Opposites Preschool Storytime

Oh frabjous day!! Storytime has returned in the wonderful land of Olympia! I never realize how much I miss storytime when we take a break until my first one of the season. There's nothing better. Seriously. I've been collecting a lot of great new storytime books in the storytime interim, so I decided to design one around one of my favorite new books, The Lion Inside. I thought it would fit great into an opposites theme, so heeere we go!

Opening Song: Open Them Shut Them (click on the link for a video of how I do it).

Opening Rhyme: I Had a Little Turtle

I actually adjust this song a little bit -- instead of the turtle being named "Tiny Tim", I let the kids choose the turtle's name! There's only one requirement -- the turtle's name MUST RHYME WITH SWIM. It's a great exercise in practicing rhyming skills! This time, the kids chose the name "Whim." I love it, really. We had a little turtle, her name was Tiny Whim!

I had a little turtle
Her name was Tiny Whim
I put her in the bathtub
To see if she could swim!
She drank up all the water,
She ate up all the soap!
And now she's home, sick in bed 
With bubbles in her throat!
Bubble bubble bubble, bubble bubble pop!
Bubble bubble bubble, bubble bubble pop!

Opening Activity: If you've been following this blog for a bit now, you know that I have an opening storytime routine in which I had the letters that spell our theme of the day in a Dr. Seuss pencil box. I did this this time, with the word "Opposite." As I pull the felt letters out and stick them on our flannel board, I have the kids shout out the letter! I also have us practice the letter's sound, and ask if anyone in the room has the letter in their name! Lots of good early literacy skills going on in this segment!

Book #1: The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field

I was worried this might be a little long (since it was my first storytime of the session, I never know what the crowd's gonna be like), but it went really well! They stayed with me the entire time, and the parents audibly reacted to parts, which always makes me happy. If the parents are engaged in the book, the kids are way more likely to be engaged. Before we started, we talked about some of the ways that a lion and a mouse could be considered opposites. The whole book rhymes, too, so I did some rhyming prediction as we read. Overall, a great storytime choice. The illustrations are big, bold, and STELLAR.



Action Song: Cool Cat

I grabbed this song from Jbrary, and picked a few kids in the audience (I always have too many to do name songs with EVERYONE) to learn the names of. I originally chose this song because it had some good opposites in it, but it was GREAT for learning names. I might actually do a few rounds of it at every storytime and make an attempt to learn everyone's name for real!

Hey there _____ you're a real cool cat!
You've gotta lotta this and you've gotta lotta that!
So come on in and get down
To the left
To the right
Up in the air
And get down

Book #2: Jonathan & Martha by Petr Horacek

We started by talking about whether the two characters on the front look like opposites! Why no...they're the SAME! So why is this an opposite book? Leeet's find out? This book has some good left vs. right stuff, and a morbid part where a bird bites off the worms' tails, and it's nice and short. The picture are super Eric Carle-ish, and it has some fun lift-the-flap type pages. It went over pretty well!







Action Rhyme: This is Big 

I'm basically just stealing all my action rhymes from Jbrary (in this case, via Mel's Desk) this week. We did this pretty much exactly as written, and it went really well! I liked that the kids remembered it and could sing it themselves after we did it a few times.

This is big, big, big
This is small, small, small
This is short, short, short,
This is tall, tall, tall
This is fast, fast, fast
This is slow, slow, slow,
This is yes, yes, yes
This is no, no, no!

Book #3: Barnacle is Bored by Jonathan Fenske

I just can't help myself when it comes to slightly morbid picture books. Before we read this, I showed the kids pictures of real barnacles, so they'd know what the character in the book was! I'm glad this book was short, 'cause patience was wearing a little thin at this point -- I usually put my shortest books at the end, but sometimes I wonder if I should switch it up so we can spend a little more time on the short books without attention spans getting in the way! It was fun though, I'd do it again. It's a great storytime book, and could actually start a lot of conversation.



Goodbye Song:

I am switching up my goodbye song this year! Time for a new one :) We only did the first half of it this time, and once they really get the hang of it I'll add the second verse. It worked beautifully. Yet again, thanks Jbrary :)

See ya later alligator,
In awhile, crocodile!
Give a hug ladybug,
Blow a kiss jellyfish.

And that's all from me this week, friends! Watch for this page to be updated regularly throughout our storytime session!

--Sara