Flannel Friday (a day late): Fall is Not Easy

I do a lot of storytimes outside of the building because I visit preschools all the time. I was trying to come up with a way to do flannel stories in these programs without having to haul a giant flannel board or depend on the school having a flannel board easily accessible for me to use. I was digging through all of our storytime material at my library and found this little baby travel board (it's about the size of an 8.5x11 piece of paper).

I decided to make a flannel story that would fit on this board, so I made Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelley. Those of you familiar with the book will see that I didn't include all the different colors of the leaves. Instead I just made a few that the children would like and find funny. 

This went over wonderfully! The children were delighted and loved the silliness of the story. And I think they really enjoyed the satisfaction of having the tree finally get its colors right in the end.

Rhythm and Rhyme - 4 & 5 year olds

This plan is for my program Storybook Fun! It's a registered storytime for 4 &5 year olds to attend independently.

To save on my planning time I use a lot of the same materials between my 3 year old program and my 4/5 program. So there will be a lot of repetition in the Storybook Fun posts from time to time.


Opening Activity:
Little Mouse flannel board game with musical notes hiding under the houses

Opening Song:
"These Are My Glasses" by Laurie Berkner from Whaddaya Think of That

Book: 

Mole Music by David McPhail

Jazz It Up Moment:

Read and listen to Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
I played the song on the iPod and used the flannel pieces as a storytelling prop. A lot of the children are familiar with the book so this was a fun new way to grab their attention and allowed them to sing (and dance) along with me.

Scarf Song:

"Rhythm in the Scarves" by Johnette Downing from Second Line Scarf Activity Songs

Book:

Be Quiet, Mike! by Leslie Patricelli

Closing Rhyme:
Reach for the Sky
Clap your hands, touch your toes,
Turn around and put a finger on your nose
Flap your arms, jump up high
Wiggle your fingers and reach for the sky!

What I Didn't Have Time For:

A variety of books:

• Boom Chicka Rock by John Archambault
• The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John Lithgow
• Down by the Station by Jennifer Riggs Vetter

Rhythm and Rhyme - 3 Year Olds

This plan is for our Ready, Set, Read! program for 3 year olds. It's a registered storytime that the children attend independently.

Opening Activity:
Little Mouse flannel board game with musical notes hiding under the houses

Opening Song:
"These Are My Glasses" by Laurie Berkner from Whaddaya Think of That

Book:
Down by the Station by Jennifer Riggs Vetter

Scarf Song:
"Rhythm in the Scarves" by Johnette Downing from Second Line Scarf Activity Songs

Book:
Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean

Closing Rhyme:
Reach for the Sky
Clap your hands, touch your toes,
Turn around and put a finger on your nose
Flap your arms, jump up high
Wiggle your fingers and reach for the sky!



What I Didn't Have Time For:

• My Jazz It Up Moment this week was going to me an Ants Go Marching flannel I made, but we spent so much time chatting in the beginning and getting to know one another (this was our first week) that I just ran out of time.
• A variety of books:
• Boom Chicka Rock by John Archambault
• Mole Music by David McPhail
• Be Quiet, Mike! by Leslie Patricelli

I Survived the Summer!

So I had these great ambitions to blog all summer long about all the awesome programs we were doing at my library.

That failed.

Turns out I was way too busy (and way too exhausted) to even think about blogging throughout the summer. Luckily things have calmed down (not really) enough for me to start posting regularly again.

Looking at my fall schedule, I can tell you I have 4 different steady programs a week with 3 of them being storytimes. On top of that I have preschool visits outside of the building and the occasional special program on weekends (Super Hero Party in November!!!).

I will try my hardest to keep up with blogging about the storytimes, at least. I'll be changing the format of how I post and probably slim down the text, just bare bones info. However, if that leaves you with questions just leave a comment! I'm also hoping to start actively participating in Flannel Friday, so we'll see how that goes. Amy over at Catch the Possibilities is a great inspiration to me when it comes to blogging and Flannel Friday. She's been pushing to be a part of Flannel Friday for some time now (and was in fact the reason I started this blog), so let's keep our fingers crossed that I can do this!

With all that settled I'm going to start writing about my storytimes from last week, hopefully they will show up here within the next couple of days.

