Story Window Storytime Blog: September 2006
Peek inside for storytime ideas! Wilmette Librarians share suggestions for age-appropriate books, rhymes, songs, and crafts.
September 28, 2006
Transportation Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)
Everybody's gone for a ride in a car... but how about a plane? bus? train? boat? horse? helicopter? elephant?!
We began our transportation-themed storytimes this week with a discussion of different vehicles and where you ride them (a puzzle portraying many different modes of transportation came in handy, providing small props!). Then onto the stories and songs...
Some picture book adaptations/extensions/parodies of traditional songs are, in my opinion, rather underwhelming. They lack imagination, get the rhyme and meter all wrong, or otherwise fail to justify their existence beyond the original song. Not so with these books.
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat, by Pippa Goodhart, illustrated by Stephen Lambert. This book tickles the imagination, as two children row their boat down the stream and across the sea to an island, where they encounter monkeys and parrots and a very cross lion. They even ride an elephant! (Iza Trapani also has a picture book version of this song, but I thought Goodhart's would have a little more "oomph" with my group.) Before reading this book, we sang the song while pretending to row. I chose to read the book in a normal speaking voice, but one could sing it, if desired.
- The Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. This is a great follow-up to singing "The Wheels on the Bus" -- just make sure you take a break in between. Instead of the usual sights, this bus is full of seals, sheep, skunks, and vipers, as well as some very intimidated people. No shortage of humor here, and audience participation couldn't be more natural.
- Clip-Clop, by Nicola Smee. This new picture book is not based on a song! Several barnyard animals request a ride from Mr. Horse, who goes faster and faster, until all the animals fly through the air and land in a haystack. It's that simple, but the children hung on every word, and on Tuesday I got quite a lot of laughs. Because the story is so simple, I did more with my voice (volume, pitch) to build the excitement. It was also a good story for getting kids to "fill in the blank." For example, the animals ask Mr. Horse to go faster, and he tells them to "hold... on... TIGHT!"
Between books, we also did an action song called "Green Light, Red Light," which can be found on the album Tempo for Tots : Activities for Two, Three and Four Year Olds, by Sharron Lucky. But even if you don't have access to the recording, it's easy to play! I have two signs -- my red light, and my green light. When I hold up my green light, we walk, tiptoe, hop, march, fly, and crawl through the green light. But when I hold up my red light, we stop! Talking about traffic signals is, obviously, a great introduction to this activity.
So, that's my novel for the week. Tune in next week for apple season!
Posted by Lisa at 2:46 PM
September 27, 2006
Dinosaurs!
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)
Read a couple of older books to my groups this week (small group Tuesday at 2, large group Wed. at 10:30):
Dinosaur Eggs, by Moseley
The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Back Yard, by Hennessy.
Both seemed to go over well. We discussed real dinosaurs and where they might have lived, and also what they might have looked like. The kids colored little dinosaur puppets made out of tagboard. Fingerplays and stretches included Humpty Dumpty (on the magnet board - to tie in with the Dinosaur Eggs book), Open/Shut Them (of course), and Head and Shoulders.
Posted by Lyn at 5:14 PM
Pretend To Be An Animal
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
Isn't it fun to pretend to be an animal and make animal noises? We did lots of pretending and dancing with If You're Happy and You Know It by Cabrera and Can You Moo? by Wojtowycz. We also pretend when we sing our favorite Mother Goose songs about animals. The children enjoyed the thrilling big book version of that intrepid mouse who hides a strawberry from a hungry bear in The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood.
Posted by Sue at 9:52 AM
September 21, 2006
Garden Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)
This week, with the 2 1/2-3 1/2 year olds, I used a garden theme. I introduced the theme by bringing in something grown in a garden. Once it was a large zucchini, the other times carnations. The day I brought the zucchini, I asked the kids what I'd brought, and was met with the enthusiastic response, "A pickle!" It would have been the largest pickle I've ever seen!
Books we read:
- The Surprise Garden, written by Zoe Hall and illustrated by Shari Halpern
- Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert
- Franç—´ Flower, written by Lisa Bruce and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
To introduce Planting a Rainbow, we used our "Kitten Rainbow" flannelboard, which the kids always love. To summarize, six gray felt kittens each jump into a different colored can of paint -- at which point I turn the kittens around to reveal their new color.
