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! 

 

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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-K 9-20-12 Autumn!

Welcome, Autumn (on the 22nd)!  It's not quite cool yet here in AZ, but if I waited till it was I might never do my fall storytime.  This officially kicks off my favorite time of year!

Theme: Autumn

30 kids
3 younger siblings
32 adults

Memory Box:  Red squirrel from Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Books:

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert.  A child describes the growth of a maple tree from seed to sapling.

Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze! by Maureen Wright. Big Bear thinks that his tremendous sneezes are causing the leaves and apples to fall off the trees and the geese to fly away, but when the wind finally convinces him otherwise, he knows it's time to go to sleep.

Flannel:  Five Autumn Leaves (stand up and move rhyme)

Five autumn leaves hanging from a tree (five fingers)
I wonder if they'll fall for me (shrug)
The wind comes blowing wooooosh round and round (big arm movements)
And one little leaf comes fluttering down (flutter fingers down to ground)

 

 

Cube Activity:  Humpty Dumpty

Letter of the Day:  Ll

Lesley randomly opened the book A is for Autumn to L (which was perfect since we talked about leaves)                                                              

 

Music: "Bop Until You Drop"

We bopped, wiggled, moved in slow motion, floated, and spun in this song until it was time to "drop" for the lsat time when the song ended.

 

 



 

Activity:  Blowing leaves in the autumn wind

 

I played the song "It's Fall Again" while creating a wind storm with the parachute.  To surprise the kids I threw a ton of fall leaves in the middle and they flew everywhere.  Then the kids went under and when they looked up at the parachute over their heads they could see the leaves everywhere above them.  Pretty cool view.



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!