Storytime Overview Winter/Spring 2012

What I learned during the Winter/Spring 2012 session:

1. Do not make crafts multicolored. Temper tantrums will ensue if you do not give the child the exact color he or she was hoping for, and nothing will save you if you run out of a popular color. This is a lesson I should have already known, but forgot somewhere along the way.

2. Never again will I use the monkey die cut for name tags. The tails and feet would not stay untangled from each other. They might be cute, but they were too much of a headache.

3. Laminating construction paper and then using the die cut on the paper was a tad expensive, but the name tags held up for the four months we used them. I'll be using this tactic again in the Fall, as the Summer session is too short to justify the expense.

4. I need to start making an announcement and/or have a sign posted asking caregivers to silence their cell phones. It's never been a problem in the past, but this session saw way too many stories interrupted by loud ringers and stepping out to talk.

5. My voice is not up to shouting over the ambient noise of 80 people. Thankfully, our administration approved the purchase of a wireless public address system. I'm looking forward to being able to talk after storytimes now!

6. It's better to warn my groups ahead of time that I expect to be absent, rather than to spring it on them when they arrive and I'm not there. Before my conference this April, I went back and forth on this decision, and while not telling them has its advantages, they're much more inclined to think I'm never coming back if there's no warning given.

7. It's okay to take a break from themes and schedule a Story Stew day. A class which included nothing but my favorite activities was a welcomed and refreshing break from the norm. Thank you to my friends on Twitter who encouraged the idea and named it for me.

8. In a similar fashion, I found I was getting tired of doing the same old themes year after year. This session I decided to try things I never would have in the past. I took it a step further for the Summer session and included some pretty crazy themes. Of course, I will always have the standards to rely on, but it's nice to know I don't always have to go the normal route.

Wee Read - Let's Pretend

Early Literacy Tip: Enjoy pop-up and lift-the-flap books together. Talk about what might be hiding under the flaps.

Books

This is the Way a Baby Rides by Susan Meyers

Jump by Steve Lavis

This book is a bit long. I cut it short when the babies began to get restless.

Little Miss Muffet by Tracey Campbell Pearson

Read-Together book 

Songs

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream!

--Traditional

Balloons

--My First Action Rhymes illustrated by Lynne Cravath. New York: HarperFestival, 2000.

Dancing Up and Dancing Down

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Here’s a Cup

--Babies in the Library by Jane Marino. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2003.

Roll Your Scarf (with scarves)

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Wind, Oh Wind (with scarves)

­-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Peek-a-Boo (with scarves)

Tune: Are You Sleeping?

Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo

I see you, I see you

I see your button nose,

I see your tiny toes.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

--Jim Thomas

Flannel Friday - Hickory Dickory Dock

Happy Friday! How's everyone enjoying the new Flannel Friday site?

My post this week involves the familiar rhyme, "Hickory Dickory Dock". We all know how it goes: the mouse scampers up the clock.

But, what if we were to make it silly? How about a moose running up the clock? And he doesn't just run down, he crashes down!

Linda will be hosting the roundup on her blog this week. Mel is this week's Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother, so email her at our address with any questions you might have. We're still over on Facebook and Pinterest. Be sure to stop by and say hi!

Wee Read - Eggs

Early Literacy Tip: Develop your baby’s listening skills by using puppets and props to tell a story instead of reading it.

Books

 That's Not My Bunny by Fiona Watt

Baby Loves Spring by Karen Katz

Spring Peeps by Cindy Eng

Read-Together Book

Songs/Rhymes

I’ll Touch My Chin

--Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

We used the egg shakers for the first time. They were a big hit! See this post about how I made them.

Shake Your Eggs

use shaker eggs
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs and shake them low.
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs around you go.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

Shake Your Shakers

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Put Your Egg on Your Head

Sung to: “There’s a Spider on the Floor”

Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head
Put your egg on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
continue with toes, tummy, etc.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

Blue Bird, Blue Bird

Blue bird, blue bird

On my window,

Blue bird, blue bird

On my window.

Blue bird, blue bird

On my window,

Oh, Mommy, I’m tired.

--Jim Thomas

Storytime - Eggsellent

Books

Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Toddler

Roly-Poly Egg by Kali Stileman

Toddler

The Easter Bunny's Assistant by Jan Thomas

Preschool

I was worried about those children who don't celebrate Easter, so I changed some words around. No one noticed, and everyone was laughing along with the story. 

