The Storytime Spot

Weather, May 2nd, 2011

2011-05-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Book: Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems.

Magnet Board Story: Drip, Drip, Drip based on the story of the same name from the book Well Done, Worm by Kathy Caple.

Book: Rain by Manya Stojic.

Chant: Weather Rhythm based on the chant of the same name from H.U.M. All Year Long.

Book: Soggy Saturday Phyllis Root.

Song: Rain is Falling All Around.

Rain is falling all around,
On the housetops, on the ground.
Rain is falling on my nose,
On my head and hands and toes.

Book: Mud by Mary Lyn Ray.

Song: Ducks Like Rain from Raffi's CD Rise and Shine.

Rhyme Thyme, April 26th and 27th, 2011

2011-05-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

Book: Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud by Lynn Plourde.

Activity: Sounds that rhyme with oo. Moo, Boo, Choo-choo, Whoo, Cock-a-doodle-doo! We held up puppets that corresponded to each of the oo sounds.

Book: A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan.

Rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We did this rhyme four times at four different speeds: normal, slow, fast and super fast.

Book: Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas

Song: When Cats Get up in the Morning from Wiggleworms Love You.

Book: Jump! by Scott Fischer.

Activity: Hop on Pop. We jumped (a few at a time) on a piece of cloth with Pop from the Doctor Seuss book Hop on Pop drawn on it while we chanted:

Hop!
We like to hop.
We like to hop on top of pop.
STOP!
You must not hop on pop.

Feeling Sick, February 23rd and 24th, 2011

2011-03-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen.

Poem: Curing the Hiccups by Marilyn Singer from Rolling in the Aisles: A Collection of Laugh-Out-Loud Poems.

Book: Parts by Tedd Arnold.

Song: Chicken Pox from Caillou’s Favorite Songs

Book: Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo Willems. We practiced sneezing with the children before reading the story and had them sneeze with us whenever Elephant sneezed.

Song: If You Chance to Meet a Frown

If you chance to meet a frown,
Do not let it stay.
Quickly turn it upside and smile that frown away.

Book/Song: The Lady with the Alligator Purse adapted and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. We passed out lyrics to the parents.

Take Home: We gave each child a pouch with a tissue inside.

by Robyn

Happily Ever After, February 16th and 17th, 2011

2011-03-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox.

Rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle We used a moon and a cow puppet, then used the wrong prepositions, the cow jumped into the moon, under, thru etc. This one gets lots of laughs.

Book: Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein, we used a chicken puppet.

Rhyme: Little Miss Muffet, we used a puppet and a plastic spider.

Rhyme: The Itsy Bitsy Spider (action).

Book: The End by David LaRochelle.

Rhyme: The Noble Duke of York (action).

Rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sign language).

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt.

Activity: Jack B Nimble, we used a candlestick prop and had kids jump over it.

by Patrick and Robyn

Things That Start with B, February 9th and 10th, 2011

2011-03-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: (BOY, BALLOON, BAD) That’s Good! That’s Bad! by Margery Cuyler

Song: Bingo.

Book: (BROWN, BEAR, BIRD, BLUE, BLACK, BAA) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin, Jr.

Poem: (BAND-AID) Band-Aids found in Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein we used a puppet covered with band-aids to tell the poem. Note: some band-aids are difficult to remove!

Book: (BOX) Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Song/Activity: (BUMBLE BEE, BUZZ) Buzz, Buzz, Buzz by Geof Johnson. For a boisterous alternative try Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner… Tape letter B “wings” on the back of each child and buzzzzz around the room!

Book: (BABY, BIG) So Big by Dan Yaccarino.

Book/Puppets: (BERTIE) Bertie was a Watchdog

Activity: Bubbles

by Robyn and Paul

Monkeys, February 2nd and 3rd, 2011

2011-03-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Where’s My Mom by Julia Donaldson

Fingerplay: Itsy Bitsy Monkey

The itsy bitsy monkey climbed up the coconut tree
(pretend to climb a tree).

Down came a coconut and hit him on his knee- OWWW
(make a fist and hit knee).

Out came a lion a shaken’ his mighty mane ---ANNND---
(frame face with hands to look like a lion and shake head).

The itsy bitsy monkey climbed up the coconut tree.

Book: Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome (with puppets)

Song: Go Bananas on The Kerplunks

Story: Monkey Face (flannel board story)

Book: Sock Monkeys Do the Monkey Monkey! by William B. Winburn

Book: Banana! by Ed Vere

Activity: Monkey with a Coconut on The Sea, Beach, and Summer Stuff by Geof Johnson

by Debbie and Robyn

Teeth, January 26th and 27th, 2011

2011-03-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Clarabella’s Teeth by An Vrombaut.

Poem: The Crocodile’s Toothache, from the Shel Silverstein book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. We made a cardboard crocodile, which can be used on the flannel board along with a puppet to tell this poem.

Book: The Crocodile and the Dentist by Taro Gomi.

Song: Brush Your Teeth, from the Raffi cd, Singable Songs for the Very Young.

Book: Nice Try, Tooth Fairy by Mary W. Olson; illustrated by Katherine Tillotson. We made teeth for each of the animals and used puppets, the magnetic chalkboard, and the book to tell this story.

