Ice Cream, June 24th and 25th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Isaac the Ice Cream Truck by Scott Santoro

Poem: Eighteen Flavors by Shel Silverstein. Presented with puppet and props.

Book: Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells.

Song: Once I Was An Ice Cream (to the tune of Once There Was a Snowman) we had the kids act out the lyrics.

Once I was an ice cream, ice cream, ice cream
Once I was an ice cream, tall, tall, tall!
(Stand tall with arms over head)
In the sun I melted, melted, melted,
In the sun I melted, small, small, small!
(Slowly “melt” to the ground)

Magnet Board Story: Wemberly’s Ice Cream Star by Kevin Henkes

Puppet Show: Dog and Bear: Two’s Company – ICE CREAM by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

Activity/ Song: We passed out instruments to the kids. We played the song I Dream of Ice Cream by Bananas in Pajamas. We paused the music and had the kids “freeze.” When they were frozen we instructed them to “melt.” We froze and melted over and over.

Treat: We passed out popsicles. Yum!

Going to the Beach, June 17th and 18th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: To the Beach! by Linda Ashman; illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott.

Song: Dancing in the Sand from The Sea, Beach, and Summer Stuff by Geof Johnson.

Book: How Will We Get to the Beach? by Brigitte Luciani; illustrated by Eve Tharlet.

Book: Beach Party! by Harriet Ziefert. The children acted this out with us as we read it – FUN!

Song: Let’s Spend a Day at the Beach, from the Wiggles’ cd, Hoop-Dee-Doo! (The kids all stood up to do the actions for this song).

Story: Rosa at the Beach from the book Hurray for Rosa by Sheila White Samton. We used a doll to act out Rosa’s actions in the story.

Book: All You Need for a Beach by Alice Schertle; illustrated by Barbara Lavallee.

Final Activity: Beach Party!!! We threw a bunch of beach balls on the parachute and played with that for awhile. We played Lilo and Stitch: Island Favorites in the background.

by Deanna and Patrick

The Adventures of Captain Cowardly and the Caped Klutz

An original puppet script by Patrick Hoecherl and Paul Musser.

Narrator: One morning, Captain Cowardly awoke to urgent news on the radio.

Radio: This just in – Alien invaders have just landed and are planning on taking over the planet! Can anybody save us?!?!

Captain Cowardly: Aliens?!?! That’s horrible! I’m so scared! Maybe I can pretend to be asleep and hide under my blankie and no one will find me.

Narrator: Just then, Captain Cowardly’s sidekick, the Caped Klutz, crashed through his bedroom window.

Caped Klutz: Cowardly, are you awake?

Cowardly: (Pretending to be asleep) Snores . . . . .zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Klutz: Cowardly, wake up! It’s an emergency! Didn’t you hear the news?!? Wake up!!!!!

Cowardly: Snores louder . . . . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Klutz: Why won’t Cowardly wake up? Huh! I know. Hot coffee ought to do The trick. (Pulls out a kettle of hot coffee.) Whoops! (Klutz slips and spills the entire pot/cup of scalding liquid all over Cowardly.)

Cowardly: Yoooowwwwww!!!!

Klutz: Works every time. Cowardly, there’s no time to waste. Alien invaders have run amuck. We have to stop them!

Cowardly: Do I have to?

Klutz: Come on! You’re a superhero! Pull yourself together!

Cowardly: (reluctantly) Oh, all right. But first, I’ve got to . . . to . . . make breakfast.

Klutz: Make breakfast? This is no time to think about food! The world is in danger!

Cowardly: Awww, but Klutzy, breakfast IS the most important meal of the day.

Klutz: Mmmm, so it is. But hurry. Here let me help you with that. (Pulls out a banana, fumbles, and slips. . . ) Ooops!

Cowardly: Klutz, are you okay?

Klutz: No, I have slipped on my own banana! (Sound of pots clanging together.)

Cowardly: Take your time. I’m in no hurry.

Klutz: Let me just dig my way out of this mess.

(In the meantime, Cowardly is noisily eating while an alien spaceship is seen in the background abducting a cat.)

Cowardly: Awww, much better. Now, aren’t you glad we had breakfast?

Klutz: I think so. Now, to the rescue!

Cowardly: Uhhh, ummmm, uhhh, . . . . first . . . . I must . . . . . brush my teeth!

Klutz: Brush your teeth? But Captain Cowardly, this is an emergency! We need to leave, now!

Cowardly: Klutz, proper dental hygiene is very important. You should never neglect your teeth.

Klutz: Well I suppose so, but hurry. (Cowardly ducks down behind sheet. Klutz stands waiting, staring at nothing in particular. In the background an alien spaceship is seen abducting a cow.)

Cowardly: Mmmm, minty fresh.

Klutz: Better, now? Ok, up, up, and aw-. . . !

Cowardly: (interrupting) I can’t go yet.

Klutz: What now?!?!

Cowardly: I . . . uh . . . need to find my lucky sneakers.