Music Makers: Bath and Bedtime

Music Makers is a thirty minute registered program for 2 and 3 year olds and their caregivers. The focus of the program is music and each storytime concentrates on music, singing, and movement.

I don't normally use a theme when I plan Music Makers. After I planned this current session I noticed that each week had some vague similarities/theme qualities so I went ahead and labeled them. Just remember that it's a very loose theme and not everything pertains to it.

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear greets everyone on the way in with hugs and high fives.

Opening Song:

"Tony Chestnut" by Carol Hammett from Toddlers on Parade

Movement Songs:

"Warm Up Time" by Georgiana Stewart from Action Songs for Preschoolers

"Jump Up, Turn Around" by Jim Gill from Jim Gill Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times

"Put Your Finger in the Air" by Carole Peterson from Baloney

Book:

Eyes Noes Fingers and Toes by Judy Hindley

This book is quite lenghty and I didn't know if my toddlers would sit through it, but they did! They loved that they could act out the text as I read it. I know this isn't a song and doesn't necessarily fit into a music program. However, I let it slide because this program also focuses on movement and I wanted to show parents that you could find books that help assist with that as well.

Bath Time Songs:

"Bathing in the Tub" by Priscilla A. Hegner from Baby Games

"Fluffy Towel" by Priscilla A. Hegner from Baby Games

For the first song, I used bubbles. I walked around the room blowing bubbles (I only had one bottle) and let the children try and pop and catch them. Typically I like having the little individual bottles of bubbles and I give one to each caregiver so each child has a personal bubble blower, but we seemed to be out of those and I had to settle with just me. It got a little chaotic with me being the only one with the bubbles and we had a few kids running around screaming while others just patiently waited for me to come to them with the bubbles.

The second song I used scarves. I would have preferred actual washcloths, but my library doesn't have a set of those. We talked about pretending and how we would pretend that the scarf was a washcloth and we needed to dry ourselves off. They loved it!

Jazz It Up Moment:

Sing and retell Five Little Monkeys using flannel pieces

Closing Song:
"Skinnamarink" by Carole Peterson from Stinky Cake

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear says goodbye to everyone on the way out with hugs and high fives.

How it Went:

I was pleased with this program and this is definitely a plan I will use again. 

I did run out of time, I had planned on reading Twinkle Twinkle Time for Bed as a shared board book. I wanted to read it three times and each time we get quieter and quieter. I thought it was perfect for the theme, but I just didn't have time. 

Karen Beaumont

Week Six of Author Highlights: Karen Beaumont
This plan is for a preschool storytime, a registered program for 3-5 year olds that attend the program independently without a caregiver.

Opening Activity:
Little Mouse

Books:


Dini Dinosaur by Karen Beaumont
Doggone Dogs! by Karen Beaumont
Where's My T-R-U-C-K? by Karen Beaumont

Jazz It Up Moment #1:
Retell Move Over, Rover with puppets and cardboard box

I used a cardboard box I found in our Receiving Room to use as a dog house. Then I gathered all the puppets to match the animals in the story (dog, cat, raccoon, squirrel, blue jay, snake, mouse, and skunk). Luckily I had puppets for everything but the blue jay, and for that I substituted a robin instead.

I adapted the book a bit and wrote a little script so it would be easy to follow when telling the story, but it was basically just taking the text from the book and typing it up so I knew what animal came next.

It was extremely fun to stuff all the puppets in the box and then throw them all out when they started to smell the skunk at the end of the story. I hid the skunk puppet under the dog before the children got in the room for the element of surprise.

Action Song:

"The Airplane Song" by Laurie Berkner from Whaddaya Think of That?

Jazz It Up Moment #2:

Give each child a paint brush and have them follow along "painting" themselves while reading I Ain't Gonna Paint No More.

I've done this activity in the past successfully and I was really excited to bring it back for this storytime. I knew my kids could really grasp the idea of pretending, so we had a discussion about what it means to pretend to paint themselves with pretend paint. I even added another element to the activity by having the children guess which body part we would paint next based on the rhyming text. All together a very successful activity that really encouraged active listening.

