Grumpiness is an emotion many children (and grownups) all too well. Here's a preschool storytime designed to explore all the wonders of being in a BAD mood!
Opening Song: Open Them Shut Them (click on the link for a video of how I do it).
Opening Rhyme: Itsy Bitsy Spider (with audiation)
When I do rhymes that pretty much everyone already knows, I always like to change it up a bit. In this rhyme, you sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider multiple times in different ways, and also doing it with just the movement and singing the song in our head instead of out loud!
Opening Activity: We spelled the word "GRUMPY" in felt letters on the flannel board, and also learned the ASL sign for "GRUMPY!" It's a fun one, 'cause you get to make a grumpy face while you're doing it.
Book #1: Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps by Sophy Henn
The image of the grumpy panda on the cover of this book really does beautifully express all the glory of grumpiness. This is a good book to use for a conversation about what kinds of things make someone grumpy, and what kinds of things can cheer you up! Those things aren't the same for everyone! Action Song: If You're Happy and You Know It (with Feelings!) We did the traditional song with a twist! I hid pictures of kids feeling different emotions in my Dr. Seuss pencil box, and before each verse I pulled a picture out and had the kids decide which emotion they were feeling. It was tricky! But really great for vocabulary building and describing emotions! We then sang the verse with that emotion, and decided together on an action that matched it. For example: "If you're sad and you know it, cry a lot!" Book #2: The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland
No one can figure out why bear is so cranky! Wouldn't it cheer him up if he had stripes like zebra, or a main like lion, or... I love that everyone is so well-meaning but doesn't see the real problem with why bear is cranky. And sheep is adorable. Pretty straightforward book with a funny story -- we did a lot of predicting about whether or not the animals' strategies would really help Bear be less cranky! Action Rhyme: Bananas Unite!
This is a staple for me at storytime. The kids now all know how to become bananas when I say "Bananas Unite!" Great for building routines (and getting out wiggles)!
Book #3: Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer Super short, super simple. I like to end storytime with a really fast book. The pictures in this book are perfect! All three of the books I used today were really great for conversations about grumpiness -- what puts you in a grumpy mood, and what gets you out. For penguin, a bath gets him out of his grumpy mood!
Goodbye Song: I am switching up my goodbye song this year! They LOVE it. I may never go back.
See ya later alligator, In awhile, crocodile! Give a hug ladybug, Blow a kiss jellyfish.
Trucks are always a popular storytime theme. It's always so amazing to me how many of the kids know all the various names for different kind of trucks. I love showing them a picture and hearing a chorus of, "IT'S AN EXCAVATOR!" I didn't know it was an excavator. HOW DID YOU KNOW, CHILDREN?
Opening Song: Open Them Shut Them (click on the link for a video of how I do it).
Opening Rhyme: Cool Cat
In an attempt to keep learning names, I decided to try starting with this song again!
Opening Activity: We pulled the felt letters that spell the word "TRUCKS" out of my magical pencil box and put them up on the flannel board, sounding them out as we go!
Book #1: Bulldozer's Big Day by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann
This book is ADORABLE. Perfect amount of text, just the right amount of story. We acted out all of the actions the trucks were doing ("digging digging digging", "lifting lifting lifting"), and were appropriately sad when we realized that none of the other trucks realized it was Bulldozer's birthday. Super cute reveal at the end too. PERFECT for preschool storytime. Action Song: Go, Slow, Stop Before turning on the music, I had the kids practice going fast, slow, and stopping. I held up a GREEN scarf when I wanted them to go fast, a YELLOW scarf when we were going slow, and a RED scarf for stop. After we practiced this a few times, I turned on Laurie Berkner's "Fast and Slow", and we danced fast, slow, and stopped depending on what the music was doing and which scarf I was holding up. Here's the song we used (warning: you will NEVER GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD)!
