Storytime - Peas, Please!

Toddler

Books: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Pea Soup” on the felt board, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Peas on a Spoon. Materials: spoon printout, green foam circles, crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued the circles to the spoons and colored the paper. The spoon picture came from SuperColoring.com.

Preschool

Books: Mabel O’Leary Put Peas in Her Ear-y by Mary Delaney and LittlePea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Pea Soup”, “The Hokey Pokey”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Peas on Ps. Materials: letter P printout, green construction paper circles, crayons, glue, tape, and scissors. The preschoolers glued their circles to their Ps and colored in their projects.

Songs/Rhymes

Pea Soup

One little pea,

Jumped into the pot,

And waited for the soup to get hot.

(Tuck thumb into fist)

Two little peas jumped into the pot,

And waited for the soup to get hot.

(Tuck pointer finger into fist)

Three little peas jumped into the pot,

And waited for the soup to get hot.

(Tuck middle finger into fist)

Four little peas jumped into the pot,

And waited for the soup to get hot.

(Tuck little finger into fist)

Finally the soup got so very hot,

All the little peas jumped out of the pot!

(Open hand and wiggle all your fingers)

--Katie at Sharing Soda

If You’re Happy and You Know It

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

Repeat with stomp your feet, shout hooray, do all three.

--Traditional

The Hokey Pokey

You put one arm in,

You take one arm out.

You put one arm in,

And you shake it all about.

You do the Hokey Pokey,

And you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about!

Substitute different body parts. For more advanced children, use left and right.

--Traditional

Wee Read - Ribbit Ribbit!

Early Literacy Tip of the Week:

Remember to not ask too many questions. Try to keep your comment to question ratio between 2:1 to 4:1 (2-4 comments/statements for every question you ask your child). --Playing with Words 365

Good Morning

Hello, How are You?

With Our Hands

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

Open Shut Them

Book One

Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Little Green Frog

Mmm-ahh! Went the little green frog one day.

Mmm-ahh! Went the little green frog.

Mmm-ahh! Went the little green frog one day.

And the frog went mmm-mmm-ahh!

--PreschoolEducation.com

Little Frog

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

Little Froggy

--I’m a Little Teapot!: Presenting Preschool Storytime by Jane Cobb. Vancouver, BC: Black Sheep Press, 1996.

I Wiggle My Fingers

Book Two

That’s Not My Frog by Fiona Watt

Frogs

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

Two Little Hands

Sung to: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap,

Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.

Two little hands go thump, thump, thump (on the ground),

Two little feet go jump, jump, jump.

One little body turns around,

One little child sits right down.

--District 196

Read Together

Mirror Me by Julie Aigner-Clark

The More We Get Together

Storytime - Dinosaurs

Toddler

Books: Dinosaur Roar! By Paul and Henrietta Stickland and Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton.

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Stomp, Stomp, Stomp Around”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, “Come Under My Umbrella” with parachute, “These Are the Colors Over You” with parachute, “Ring Around the Rosie” with parachute, “Row Boat, Row Boat” with parachute, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: There was no craft today. We played with the parachute instead.

Preschool

Books: How Do Dinosaurs Go to School by Jane Yolen and Dino Bites! by Algy Craig Hall.

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Hi There, So Glad You Came”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Stomp, Stomp, Stomp Around”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “Head and Shoulders”, and “The More We Get Together”.

Special Activity: Storytime Graduation. We celebrated the preschoolers who were moving up to Kindergarten. Each graduate received a special Storytime Diploma! There were 17 graduates in all. They’ll be missed, but we look forward to hearing about their adventures in Kindergarten! The storytime diploma can be found here. The template originally came from Microsoft's template site.

Craft: There was no craft today.

Songs/Rhymes

Stomp, Stomp, Stomp AroundSung To: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
Stomp, stomp, stomp around
On your great big feet.
Swish your tail
Then turn around,
Now go take your seat!

--PreschoolExpress

If You’re Happy and You Know It

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

Repeat with stomp your feet, shout hooray, do all three.

--Traditional

Come Under My Umbrella

Come under my umbrella,

Umbrella, umbrella.

Gently wave the parachute up and down.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

Move parachute faster.

There’s thunder and lightning

And wind and rain.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

--MCLS Kids

These are the Colors Over You

Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Pink and green and orange and blue

These are the colors over you

Pink as a blossom, green as a tree

Orange as a carrot (yellow as the sun), blue as the sea

Pink and orange and green and blue

These are the colors over you.

--Kendra at Read, Sing, Play

Ring Around the Rosie

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posie

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!

--Traditional

Row Boat, Row Boat

Row boat, row boat go so slow (wave the chute slowly).

Row boat, row boat go so fast (shake the chute fast).

Row boat, row boat the waves are getting worse (shake fast again).

Row boat, row boat put it in reverse (stop the chute by pulling towards you).

--Kendra at Read, Sing, Play

Head and Shoulders

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose

Head and shoulders, knees and toes

Knees and toes!

-- Traditional

Wee Read - The Great Big Spider

Early Literacy Tip of the Week:

When playing with your child, make sure to follow his lead. If he isn’t interested in the activity, he probably won’t learn much from it so move on.

Good Morning

Hello, How are You?

The Great Big Spider

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

*Substitute the words "great, big" for "itsy bitsy". Use big arm gestures instead of fingers.

Open Shut Them

Book One

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Tall as a Tree

--I’m a Little Teapot: Presenting Preschool Storytime by Jane Cobb. Vancouver, BC: Black Sheep Press, 1996.

There’s a Spider on the Floor – with puppet

--Raffi

One Elephant Went Out to Play

One Elephant went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day

He had such enormous fun

He called another elephant to come.

(HEY, ELEPHANT!)

Two elephants went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day

They had such enormous fun,

They called another elephant to come…

etc.

--Miss Mary Liberry

I Wiggle My Fingers

Book Two

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Lorianne Siomades 

Humpty Dumpty Up

Humpty Dumpty up,

And Humpty Dumpty down.

Humpty Dumpty left,

Humpty Dumpty right,

Humpty Dumpty all around.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Poor Humpty Dumpty (smiling).

--Jim Thomas

Eyes and Nose

--Storytime Crafts: Crazy Days by Kathryn Totten. Ft. Atkinson, WI: Upstart Books, 2004.

Read Together

Little Miss Muffet by Tracey Campbell Pearson

The More We Get Together

Storytime - Butterflies

Toddlers

Books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Butterfly Butterfly by Petr Horacek.

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Flutter, Flutter, Butterfly” with butterfly puppet, “Cocoon”, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Fluttering Butterflies. Materials: Kleenex, black pipe cleaners, and watercolor paints. The toddlers used the paints to decorate their butterflies.

Preschoolers

Books: Fly, Butterfly, Fly! by Dana Meachen Rau and Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas (because it was my birthday!).

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Cocoon”, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Fluttering Butterflies. Materials: Kleenex, black pipe cleaners, and watercolor paints. The preschoolers used the paints to decorate their butterflies.

Songs/Rhymes

Flutter, Flutter, Butterfly

Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Flutter, flutter, butterfly, 

Floating in the summer sky.
Floating by for all to see,
floating by so merrily.
Flutter, flutter, butterfly,
floating in the summer sky.  

--PreschoolEducation

Cocoon

You spin a cocoon

(Spin in a circle)

Then you wait inside

(Crouch down low and cover face)

And when you come out

(Link thumbs, still covering face)

You’re a butterfly!

(Lift hands fluttering into the atmosphere!)

--HCPL