We also did a fun action rhyme from Storytime for Two-Year-Olds, by Judy Nichols. It's very simple and goes like this:
I dig, dig, dig (digging motion)
And I plant some seeds. (planting motion)
I rake, rake, rake (raking motion)
And I pull some weeds. (pulling motion)
I wait and watch (hands on hips)
And soon I know, (point to self)
My garden sprouts (hands low, palms down)
And starts to grow. (raise hands toward ceiling)
Our project was to make flowers. I had pre-assembled small paper plates stapled to drinking straws, and the kids had fun coloring the plates and gluing on paper flower petals I'd cut out.
Next week, I think our theme will be pets...
Posted by Lisa at 11:32 AM
An Apple Story to Tell
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)
On Tuesday morning, 9/19/06, I told my group the story of "The Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside," by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, found in Anne Pellowski's "A World of Children's Stories." Pellowski writes that the roots of this story are most likely in Central Europe, where there is a body of folklore related to apples. I look forward to telling this story every Fall.
The Story Is: A little boy is tired of all his toys, and asks his mother- what can he do? She tells him maybe he could go on a "journey" and find a "little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside." The little boy is intrigued and sets out asking his question of a little girl, a father, a grandmother and finally the wind: "Have you seen a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?" Near the end of the story the little boy realizes that the red apple blown down by the wind, just might be such a "house." He then wonders if there's a star inside. He pulls out his little jack knife and cuts the apple open. And lo and behold! There is a star! (I tell the children the jack knife was his birthday present; boys and girls are always very impressed that he owns such a thing.) I bring an apple to cut as I tell the story and we eat it afterward. I never tire of the look on kids' faces when I cut the apple. It's such a rich story, evoking hopes, dreams, generations, growing up, adventure, the beauty of earth and seeds, that kids and adults (whom I welcome at my storytime) always love the story as I do.
To Tell: I shorten the printed story a lot. Each year before I tell the story again, I re-think my answers to some questions: What kind of relationship does the boy have with his mother? Does the mother think the boy will find anything? What would another child believe about the possibility of such a house? A middle aged man? An old woman? Will I make the main character a boy or a girl? Am I ready again, to be astonished at the little star inside?
Use a Delicious Apple. Since you want the apple to be a surprise, hide it in a lunch bag with a small knife while you tell the story. Cut your apple when the boy does. Be SURE to cut the apple horizontally. Also, be sure to check with parents or caregivers before the story for permission to give kids pieces of apple to eat. I put up a sign for grownups before stories- most kids this age don't read yet.
Posted by Joanna at 10:03 AM
September 18, 2006
Storytimes for Babies and Toddlers
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
A new session started with much fanfare as we enjoyed stories, sang songs, played with puppets, scarves, and musical instruments, and watched the flannelboard story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin. This story described color concepts. I read the story I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge, about a girl who owns quite a lot of stuffed animals. The children enjoyed identifying the animals and making animal sounds. Once again, we pretended to be animals, making funny noises with the book, Mommy, Carry Me Please by Jane Cabrera, which is about how many different ways various animals carry their babies. Cabrera has such cute illustrations and is quite prolific.
Posted by Sue at 5:58 PM
September 13, 2006
First week
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)
My Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning groups both heard stories about Friends: Fluffy and Baron, a new book about a large dog befriending a baby duck, and Missing (by Jonathan Langley), a book about a girl and a pet cat who "lose" each other. Missing has an interesting narrative structure, with lots of "meanwhiles..." going on - plus the two "lost" characters speculate about what could have happened to the one that's missing (eaten by a shark, changed into a frog by a witch, etc.) Both went over well, especially Fluffy and Baron, which turned out to be a great read-aloud for this age group. Art project was gluing people and animal "friends" onto a paper and making up stories about what might be happening to them.
Posted by Lyn at 5:14 PM
WPL Home | Library Catalogs | Info/Research | Readers’ Services | Teen Pages
Library Cards | Contact Us | Local Information | Site Index
All contents © 1999-2007 Wilmette Public Library