Last Storytime of Summer

Well, I had a lot of fun today with Eric Litwin's books and songs today. We read Pete the Cat. We danced to his songs- The Fun Thing, Mr. Eric's Jumping Song and Super Silly Tango.

We went outside and had a freezy treat and played with bubbles and chalk! Hope all my LLFs and BLFs enjoyed storytime this summer!

Storytime- Folktales

Hola, Amigos! Bailar conmigo! Come and dance with your library friends!

We had fun trip-trapping across the bridge while the mean troll growled, "Who's crossing my bridge?".

Our volunteers did and AWESOME job pulling out the ENORMOUS turnip.

We learned to be careful when we are granted 3 wishes and never to cry wolf, wolf, wolf!

It was HOT, HOT, HOT today in storytime!! Hope you had fun!

You're a Grand Ole Flag!

We made a special red, white and blue treat today to celebrate America! With our theme, 'One World, Many Stories' we definitely had to include our wonderful country!

We waved our flags and marched around and even had a few 'fireworks'- ooh, aah, ooh, ahh!

Hope you had fun! It's always great to see my LLFs!

Especially with your blue, red and purple tongues!

Storytime Week 3 - America! Red, White and Blue!

Flag of America, red, white and blue

Flag of America, I love you!

We will start out with a get on your feet and get moving song! Then we will read Scrambled States of America and Tulip Sees America. Using our scarves, we will march around to You're a Grand Ole Flag. We will read I Am America. We will finish with a special American treat and working together to create a beautiful American mural! Hope you can join us!



We Are the Same and We Are Different

My LLFs did a great job today working together to create their World Mural with all the different colors of the skin we live in.

The brown egg and the white egg are the same- smooth, egg-shaped, come from a chicken and different- one is brown and one is white. BUT- take a look inside! They are the same inside.

We tried on other 'skins' and went around the room to meet new friends- some with the same skin and some with different skin and we shared something about what we like to do. It's great to meet new library friends!

I like you, just the way you are.

2nd Week of Storytime- Ages 3-5

We Are All the Same, We Are All Different!
We started off by discussing how people are alike and how people are different. Miss Christina has blonde hair and blue eyes. Miss Debbie has brown hair and brown eyes. We looked at how brown eggs and white eggs are alike and different. We cracked them open to see that they are the same inside!
Then we danced and learned to say Hola, Namaste, Jambo-sana while we listened to Hello, Hello, Hello by Cathy Fink from her cd, Nobody Else Like Me- Celebrating the Diversity of Children.

We read- The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler, Whoever You Are by Mem Fox and One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley.

Jack Hartmann's cd, Hip-hop, AlphaBop, has another wonderful 'hello' song, Hello Around the World. Then, of course, we did our My Aunt Came Back song!

I loved the art work the kids did together- checkout some pictures:

Week 1 Storytime- Jambo! Africa (Ages 3-5)

We are going to begin our storytime with a great echo song with lots of rhythm- Che, Che, Kule! Let's get the drums pounding and our feet moving!

YouTube video of song

We will go hunting for some rhyming words...Read some great stories... Learn how to count in Swahili from 1-10 and learn animal names in Swahili, too!

We will learn another fun echo song- My Aunt Came Back!

YouTube video of song

Then we will end with some open-ended group art actitivity!

Hope to see you there Monday or Tuesday!

Drop-In Storytime (3-5 years)

Storytime is designed for ages 3-5 and a caregiver. This programs lasts approximately 45-60 minutes and consists of stories, music, fingerplays, puppets and other early literacy activities.

During our Summer Reading Program, storytime is offered Mondays at 10:30am or Tuesdays at 1:30pm.

The themes for this summer:

• Jambo!Africa
• We Are All the Same, We Are All Different
• America, Red, White & Blue!
• Folktales From Around the World!
• Aesop's Fables
• Let's GO!

Hope to see all my LLFs and BLFs at the library this summer!

Ideas

I often get asked where I get my ideas. As far as the themes of storytimes, 99.9% of the time, the idea comes from a book! As I catalog new books, I keep a list of books that I think would be great to read to my LLFs. (Just remember, there are lots of great books that just don't work for groups, but would be great for you to read to your child. The pictures could be too small, the story too long, or the topic too difficult for me to use, but may be a great book for a one-on-one read at home.) From the list, I choose a book and build a program around that book, really. The other .1% I find a great activity or song that I really want to share and I build a program around that idea.

As far as activities, crafts, songs, etc., I use tons of different resources- too  many to mention. But I constantly search new ideas and keep files on things I find to use down the road. I subscribe to many different listservs, read books, search websites, go to workshops and conferences, share with other librarians, etc. It's a constant process- especially since I like to do new things each session!

This is one of the reasons I started this blog. To share with my BLFs the ideas that I use in my programs and the resources I use. So, you can do them yourself at home and reinforce the concepts that were introduced in storytime. Ask me and I will be happy to share!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Hey, BLFs! Try this easy and inexpensive idea at home. Bring the stars inside! I did this for a Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star program I did. Take a star punch and punch stars in black construction paper and tape it to one side of a box. Cut a circle out of the opposite side of the box that will be large enough for a flashlight to fit in. Turn off the lights and project your stars on the walls and ceiling! It's a lot of fun!