Book #2: The Mixed-Up Truck by Stephen Savage
I LOVED this book. So little text, lots of repetition, adorable bright bold picture. REALLY great for the ECRR2 practice, "READING". Each time the truck attempts to mix cement, we "read" together the word on the building to see if the cement truck was mixing the right thing. I'd ask questions like, "Hmm...does this word start with the right letter to spell CEMENT"? Action Rhyme: Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck
Book #3: Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz and Eda Kaban
I love books you can sing! Even better when it's a song that everyone already knows the tune for, with some fun added twists. I love that each "E-I-E-I ______" matches the truck it's about -- for example "E-I-E-I SLOW!" for the steamroller! It's clever and fun, and I love that preschoolers know more about trucks than I do and can call out what each type of truck is called before I even say it.
Goodbye Song: I am switching up my goodbye song this year! They LOVE it. I may never go back.
See ya later alligator, In awhile, crocodile! Give a hug ladybug, Blow a kiss jellyfish.
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!
This is probably my favorite storytime theme so far this session! Everything about it worked perfectly -- the books were magical, the songs and rhymes went really well, I had a really perfectly sized crowd (40 kids and adults is SO MUCH easier and better for the kids than the 50-70 I tend to get). I highly recommend this one :) Without further ado....here's my SHARKS themed storytime from today!
Opening Song: Open Them Shut Them (click on the link for a video of how I do it).
Opening Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock with movement
I just want to make a little note about this -- I usually present this part of the storytime without comment, but I noticed something cool today. We do this rhyme pretty often, and every time I ask the kids to think of words that rhyme with "one", "two", and "three". I can tell that the kids are getting better at this, which makes me happy! I got some unique answers that no one had said before ("blue" and "bee" instead of the usually "boo" and "whee!"). Kids really do learn at storytime. I can see it happening. At some point I need to do a standalone blog entry about my experience integrating early literacy skills in storytime and my experience being a part of the University of Washington's VIEWS2 study!
Opening Activity: As usual, before we started reading our first book, we spelled "SHARKS" in felt letters on the flannel board, and learned the ASL sign for shark (see below)! Which is fun, btw.
Book One: Shark in the Dark by Peter Bently, illustrated by Ben Cort
I like that this book has a straightforward story line paired with really well-done rhyming text. It's sometimes hard to find books for preschoolers with a linear PLOT that isn't so wordy that it's overwhelming. This is a perfect choice. We did a lot of talking about what plan the fish might be coming up with, and also a lot of guessing of what the ends of sentences would be based on the rhyming words. It's great. Action Rhyme: Slippery Fish
You probably already know slippery fish. It's kinda a storytime staple. We have an adorable felt set for this song with animals that actually have pouches so you can make each creature "eat" the creature before it. I added a bit to this -- for each animal, we did the ASL sign for the animal while we were singing about it! Here's a cute video of Jbrary's version of this song with sign language :)
Book Two: Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld
This book is a little confusing to explain to kids -- it's kinda cerebral. Before we started reading, we talked about how it's not a REAL shark and train, it's two kids playing with shark and train TOYS, and I think that helped them grasp the concepts a little better. I paused at many of the pictures to ask if they thought the shark or the train was winning. We also voted at the end with our hands whether the shark or the train was the winner. Votes were split :)
Action Rhyme: Baby Shark
Somehow we hadn't done this one yet this season! It's kinda the whole reason I wanted to do this storytime in the first place.
Book Three: Shark in the Park! by Nick Sharratt
This book is just too perfect for storytime. We all pretended to have telescopes like Timothy Pope and looked up, down, left, right, and all around...and then we tried to guess if he was ACTUALLY seeing a shark, or if perhaps it might be something else... This was a short and sweet way to end the storytime. Kids loved it.
Super short, super simple. I like to end storytime with a really fast book. The pictures in this book are perfect! All three of the books I used today were really great for conversations about grumpiness -- what puts you in a grumpy mood, and what gets you out. For penguin, a bath gets him out of his grumpy mood!