Song: Are Your Teeth . . .? sung to the tune of, Do Your Ears Hang Low? We did this song as a freeze song so every time we got to a picture of a tooth on the paper, we stopped singing and immediately froze.

Story: A Wiggly, Jiggly, Joggly Tooth by Bill Hawley; illustrated by William Joyce. Since this book is really small, we had the pictures scanned and printed out much larger.

Puppet Show: The Bear’s Toothache by David McPhail. We performed this story as a puppet show. It was delightful!

by Debbie and Paul

Getting In Trouble, January 19th and 20th, 2011

2011-03-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon.

Poem: Messy Room, from Shel Silverstein’s book, A Light in the Attic. As one librarian recited the poem, the other brought out all of the stuff mentioned in the poem.

Book: Ten Naughty Little Monkeys by Suzanne Williams; illustrated by Suzanne Watts. We used a doctor puppet to say the doctor’s lines, along with the actual book.

Song: Simon Says from the cd, Infinity, by Trout Fishing in America.

Book: Goldie is Mad by Margie Palatini.

Story: Getting in Trouble, from Dav Pilkey’s book, The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog. We made shadow puppets, which can be used on the overhead projector in place of the actual book.

Song: My Sister Fights with Me, from the book, I’m Still Here in the Bathtub: Brand New Silly Dilly Songs, by Alan Katz; illustrated by David Catrow. We used two little girl puppets to sing this song.

Book: Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells.

Activity: Let’s Make Some Noise, from the Raffi cd, Everything Grows. We passed out musical instruments and danced around the room while the song played.

by Deanna, Paul and Robyn

Snow, January 5th and 6th, 2011

2011-03-29T16:22:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London; illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz.
(We have a big book version of this story.)

Poem: The Snowball, from the Shel Silverstein book Falling Up. We use a snowball prop along with a pajama hat and bed to tell this poem. One librarian read the poem while the other acted it out.

Book: The Greatest Snowman in the World! by Peter Hannan.

Song: Once There Was a Snowman

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,
Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall.
In the sun he melted, melted, melted,
In the sun he melted, small, small, small!

Book: The Snowball by Jennifer Armstrong; illustrated by Jean Pidgeon. (We use a
snowball prop along with characters, which can be used to tell the story in place of the actual book.)

Book: Sledding by David Martin; illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. I made
some magnetic cut-outs that go along with the story which can be used on the magnetic chalkboard in place of the actual book.

Song: You Gotta Keep Warm from the compact disc Bananas in Pajamas Bumping and a-Jumping.

Book: Penelope in the Winter by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben.

Activity: Ice Skating! (We passed out mini-paper plates, which the children used to
skate around on while we played the song Skating, from the cd, Bananas in Pajamas Bumping and a-Jumping.)

by Paul and Robyn

Fairy Tales, January 3rd, 2011

2011-01-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Song: El Baile de las Manos from ¡A Bailar!

Book: Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

Book: Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt

Book: The End by David LaRochelle

Rhymes: I interspersed these nursery rhymes throughout the storytime in no particular order.

Hey Diddle Diddle - I used a cow and moon prop with this one and had the cow jump: under, around, into, etc. the moon. Kids laughed each time we picked the wrong word.

Little Miss Muppet - I used a spider on a string and a little girl puppet with this one.

Hickory Dickory Dock - I used a mouse puppet with this one and had the mouse run up me.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Noble Duke of York

by Patrick

The Gingerbread Man Puppet Script

2010-12-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Narrator: Once upon a time there was a little old woman who loved to eat cookies.

Old woman: (hold up plain side of cookie) “Oh, boy! I just can’t wait to eat this delicious gingerbread man cookie! I’m going to give him candy eyes and candy buttons and decorate him with icing. It’ll be the best cookie ever!” (Hold up decorated side of cookie)

Gingerbread Man: “Look at me! Look at me! I’m Super-Cookie! I’ll run away from you today and you’ll never catch me! You can run, run, just as fast as you can, but you can’t catch me ‘cause I’m the gingerbread man!”

Old Woman: “You’re a COOKIE! Cookies are for eating!”

GM: “Oh, yeah, just watch me run!” (Bob back and forth to “run.”)

OW: “Come back here!” (Chase after him)

GM: “Run, run, run, just as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!”

Cow: (Bring up cow) “Who are you and where are you going? I would like to eat you!”

GM: “I’m Super-Cookie! I ran away from a little old woman, and now I’ll run away from you!”

Cow: “You’re a COOKIE! Cookies are for eating!” (Run after cookie)

GM: “Run, run, just as fast as you can, you can’t catch me—I’m the gingerbread man!”

Pig: (Bring up pig) “Oink, oink! Who are you and where are you going? I would like to eat you!”

GM: “I’m Super-Cookie! I ran away from a little old woman and a cow, and now I’ll run away from you!”

Pig: “You’re a COOKIE! Cookies are for eating!” (Run after cookie)

GM: “Run, run, just as fast as you can, you can’t catch me—I’m the gingerbread man!”