Songs/Rhymes

Cluck Cluck, Red Hen (with puppet)
Use a chicken puppet and two plastic eggs
Sung to: "Baa Baa, Black Sheep”
Cluck, cluck, red hen, have you any eggs?
Yes, sir, yes, sir, as many as my legs: 1,2

--Storytime Source Page 






Shake Your Eggs

Use shaker eggs
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs and shake them low.
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs around you go.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

Shake Your Shakers

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Put Your Egg on Your Head

Sung to: “There’s a Spider on the Floor”
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head
Put your egg on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
continue with toes, tummy, etc.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes 

Craft

I ordered these Easter Egg Magnet Kits from Oriental Trading. Everything came prepackaged and was self-adhesive, so all I had to do was hand them out. They gave me a nice break from preparing crafts.

An Exciting Flannel Friday Announcement

Exciting news for Flannel Friday! Introducing the Flannel Friday website!

As you know, Anne at So Tomorrow has been an amazing manager and archiver of Flannel Friday information for the past year. Anne and her husband are expecting their first baby in June (congratulations Anne!) so we wanted to give her a break from Flannel Friday during her maternity leave. So this spring, Anne and Mel from Mel's Desk and a small group of old and new Flannel Friday-ers worked to create a new web home for Flannel Friday.

Here's the link! http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com

The new site will be the home of the Round Up Schedule, the archives, FAQs about Flannel Friday, information about how to get involved with Flannel Friday, and links to help new members get started with social networking and blogging. There will also be a link to the week's Round Up, but the Round Up will continue to be hosted on individual blogs. We'll just point to each Round Up from the site.

Refining the Round Up Procedure

The Flannel Friday community has grown continuously over the year, with new bloggers, new Round Up Hosts, and new members every week on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. We are building an amazing community and are grateful to each and every one of you for your participation and enthusiasm. As the group has grown, you've probably noticed that so have the Round Ups! We've seen an inevitable increase in missed links and general confusion as the Round Ups are compiled. We thought that the launch of the new site was a great opportunity to take a page from other round ups in the blogosphere and establish one single method for building the Round Up each week.

This information will be in the FAQs on the new site, but here's our new strategy in a nutshell:

• Every week the Round Up Host will publish a "placeholder" post for the Round Up on the host blog at 10pm EST on Thursday.

• Each blogger who wants to participate in the Round Up will make a comment to the Round Up post with the link back to their Flannel Friday post by 10pm EST on Friday.

• This will be the only place to post links for the Round Up! This way the Host won't have to worry about checking Facebook or Twitter as well.

• If a blogger can't make the 10pm EST deadline on Friday, we'll ask that the post be held for the next week's Round Up.

• The Round Up Host will gather links from the Round Up post comments throughout the day, and publish the Round Up at the end of the day.

We hope this will make the Round Ups easier to create and easier to contribute to! We'll look forward to your feedback over the next few weeks. Sharon / @ReadingChick at Rain Makes Applesauce has the Round Up this week, 5/11, so she's going to try out the new procedure with us and see how it goes!

If you have questions or comments, don't hesitate to share them via the new Flannel Friday email: flannelboardfriday [at] gmail.com.

Thanks for all you do to to make Flannel Friday more than a blog event--but a great community too. Here's to the next great year of Flannel Friday!

Flannel Friday Round Up - Final

It's Friday indeed! Check out this week's amazing flannel board submissions! 

And stay tuned for a special announcement at the end of this post!

Linda's here with a glove rhyme about pretty flowers (and they sparkle!) for May.

Don't look now, but your underpants are showing! Thanks Tara!

Anne is hosting Josh's fun rhyming flannel Squire McGuire.

Katie tempts us with her yummy felt cookies. 

Go under the sea with Nicole and her Five Little Sea Creatures.

Seth has put out a warrant for Goldilock's arrest. She's up to her old tricks again! 

Courtney's Five White and Fluffy Sheep are just too cute for words.

Cate has found some buried treasure at author Will Hillenbrand's website.

Who doesn't love The Very Hungry Caterpillar? No one! And thanks to Meghan, we have a sock puppet and flannel version to share.

The classic Five Little Ducks has been "Willem-ized" by Jane. Do they get cookies, too? 

Sarah is trying to get Animal to eat healthy, but will he bite?

Let's go on a (sparkly) bug hunt with K!  

