Snowmen! Pre-K 12-13-12

Today we read and sang about snowmen.  It's finally getting "cold" enough here in AZ that I can pull this winter-y stuff off.

26 kids
3 siblings
19 adults

Memory Box: Flamingo (from Pip & Squeak)

Books:
All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle.  This book builds a snowman starting from the very first snowflake that falls.

 

I made this flannel to assemble while reading the books since I love the text, but the pictures not so much.  It starts out: "One small snowflake fluttering down - that's all you need for a snowman.  EXCEPT two more snowflakes...three flakes...four...five...six...seven thousand...eight million more..."

 

 

 

When I read, "eight million more," Lesley threw a handful of fake snow into the air and the kids got a huge kick out of it!

 

Pip & Squeak by Ian Schoenherr.  After rushing through the snow to get to their friend's birthday party, two mice realize they forgot the present (cheese) at home and bring a carrot instead.

 

I thought this book was cute until I actually read it in storytime and I realized that the mice weren't really nice to each other and had bad attitudes.

 

Music / Sing-Along

 

CD:  "Popcorn"

You put the oil in the pot

and you let it get hot

You put the popcorn in

and you start to grin

Sizzle sizzle sizzle  sizzle  sizzle  sizzle  sizzle  sizzle  sizzle sizzle  sizzle POP!

 

YouTube: "Build a Snowman"

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx8yp_kf5p0

 

Flannel:

5 Little Snowmen  -  The kids were so funny when they were melting!

 

Five little snowmen standing in a row

Each with a hat and a big red bow

The sun came out and stayed all day

and one little snowman melted away

 

Cube Roll:  Song

"I can hammer"

"Hickory Dickory Dock"

 

 

Letter(s) of the Day:

 

 

 

 



Baby Time Dec 12, 2012

12-12-12 was a great babytime!  I love these babies and their caregivers!

28 babies
30 adults

Rhymes:
 Jack in the Box

Jack is quiet.  Shhhh

In his box

Lift the lid             (lift baby’s arm)

And up he pops!   (pop baby up)

 

 

Alligator - It's fun to crawl after baby and "get them" or have baby "get" you

The alligator’s jaws go snap, snap, snap

The alligator’s tail goes thwack, thwack, thwack

GOTCHYA!

 

 Hooray! - We modify this at home: "Brush, brush, brush your teeth" etc. for less than fun activities

Clap, clap, clap your hands

Clap them every day

Merrily, merrily, merrily

Then we shout Hooray!

Mr. Bear Got Festive:

Animal Puppet Song: "If Animals Could Dance"

Book:  Say Hello to the Snowy Animals by Ian Whybrow

 

Bouncing Song: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Prop Rhyme:

Here is a Snowball - I made this up for my baby.  Kind of goofy, but he loves it.

Here is a snowball
And here is a snowball
I can throw them up and catch
But if they land on my head instead
They would trickle down my back

Wiggle Worms 12-11-12

Look who's blogging again! 

If you are one of the parents who asked me about my blog address today, you should leave me a comment so I know.  I know we Librarians network and read each other's blogs....but I'm never sure if parents read mine and I am thrilled when I find out you do.

43 kids
3 siblings
36 adults

Announcements:

• No children's programs Christmas week or New Year week
• The 11:15 Wiggle Worms session will resume January 8th

Mr Bear, Olive, and Bookworm

Animal Puppet Song: "If I Was a Bird"

 

Rhymes / Fingerplays:

 

Roly Poly (roll hands) - every week

 

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, Up up up

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, Down down down

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, Out out out

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, In in in

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, Clap clap clap

Rolly polly, Rolly Polly, Lap lap lap

 

Here is a Snowball - I made this up for my baby and it's kind of goofy but he loves it

 

Here is a snowball

And here is a snowball

I can throw them up and catch

But if they land on my head instead

They would trickle down my back (back tickles)

 

 

 

I'm Driving in My Car:

 

I'm driving in my car

I'm driving in my car

Beep beep toot toot

I'm driving in my car

 

 

Cube Song:  Humpty Dumpty

 

Letter of the Day:  Ww for whale

 

 

 

Book:  Say Hello to the Snowy Animals by Ian Whybrow.  These are the animals we said hi to while flapping, hoo-hooing, and splashing along with them.  (The "reindeer" ran - pat legs -, the seal said "Aar aar" while clapping, and the haire hopped)

 

 

 

Scarf Dancing with Baby Beluga:
You can watch the animated board book while Raffi sings "Baby Beluga" below:

 

Flannel:

 

Five Little Snowmen - Act it out

 

5 little snowmen standing in a row

Each with a hat and a big red bow

The sun came out and stayed all day

And one little snowman melted away

 

 

Caroling in the Library 2012

We had a HUGE turn out and are planning for next year with these numbers in mind.  I'll note the planned changes throughout the post (in red).

This event was created by my colleague Allison Burke six years ago and she and I have single-handedly (or is that double-handedly?) planned, presented, collaborated with the high school (all Allie!), and pulled this program off for another five! 

684 library customers enjoyed the festivities!

Some decorating and promotion:

 

Gingerbread Man Decorating:
Will have 250 instead of 160
Thanks for the home-made cookies, Perry High School Culinary students and Angela Stutz!

                                                           

Before the madness

 

Evelyn and Dad

Getting busy

Our culinary students

 

Decorating done...Go time!

Elf Station
The elves will be in the Newsstand Room next year

Thank you,  Elf Kaylie, Elf Emily, and Elf Arriana

 

 

 

Letters for Santa.  Emails returned by our very own Perry elves!

