Fun with Food! toddler storytime

I had a great time in storytime today! My theme was Food and it was Fun!

Books:
A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Carle (as a flannel from here)
The Little Kids Table by Riehle
How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Yolen

Songs:
Aiken Drum (on Uke)
-I ask them to tell me what Aiken Drum's parts are made of and I draw on the white board.
Oats Beets Beans and Barley Grow with instruments
Shake your Sillies out/If You're Happy and You Know It
Open Shut them
What a Miracle

Flannel:
5 Little Hot Dogs (http://flannelfun.weebly.com/5-little-hotdogs.html)
 - They loved this one!

I wonder if I had such a good time because there were 20 kids today. But maybe it was just such a wonderful day and I like this particular theme very much!

Another song I was going to do was this one: I am Hungry
But I did Aiken Drum instead. I know it better and as long as there are alot of kids it goes well. It was a challenge to draw, sing and play all at the same time but I managed!

Jungle Animals for Toddler storytime

I had a big crowd (for me) today. 19 kids and 15 adults.

Here is what I did:
Books:
Tiny Little Fly by Rosen
Orangutangled by Bardhan-Quallan
I'm the Scariest Thing in the Jungle by Derrick


Fingerplay/flannels:
5 Little Monkeys jumping on the bead
5 little Monkeys teasing Mr. Alligator

Songs:
Shake your Sillies out
If you're Happy and You know it
The Lion Sleeps Tonight with shakers (Berkner)
I know a Chicken with shakers (Berkner)
Open Shut them
What a Miracle (Palmer)

Action Rhyme:
I am a big tall giraffe (from Storytime Katie)

This was a fun storytime. I like the books and the songs. The kids were very wound up and some were talking throughout but I just raised my voice and kept going. Not much you can do when a 19 month old is going to talk or scream. I prefer the talking. By the end they were running in circles. I guess all the rain this month is taking its toll. I added a second shaker song because I knew another book was out of the question. After 2 days of outreach and today, my voice is shot. Must rest up for next week. :-)

Dogs! Toddler storytime

I had a great time doing Dogs today!

Books:
Oh No George! by Haughton
- they really got into saying Oh No George!

Please Puppy Please by Lee
- They liked the pictures but not a great hit.

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Willems
-Everyone loves Pigeon

Songs:
Rags (I have a dog his name is rags)
-They weren't very good at the motions but they tried
If you're a Dog and You Know it
Take your Bean Bag by the Learning Station
What a miracle by Palmer

Flannel/song
BINGO
-this one went well
Flannel Book
Dog's Colorful Day by Dodd
-cut it short at 6 spots but still good.

Game-One of these things are not like the other
-This one didn't go so well. It took a little bit to set up and then they really didn't get the concept.I think it is better for preschoolers.

This was a good theme that everyone liked. I will use it for outreach next week as well.

Mother's Day toddler storytime

Whew! After doing 3 weeks of Preschool and a long weekend in New Orleans, this toddler storytime was crazy!

I had an Early Literacy Training last week so I put some of the suggestions in action today. I asked who had never been in storytime before. One Dad raised his hand and I then told him the rules and expectations and introduced myself. I used my usual opening and closing song and 3 books (actually did 4).

In retrospect, I should have skipped the last book since I had lost them but some of them came back.

Books -
Is Your Mama a Llama? by Guarino
They liked this one. It is a big book and took a long time to do.
Baa Baa Black Sheep by Cabera
I really like this one, it is singing but with new words.
Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes by Litwin
Nothing to do with Moms but it is a favorite of mine and others in the room.
Mommy Mine by Warnes
This one is short and sweet.

Songs-
Open shut them
If your happy and you know it
Shake your sillies out
I love my mommy by Litwin
 - great song for Mother's day

Finger Play
5 little monkeys jumping on the bed

One set of twins was talking throughout the entire program. Not loud enough for me to call them out but enough to be distracting and so I had to read louder. Not a great day for that since my voice is shot. (mostly from flying)

I hope next week is better!

Self evaluation of my 3 weeks of Preschool Storytime

I started our pretty slow. It is tough to switch gears from Toddlers to Preschool. I tend to have too few books and too many songs at first.

By the second week, I was doing better. I also had a big crowd (30) of people so the energy in the room really helped.

The third week I was not as happy with it. The theme I chose was good but the kids just didn't get very excited. Then there was a baby who was crying through a couple of books that distracted everyone.

I am sure I would do better with a 4th week but I am glad to return to the Toddlers. I will still have my outreach preschool and I might take what I learned here to them. I definitely do better when there is a large crowd. Since we don't have signups and we never know how many people will come and that is a challenge. I am hoping I can learn how to do just as good a job with just a few kids. I think it takes a different mindset.

Preschool Storytime - Weather

This is my last Preschool Storytime for now. My colleagues and I did 3 each of the type of storytime that we are backup for. I think it will help that I did this if someone is sick or on vacation.

Today I did Weather. It started as clouds so I mostly did books about clouds. I did a new opening song and closing song with mixed results.

Opening poem: Bread and Butter (jbrary)

Book #1 - Boom! by Ray

They liked this one.

Felt story - It Looked Like Spilled Milk by Shaw
 (the reason I wanted to do clouds in the first place)

Lots of participation.

Book #2 - The Police Cloud by Niemann
They liked this one

Song - Shake your sillies out & If you're a cloud and you know it
Not too bad but they seemed tired.

Book #3 - Raindrops Roll by Sayre

Fingerplay - Itsy Bitsy Spider ( and big gigantic and tinny winnie)
They liked this better than I expected.

Song on uke - If all the Raindrops
I messed up the lyrics as usual. They got into it after a while. I mostly was solo.

Book #4 - One Rainy Day by Gorbachev

This one went over well.

Closing song: (on uke)
See ya later alligator
I like how this is easy to sing and play. If I was going to continue Preschool storytime I would do it often and they would learn it pretty fast.

Preschool storytime - Piggys!

I am filling in for Preschool again today.

My theme was Pigs.

Open Shut them (one parent gave me such a weird look when I started this song. Not sure why)

Hogwash by Wilson
I love this one...good for a first story

Piggy Pokey (substitute piggy parts)

If you're happy and you know it

Pigs to the Rescue by Himmelman
Similar to Cows to the Rescue...very interactive when the kids help with "Pigs to the Rescue!".

List of Dances by Jim Gill

Pigs say Moo!
I found this one on the falling flannel boards blog (here) and it was pretty good. Not at all like story puppet shows I usually do.

If you give a pig a party! by Numeroff
I gave the kids a choice between this one and If you give a pig a pancake.

The Tempo Marches on by Jim Gill
With Instruments

I'm a Pig by Berry
I am surprised I got them to sit down again. But since they did we went ahead and read it.

What a Miracle by Palmer