THIS MONDAY be sure to look here and on other Flannel Friday blogs to learn more about some exciting changes coming our way!

Flannl Friday Roundup Place Holder

Happy Friday fellow Flannelers! This is where the roundup will be, so feel free to post your links in the comments below, or email them to me at molliereadsya (gmail).

Wee Read - Let's Move!

Early Literacy Tip: Be positive. Try rephrasing a request so that it doesn’t include don’t, no, can’t.

Books

Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig

Dance With Me by Charles R. Smith Jr.

Wiggle Your Toes by Karen Katz

Read-Together Book

Songs/Rhymes

Bend and Stretch

--from Babies in the Library by Jane Marino. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2003.

Can You Kick with Two Feet?

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

I Wiggle My Fingers

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Jack in the Box

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Trot, Trot to Dover 
-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Texas Library Association Conference 2012 - Friday

8:00 AM: Literacy Leapers: A Special Needs Reading Program. Staff from the Smith Public Library in Wylie, TX shared how they planned an implemented a special needs program at their library. Their program is inclusive, but they offered many ways to include children with special needs into typical storytime settings.

10:00 AM: Safe Space Kit 101: A Guide to Being an Ally to LGBT Youth. This was an interactive presentation given by the GLSEN organization at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. This chapter works within the university to promote diversity and acceptance both inside and outside the campus.

Our first group activity was to ask ourselves a couple of questions about our beliefs and voluntarily share our answers with each other. We thought about questions such as, "If someone were to come out to you as LGBT, what would your first thought be?" and ""If you do not identify as LGBT, how would you feel if people though you were?"

Next we took a look at our individual organizations. How do our policies and procedures reflect our stance on how we feel? We discussed several case studies of discrimination against members of the GLBT community and what we would have done to change or remedy the situation. Lastly, we learned how to make our own action plan for implementing changes in our organizations.

As my last session at TXLA 2012, this was an exceptional one. It left me with a lasting impression and gave me many things to think about.

12:00 PM: Homeward bound! It was a fun and educational week, and thought I was sad to leave all of my librarian colleagues behind, I was glad to get home for some well-deserved rest and relaxation!

Texas Library Association Conference 2012 - Thursday

8:00 AM: Surviving the Public: With the Help of Unshelved. The guys of Unshelved did not fail in making the early morning session an entertaining one. With the utmost in sarcasm, Bill and Gene gave us ways to "make our own entertainment" while we are the front lines of customer service.

10:00 AM: Stories Alive! Using Creative Dramatics in Storytime.We were taught how to be more dramatic when telling stories by two veteran storytellers. This class was a Get-Up-and-Move type, and it was nice to have the opportunity to chat with other librarians. We also witnessed one of the funniest and out-of-control story with audience participation ever. Whoever said librarians are quiet has never sat in a room full of children's librarians! My coworker was in a session next door, and he said we were so loud, they couldn't hear the presenter over us. Now THAT'S the sign of a good session!

Quick shout out to Rachel from the Euless Public Library. She was my partner-in-crime during the session and my first in-person blog fan. Hi Rachel!

12:00 PM: Bluebonnet Award Luncheon. One of my superiors scored me an extra ticket to the Bluebonnet Award Luncheon. The Texas Bluebonnet List is an annual list of books for 3rd through 6th grade. Children are encouraged to "Read five, then decide," meaning they read five of the titles on the list and pick which one they think should win.

This year's winner was The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda by Tom Angleburger. Children from around the state were invited to the luncheon to introduce Tom. I couldn't believe how professional the children were. They all acted like public speaking naturals. One boy even gave out Cheetos to all of the people at the head table!

Angleburger discussed why he wrote the book. He admitted that two characters, Dwight and Harvey, have something in common with him: All three have Asperger's. Tom wanted to write a story that would have been useful to him back when he was in middle school. 

Tom revealed that the librarian plays the part of a hero in the next book, The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee, and also shared with us his new idea for a bumper sticker: Aspergers is not a syndrome it's a super power, but school is kryptonite & the library is the bat cave.

At the end, Tom told us to grab a piece of the green paper that was on every table. He demonstrated, along with a volunteer, how to make our own "Emergency Origami Yodas".

Side Note: It's no secret that librarians are predominately female. At gatherings, it's not
uncommon to see long lines at the ladies room, while the men have no wait at all. Thankfully, some quick-minded women remedied that situation real quick!