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

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. 

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.

Music Makers: Food

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:

Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Movement Songs:
"Peanut Butter" by Jean R. Feldman from Keep On Singing and Dancing with Dr. Jean
"We Will Stomp" by The Learning Groove from Yummy Yellow
"The Slow Fast Soft Loud Clap Song" by William Janiak from Songs About Me

Prop Songs (shakers):
We use these mini-rainshakers from Lakeshore (unfortunately they are discontinued now). We chose this set because they are not choking hazards for under 3 year olds like most egg shakers are.

"Fruit Salad Salsa" by Laurie Berkner from Victor Vito
"Shake With You" by The Learning Groove from Bouncy Blue


Shared Board Book:

It's Raining, It's Pouring by Iza Trapani

Jazz It Up Moment:
"Five Green and Speckled Frogs" with puppets

I'm trying a new thing this session where I incorporate a re-telling of a classic song either with puppets or flannel each week. This forces me to think creatively at times and I feel like it's really pushing me to think outside of the "song-book-song" routine.

"Five Green and Speckled Frogs" is one that most parents know so I was pleased to discovered these cute finger puppets. The blue flannel easel we have was great for a log/pond set-up and the frogs got to jump all the way down to the little tray where the were hidden from view. The children were all engaged and I even got the grown-ups to sing along with me!

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.

I ran out of time and wasn't able to do "The Slow Fast Soft Cloud Clap Song". But overall it was a great storytime!

Paints and Colors

These past two weeks I've had preschool visits at the library. Two different preschools in the area took field trips to the library and requested a storytime and tour. Over the two weeks I saw over 300 children and completed the same storytime about 12 times. This is an annual visit and every year I'm exhausted afterwards, but so glad that the schools choose us every year as one of their very few field trips.

This year I put together a great storytime with a colors/paint theme that I knew I could jazz up to the extreme. I really wanted these kids to leave the library filled with excitement and the desire to go home and beg their parents to bring them back.

A quick note on my plans...I always over plan. I prepare more materials then will normally fit in my 30 minute format because each group of children is different and has a different dynamic so I want to make sure I have ideas and options for every possibility. 

Books:

Opening Activity:
Little Mouse Flannel Game

Discuss the number of houses and color of the houses with the children and explain that there is a mouse hiding under one of the houses that we MUST find! Hide other flannel pieces under the remaining houses that relate to the theme of the storytime. Only call on "quiet hands" to help you decide which houses to look under.

Song:

"Dance, Freeze, Melt" by The Learning Groove from Rockin' Read

This is a song that I've had huge success with for all ages. It's really easy to learn and it incorporates counting and "freezing", which most preschoolers LOVE. Children dance (for 8 counts), freeze (for 8 counts), then melt to the ground. This is repeated with jumping, twirling, and flying in place of the dancing verse. Perfection.

Jazz It Up Moment #1:
This idea came from Amy over at Catch the Possibilities, Amy is a good friend of mine and I often pick her mind for some good Jazz It Up moments and together we came up with this activity. 

Give every child a paintbrush and have them follow along with "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" by Karen Beaumont. 

As the little boy in the book paints various body parts encourage the children to pretend to paint their own body parts as well. This encourages body part identification, good listening skills, and gives the opportunity to talk about pretending and imagination.

Jazz It Up Moment #2:
Retell "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh using small paint cans and different colored mice. 

Start with three white mice and put the other colored mice in the paint cans ahead of time (Blue Can: blue and purple mice, Red Can: red and orange mice, Yellow Can: yellow and green mice) for sneaky removal later. Basically this works very simply: as you put a white mouse into a can, you pull out the appropriate colored mouse it changes into, and then do it again as you continue to mix your colors. At the end have the children help you turn the mice back to white by using their "magic". Have the children shout a magic word and then pull out the white mice at the very end.

It works best to complete this activity if the cans are on a book cart and high enough that the children can't see inside the cans. You don't want to ruin the mystery of the story by letting the kids see into the cans. If done right this story mystifies the kids and really blows their little minds with all the "magic" you've done. This is also a great activity to use for color mixing.

The paint cans are available at any home improvement store for a very small amount of money. The mice were originally made as finger puppets, but I have never used them that way.

What Went Not So Great

• "I'm the Biggest Artist in the Ocean" went so-so. The children enjoyed the giant fold-out in the end, but it was a little slim on plot and the children just weren't that into it. I got a lot of, "that was a short one!" after finishing the book. They enjoyed seeing the various sea animals, but the whole concept of art and painting went over their heads. I could have taken the time to discuss the book more, but I was crunched for time. (I only read this in a handful of the storytimes as a quick filler.)
• The paintbrush activity with "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" was a bit of a fail. I found that the kids were so distracted with having their very own prop that they didn't catch on to the rhyming aspects of the story, in fact they didn't pay that much attention to the book at all. I enjoyed that we could practice body identification and holding a writing utensil is a great early literacy skill. If I do this activity again I'd read the book first without the brushes, then read the book a second time and introduce the brushes then. That way I could take the time to discuss it and hit all the positives of this activity: writing, body identification, rhyming, and prediction skills.

What Went Right

• Little Mouse is always a HUGE success on so many levels. I've been using this as an opening activity for years for a reason.
• Books: "Press Here" and "Pete the Cat"
• Song: "Dance Freeze Melt"
• Jazz It Up Moments: "Mouse Paint" and encourage the children to use their "magic" to help me