun with a Thanksgiving theme:

Books: 

 I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson.  You guessed it; she swallows all sorts of Thanksgiving foods - whole!  Thank you to the mom who helped me with the flannel pieces as I read the book.

The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz.  I modify this story because the poor "ugly pumpkin"  really gets picked on, but I think it's a fun book to use in storytime because I get to show the kids some real, bumpy gourds afterwards. 

Game: 

• I call this game "mouse view" because I show the kids close up pictures of Thanksgiving foods and they try to guess what they are.  Not so easy, but these kids were great!  They got some tricky ones like biscuits and cranberries.
• Thanksgiving magic:  Oh the dearness of kids!  They were in awe of the turkey I pulled out of the cauldron after they put in sparkley leaves and said "Abracadabra!"

Movement:

• "Turkey Trot"

Oh, you turkey to the left
And you turkey to the right
Then you heel, toe, heel toe
and you scratch with all your might
You flap your turkey wings
while your head goes bobble, bobble
You turn around and then you say,
"Gobble, gobble, gobble!"

• I love this classic song:  "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain"
• "Pass the Beanbag" (except we passed the gourds so each kiddo could feel the cool, bumpy "ugly pumpkins").  This is the first time doing an activity like this, but we learned how to form a circle, how to pass an object, and how to follow the directions in the song like passing faster and slower.

Baby Time

Sorry I had to leave babytime a little early today.  I had to take baby G to the doctor.  Turns out he has two little chompers!  So much distress over two teeny tiny teeth!

Today:

Rhyme:  "This Little Piggy".  In my version, the piggy eats apples.  A pig eating roast beef?...That's just weird. =)

Books:  Today everyone picked a board book or two to read with their babies instead of a group activity.  If your baby doesn't seem interested in "reading" at the moment, it's ok to try reading later when he's in the mood to.  We want babies to view books as fun objects and book time to be fun time.  For now it's ok if they want to play with their books or explore (usually with their mouths). 

Yes, we will have Baby Time next week.  Bring your visitors so they can see your cute little guys in action!

Wiggle Worms! - Barnyard

Wiggle Worms was loosely themed around barns and barnyard activity. 

• Animal song: "Old MacDonald"
• Letter of the Day:  Bb.  The toddlers identified the "barn" in the pictures I held up. 

• Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming.    My baby and I have been reading Barnyard Banter before going to bed and I love his reaction when I ask, "But where's goose?"
• Movement:  "I'm a sock puppet and don't you forget it...." I'm still grooving to this song!  We discovered what fun sock puppets can be.

• Rhyme:  "This Little Piggy"  My third little piggy always eats apples, not roast beef....A pig eating roast beef?  That's just weird.  =)
• Flannel:  We got some little mice to come out of their houses by asking, "Little mouse, little mouse, are you in the color house?"

Denies Fleming is one of my favorite authors!  If you love her books as much as I do, check out her site for fun activities that go with her books.  http://www.denisefleming.com/

5th Annual Caroling in the Library! An all-ages, family event

5^th Annual Caroling in the Library!

Date: Thursday, December 1^st

Event Agenda:

4:30pm Cookie Decorating (Meeting Room)

Hosted by Perry High School Culinary Club & Angela Stutz, PHS Culinary Arts Instructor

(Meeting Room) *WHILE SUPPLIES LAST*

4:45pm-5:15pm Caroling (Main Library)

Hosted by:  Enchanté, Perry High School's Advanced Women’s Choir, Trés Chic, their Jazz/Show Choir & Joe Little, PHS Music Instructor

5:30-6:00pm Pajama Storytime (Newsstand Room)

Usher in the holiday season with Perry Library Staff! Join us for cookies, hot chocolate and coffee while you enjoy the festivities!

Spiders - Pre-K

I had tremendous fun with you today!  We read and sang about spiders and your kids had some great responses to my questions (like what pesky bugs spiders may eat and what we should name my spider puppet).

Books:

We got loud in Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks.  My spider, aptly named Fluffy, helped act out this book about a spider who desperately wants to be a family pet.

The spider in The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle was too busy play with the other animals because she was building her web.  The children helped with the story with their great animal sounds.

We didn't read these, but The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Keith Chapman and The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani are fun variations of this classic rhyme. 

Movement: Everyone got a plastic spider tied to a piece of yarn for the song "Spider on the Floor".  Our spiders bounced all the way from the floor up to our heads!  I did not use Raffi's version, but if you want to hear it or read the book that goes with it you can find them here: Spider on the Floor by Bill Russell / "Spider on the Floor" by Raffi.

