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! 

 

Family Storytime - Apples

Last week we read and did activities about apples in all my storytimes.  You can see last week's posts at the links below:

http://storytimewithmisstara.blogspot.com/2013/09/wiggle-worms-apples.html 

http://storytimewithmisstara.blogspot.com/2013/09/ouch-by-ragnhild-scamell.html


Here are some pictures from Family Storytime:

Some of the kiddos working on an apple worksheet I created:

 

I wanted to include these fun pictures of my co-worker, Miss Erica, who assists me in evening Family Storytime. She is so close to finishing her MLS (Master of Library Science degree)... the library world is about to get very lucky!!

Miss Erica coordinates all her outfits to match our weekly themes:

 

Wiggle Worms - Apples

I don't usually theme my Wiggle Worms program, but once the "ber"* months are here I can't help but to get seasonal!  We read about apples this week:

 

*In NY, we referred to the "ber" (or burrrr) months as September, October, November, December....

 

Letter of the Day:  Aa for apple

 

Animal / Puppet Song:  "If I Was a Bird" from the Wiggleworms Love You album

 

 

Discussion Flannel:

Apples aren't just red.  They can be yellow and green as well. 

What is left of an apple when you're done eating it?  A core.  This was a new vocabulary word for some of our younger Wiggle Worms.

 

Books: 

 

(Monday's group)

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall.  I shorten this book quite a bit with toddlers.  It tells the story of an apple tree starting with its bare winter branches (pictured above)

 

(Tuesday's Group)

Ouch! by Ragnhild Scamell

 See my complete Ouch! blog post here.  C'mon, it's a fun book with puppet and props!

 

Flannel / Music / Movement:

 

"5 Green Apples" by Sharon, Lois, and Bram

 

I was thrilled that the parents and kids had so much fun with this song because I don't usually use it with this age group.  Each time we "picked" an apple, I pulled a felt apple off the tree and crumpled it into my hand while eating it so that it disappeared.

 

Listen to a sample here

 

Of course Farmer Brown wanted all the kids to have apples, so we ran around and handed these apple stickers to all the kids

 

 Look at this adorable toddler with her apple sticker:

 

Flannel Rhyme: 

 

(Idea originally from Storytime A,B,C's)

 

I found an apple on the ground

It looked delicious, red, and round

I picked it up and took a nibble

Oh my goodness!  There was a worm in the middle!

 

 

Ouch! by Ragnhild Scamell

I am reading this book with my Pre-K group this week for our apple theme.  I used it with the toddlers today (but really shortened the text) and they enjoyed it too!

 

Ouch!  by Ragnhild Scamell. 

 

Just as hedgehog is getting into her nest for a long nap, a falling apples gets stuck on her spiny back. 

 

Meet Hedgehog:

 

Every time a friend tries to help, something else gets stuck

(acorn, pear, leaf, paper, waterlilly, black berries):

 

Poor Hedgehog!:

Good thing Goat is hungry for some lunch!  Problem solved:

 

Finally Hedgehog can take her nap in her blanket of leaves:

 

Hedgehog's blanket: