Friday, July 29, 2011

Flannel Friday Roundup 07/29/11

Happy Flannel Friday! Here's this week's roundup:

Anna at Future Librarian Superhero with Five Apples in a Basket

Travis at Gulf Beaches Library Young Kids Page with Four Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf

Mary at Miss Mary Liberry with Five Baby Penguins

Linda at Notes from the Story Room with Pot Luck

Melissa at Mel's Desk with This Little Chick

Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes with Spaghetti Time! 

Cate at Storytiming with Five Little Sloths


If I've missed anyone, please let me know!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Flannel Friday - Five Little Monkeys

Today's Flannel Friday post is flashing back to my early days of storytime, back when I was still a shelver (eep!). This is the first flannel board I ever made.


"Five Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree"
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree,
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!"
When along comes Mr. Crocodile 
AAAAANNNNNDDDD SNAP!!! 


Continue on until you have no monkeys left. Depending on the mood of the crowd, I either have the monkeys stay gone or climb back up the tree at the end of the song.






This week's roundup is hosted by @aflemming at rovingfiddlehead kidlit.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Storytime - Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

Books
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner
Toddler





I Love Bugs by Emma Dodd
Toddler
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
Preschool










Special Songs/Rhymes

"Pretty Ladybug" Felt Board
Sung to: "The Muffin Man"
Ladybug has 1 black spot,
1 black spot, 1 black spot;
Ladybug has 1 black spot,
Pretty ladybug!
Continue until there are 6 spots.




Crafts
Toddlers
Pencil Critters
We have a die cut in the shape of a caterpillar with holes through each of its segments so that you can thread a pencil through it. We added some googly eyes and extra pencils I had laying around. 






Preschool
Bug Buddies
Each child was given a baggie with a leaf shape cut out of green construction paper and two pompons, one big and one small. I set up the craft tables with Elmer's glue, googly eyes, and sequins. Their instructions were to make their bug how they wanted to. They came up with some pretty interesting creations.
 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Summer Reading Program - Week 5

Reading Program
Our prize this week was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen: dinosaur rubber duckies! The pink pterodactyl went fast, so I wasn't able to get a picture of it, but the rest are just as adorable.






Storytimes
Oh boy did we have a big crowd for storytimes this week! Both Wee Read and Preschool classes had larger than normal attendance at 31 and 85 people respectively. Our theme this week was Bugs, Bugs, Bugs.

Programs
Since a large number of families go away for the holiday, we use this as a rest week for performers, so it was fairly quiet in the afternoon.

Sea How Much...
9950 books/hours!

Friday, July 8, 2011

The Drama of Four Year Olds

This story is so crazy, I just had to share.

Today's storytime theme was bugs. For the preschoolers' craft, I gave each child two pompons and let them glue sequins and googly eyes on them to make their very own buggy. Two little friends were sitting on the floor, each with their buggies beside them. Seeing the pouty looks on their faces, I asked them what was the matter. Their responses were truly memorable.

The conversation went like this:
Me: What's going on here?
Girl 1: She doesn't like my bug.
Me: Why not?
Girl 2: Her bug only has one eye. It doesn't look right.
Me: That's okay, we can make our bugs however we want to. It's okay to be different.
Girl 2: Nah-ah. Her's is wrong. I don't like it.
Me: Well, how would you feel if your friend said she didn't like your bug?
Girl 2: I don't care. It's ugly.
Me: I like both bugs. They're both really cool.

At this point, their adult came to get them and take them home. Girl 1 felt much better when I told her I liked her bug, so she thought the matter was finished.

Girl 1: I know! We can go play outside and have a pretend picnic!
Girl 2: No we can't. We're not friends anymore. Your bug is wrong. 


That didn't stop Girl 1, though. She walked out of the library with a smile on her face, and I hope that they completely forgot about their argument soon after.

Flannel Friday - Campfire Pokey

Happy Flannel Friday! I hope you have your gear ready, because we're going camping!


"Camping Pokey"
Sung to: "Hokey Pokey" 

You put your marshmallow in, 
You take your marshmallow out, 
You put your marshmallow in 
and you shake it all about, 
You do the campfire pokey, 
and you turn yourself around, 
And that's what it's all about, hey!

 

Substitute "marshmallow" with hot dog, apple, popcorn, and anything else that you can roast over the campfire.

 

End with: you put your whole dinner in, you put your whole dinner out.


Flannel Friday is hosted by Katie at storytime katie. Check her site later to see the roundup of all of today's post.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Storytime - Fruits and Vegetables

Today's theme was about growing and eating fruits and vegetables. It was an especially interesting storytime because just before I opened the doors, my glasses fell apart in my hands. With no time left to fix them, I was forced to do both storytimes in a blurry fog!

Books
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Toddler

It's about flowers, yes, but I thought it would be nice to show them how plants are grown.



 

From the Garden: A Counting Book About Growing Food by Michael Dahl
Toddler

This is where my lack of sight got in my way. Apparently they are peppers and not apples, like one of the grandmothers oh so nicely pointed out.

 
Carrot in my Pocket by Kitson Flynn
Preschool

This was the only book we read in Preschool Storytime because of the glasses mishap. I learned my lesson in TT!





Special Songs/Rhymes
Fruits and Veggies are Good For Me
Sung to: "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"
Fruits and veggies are good for me,
EE I EE I O
And so I eat them happily,
EE I EE I O
With a carrot here,
and a carrot there
Here a carrot, there a carrot
Everywhere a carrot, carrot.
Fruits and veggies are good for me,
EE I EE I O.
*Use your own creativity to add other fruits and vegetables.

Since I wasn't able to see too clearly, we spent most of our time in Preschool Storytime singing songs, including: "If You're Happy and You Know It", "The Hokey Pokey" (the crowd dissolved into a puddle of giggles when we got to putting our backsides in...), and "Mr. Golden Sun" done progressively faster and faster until we collapsed on the floor. 

Felt Board
Toddlers
Each child was given a fruit (apple, banana, strawberry, orange or lemon). The children were invited to come to the front to put their fruit in the basket when I said its name.

"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
-- From Dr. Jim at Itsy Bitsy Babies 

Preschoolers
We played a guessing game called "What Am I?" based off of the book What Am I? by N.N. Charles (for more information on the game, see my post here). 





Crafts
Simplicity is the name of this summer's game!
Toddler
Fruit or Veggie Stick Puppets
The template for the fruits and veggies came from the USDA's website for promoting fruits and vegetables. I cut one of the fruits or vegetables out and put one in each craft bag, along with a popsicle stick. The toddlers colored in their food and either glued or taped it to their stick. I gave them instructions to use it while they sing "Fruits and Veggies are Good For Me".



Preschoolers
Fruit and Vegetable Cut and Paste Activity Sheet
The preschoolers were sent home with their own activity sheet to work on. The sheet combines sorting and cutting.

Though my day didn't work out exactly as planned, we were still able to have fun with each other and learn some things. Next week, we're back to the same ol' plan.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Summer Reading Program - Week 4

Four weeks done, just four to go! This week's recap is a short one

This week's prize was a treasure chest magnet craft from Oriental Trading.

This was also the first week that the children could complete the program. They are marked as complete when they turn in four weeks (not necessarily consecutive weeks). When they complete, they receive a Texas Reading Club certificate with a free burger from a local fast food chain and a free pass to a nearby rollerskating park.  



Storytimes
Our storytime theme was fruits and vegetables. All three groups had a regular attendance number, and this week's classes were very enthusiastic! 

Programs
We hosted a visit from a storyteller on Friday. She told us four Aesop's fables and even acted two of them out using props and a backdrop. Attendance was at 78, and wasn't quite what we experienced last week. That's quite alright by me, because no one became grouchy or unruly, and everyone was able to get a seat. 

Sea How Many Books...

7950 books/hours!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Flannel Friday - Fruits and Vegetables

It's Flannel Friday! I'm continuing my fruits and vegetables theme with this week's flannel board activity.

One of my predecessors purchased felt fruits and vegetables, and I found them while rummaging through some old files a few weeks ago. Then, while planning out my fruits and veggies themed storytime for this Friday, I glanced through the book What Am I?: Looking Through Shapes at Apples and Grapes by N. N. Charles and Leo and Diane Dillon. The book is a guessing game, with children looking at a part of a fruit through a shape, using poems as clues.


I took some of the poems in the book and wrote a few of my own (using quite a bit of poetic license). I created a square frame out of felt. Tomorrow during preschool storytime, I will hide a fruit or veggie in the box and tell the children the poem/clues.




Here are some of the poems I wrote:

Crisp and crunchy
I am yummy
In salads.
What am I?
Lettuce!

I am orange, I am round
And on Halloween, 
I can be found.
What am I?
A pumpkin!

I am juicy,
Yes, indeed!
And I have lots of seeds.
What am I?
A watermelon!

This week's Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Katie at sharingsoda. Check out her blog later to see everyone who participated.