Goodbye Song:

"Goodbye" by Old Town School of Folk Music from Songs for Wiggleworms

What Went Not So Great:

Doggone Dogs was the biggest let down. I chose it as more of a filler book and I ended up needing it in my morning session. The children just didn't get into it or enjoy the humor.

What Went Right:

Basically everything else! The puppet retelling was a hit, as was the paintbrush activity. The books were a blast to read aloud and the children really got into it. They loved seeing Dini keep getting into the bathtub with all his clothes on and my first group of kids didn't know what T-R-U-C-K spelled so that was a fun guessing game for them too.

You Are Special: An Out of the Library Preschool Visit

Part of my job at my library is visiting preschools and daycares in the area and presenting storytimes. This particular plan is for one of those instances, I had to create a very diverse plan to fit the following schedule the preschool set for me.

Monday

9:15am-9:30am (2-3 year olds) 

9:30am-9:45am (3-4 year olds)

9:45am-10:15am (4-5 year olds)

12:30pm-1pm (5 year olds-Kindergarten)

Tuesday 

9:15am-9:30am (15 months-2 year olds)

9:30am-9:45am (2-3 year olds)

9:45am-10am (3-4 year olds)

10am-10:30am (4-5 year olds)

In the 3 and 1/2 years I've been going to the local sites, I have found that a lot of them want me to come in and out quickly and provide very little space for me to perform the storytime. The children are often packed in like sardines, on a circle-time rug, and are told to NOT MOVE from their spot by their teachers. I have to keep this in mind when I plan, that means very little movement/dancing songs because there just isn't space for it. I also need to make sure the plans are creative enough and have enough child involvement that the kids aren't bored.

I think it's really important that I continue these visits, even if the conditions aren't ideal. This is often the only time some of these children see anything library related at all, so any time I can get into their classrooms and show off library pride I do!

The plan is a little all over the place. I'll designate what I used for the younger rooms (3 year olds and younger) and what I did for the older rooms (4 year olds and up). It varied room to room and I didn't use ALL the material listed for every room. Hopefully it won't be too confusing. Please feel free to leave questions in the comments if something isn't clear.

The theme requested by the preschool director was "You Are Special". They were celebrating the Week of the Young Child and thought that was an appropriate theme. I had a little difficulty finding materials that really fit this theme, especially for the little ones. I went with materials that focused on self-esteem, being different and unique, and just generally getting along with one another and friendship.

Opening Song - All Ages:

"These Are My Glasses" by Laurie Berkner from Whaddaya Think of That

I didn't have a CD player or iPod with me so I sang all the songs acapella. I often do this on visits because I'm never sure what technology the rooms will have and I want to be prepared for everything.

Books for Young Rooms:

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane DeRolf

It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr

You Are Special, Little One by Nancy Tafuri

Books for Older Rooms:

Artist Ted by Andrea Beatty

Chamelia by Ethan Long

It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr

A Dog is a Dog by Shephen Shaskan

Cheetah Can't Lose by Bob Shea

Action Song for Older Rooms:

"The Wiggle Song" by Carole Peterson from Sticky Bubble Gum

My hands are starting to wiggle

My hands are starting to wiggle

My hands are starting to wiggle

Around and around and around!

I didn't follow this song exactly since I didn't have the music to go along with it. I sang the first verse using "hands" and then I allowed the kids to suggest other body parts to wiggle. They really enjoyed helping me "write" the song as we went. We used everything from tummy to shoulders to hips to feet, and I always ended with "all of me is a wiggle". A great success!

Closing Song for Younger Rooms:

"Skinnamarink"

Closing Song for Older Rooms:

"The More We Get Together" using sign language

I did this recently in a preschool in-house storytime with great results. Here's a great video from Skokie Public Library showing exactly how to do the signs.

How It Went:

I would say that overall the storytimes were successful. The really young ones just kind of stared at me the whole time and didn't participate (even though their teachers did!). I think it was the first time the little ones had any sort of structured storytime so I was very impressed with how well they sat for me, even if they didn't participate. The best book for the young ones was The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse. I chose this book simply because it shows things in a different way. The children laughed at all the colors and helped with animal noises.