GM: Oh, no! A river! And I can’t swim! What will I do?”

Fox: “Hello there. I can help you get away. I can carry you across the river so you will be safe Climb on my tail and I will carry you across.”

GM: “Ok, thanks for the help!” (Swim)

Fox: “The water is growing deeper. Climb up on my back.” (Move the gingerbread man further forward).

Fox: “The water is growing deeper still. Climb up on my head.” (Move the gingerbread man further forward).

Fox: “The water is growing deeper still. Climb up on my nose.” (move the gingerbread man to perch on fox’s nose).

GM: “Ha, ha! I’m Super-Cookie! I can run away from everyone!”

Fox: “You’re a COOKIE! Cookies are for eating!” (Flip the gingerbread man up in the air and “eat” )

Old Woman: “Oh, darn! I was really hungry for that cookie! C’mon guys- let’s go make more cookies, but this time we’ll make chocolate chip!”

Alligators (and a little bit of Christmas too), December 20th, 2010

2010-12-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

Song: El Baile de las Manos from ¡A Bailar!

Book: I'd Really Like to Eat a Child by Sylviane Donnio.

Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree.

Four little monkey’s swinging in the tree....

Book: A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan

Poem: Santa's Hat
Santa Clause with his beard of white,
comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve Night.
I know it's Santa, I'm sure of that,
because he wears his Santa hat. (use any type of hat)

Repeat the poem several times with different hats. Finish with a Santa hat.

Book: The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell.

by Patrick

Birds, November 29th, 2010

2010-11-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Begin by Singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Rhyme: I'm A Little Penguin
(Tune: I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a little penguin in the snow.
I slide on my tummy to and fro.
I eat the fish from the deep blue sea.
I'm black and white, just look at me.

Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming.

Song: Doing the Penguin from the CD Hot, Hot, Hot Dance Songs.

Book: Penguin by Polly Dunbar.

Puppet Show: Based on the book Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems. We replace piggy and elephant with penguin and walrus.

Song: I Know a Chicken from the CD Whaddaya Think of That? We handed out egg shaped shakers to use with this one.

by Isabelle and Patrick.

Calendar, December 29th and 30th, 2010

2010-11-19T13:27:00.003-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Santa's Eleven Months Off by Mike Reiss.

Poem: Ode to the Months by Patrick and Paul.

Book: Snowmen All Year by Carolyn Buehner.

Song: Chicken Soup with Rice from the CD Really Rosie.

Book: Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelley.

Song/Chant: Weather Rhythms based on the song of the same name from the H.U.M. All Year Long CD.

Book: Twelve Hats for Lena by Karen Katz.

Final Activity: New Year's Countdown. We handed out instruments to all of the children, then we counted down from ten and shouted "Happy New Year!"

by Patrick and Robyn

Gingerbread Jamboree, December 22th and 23th, 2010

2010-11-19T13:27:00.001-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins. We have a BIG BOOK version of this story.

Rhyme: Making Cookies Chant by Jean Warren.

First we add the butter and we mash it, mash it.
Then we add the sugar and we blend it, blend it.
Then we add the eggs and we whip it, whip it.
Then we add the flour and we stir it, stir it.
Then we make a ball and we roll it, roll it.
Then we choose a cutter and we cut it, cut it.
Then we set out a cookie sheet and we place it, place it.
Then we bake it in the oven and we smell it, smell it.
Then we set it on a rack and we cool it, cool it.
Then we pop it in our mouth and we eat it, eat it.

Book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; illustrated by Felicia Bond. We have some great little props which we used to tell the story, in place of the actual book. As always, this is a real crowd-pleaser.

Song: C is for Cookie from any number of Sesame Street cds. We gave each child a die-cut “C” to hold up while they sang this song. Also, we used a Cookie Monster puppet along with some magnetic pictures and the chalkboard.

Book: The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson; illustrated by Marcellus Hall. We used a cow puppet to help tell this story.

Activity: Hello, My Name Is Joe. We modified the pizza version of this story to make it work for our cookie theme.

Puppet Show: The Gingerbread Man

Final Activity: We had the children follow the Gingerbread Man’s footprints to the Craft Room where they got to decorate their own gingerbread cookies.

by Deanna and Paul

Penguins, December 15th and 16th, 2010

2010-11-19T13:26:00.003-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.

Poem: All Dressed Up
Penguins dressed up black and white
Really make a fancy sight!
Sometimes I get dressed up too.
I wear my---and look like new!
(cowboy hat, red cape, feather boa, brown wig…).

Book: A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis.

Song: Doing the Penguin from Hot! Hot! Hot! Dance Songs.

Book: If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor.

Rhyme: Penguin Shuffle
Penguins shuffle shuffle shuffle to the left left left.
Penguins shuffle shuffle shuffle to the right right right.
Give a little wiggle.
Give a little hop.
Waddle around the iceberg,
Never want to stop.

Rhyme: I'm a Little Penguin (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot).
I'm a little penguin in the snow.
I slide on my tummy to and fro.
I eat the fish from the deep blue sea.
I'm black and white, just look at me.

Book: Penguin by Polly Dunbar.