I've also made my own constellations of different shapes. In the program, I made many of these so my LLFs could use them and trade with one another to try different constellations! Excellent activity to use when reading stories about space at home. What do you think?

Boxes!

I love boxes. They are the best toy since silly putty or maybe Mr. Potato Head...

Your imagination is your only limit when you have a box! I recently did a 'It's Not a Box' theme for storytime. I believe in pretend play (no pun intended!).

For this storytime, I made a bunch of different things out of boxes- cool Nike tennis shoes out of matching Kleenex boxes, a doghouse, a stove and refrigerator, a carwash, a barn, a sword and shield...

Cathy G., a library assistant here, rocked these boxes!!!

Shake, shake, shake! Shake your booty!

Did we have a silly time with our Tushies Storytime! We enjoyed some great books- The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman, Always Lots of Heines at the Zoo by Ayun Halliday, Chicken Cheeks by Michael Ian Black, Chicken Butt by Erica S. Perl and The Tushy Book by Fran Manushkin.

We talked about all the different names we call our tushies and we did a tushy match-up by matching the animal heads with their bottoms! We danced to a kid-friendly Shake Your Booty song.

My BLFs and LLFs were a little surprised by my exposed tushy when I took off my sweater (really a foam tushy over my pants!) but it was all in good fun!

Everyone has a tushy! Say what? Chicken Butt!

Wordless Books

'Tell Me a Story' was the theme of this storytime where my LLFs got to tell the story that they saw in the pictures. We looked at Jerry Pinkney's beautiful Caldecott Medal winning book, The Lion and the Mouse. We also looked at Chalk by Bill Thomson. Very fun! Then I dramatized the story with items I had around the library including a very big and scary dinosaur! Ahhhh!

So, I made a black bag with stars and moons on it. Put chalk in it. Had an umbrella. Found the bag. Drew on the chalkboard and it all came to life- the sun, the butterfly, the dinosaur! I hope they had fun!

Sticks, Strings and Scribbles

In this storytime, I read Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String by Bob Boyle, Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis, The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer and Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman.

I had a stick and asked them what I could pretend it was. So, it became a bat, a golf club, a sword, a magic wand, a fishing pole, and more! I had a string and it became a tightrope I walked across, a ribbon in my hair (awwww) a belt, a shoelace and more!

Of course, I had to include a string story, The Mosquito, and a draw-and-tell story, too.

My LLFs got to go to the chalkboard and scribble! I had fun using my imagination and I hope they did too!

To Holiday or Not to Holiday, That is the Question

A wonderful BLF asked me why I don't do a Halloween theme during storytime when it's Halloween, or a Thanksgiving theme when it's Thanksgiving, etc. Great question I thought, because I generally don't.

I typically don't do a holiday themed storytime when storytime falls during that holiday for one reason only- because there are so many great themes/books I would rather share. As I order books and catalog them, I keep a list of books that would be great for storytime or lapsitters. That list is so long right now and it continually grows. I love to do quirky themes like Tushies, String, or Underwear, etc. and I don't really repeat themes. I figure my LLFs get read Valentine books at home, at preschool, at Sunday school, etc...that they don't need me to do that too. But maybe I am wrong! Since these programs are for our LLFs and BLFs and not for me, let me know what you think.

Calling all BLFs to voice their opinion! Would you rather have holiday storytimes during holidays every year?

Pizza & Spaghetti

Ciao! My bambinos and I had lots fun making the pizza pies! Each one got some pizza dough and flour to toss their pizza pie. We put them on a baking sheet and placed them in the oven while we enjoyed storytime. We began with a dramatization of  "On Top of Spaghetti"! Achoo! Mama mia! Then we read "Spaghetti for Lucy" and danced to Jim Gill's "Spaghetti Legs" Oopah! (oh, sorry wrong language!)

All I am Saying, Is Give Peas a Chance!

My LLFs and I had fun singing, "All I am saying, is give PEAS a chance" during our "Pass the Peas, If You Please" storytime. We read Smelly Peter, Night of the Veggie Monster, The Little Green Pea and My Little Sister Ate One Hare. We finally decided that we would all go home and eat peas for dinner! Yum, yum!

Super Underwear Woman!

I have a break from programming right now so I can focus on other responsibilities, but I wanted to take the time and post some of the programs I did this past year. In my last session of storytime (ages 3-5), my theme was 'Underwear Under There'. I read 'Bear in Underwear' by Todd Doodler, 'Dinosaurs Love Underpants' and 'Aliens Love Underpants' by Claire Freedman. We had a lot of fun being silly! My LLFs got to take home either a bear or a dinosaur with underpants to decorate! We even learned about what things go OVER a tree like a cloud and an airplane and what things go UNDER a tree like a bunny and a flower.