The theme was a difficult one, but the older rooms really got into the discussions of how it's okay to be different and how we should all get along even if we aren't all the same. That itself was really encouraging because I could tell that the books were getting through to them and they were relating to the stories. Chamelia and Cheetah Can't Lose were the most successful books in that aspect. They deal with being different and fair and what being a good friend means and the children really understood that.

The songs were successful too. Everyone enjoyed "These are My Glasses" and the older kids really got into the sign language of "The More We Get Together". Apparently in the music class at the school they already sing "Skinnamarink" so everyone knew that one and sang along with gusto, which is always fun.

Lauren Thompson

Week Five of Author Highlights: Lauren Thompson
This plan is for a preschool storytime, a registered program for 3-5 year olds that attend the program independently without a caregiver.

Note: I was in a haze during this storytime. I ended up going home sick right after this program and found out I had strep! So, there isn't really a Jazz It Up Moment for the program. I was lucky to just get the storytime done. Also, because of the sickness there will be no Music Maker post this week.

Opening Activity:
Little Mouse flannel

Books:

How Many Cats by Lauren Thompson
Little Quack's New Friend by Lauren Thompson
Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson

Bean Bag Song:
"Bean Bag Rock" by Georgiana Stewart from Action Songs for Preschoolers

Special Request Book:

Little Quack by Lauren Thompson

Goodbye Song:
"Goodbye" by Old Town School of Folk Music from Songs for Wiggleworms


What Went Not So Great

• Obviously the sickness prevented a truly great storytime, so the whole thing was pretty low energy. I had grand plans to make a magnet story out of Little Mouse's First Spring in hopes of elevating the story to a preschool level. I ended up not getting it done and therefore the book fell a bit flat for the kiddos. They were a bit bored by it.
• I really wanted the bean bag song to go over well. Unfortunately I've noticed that my preschoolers aren't really into the bean bags. We have this set from Music in Motion and I don't know if it's because they are small or what, but the children just don't like this prop as well as scarves or rhythm sticks. It was a bummer because I've found great success with this song in the past. The only thing I can think of is that the song is possibly a little young for my current group of preschoolers.

What Went Right

• They LOVED Little Quack! My plan was to read Little Quack's New Friend and in our discussion about authors and Lauren Thompson I wanted to talk about how she wrote about the same characters a lot (Little Quack, Little Mouse), so I had other Little Quack books on display. They enjoyed New Friend so much that I ended up reading the original Little Quack as well by special request.

Music Makers: Sign Language

Music Makers is a thirty minute registered program for 2 and 3 year olds and their caregivers. The focus of the program is music and each storytime concentrates on music, singing, and movement. I usually read two books during the program, but they are all "sing-a-book" titles so I actually end up singing the books instead of straight reading.

I don't normally use a theme when I plan Music Makers. After I planned this current session I noticed that each week had some vague similarities/theme qualities so I went ahead and labeled them. Just remember that it's a very loose theme and not everything pertains to it.

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear greets everyone on the way in with hugs and high fives.

Opening Song:

"Tony Chestnut" by Carol Hammett from Toddlers on Parade

Book:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

I used the big book version of this title and the children just couldn't get over how BIG the book was.

Prop Song:

"A Piece of Paper" by William Janiak from Songs About Me

For this song I give each child a piece of scrap paper about the size of half a page of computer paper to use as their prop. They LOVE it.

Movement Songs:

"Bicycle Bicycle" by Carole Hammett from Toddlers on Parade

"Three Little Kittens" by Georgiana Stewart from Nursery Rhyme Time

During "Bicycle Bicycle" we lay down on our backs and stick our feet in the air and kick them around like we're riding a bike. It's a great work-out!

Jazz It Up Moment:

"Get Up and Shake" by Sign2Me from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning ASL Sign

Signs Learned: Shake, Jump, Reach

"Pick Me Up" by Sign2Me from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning ASL Sign

Signs Learned: Up, Mommy, Daddy, More

I introduced sign language in this storytime. I explained it's importance to parents and how it is a great way to enhance early literacy skills. I showed off some of the resources the library has, but specifically highlighted the Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning ASL Sign kit from Sign2Me that I used for this program. 

