Story Window Storytime Blog: April 2008
Peek inside for storytime ideas! Wilmette Librarians share suggestions for age-appropriate books, rhymes, songs, and crafts.
April 30, 2008
Where Is It?
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
This perennially popular title by Mem Fox, Where is the Green Sheep?, always creates excitement. As we read the story, we wonder, where did that green sheep hide? Daisy and Pip play hide-and-seek in the lift-the-flap story, Daisy's Hide-and-Seek by Jane Simmons. We like to discover animals under the flaps. A bear and a boy both lose their teddy bears to each other in the big book version, Where's My Teddy, by Jez Alborough. We enjoy counting squirrels along with the flannel story, "Five Little Squirrels."
Posted by Sue at 9:10 AM | TrackBack
April 24, 2008
Caterpillars to Butterflies Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)
Now that spring is here in full force, many of the children are spotting butterflies around the neighborhood. It's the perfect time for caterpillar and butterfly stories!
Butterfly, Butterfly, by Petr Horacek.While searching for a butterfly, a little girl encounters many other insects and small critters in her yard. What this book lacks in plot it makes up for in beautiful illustrations and a dazzling pop-up butterfly at the end that will have everyone "oohing" and "ahhing." It's good for practicing color and critter identification, too.
Bob and Otto, by Robert Bruel, illustrated by Nick Bruel. This is a very charming and cutely illustrated story about a caterpillar and an earthworm who remain best friends in spite of very different paths in life. It works for multiple age levels.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. Who ever gets tired of this old favorite? Good for counting and lots of opportunities for young listeners to "fill in the blank."
We had fun with our reversible caterpillar/butterfly puppet and talked about the life cycle of same. We did the "Here Is the Beehive" fingerplay and used our scarves with the caterpillar song written out on last year's Springtime Stories curriculum. The program as a whole went over very well!
Posted by Lisa at 2:59 PM | TrackBack
April 21, 2008
Trucks!
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
The storytime kids are fascinated by trucks and their magic powers to dig, crush, soar into the sky, make lots of noise, and carry goods on highways. Truck Driver Tom, by Monica Wellington, depicts how Tom drives his big truck full of food across highways filled with many types of colorful trucks. A humorous truck version of a classic song, Hush Little Digger, by Ellen Olson-Brown, captured the kids' attention as we enjoyed naming different types of trucks to the rhythm of the song. We thought about rain as I read the big book version of Who is Tapping at My Window? We counted the frogs as I sang the Raffi song along with the flannelboard story, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".
Posted by Sue at 8:21 PM | TrackBack
April 14, 2008
Sing Along
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
The storytime kids enjoy singing along with Jane Cabrera's brightly colored versions of classic songs. The kids like imitating the animals' actions as we sang along to Cabrera's very charming
If You're Happy and You Know It. The prolific Jane Cabrera draws more adorable animals depicted with their animal babies in Mommy, Carry Me Please!. Margaret Wise Brown, another classic author, has a beautiful book about farm life in the large book version of Big Red Barn. The kids love imitating the farm animal sounds. We sang and counted ducks along with the flannel board story, "Five Little Ducks".
Posted by Sue at 6:36 PM | TrackBack
April 9, 2008
Happy Earth Month
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)
In honor of Earth Month, we read some stories that celebrate the environment. We started out with Lindsay Barrett George's Around the Pond: Who's Been There? Two kids and their dog talk a walk in the woods, noticing tracks, feathers, and other things animals have left near a pond. The kids at storytime looked closely at the pictures and took good guesses at which animals had been there. This interactive book was a fun way to introduce kids to pond wildlife.
The kids in Liesel Moak Skorpen's We Were Tired of Living in a House take to the trees, caves, and beaches. They celebrate their natural surroundings before deciding that getting chased out of a cave by a bear is perhaps a sign that living in a house is OK.
What better way to observe Earth Month than by going camping. Little Critter and his dad do just that in Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. Things don't go totally smoothly--their tent is in a jumble and their fish dinner gets eaten by a bear. But spending time together outdoors is what counts.
We also sang "Happy Earth Day" (sounds a lot like "Happy Birthday"). In honor of Little Critter, we made tents. This very simple craft consisted of half a sheet of cardstock folded in thirds, colored, and taped together. Voila! A tent.
Posted by Janet at 4:15 PM | TrackBack
Spring is Here
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)
Finally, spring has arrived. Hooray! Spring brings rain, new growth in the ground, and little animals like spiders. Fran has difficulty determining how to best take care of her flower seed in the charming Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce. We all enjoy doing the spider song with our fingers, but we also seeing cute illustrations in Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Lorianne Siomades. The big colorful book version Mushroom In the Rain, by Mirra Ginsburg is a favorite of ours. Kids enjoy seeing the mushroom get larger from the rain as various animals hide from the rain under that dynamic mushroom.
Posted by Sue at 11:23 AM | TrackBack
April 4, 2008
Rainy Day Redux
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)
April has arrived with its very timely showers. I based this week's program on last year's April Showers program, with a few changes. We did the same rhymes and songs, and repeated The Red Umbrella flannelboard, but this time we read the following two new-to-me books:
- Rainy Day!, written by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by Scott Nash. Four alligators brave the rain to find some fun. Their adventures include finding a mini-golf park, playing baseball with a stray dog, and finally ending up at the public library for some reading. I like this duo's book Beach Day! a little more-- if only because most 2 and 3 year olds aren't familiar with mini-golf-- but the final library sequence is pretty irresistible.
- Move Over, Rover!, written by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Jane Dyer. A rainstorm has all sorts of normally at-odds critters cuddling up in Rover's doghouse. This book has a lot of strong rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, as well as the opportunity for the children to identify each new animal that arrives on the scene. (I do have to share, though-- when we got to the page with the squirrel on it, Thursday's group had a terrible time guessing it. "An iguana?" "A polar bear?" Truly, I would love to know what was going on in those little heads...)
Posted by Lisa at 9:13 AM | TrackBack
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