Activity: March of the Penguins. We handed out bean bags to be used as penguin eggs. The children tried to hold the bean bags between their ankles like a penguin as we walked around the room. We also played Walking in the Snow from the CD Banana's in Pajamas.

by Deanna and Patrick

Fish, December 8th and 9th, 2010

2010-11-19T13:26:00.001-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Swim! Swim! by Lerch (James Proimos)

Fingerplay: Five Little Sea Creatures
We used finger puppets with this one.
Five little sea creatures
On the ocean floor;
The shark swam away
Now there are four.

Four little sea creatures
Living in the sea;
The octopus crept away
Now there are three.

Three little sea creatures
Wondering what to do;
“Good-bye,” said the starfish
Now there are two.

Two little sea creatures
Not having much fun;
Off swam the seahorse
Now there is one.

One little hermit crab
Sad and all alone,

Back came the starfish
Back came the sea horse
Back came the octopus
Back came the shark
Then all five went home

Book: Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins

Song: The Waves in the Sea (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus).

The waves on the sea go up and down...
All day long.

The shark in the sea goes snap snap snap...
All day long.

The fish in the sea go swish swish swish...
All day long.

The boats in the sea go toot toot toot...
All day long.

Book: Sailor Boy Jig by Margaret Wise Brown.

Rhyme: Five Little Fishies Swimming in the Sea (to the tune of Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree).

Five little fishies swimming in the sea.
Teasing Mr. Shark,
Can't catch me, you can't catch me.
Along comes Mr. Shark quiet as can be
and SNAPPED that fishy right out of the sea.

Four little fishies...

Book: I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry.

Song: Swimming at the Bottom of the Ocean from the CD The Sea, Beach and Summer Stuff.

by Patrick and Robyn

Silly Stories, December 1st, 2nd and 6th 2010

2010-11-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

We started off telling the children, we wouldn’t shake our sillies out because we wanted to keep them in for our Silly Storytime.

Song: The Hokey Pokey from Rocking Tots Favorites

Book: Bark George by Jules Feiffer

Song: Silly Pizza Song from Signing Time Songs Vols. 1-3

Book: Duck! Rabbit by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Song: Chicken Dance from Dance Baby Dance.

Book: A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas

Jokes: We used a puppet and told jokes to the kids:
How do you stop a skunk from smelling? Hold his nose!
What kinds of pets make the best music? Trump-pets
What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence? Time to fix the fence.

What is the hardest part about learning to ice skate? The ice.
What kind of insect lives in a graveyard? A Zom-bee!!!!

Book: Do Lions Live on Lilly Pads? By Melanie Walsh

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi. Now that Silly Storytime is over it’s time to really shake those sillies out!!!

Bears, November 17th and 18th, 2010

2010-11-01T12:32:00.002-07:00

Book: Bear in Underwear by Todd H. Doodler.

Song: 5 Bears in the Bed

Book: We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

Magnet Board Story: The First Teddy Bear

Book: Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Rhymes: A Bear Eats Honey
A bear eats honey. (pretend to eat)
He thinks it’s yummy
In his tummy. (rub tummy)
But the bees don’t think it’s funny. BUZZZZ!

Beehive
Here is the beehive. Where are the bees? (hold up fist)
Hidden away where nobody sees.
Will they come out?
Yes they will!
One, two, three, four, five. Bzzzzzzzzzz!

Book: Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear by Emily Gravett

Song: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear from Songs from the Cozy Cottage. We passed out teddy bears to hug.

Bedtime, November 3rd and 4th, 2010

2010-11-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

Song: Five in the Bed

Book: Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems

Activity: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the ground.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Dance on your toes,
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch your nose.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Stand on your head,
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Go to bed.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Say good-night,
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn out the light.
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Wake up now,
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Take a bow.

Book: Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea

Poem: Sleeping Sardines by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends

Activity: Everybody Sleeps. We placed pictures of a bed, a crib, a nest and a basket on a magnetic chalk board. We then held up pictures of a boy, a baby, a bird and a cat and asked the children where each of them slept. We had fun putting each character in the wrong bed and asking is this correct?

Book: Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen

Final Activity: Counting Sheep i.e. Our Ernie puppet counted kids with sheep headbands jumping over a small fence.

Halloween, October 27th and 28th, 2010

2010-10-07T08:41:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi.

Book: There’s No Such Thing by Tony Mitton

Song: Green Monster.

Book: Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.

Rhyme: Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate.
The first one said, “Oh my! It’s getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “Oh, I don’t care.”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, run, run!”
The fifth one said, “It’s Halloween fun!”
Then, whooooo went the wind.
And, out went the lights.
And five little pumpkins rolled out of site.
(add whatever action you feel fit)

Book: Peek-a-Booo! By Marie Torres Cimarusti.

Song: Walking Home on Halloween from Songs for All Seasons by Geof Johnson.

Book: Brooms are for Flying by Michael Rex

Song: Monster Mash with instruments.

Final Activity: We gave the children trick-or-treat bags and let them trick-or-treat at the children’s reference desk, the welcome desk and circulation.

by Deanna and Robyn

Friends, October 20th and 21st, 2010

2010-10-07T08:40:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Hi, Harry! by Martin Waddell; illustrated by Barbara Firth.

