Storytime - Summer

Last week's theme was Summer, and it's probably my favorite lesson plan yet this season.

Books

Maisy Makes Lemonade by Lucy Cousins 

Toddler

One Magical Day by Claire Freedman

Toddler

Froggy Learns to Swin by Jonathan London

Preschool

The Happy Hippopotami

Preschool

Special Songs/Rhymes

"Mr. Sun"

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun,

Mr. Golden Sun

Won’t you please shine down on me?

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun,

Mr. Golden Sun

Hiding behind a tree.

These little children are asking you

To please come out so they can

Play with you.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun,

Mr. Golden Sun

Won’t you please shine down on me?

"The Waves at the Beach"

Sung to: “The Wheels on the Bus”

The waves on the beach

Go up and down

Up and down, up and down

The waves on the beach

Go up and down

All day long

*Use crabs, clams, and lobsters, too.

--from The Big Book of Stories, Songs, and Sing-Alongs by Beth Maddigan and Stefanie Drennan. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.

Felt Boards 

"If You're Going to the Pool"

*This song can be found on Mel's Desk. For the toddler group, I just put the picture of the item on the board and we sang the song. I asked the preschoolers to name something they would take with them to the pool, and as they guessed the items in my hand, I placed them on the board, then we sang the song.

Craft

Toddler - Each toddler received a die cut of an orange and yellow sun and a piece of sky blue construction paper. They glued the pieces together and colored them to make their own summer scenes.

Preschool - Since my preschool groups have been so big, I've scaled back on the crafts a little bit. I handed each child a summer themed worksheet from First School.ws that can be found here.

 

Summer Reading Program - Week 3

Wow! Week 3! I didn't think that we could get more crazy, but I'm always surprised.

This week's prize was a dinosaur silly band, and I was surprised at the number of boys who were equally as excited as the girls to get one.

Blue, of course, was the first color gone, hence no picture of it!

Storytimes

Attendance finally looks like it's equaling out, finally. There were still quite a lot of kids at storytime, but I have altered the crafts a little so they're not so overwhelming. This week's theme was Summer, and it's my favorite one of the summer so far. 

Programs

Thursday - Teen Game Night

Three of our four branches are offering teen video/board game programs this summer. My first was on Thursday night. I set up the Nintendo Wii with Super Smash Brothers Brawl and put out various board games and card games. I also had a table for Nintendo DS users.

Sadly, Teen Game Night was just not meant to be. Whether it was too early in the summer, too late in the evening (7:00 to 8:00 pm), or the fickleness of teens, no one came to hang out. We had almost no patrons in the library that night, either (a first this summer!), so I guess I won't feel too bad about it. There's always our TGN in July.

Friday - Weekly Performer

This week we hosted a visit with a zoologist who brings live animals. The theme for our show (he brings different types of animals depending on the theme) involved creepy critters. He brought an alligator, a king snake, a tarantula, a scorpion, a Burmese python, and a giant Madagascar cockroach (guess which animal made me leave the room!). His shows always have a huge turnout, and we had 175 people cross our meeting room threshold, which includes those who left and let others take their place.

Unfortunately, with a crowd this size, there are always some issues. Last year we couldn't fit all of the people who wanted to come in, so this year I gave out numbers 1 through 160, which is how many people I can safely have in the room. I started giving out numbers a half an hour before the show and encouraged the adults who had older children to not go into the program room so that I could fit more children. Most adults were more than okay with this; they understood that it was a children's program. But there was a handful of adults who were just looking for an argument, and couldn't be convinced that their entry guaranteed that one less child could enter the room. When we filled to capacity, there were even more issues (fire codes, people!), but thankfully I had an assertive staff member guarding the door for me.

Sea How Many Books...

We are at 6050 books/hours!

Newness!

New name! New layout! Same great storytime stuff!

Check it out!

Flannel Friday - Picking Up the Fruit

Flannel Friday is here again! Today's entry is "Picking Up the Fruit" and is more of a folder game than a flannel board, although it could easily be turned into one. The idea came from Dr. Jim of Itsy Bitsy Babies.

The fruits and basket are from clip art images I gathered from various parts of the web. I laminated them first so that they'd withstand little hands a bit longer. The basket was also laminated, glued to brown construction paper, and stapled to a manila file folder. If you'd like a copy, leave a comment and I can email you the files.

 "Picking Up the Fruits"

Sung to: The Paw Paw Patch

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Way down yonder in the apple field.

Repeat with banana, strawberry, orange, and lemon

Before singing the song, hand each child a fruit. Invite the children to place their fruit in the basket when they hear their fruit's name called.

And that's all for this week, folks. Check the roundup on sotomorrow's blog for even more great flannel board ideas. Thanks for stopping by!

Storytime - Father's Day

Happy Belated Father's Day, everyone! Here's a look at what we did in storytime for Dad's day.

Books

I Love My Daddy by Sebastien Braun 
Toddler

My Daddy is a Giant by Carl Norac 
Toddler

Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino  
Preschool

*Note: I probably wouldn't use this again in a storytime setting. Cute book, but not appropriate for a big audience.





Special Songs/Rhymes
"I Love Daddy"

Sung to: “Frere Jacques”

I love Daddy, I love Daddy,

Yes I do, yes I do

We have fun together,

We have fun together,

Just us two, just us two

--from Toddler Storytime Programs by Diane Briggs. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1993. 

Felt Boards

"Daddy's Ties"

Sung to: Mary Wore a Red Dress

Felt Board

Daddy wore his purple tie,

purple tie, purple tie.

Daddy wore his purple tie

All day long.

Continue with blue, green, yellow, and red.

-- Many thanks to Katie at Story Time Secrets for this awesome felt board!

"D-A-D-D-Y"

Sung to: “BINGO”

I have the best father in the world

And Daddy is his name-o.

D-A-D-D-Y x3

And Daddy is his name-o.

Repeat and leave out each letter one by one.

Craft

Daddy Puzzles

I gave each child a piece of white cardstock with the words "It's no puzzle, you're the greatest! Happy Father's Day!" The children colored the sheet then brought it to me, where I used a puzzle shaped die cut. I then put their puzzles in a small paper bag for them to give to a great guy in their life. Thankfully, a few parents stepped in to help cut the pieces that the machine missed (apparently my die is not as sharp as it once was). It was a time consuming process, but everyone waited patiently and everyone had a good time. Children and caregivers alike were fascinated by the Accucut machine.