If you're unfamiliar with this kit, get familiar with it! It's great for sign language beginners. It's a spiral bound book that comes with a CD. The book shows all the lyrics and signs to each song on the CD and gives a difficultly level. That way you know what signs to introduce first and it gives you a foundation to build on as you learn the song and teach it to the kiddos. 

I have used this kit in previous toddler programs and used the same song 3-4 weeks in a row adding new signs each week. It's always been highly successful.

For this particular storytime I decided to stick with two of the easier songs. One that only has a few signs ("Pick Me Up") and the other that is basically just a dance song with very simple signs ("Get Up and Shake"). The children really responded to the movement and picked up on the sign language quite fast. It looked like the caregivers were really interested as well. The sign language section of the program was when I had the most adult participation.

Shared Board Book:
Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani

Closing Song:
"Skinnamarink" by Carole Peterson from Stinky Cake

One thing I haven't mention about this song is that I always have the children find their elbows before we sing the song. It's a great exercise in body identification. I further the activity by never being able to find my elbow. I point to my knee, head, leg, tummy, etc and have the children correct. This activity NEVER gets old to the kids. When I don't do this and find my elbow right away I get yelled at, "But your supposed to need help finding your elbow!!".

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear says goodbye to everyone on the way out with hugs and high fives.

How It Went:

This was a great storytime! I ran out of time and we didn't get a chance to sing "Three Little Kittens", but that's okay. I really wanted to focus on the sign language in this program. I'm thinking about bringing back "Pick Me Up" in the next couple of weeks just so that the adults and children can learn more signs. It's not in my plans, but I'm going to try and squeeze it in I think, that's how much they enjoyed it.

Another element of the program that took a little bit more time then I anticipated was Itsy Bitsy Spider, it's actually a little on the long side (as are a lot of Trapani's works). It was really well received and I had some parents asking for more books by her on the way out the door.

Caroline Jayne Church

Week Four of Author Highlights: Caroline Jayne Church
This plan is for a preschool storytime, a registered program for 3-5 year olds that attend the program independently without a caregiver.

Opening Activity:
Little Mouse Flannel Activity

Books:

Hungry Hen by Richard Waring (illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church)
Little Lost Cowboy by Simon Puttock (illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church)
Ping Pong Pig written and illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

Not all of these books are written by Caroline Jayne Church, but they are all at least illustrated by her. This was a great opportunity to discuss the difference between the author and the illustrator and what they are responsible for in the bookmaking process. It might be hopeful thinking, but I really think my kids are starting to get the whole author concept!

Scarf Song:
"The Airplane Song" by Laurie Berkner from Whaddaya Think of That

This song was not intended to be a scarf song, but my preschoolers seem to really respond to scarves. I have kids that will ONLY participate if a scarf is involved. I'm lucky enough to have enough scarves to give each of my kids two, so we used them as our airplane wings in this song. It is also a good listening song because it gives specific actions throughout.

Jazz It Up Moment #1:
I use board book sets in my toddler programs a lot. We have sets of 15-20 books of the same title so that each child can hold their own copy of the book I'm reading aloud to them. I've tried using these board books sets once or twice with my preschoolers with great results so I brought it back for this storytime because we happened to have a board book illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church.

You Are My Sunshine illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

This was a perfect choice for this storytime. We just read through the book together at first with me pointing to each word as I read it. I went extremely slow so the children could follow along with me in their own copies. They LOVED being able to do this with me. The second time through the book I sang it, a lot of them sang it with me too!

Jazz It Up Moment #2:
This was completely improptu and wasn't in my plan at all. I had a couple of extra minutes and decided it would be fun to sing the song "The More We Get Together" and teach the children the signs to go along with it. I used the signs for "more", "together", "happy", and "friends". The Skokie Public Library has a great YouTube video of this, HERE.

This is typically a song I use in my toddler programs, but I thought these kids would like it and would really appreciate what sign language was and understand it's meaning. Turns out, they really enjoyed it! I'll probably be quizzing them on it next week and see if they remember the signs.

Goodbye Song:
"Goodbye" by Old Town School of Folk from "Songs for Wiggleworms"


What Went Not So Great:
Timing. I was all done with my songs, books, and activities and still had 5 minutes left of my 30 minute program. So I decided to teach the children the sign language for "The More We Get Together". I thought about this song because Caroline Jayne Church has illustrated a board book of this song. We have a set of that title as well so I was considering using it when I was doing my planning. Maybe that's why the song was on my mind.