Poem: Mr. Smeds and Mr. Spats from the Shel Silverstein book A Light in the Attic. (We have drawings of both men that can be used on a flannel board while telling this poem.)

Book: Swim! Swim! by James Proimos.

Song: A Bushel and a Peck, from the compact disc Junior’s Bedtime Songs.

Book: I’m the Best by Lucy Cousins.

Poem: The Little Boy and the Old Man, from the Shel Silverstein book A Light in the Attic. (We used an old man and a boy puppet to perform this very touching poem).

Book/Puppet Show: How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers; illustrated by Bernice Myers. (We used puppets, magnetic pictures, and the magnetic chalk board to tell this story).

Song: Shake Hands with Friends from the compact disc Growing Up with Ella Jenkins. (While this song played, we walked around the room with two giant puppets, shaking hands with each child).

Final Activity: As part of A Week Without Violence, representatives from the YWCA gave the children bracelets, stickers, coloring pages, and balloons.

by Deanna and Paul

The Letter O, October 13th and 14th, 2010

2010-10-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

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

Book: (OWL) Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood.

Activity: (OPPOSITE) Fast/Slow,
Loud / Quiet,
Up / Down,
Happy / Sad,
Laugh / Cry,
Left / Right

Book: (OUT, OFF, OVER) Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse: A Prepositional Tale by Rick Walton. We demonstrated the words over, out/in, off and emphasized the words in the story.

Song: (OLD, OINK) Old MacDonald.

Book: (ODD) The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett.

Song: (O, ORANGE, ORANGUTAN) Orangutango from Bananas in Pajamas. We passed out orange letter Os.

Song: (OPEN) Open Shut Them.

Puppet Show: (ON) There is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems. We used Piggie and Elephant stuffed animals and made cute stick puppets as well. Note: can this puppet show can be done with one or two people (two is optimal, but one is possible).

Activity: OREOS!

by Deanna and Robyn

Fall- An Original Puppet Show by Patrick and Paul

2010-09-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Girl: I can’t believe fall is here!

Boy: I know! Are you ready?

Girl: Not really . . . . (Exit boy and girl.)

Old Man: Fall? Fall??? What happens in the fall?

Business Man: Whoopsie daysie, my shoe is untied. Whooah!!!! (falls down).

Old Man: Oh no! Fall! People fall in the fall! (Old man runs off.)

Cat: Meow. (Licking itself. Begins playing will some yarn; gets tangled up and falls.) Reooorrwww!!!!

Old Man: Oh no! Cats fall in the fall!

Sheep: Baaaaa. (Eating. Sneezes and falls.) Baaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

Old Man: Oh no! Sheep fall in the fall!

Horse: Neigh. (Horse starts galloping. Trips and falls.) Neigh! Snort.

Old Man: Oh no! Horses fall in the fall!

Elephant: Toots. (Elephant sees a mouse and falls over.) Toots.

Old Man: Oh no! Elephants fall in the fall!

T-Rex: Roar! (Gets attacked by a much smaller, plastic dinosaur and falls over.) Roooaaaarrrrr!!!

Old Man: Oh no! Dinosaurs fall in the fall!

Boy and Girl: What’s wrong, Mister?

Old Man: Everything is falling! The man is falling! The cat is falling! The sheep is falling! The horse is falling! The turkey is falling! The elephant is falling! The T-Rex is falling! I hate fall! Everything is falling!!!

Girl: Silly. That’s not what falls in the fall.

Old Man: It’s not? Then what falls in the fall?

Boy: The leaves fall in the fall! (Exit boy and girl.)

Old Man: (Speaking to himself . . .) The leaves fall in the fall?

(Throw leaves at old man.)

Old Man: Aaaaaahhhhh!!! The sky is falling!!!!

THE END

Outreach Storytime Birds

2010-09-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is a story time we used for outreach. The order and number of the stories changes depending on the age and attention span of the group.

Book: Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long.

Book: Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis.

Book: Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus by Mo Willems.

Book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming. We used a goose puppet with this story. The goose would peek out from behind the book each time the book asked "but where's goose?" At the end goose came out and gave a big "honk." Then we let the kids pet the goose.

Song: I Know a Chicken from Laurie Berkner's Whaddaya Think of That? We handed out egg shaped shakers to use with this song.

Song: A Bird Is on Your Nose to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell
A bird is on your nose, on your nose.
Hi-ho watch me blow, a bird is on your nose.

Repeat with other body parts. We handed out feathers that the kids could use to fly from body part to body part.

Poem: My Mother Makes Me Chicken by Jack Prelutsky.
My mother makes me chicken,
her chicken makes me cough.
I wish that when she made it,
she took the feathers off.

End this poem by coughing into your hand and blowing out a bunch of feathers. So funny!

