Early Literacy Storytime - Down on the Farm

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song 

Peek-a-Moo - Marie Torres Cimarusti, Stephanie Petersen

"The Animals on the Farm" (to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus")

Barnyard Banter - Denise Fleming 

EARLY LITERACY ASIDE: When reading with your child, run your finger under the words or phrases as you read. This helps them understand that you're reading the text and not the pictures. 

Next was a drawing story using an upper-case E, a lower-case e, an M and two Ws. Connect the letters and you have a pig! 

EARLY LITERACY ASIDE: Writing and practicing making letters supports your child's awareness of print. Also writing - including scribbling - helps develop letter and print awareness. 

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

The Farm Yard fingerplay

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

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I did a few things differently this time.... I figured we'd have another large group and we did: 62 toddlers and 49 adults. Before the program, I placed CAUTION tape on the floor so that the kids and adults would not get too close. I also did the opening song first before making my announcements/expectations, which helped a lot. This went much better than last week, but I still need to do more activities that are more participatory. 

Early Literacy Storytime - Dogs

We're doing programming a little differently in our system in 2014, focusing on Early Literacy, preparing children for success in school. This involves several components, but I'll only touch on a few of them here. As this was our branch's first Toddler Time (18 months to age 3) and my first attempt in using Early Literacy asides (tips), I made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of modifications on the fly. We also had a very large group: 68 toddlers and 45 adults. 

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Five Little Puppies fingerplay

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

Next I did a drawing story about a girl and her pretend friend, which is a good drawing story, but probably ran a little long for this group. Still, I think they enjoyed it. 

EARLY LITERACY ASIDE: When you draw stories with your child, you're giving them the opportunity to create their own stories, which helps stimulate imagination and creativity.

The next book was a non-fiction (we call 'em "factual" books in our programs) book on puppies. Again, this was a large group and I was starting to lose them, so I only focused on a few pages, pointing out a few facts about puppies. 

EARLY LITERACY ASIDE: Adults, don't forget about factual books like this. The more facts your child knows about a wide variety of subjects, the greater their background knowledge for school.  

"Bingo" song

Before we started the song, I pinned to the wall a large sheet with each of the letters in 

B I N G O. We said each letter and drew them in the air together before we sang the song. 

EARLY LITERACY ASIDE: Singing slows down language to help your child become familiar with letters and words. 

:"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Coloring sheet

Again, I made a lot of mistakes this time around, first of all talking too much (although I did feel I needed to explain a bit about how our programs have changed). I always start each program with my expectations for the program to the adults, but after this week, I'm going to do the opening song first to get everyone's attention, then give my expectations. 

Also I only did one (or one and some change) book this time, since I sensed I was losing them. I'm going to try to do two books next time, but am prepared to scrap one of them if necessary. With over 100 people in the program, you really have to keep it moving, moving, moving. I will also have a "take home" sheet with some activities. 

Gus, the Dinosaur Bus (2013) Julia Liu, Bei Lynn (ill.)

Gus, the Dinosaur Bus (2013) – Julia Liu, Bei Lynn (Ill.)

This is a fun concept – what if, instead of riding by car or bus, you could ride a dinosaur bus? This picture book takes readers and listeners through the trials and tribulations of Gus, the Dinosaur Bus as he travels through town. The book is fun, but the drawings are too small for larger groups. I’m also not sure about the art – which looks like a kid drew it. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way; lots of kids love art that’s not too far removed from what they can actually do, but I think this would work better in one-on-one situations. 

Storytelling  3
Color Attractiveness  2
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 2
Participation Potential  2
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  2.5

Dinosaur Storytime

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

We had a great time in Storytime on Wednesday, reading, talking, singing, dancing and roaring about dinosaurs!

“Shake Your Sillies Out” – Raffi - opening song

The Dinosaurs – activity

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? – Jane Yolen, Mark Teague

Dinosaur drawing with shapes

I’m a Mean Old Dinosaur – activity

Little Dinos Don’t Push – Michael Dahl, Adam Record

The Dino Pokey (The Hokey Pokey) – activity/dance

Dinosaur vs. the Library – Bob Shea

“Dinosaur in Your Bathtub” song

“If You’re Happy and You Know It” - closing song

Craft – Color your dinosaur – tape to stick

We had 31 kids and 23 adults – a little smaller group than we’re used to and a very young group! Everyone enjoyed the stories, singing, dancing, activities and roaring!

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain (2006) Jonathan Emmett, Debirag Allwright

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain (2006) Jonathan Emmett, Debirag Allwright

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain is great fun! It's large enough for large storytime groups, colorful, and contains lots of potential for group participation. You might want to have the "responses" written on a chalkboard or poster so you and the other grown-ups can help the kids remember what order they go in (since they do build with each verse). Sometimes the pictures of the little girl are a bit small, but since the author is trying to give you a broad scope, this is somewhat expected. Great fun!

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  5
Text Size  4
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  5
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  4.5

Tiny Little Fly (2010) - Michael Rosen, Kevin Waldron

Tiny Little Fly (2010) – Michael Rosen, Kevin Waldron (Ill.)

A tiny little fly has a close encounter with an elephant’s great big toes, nose, and eyes before moving to adventures with other animals. The poor fly is just trying to stay out of trouble… Or is he?

Tiny Little Fly is filled with great rhymes and sounds kids can imitate. A double fold-out page really makes the massive size of the animals unmistakable. This should be a lot of fun for animal storytimes.  

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  5
Text Size  5
Illustrations 5
Participation Potential  4
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime  4.5

Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dogs and construction: what's not to like? These working dogs, along with their trucks, machines, and digging tools are lot of fun. The rhymes are generally good. The book suffers, however, from two problems: the story goes a little too long and there's just too much activity on several of the pages. This would be a better book for smaller groups (better still for one-on-one situations) than large ones.

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  3
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 4