Pre-K Outer Space

I've done some nature-y storytimes the past couple weeks (Spring, birds, etc.) so I chose to celebrate Earth Day in storytime by reading about the solar system in which our Earth exists.

The storytime was pretty identical to the one I did last year, so here is a quick summary.

Memory Box: Giraffe from Higher! Higher!

Books:

Astronaut PiggyWiggy by Christyan Fox. PiggyWiggy dreams of being an astronaut, visiting space, and maybe even befriending some aliens. 

How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. Eager to have a star of his own, a boy devises ways of catching one.

I asked the kids if they thought that they could reach high enough to catch a star and while most kids were saying, "No," a couple of kids stood up and reached and they indeed did catch a star!  Once the kids realized we were dropping stars into reaching hands, they all reached for one.

The stars were punched out of thick gold scrapbooking card stock.

 

We sang "Twinkle Twinkle" to settle everyone down after the star-catching excitement

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli. This book only contains a few words (higher, hi, high five, bye, again), but I love it because it fosters the imagination and it's a book the pre-schoolers can READ  with me.

 

*Flannel: "Six Little Men in a Flying Saucer" (see picture above)

 

Six little men in a flying saucer flew around the world one day

Looked left and right at us

But didn't like the sight of us

So one more flew away....

 

* This idea and flannel were taken from http://sunflowerstorytime.com/2011/11/03/outerspace/ who was inspired by others

Movement: 
Trip into space with ribbons
We pretended we got our space gear on, blasted off, saw planets and waved to aliens, floated on the moon, did our best space dance, and then descended back to earth while I played "First Kid in Outer Space"

 

The Earth Turns Around (each child got an earth, moon, and sun)

 

The earth turns around

The earth turns around

Once a day, every day

The earth turns around

 

The moon goes 'round the earth
The moon goes 'round the earth
Once a month, every month
The moon goes 'round the earth

The earth goes 'round the sun
The earth goes 'round the sun
Once a  year, every year
The earth goes 'round the sun



 Letter of the Day:  Letter match

1-12-12 Pre-K Outer Space

Today was super fun!  There were so many new kiddos and everyone had the most awesome storytime etiquette I've ever seen.  Please come back!  =)

Today we read about outer space and the astronauts that visit.  I had one more book planned because I knew storytime might run a little short (which it did by about 3 minutes), but I didn't want to push my luck by reading it and have the kids get antsy.

Memory Box: Giraffe

Books:
Astronaut PiggyWiggy by Chistyan Fox.  PiggyWiggy daydreams about being an astronaut and visiting space.  This book introduced some words that were new for some kids, but some kids really impressed me today and already knew many of them.  Astronaut, launch, rocket ship, telescope, alien

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli.  In this colorful book with very little text, a little girl wants her dad to push her higher and higher on the swing.  The giraffe from the memory box was in this book.



I Want to be an Astronaut by Byron Barton.  I really like this author's bold, clear illustrations for storytimes.  This was the book I didn't read today, but had planned on it.  A young child thinks about what it would be like to go on a space mission.







Letter of the Day:
There were 5 letters today and we matched them to 5 pictures: Sun=S, Moon=M, Astronaut=A, Rocket=R, Planet=P

Movement:

We went into outer space using some dance ribbons using the song "First Kid in Outer Space" by the Not-Its!  With a lot of kid imagination, we dressed as astronauts, counted down to blast off, flew around space, saw planets and aliens, landed on the moon, moved in slow motion, did our best space dance, and then counted down back to earth.

Finger Play:

The Earth Turns Around (each child got an earth, moon, and sun)

The earth turns around

The earth turns around

Once a day, every day,

The earth turns around

The moon goes round the earth

The moon goes round the earth

Once a month, every month

The moon goes round the earth

The earth goes round the sun

The earth goes round the sun

Once a year, every year

The earth goes round the sun

*Flannel:

Six Little Men in a Flying Saucer

Six little men in a flying saucer

Flew around the world one day

Looked to left and right of us

But didn’t like the sight of us

So one more flew away

* I copied this flannel and song 100% from http://sunflowerstorytime.com/2011/11/03/outerspace/