Song: The Little Bird Song
Way up in the sky, (Raise arms above head)
the little birdies fly, (Flap hands)
While down in the nest, (Cup hands)
the little birdies rest. (Press hands together on cheek to “sleep”)
With a wing on the left, (Fold hand under arm to make “wing”)
and a wing on the right, (Fold hand under arm to make “wing”)
The little birdies sleep
all through the night. (Press hands together on cheek to “sleep”)
(pause)
Shhhhh! You might wake up the birds! (Spoken with finger to lips)
(pause)
The bright sun comes up, (Raise arms above head)
the dew falls away, (Wiggle fingers as you bring your hands - downward)
Good Morning, Good Morning! (Make hands “talk” like birds’ beaks)
the little birdies say.

by Patrick

Wiggles, September 29th and 30th, 2010

2010-09-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Wiggle by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Scott Menchin.

Poem: Wiggle and Wag from the book, Kindergarten Kids: Riddles, Rebuses, Wiggles, Giggles, and More! by Stephanie Calmenson. (We used animal puppets to help tell this poem.)

Book: If You’re Happy and You Know It: Jungle Edition by James Warhola.

Song: Wiggy Wiggles Freeze Dance, from the Hap Palmer CD, Two Little Sounds: Fun with Phonics and Numbers.

Book: Clap Your Hands by Lorinda Bryan Cauley. We omitted a few pages simply due to
length.

Poem: Ticklish Tom, from the Shel Silverstein book, A Light in the Attic. We used a
puppet for Tom as well as several other people and animal puppets to tell this poem. Also, we altered the ending to make the poem a little more child-friendly.

Book: Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas.

Song: The Hokey Pokey, from the compact disc, Dancin’ Magic by Joanie Bartels.

Special Performance: The String Dance Collective presented a fun performance of Dr. Seuss’ The Foot Book.

by Patrick and Paul

The Letter S, September 22nd and 23rd, 2010

2010-09-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

Prior to storytime, we put a big “S” on the front wall of the story room. Before reading each story, we introduced our next “S” word and taped it to the wall. We also gave each child a die-cut “S.”

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out (SHAKE & SILLIES)

Book: (STORY, SHEEP, & SHIP) Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw; illustrated by Margot Apple.

Poem: (SHOE) Shoe Talk, from the Shel Silverstein book, Falling Up. I have an old shoe that I use for this poem.

Book: (SMILE) How Do You Make a Baby Smile? by Philemon Sturges; illustrated by Bridget Strevens-Marzo.

Song: (SONG & SPIDER) Spider on the Floor, from the Raffi cd, Singable Songs for the Very Young.

Poem: (SIGNAL) Signal, from the Shel Silverstein book, A Light in the Attic. We made a traffic light which can be used on the flannel board/magnetic chalkboard. We had the children do the actions corresponding to each color of the traffic light.

Book: (SQUID) I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry.

Rhyme: (SANTA) Santa’s Hat

Santa Claus with his beard of white,
Comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve night.
I know it’s Santa, I am sure of that.
Because he wears his Santa hat.

(Put on a silly hat and ask the kids if that hat is correct, then repeat the rhyme with different hats, several times until finally you put on a santa hat).

Story: (SUPER) – 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: “S” Words (We took turns holding up signs with various “S” words and had the kids do the corresponding actions.)

by Paul and Robyn

Otoño/Fall, September 20th, 2010

2010-09-13T19:04:00.002-07:00

Begin by singing El Baille de las Manos from the CD A Bailar.

Book: Clifford’s First Autumn/El Primer Otoño de Clifford by Norman Bridwell

Song: The Leaves on the Trees (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
The Leaves on the trees come tumbling down,
Tumbling down, tumbling down,
The Leaves on the trees come tumbling down,
All over town.

The Leaves on the trees are verde verde verde...
The Leaves on the trees are amarillo, amarillo, amarillo...
The Leaves on the trees are anaranjado, anaranjado, anaranjado...
The Leaves on the trees are rojo rojo rojo...
The Leaves on the trees are café, café, café…

Book: Veamos El Otoño by Sarah Schuette

Song: Scarecrow Song (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot.)
I'm a little scarecrow
Stuffed with hay,
Here I stand in the field all day
When I see the crows,
I like to shout,
"Hey you crows you better get out!"

We used a crow puppet and boy puppet made to look like a scarecrow while sang the song.

Book: A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.

by Patrick H. and Patrick K.

Monkeys, Socks and Sock Monkeys! September 13th, 2010

2010-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Where's My Mom? by Julia Donaldson

Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree. I used a crocodile puppet and some little monkeys while we sang the rhyme.

Book: Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett. This book is lots of fun, especially if you do all the animal actions.

Book: 10 Little Sock Monkeys by William B Winburn

Song: Monkey with a Coconut from The Sea, Beach and Summer Stuff by Geof Johnson.

Book: The Sock Fairy by Bobbie Hinman

by Patrick Hoecherl

Fall, Spetember 8th and 9th, 2010

2010-09-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley.

Song: I’m a Little Scarecrow
(To the music of “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little scarecrow
Stuffed with hay,
Here I stand in a field all day.
When I see the crows,
I like to shout,
“Hey! You crows, you better get out!”
(We used a scarecrow and crow puppet to act out this song.)

Book: A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

Song: The Apple Tree from the compact disc, H.U.M. All Year Long:
(We used an umbrella with leaves stuck on it so that it would look like a tree along with some apple pictures while we sang this song.)