Flannel:  I added bugs to the web as the spider caught them

The spider catches the fly
The spider catches the fly
Hi Ho the derry-o
The spider catches the fly

Letter of the Day: Cc
Your kiddos guessed our letter of the day based on the pictures I held up (comb, coconut).  In a second game, they identified the picture that didn't belong (camel, cactus, pineapple, corn).

THERE WILL BE NO STORYTIME DEC 1ST.  Instead, join us in the evening at 4:30 for our 5th Annual Caroling in the Library:

Usher in the holiday season with Perry Library Staff! Join us for cookies, hot chocolate and coffee while you enjoy the festivities!

Baby Time

I love babytime and now that I have an almost 4 month old, I love babytime even more!  Baby G and I spent many hours while I was on maternity leave singing these songs and rhymes so they're tried and true.

I have a babytime format so I can keep track of the activities we do week to week and rotate them accordingly.  Repetition is really good for baby brain development and confidence, so you will become very familiar with our songs as you continue to come.

Today:

Book:  I read Wiggle Waggle by Johnathan London.  In the past I have always put out board books for the book reading part of storytime because I think it's important for babies to handle and explore the books.  Every now and again though, I will read a book that encourages interaction to introduce the babies to a storytime format where the Librarian reads a book to the group.  Some babies are getting ready to move into the toddler program so this is good practice.

Animal Song:  We do a puppet song every week.  Today we did an old favorite.

Grandpa's Farm. 
We're on our way.
We're on our way.
On our way to Grandpa's farm.
We're on our way.
We're on our way.
On our way to Grandpa's farm.

Down on Grandpa's farm there is a big brown cow.
Down on Grandpa's farm there is a big brown cow
The cow, she makes a sound like this: "Moo moo."
The cow, she makes a sound like this: "Moo moo."

Have fun with this song!  Add more animals or change the destination (like to Phoenix Zoo)

Rhymes:

Roly Poly (every week)
Jack is Quiet (every week)
Hooray!
I'm Driving in My Car
Going Up and Down in an Elevator
Robbie Rabbit (every week)

Bouncing Song: Wheels on the Bus (rotates weekly)

Bookworm

I have a friend who loves books sooo much, he lives in a book!  Yup, he's a bookworm and most of you have met him.  He usually only comes out after we say his special rhyme right before reading a story:

Worms go up
Worms go down
Worms wiggle all around
Worms listen, worms look
Worms are ready for a book

Wiggle Worms!

So, Wiggle Worms is a toddler program I present every Monday and Tuesday.  It does require weekly registration because Gilbert is a wonderful, BIG family community and attendance can get out of control (some of you have been there for it!).  You can register at http://www.mcldaz.org/.

I don't usually theme my toddler program, but we read about bugs in In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming so I selected some other bug activities.  

Movement:  We used scarves to dance around and shoo my fly puppet with the song "Shoo Fly."

Finger Play: "Here is the Beehive" is one of my favorite finger plays because of the anticipation before those tickley bees buzz all over.

Here is the beehive
Where are all the bees?
They're hidden away where nobody sees
Watch them come out of the hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....buzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Flannel:  Wow! These toddlers really know their bugs!  We identified a grasshopper, ladybug, spider, butterfly, and bee in this flannel game.

Bug in a rug, bug in a rug
What is that bug in the rug?


Storytime extender:  Have fun moving like bugs!  Wiggle like worms, crawl like spiders, buzzzzz and fly like bees.

Busy Squirrels - Pre-K

Today we read about about busy little squirrels getting ready for winter. 

Flannel Story:  Our first story was about Sammy Squirrel which I told using some flannel pieces.  When he finally found a warm tree to spend the winter in, we clapped quietly for him (he did just fall asleep, afterall).

Flannel Rhume:  Five autumn leaves hanging from a tree / I wonder if they'll fall for me / The wind comes blowing (woooooosh) round and round / And one little leaf comes fluttering down

Book: Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert. How do you get a wandering squirrel out of your house?  With nuts, of course!

Book: Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri.  This squirrel is so busy, he has no time to lay in the sun, hop, or play with the other animals.  He is busy gathering food to store in his nest for winter.

Ss:  Let's sing about the letter S, the letter S, the letter S / Let's sing about the letter S / S says "sssss".  BIG S, little s, What begins with S?
I hope you went home and found lots of things that begin with the letter S!

We ended storytime with a very Sticky song about bubble gum.  You can sing this song at home and find all kinds of way to stick to your kiddos.  Have fun!