Klutz: Lucky sneakers? You don’t have any lucky sneakers! Cowardly, people are in danger!!!

Cowardly: Just one more minute. I can’t fight crime without my lucky sneakers.

Klutz: Oh, alright. But be quick about it! Here, let me help you look for them. (Alien spaceship is seen abducting a piano. Clothes are flying in the foreground . . .)

Cowardly (from behind curtain): Ah ha, here they are! This is the way we tie our shoes, tie our shoes, tie our shoes. Take the ends and cross the laces, cross the laces, cross the laces . . . .

Klutz: Stop!!!! Give it here. Let me do it.

Cowardly: Owww! That hurts.

Klutz: Just one more loop . . . . . There! (Puppets pop back up all tied up in shoes.)

Klutz: Now, you’ve had breakfast, brushed your teeth, and found your lucky sneakers. Can we please go?!?!

Cowardly: But I’m scared. What if they don’t like me?

(Loud crash. Puppets duck. Image of large monster chasing spaceship.)

Radio: We’re sorry to interrupt but we have an urgent update. There’s some good news and some bad news. The good new is that the alien invaders have flown away, never to be seen again. . .

Cowardly: Aha! Another job well done by . . . Captain Cowardly!

Klutz: . . . and the Caped Klutz! Evil never stands a chance when . . .

Radio: . . . The bad news is that the aliens were chased away by a giant fire-breathing monster!

Cowardly and Klutz: (Turn and look out the window at the monster.) Gulp!

Cowardly: I need to tie my shoes again.

Klutz: Me too.

THE END

Superheroes, June 10th and 11th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s “Shake My Sillies Out.”

Puppet Show: The Adventures of Captain Cowardly and the Caped Klutz an original production by Paul Musser and Patrick Hoecherl. (We draped a blanket across two stools which we used for a stage and placed the overhead projector behind the blanket. We acted out part of the show with puppets and part of the show on the projector. It was pretty funny. See the script.

Rhyme: The Superhero Rhyme by Paul, Patrick, and Deanna.

Superhero, Superhero, jump up quick.
Superhero, Superhero, give a kick.
Superhero, Superhero, fly around.
Superhero, Superhero, touch the ground.
Superhero, Superhero, reach up high.
Superhero, Superhero, wink one eye.
Superhero, Superhero, smash a wall.
Superhero, Superhero, try not to fall.
Superhero, Superhero, run real fast.
Superhero, Superhero, done at last.

Book: Super Sam! by Lori Ries; illustrated by Sue Rama.

Activity: Superhero exercise! In order to fight crime (and fit into that tight suit) a superhero has to be in peak physical shape. We had the children do a few exercises such as running in place, jumping jacks, push-ups, sitting down/standing up, stretching, touching their toes, flying, and working out their ears (in order to hear when someone calls for help.) While we exercised we listened to the song, Mighty Mouse from the compact disc Toon Tunes: Action Packed Anthems.

Book: Just a Daydream by Mercer Mayer.

Poem: Twistable, Turnable Man, from the Shel Silverstein book, A Light in the Attic. (We read the poem while we played with a superhero puppet.)

Book: It’s Super Mouse! by Phyllis Root; illustrated by James Croft and found in the book, Mouse Has Fun. We made magnetic cut-outs that go along with the story which can be used on the magnetic chalkboard, in place of the actual book.

Activity: Superhero dress-up and flight! We used an overhead transparency which said, “Help!” and projected it onto the wall. Then we played the music to Superman while we took off our shirts revealing our superhero T-shirts and put on our capes! We had another librarian run into the room pleading for help – jewels had been stolen out of her purse. We asked the kids if they would help us and gave each one their very own red cape. We flew over to the Crystal Cave where we found the stolen jewels and successfully returned the jewels. Unfortunately, the jewel thieves got away. It was still a lot of fun though.

by Paul and Deanna

Safari, June 3rd and 4th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Starry Safari by Linda Ashman

Rhyme: Down in the Jungle
Down in the Jungle with the beat in your feet
(clap on the back-beat)
Think of an animal that you’d like to meet
(have a child yell out an animal name)
A (Lion), (clap, clap)
A (lion), (Clap, Clap)
She wants to meet a (lion)! (clap, clap) (make a lion noise: roar!)
(repeat and ask for other animals)
We had a tub of stuffed animals there and pulled out the ones they said

Book: Safari Animals by Simms Taback
(fun guessing game style book)

Poem: Hippo Sandwich

Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys

Book: If You’re Happy And you Know it: Jungle Edition by James Warhola

Book/Activity: Elephants Aloft by Kathi Appelt. We used hula hoops with the small group and the binoculars with the other group and had the kids move the objects as described in the story.

Final Activity: JUNGLE WALK!!! (to the song Let’s Go on a Jungle Walk from Dippin in the Paintbox) We gave the kids binoculars and hung pictures of animals around the room. While the music played, we had the children find the animals described.

by Liesl and Deanna.