Book: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

Song: A Leaf is on Your Nose. (We gave each child a die-cut leaf while we sang this song.)
(To the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)

A leaf is on your nose
A leaf is on your nose
Hi ho just watch me blow
A leaf is on your nose.

A leaf is on your knee
A leaf is on your knee
Hi ho just watch me blow
A leaf is on your knee.
(Sing the song using different body parts.)

Puppet Show: Fall an original puppet production by Patrick and Paul. (Click here for the puppet script.)

Activity: Play with the parachute and autumn leaves. Prior to having the children flutter the parachute, we recited the following rhyme:
Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are floating down,
They make a carpet on the ground
Then swish, the wind comes whistling by,
And sends them dancing to the sky.

Additional Poem to Consider – Let’s Rake the Leaves

We rake the leaves and rake the leaves,
And rake them in a pile. (Raking motions)
Rake the leaves and rake the leaves
Then STOP and rest a while.

One by one, we jump in the leaves,
Jump in the leaves, jump in the leaves. (Jump)
One by one, we jump in the leaves,
And all fall down together! (Fall down or squat)

by Patrick and Paul

Orangutans and Friends, August 25th and 26th, 2010

2010-08-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

Begin with Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Ape by Martin Jenkins (truncated). We only showed a picture of each of the apes .

Rhyme: Five Little Orangutans this is the exact same as Five Little Monkeys but with orangutans instead.

Book: Little Beauty by Anthony Browne

Song: Monkey with a Coconut from the CD The Sea, Beach and Summer Stuff by Geof Johnson

Story: Orangutan the Mummy an adaptation of Monkey the Mummy by David Martin

Poem: Bananas for Lunch we used an orangutan puppet and replaced the word monkey with orangutan in the poem.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/lunch.asp?themeid=1

Book: Goodnight Me by Andrew Daddo.

Activity: Orangutan School
Stretch out arms.
Hug your baby (Orangutan mothers carry their babies around with them just like human mothers).
Climb a tree.
Swing through the trees (Orangutans spend almost all their time in trees).
Grab fruit from the treetops. (We placed pictures of foods orangutans like to eat around the room and had kids look for the pictures).

by Patrick and Robyn

Building Things, August 23, 2010

2010-08-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Jack's House by Karen Magnuson Beil.

Book: Old MacDonald Had a Workshop by Lisa Shulman. We sang this book together.

Book: Do Not Build a Frankenstein! by Neil Numberman. This book is sooo funny!

Song: I've Been Working on the Railroad from Fisher-Price Little People: Sing-Along Favorites.

Book: I'm Dirty by Kate McMullan.

Book: Silly Little Goose by Nancy Tafuri.

by Patrick

Rhyme Time, August 4th and 5th, 2010

2010-08-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Bear in the Air by Susan Meyers.

Activity: Sounds that rhyme with oo. Moo, Boo, Choo-Choo, Whoo, Cock-a-doodle-doo! We put up pictures of cows, ghosts, trains, etc. and had the children tell us what sound that rhymes w/ oo each of those things make.

Book: A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan. This is the best rhyming book every!

Rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We did this rhyme for times at: slow, normal, fast and super fast speeds!

Book: Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny by Jan Thomas.

Song: When Cats Get up in the Morning from Wiggleworms Love You. We put up pictures of each of the animals mentioned.

Book: Jump! by Scott Fischer.

Activity: Hop on Pop. We jumped (a few at a time) on a piece of cloth with Pop from the Doctor Seuss book Hop on Pop drawn on it while we chanted:

Hop!
We like to hop.
We like to hop on top of pop.
STOP!
You must not hop on pop.

by Deanna, Patrick and Robyn

Bugs, July 28th and 29th, 2010

2010-07-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: Hey Little Ant by Philip and Hannah Hoose (this book works great with two people reading)

Poem: What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth from What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth: and Other Poems to Drive you Buggy by Rick Walton (acted out with a “real live” plastic bug)

When a bug climbs in your mouth
and you don’t know what to do,
CHEW!

Jokes: Bug Jokes with a puppet

Why was the baby ant confused?
Because all of his uncles were ants.

What do you get when you cross a bee w/ a rhinoceros?
I don’t know but I hope it doesn’t sting me!

What kind of a bee lives in a graveyard?
A zom-bee.

Why did the caterpillar go to the library?
He wanted to be a book worm.

Where does a bee sit?
On his bee-hind.

Book: I love Bugs! by Emma Dodd

Song: Spider on the Floor from the CD Spooky Favorites (with pompoms to use as spiders).

Poem: Slug Bug Cheer (with puppets) from What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth: and Other Poems to Drive you Buggy by Rick Walton

Give me an S!
Give me an L!
Give me a U!
Give me a G!
Give me a SLUG!
Give me a SLUG!
Give me a SLUG SLUG SLUG!

OUCH! NOT THAT KIND!