What Went Right:
Really, everything. The only thing I would add is possibly a prop or flannel retelling instead of doing the sign language, only because it would go along with the author theme better.

I would say the absolute most successful moment was the shared board book reading. It was great seeing the kids get so engaged in the program. I might invest in some higher level board books for our collection so I can do this more often. I loved how it presented such a perfect opportunity to practice  early literacy with print awareness!

Music Makers: Easter and Spring

Music Makers is a thirty minute registered program for 2 and 3 year olds and their caregivers. The focus of the program is music and each storytime concentrates on music, singing, and movement. I usually read two books during the program, but they are all "sing-a-book" titles so I actually end up singing the books instead of straight reading.

I don't normally use a theme when I plan Music Makers. After I planned this current session I noticed that each week had some vague similarities/theme qualities so I went ahead and labeled them. Just remember that it's a very loose theme and not everything pertains to it.

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear greets everyone on the way in with hugs and high fives.

Opening Song:

"Tony Chestnut" by Carol Hammett from Toddlers on Parade

Book:

The Croaky Pokey! by Ethan Long

Movement Songs:

"The Wiggle Song" by Carole Peterson from Sticky Bubble Gum

"Five Little Fish" by Dr. Jean from Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs

Scarf Songs:

"Let's Go Fly a Kite" by Georgiana Stewart from Musical Scarves and Activities

"Flitter Flutter" by Johnette Downing from Second Line Scarf Activity Songs

"Ribbons in the Air" by Pam Schiller from Leaping Literacy

Shared Board Book:

Duck and Goose, Here Comes the Easter Bunny! by Tad Hills

Jazz It Up Moment:

"Five Little Bunnies" flannel song, sung to the tune of "Five Little Monkeys" (taken from 1234 More Storytimes)

Five little bunnies hopping down the trail,

One fell down and bumper her tail.

Mama called the doctor - what did she say?

No more bunnies hopping today! 

(continue to count down until there are no more bunnies)

Closing Song:

"Skinnamarink" by Carole Peterson from Stinky Cake

Dewey Bear

Dewey Bear says goodbye to everyone on the way out with hugs and high fives.

The children freaked out about the scarves, they loved them! Just another storytime to use as evidence that prop songs are always a solid choice. It was also nice to have a couple songs that we could sit for, "Five Little Fish" and "Five Little Bunnies"were great AND they were really fun to use because we got to count on our fingers together repetitively (and we all know toddlers thrive on routine and repetition).

Denise Fleming

Week Three of Author Highlights: Denise Fleming

This plan is for a preschool storytime, a registered program for 3-5 year olds that attend the program independently without a caregiver.

Opening Activity:

Little Mouse

This time I hid spring related items under the houses. The kids loved it!

Books:

Action Song:

"List of Dances" by Jim Gill from Jim Gill Gets Noisy in Boise

This is a great storytime song because it's got so much directed action. I decided to turn this into an early literacy moment and focus on text in the song. I wrote out on the white board all the different dances we do and pointed to each before we actually sang the song and practiced. We talked about the word meaning the specific dance and even the order of the numbers. 

Jazz It Up Moment:

Retell Lunch by Denise Fleming using flannel pieces and a mouse puppet

This was a HUGE success! I kept the food pieces hidden in the pockets on the back of the easel and described each item before I put it on the board. That gave a chance for the children to guess what food I was presenting. Once it was on the board I made a big show of "Mr. Mouse" gobbling it up for lunch. I adapted this (and got the idea from Miss Courtney Meets Bobo). 

Goodbye Song:

"Goodbye" by Old Town School of Folk from Songs for Wiggleworms

What Went Not So Great:

• I wanted The Cow Who Clucked to be received better, but the children were not enthused and they just thought it was overall a bit short and boring.

What Went Right:

• Retelling Lunch was fantastic! It's been a couple weeks since I did this activity and the children are still asking about Mr. Mouse. It was a great way to turn a very simple book (that is really too low for my preschoolers) into a more complex activity for the children to enjoy. It really did Jazz Up the program.