We're Going on a Trip, August 26th and 27th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Bunnies on the Go: Getting from Place to Place by Rick Walton

Song: Wheels on the Bus from Wiggleworms Love You

Book: The Bag I’m Taking to Grandma’s by Shirley Neitzel (We used a bag full of all the items mentioned to help tell the story).

Book/Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It (Jungle Version) by James Warhola

Book: Everybody Bonjours! by Leslie Kimmelman
(we encouraged the kids say "bonjour" whenever we heard the words “Everybody Bonjours”)

Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (We sang the song once all together and then broke up the room into two groups and sang it as a simple round)

Book: Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett

Final Activity: The children wrote postcards to themselves , then we mailed them back to them via Albuquerque, New Mexico!

by Patrick and Robyn

ABCs and 123s, August 12th and 13th, 2009

Start by singing Raffi's Shake my Sillies Out.

Book: Dinnertime! by Sue Williams

Song: Alphabet song with puppet

Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. We used storytime props.

Activity: Counting Feet? : How many shoes must a duck, rabbit and spider put on in the morning? We had flannel board props for this one.

Song: 5 Little Monkeys

Book: The Sleepy Little Alphabet: a Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town by Judy Sierra

Book/Song: 5 Little Ducks

Activity: Buzz like a bee! We gave each child a “B” to stick on their backs with tape and buzzed around like bees to Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner from Buzz Buzz

Treat: Passed out baggies of Alphabits cereal

Things That Grow, August 5th and 6th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Sally and the Purple Socks by Lisze Bechtold

Poem: Short Kid from Falling UP by Shel Silverstein

Book: Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa

Song: Once I was a Baby
Once I was a baby, baby, baby
Once I was a baby,
Small, small, small.

Now I’m getting bigger, bigger, bigger,
Now I’m getting bigger
Tall, tall, tall.

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We used flannel board pieces to tell the story.

Book: So Big! by Dan Yaccarino. We used actions with this one.

Activity: Growing Sunflowers. We all pretended to be little sunflower seeds, then with a little soil, a little sun, and a little rain – er a spray bottle. We all pretended to grow into great big sunflowers.

Book: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Craft: Growing gardens. The kids glued pictures of vegetables onto a sheet of paper to plant their garden.

by Deanna and Robyn

Community Helpers, August 19th and 20th, 2009

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Cat Up a Tree by John Hassett

Poem: The Sitter by Shel Silverstein
We used our “Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” puppet for the sitter and then had her sit on a little girl puppet. We told the poem twice, once with us reading it, and once with the little girl puppet saying it. It was very funny!

Song: I Got a Job from the CD, Growing Up with Ella Jenkins: Rhythms, Songs & Rhymes.
Each time we sang the words “All day long,” we had the children perform a different action. Various actions included: turning in circles, jumping jacks, clapping, pulling ears/sticking out tongue, patting head/rubbing belly, sitting down/standing up, heads-shoulders-knees-and-toes, digging, and marching.

Book: Edwina the Emu by Sheena Knowles

Poem: The Crocodile’s Toothache by Shel Silverstein
We used a laminated crocodile whose jaws open and close, which we placed on a magnetic chalkboard. We then used a puppet to act as the dentist from the poem.

Book: Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter

Song: The People in Your Neighborhood
As we sang together we brought out a variety of hats (chef’s hat, fireman’s helmet, zookeeper’s hat, etc.) and had the children guess who the community helper was, before we actually sang about them.

Book: Baker, Baker, Cookie Maker by Linda Hayward
We read certain parts of the story in a Cookie Monster voice with a Cookie Monster puppet.

Treat: Cookies!!!
After the last story about baking cookies we brought in a platter of cookies. This was a big hit!

by Paul and Robyn