 

Refreshments:  Cookies, Cupcakes, Coffee, Hot Chocolate

12 platters of cookies.  MORE next year and in a spacier location!

 

My cutie snagged a cupcake

 

Choir

Sound system next year for our awesome Carolers

 

Thank you, Joe Little and the PHS choir



 

Families enjoying interactive choir

 

Pajama Storytime

Next year: In the open "stage area" where the choir was

AND I'll learn how to use the mic better

 

Set up

 

How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen

 

 

Rhyimg flannel game: "Rudolph, Rudolph"

 

Found a recorded version of "Reindeer Pokey"!

 

Hmm is this cowboy hat Santa's hat?

 

5 gingerbread cookies cooling on a tray.  This one jumped up and hopped away!

 

Because my niece is plain old cute!

 

 

Books we read:

 

How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen

Who Will Help Santa This Year? by Jerry Pallotta

Pajama Time by Sanra Boynton (big book)



 

 

Everyone who helped us out day of!  Thank you

I wouldn't change a thing  =)

 

Miss Lesley, Miss Allie, Elf Kaylie, Elf Emily, Yours Truly in black footie jammies, Elf Arianna

 

Joe, our wonderful elfish security guard and Miss Emily who came from Southeast Library to help out.



 

 

 

 

Pre-K Thanksgiving 11-15-12

Thanksgiving is in ONE WEEK!  Yay

Theme:  Thanksgiving

Books:

I Know and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Allison Jackson

The old lady swallows a pie.  You know the rest.  I do not read all the repeating lines in order to shorten the story.

 

To make it easier to "see the book" I made this flannel.  The lady's skirt gets bigger and bigger as she eats.

 

 

 

The Ugly Pumpkin (Or in my version: The Bumpy Pumpkin) by Dave Horowitz.  The bumpy pumpkin is really a squash.  The other pumpkins are pretty mean to him so I change or skip most of the text and make it an upbeat story.

 

Why do I love this book?  Because I buy cool bumpy gourds every year and let the kids all touch them.

 

 

 

 

 

Flannels:

 

"Turkey Wore His Red Feather"

 

I LOVE programming during the holidays because attendance is low enough that I can do activities like this!!  Each child picked a feather and did a fabulous job waiting until I called their color and they came up to put feathers on the turkey.

 

As they brought the feathers up, I sang "Turkey wore his red feather, red feather, red feather / Turkey wore his red feather all day long" etc. for all the colors.

 

 

 

 

Bibbity Boppity Boo -- Turkey style

 

I came up with this game (it's floating around on the Internet without my name attached to it because I shared it on a listserve and was not credited when ideas were compiled).  It's easy and can work with any animal / thing really.

 

Each kid got a flannel turkey (I buckled down in front of the TV and made 40 of them last year) and we moved them around our bodies.

 

"Bibbity Boppity Boo - A turkey sat on my shoe"

"Bibbity Boppity Bed - A turkey sat on my head"  etc

 

 

 

Music:

 

"She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" - because she reminds me of the lady who swallowed a pie!

 

"Turkey Trot" (Gosh!  I don't know who to credit).

 

Oh you turkey to the left

You turkey to the right

You heel toe heel toe

And you scratch with all your might

You flap your turkey wings

As your head goes bobble, bobble, bobble

You turn around and then you say, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."

 

Of course Turkey trotted with us

 

 

 

Video song:

 

Apparently I am the only one with nostalgic memories of this from elementary school, but the parents all sang along and the kids got the "gobble gobble" refrain down.  The held on to the little flannel turkeys to dance with.

 



 

Game:  "Mouse View"  I created this game a few years ago.  I printed close-ups of various Thanksgiving foods and the kids guess what they are.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

 

 

 



 

 

Pre-K Squirrels Getting Ready For Winter

I've been busy as a squirrel getting ready for winter (haha) and haven't been blogging.  This particular program worked well the MORNING AFTER HALLOWEEN because it was a smaller group and the acorn activity would have been crazy with a bigger group.

Theme: Squirrels getting ready for winter
Kids: 21
Siblings: 4
Adults: 16

 Books:

Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert (I like this book but not my first choice).  A rascally squirrel has an indoor adventure.

 

The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri.  Squirrel is too busy to play with the other animals because he is getting ready for winter.

 

Memory Box:  Pumpkin from The Busy Little Squirrel

Music / Movement:

Music: "Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel".  There are many versions but I used the one that has gray squirrel, mommy squirrel, and daddy squirrel all shake their bushy tails.  I had enough pom poms for adults to move too and a few moms and dads did stand up.  Their kids LOVED watching them dance (so did I).  So funny! 

"Furry, Furry Squirrel" (poem) by Jack Prelutsky.  The kids acted the poem out as the puppet also hopped, ran up the tree, turned around, and scurried down.

 

 

 

Letter of the Day:  Ss for squirrel

 

I presented different animals and we categorized them as words that start with Ss and that don't:

Oh, yeah...that's a Snowy Owl

Flannel:

Sammy Squirrel comes from a flannel book.  Eesh I can't remember which one...

Sammy Squirrel contemplates how to stay warm during the winter when he can't find a tree with leaves on it.  He thinks about various friends who hibernate but none of those homes work for him.  Finally he sees something green in the distance...pull slowly out of folder....what is it?  A tree for Sammy!!

 

 

Activity:  The kids searched the library for acorns to put in the squirrel's tree hole.  Despite my clarity on only finding 2 or 3 each, some kids went nuts (haha) so I helped the more reserved kids find the acorns that the others didn't find (like in our potted plants).  I cut 76 acorns so there were plenty to find.

Borrowed straight from:  http://busycraftingmommy.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/animals-in-fall-storytime/