Book: Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horáček

Song: There was an Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly (with puppet)

Book: Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas

Finale: Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz) by Laurie Berkner from Buzz Buzz – passed out the paper "B"s to be used as wings.

by Patrick and Robyn

Singable Sotries, July 21st and July 22nd, 2010

2010-07-15T10:29:00.002-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Books: Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan was Her Name by Tedd Arnold.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a ‘Farm. We used
puppets to sing this version of the song. We began with a cow and then sang about funny things like an alien, witch, pirate, octopus, and dinosaur. Great fun indeed!

Book: Down by the Bay by Raffi; illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. We used a girl puppet to sing the mother's part in the song.)

Song: The Green Grass Grew All Around We made some paper cut-outs which can be used on a magnetic chalkboard while singing this song.

Song/Fingerplay: Peanut Butter by Robin Oz.

Book: The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort; illustrated by
G. Brian Karas. We used some animal pictures on a flannel board while we sang this song.

Song/Activity: The Ants Go Marching.

by Deanna and Paul

Things That Grow, July 7th and 8th, 2010

2010-07-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Wiggles (We did this storytime outside so we didn't have a cd player and couldn't use our normal starting song).

Wiggles
melody: “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”
My fingers are starting to wiggle,
My fingers are starting to wiggle,
My fingers are starting to wiggle,
Wiggle all around.

(my hands, arms, head, are starting to wiggle, etc.)
My whole body’s starting to wiggle,
My whole body’s starting to wiggle,
My whole body’s starting to wiggle,
I guess I’ll just sit down.

Book: Sally and the Purple Socks by Lisze Bechtold.

Poem: Short Kid from Falling UP by Shel Silverstein.

Book: My Garden by Kevin Henkes.

Song: Once I Was a Baby
melody: “Once There Was a Snowman”
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: So Big! by Dan Yaccarino.

Activity: Growing Sunflower children. We all pretended to be little sunflower seeds, then with a little soil, a lot of sun, and a little rain (spray bottle) we all pretended to grow into great big sunflowers.

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Craft: Growing gardens. The kids glued (“planted”) vegetables on a sheet of paper (the “garden”).

by Patrick and Robyn

Imagination, June 30th and July 1st, 2010

2010-06-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: Ella’s Games by David Bedford

Poem: Imagining by Shel Silverstein
(Paul has magnet board props for this)

Book: How Can You Dance by Rick Walton

Book: If I Were a Jungle Animal by Tom & Amanda Ellery

Song: Rocketship Run from the CD Rocketship Run by The Laurie Berkner Band

Book: Magic Box by Katie Cleminson

Final Activity: What Could a Bean Bag Be? from the CD Can a Jumbo Jet Sing the Alphabet? by Hap Palmer. We didn’t have bean bags so we passed out red puff balls which worked fine – it was pretty fun!!

by Patrick and Deanna

Ice Cream, June 23rd and 24th, 2010

2010-06-15T15:17:00.004-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Song: Do As I’m Doing from the CD The Children’s Songook

We built an ice cream cone with a different addition
Each time we sang a verse. The children gave their
ideas too. We did scooping ice cream, spraying whip
cream, shaking on sprinkles, and licking (while we sang).

Book: Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells

Poem: Eighteen Flavors by Shel Silverstein – presented with a puppet and props.

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

Song Once I Was An Ice Cream (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)

Puppet Show: Dog and Bear: Two’s Company – ICE CREAM by Laura Vaccaro Seeger we adapted the ending to include ice cream!

Activity/ Song: 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 Creamies - The BEST part of the entire storytime!!!

by Deanna and Robyn

Fishing, June 16th and 17th, 2010

2010-06-15T15:17:00.003-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: The Little Fish That Got Away by Bernadine Cook.

Poem: Melinda Mae by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Book: Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood.

Song: Baby Fish from Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs

Book: Five Silly Fisherman by Roberta Edwards

Book: The Big Fish by Phyllis Root, illustrated by James Croft. (We use magnetic cut-outs that go along with the story).

Song: Swimming at the Bottom of the Ocean from Sea, Beach, and Summer Stuff by Geof Johnson.

Puppet Show: We created a puppet show based on Mo Willems' book My Friend is Sad but we used two awesome puppet fish instead of Elephant and Piggie.

Activity: Fishing. We made some cute fishing poles using a chopstick, a piece of string and a magnet. Basically, tape a piece of string (approx. 1 foot long) to the end of the chopstick. Then tape a magnet to the other end of the string. Then, we cut out die cut fish shapes and put a paper clip on the nose of each fish. The magnet on the fishing pole will stick to the paper clip on the fish. For a river we laid down a long piece of blue butcher paper and had children stand on both sides. We scattered the fish over the paper “water” and then let the kids go fishing. They loved it!

by Paul and Deanna

Camping, June 9th and 10th, 2010

2010-06-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: One Dog Canoe by Mary Casanova

Rhyme: Five Little Hot Dogs
5 little hot dogs frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and one went bam
4 little hot dogs frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and one went bam,
3 little hot dogs frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and one went bam,
2 little hot dogs frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and one went bam,
1 little hot dog frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and one went bam,
No little got dogs frying in a pan,
the pan got hot and the pan went bam.

Story: Camping by Phyllis Root.

Song: Sleeping Bag Chant from H.U.M. All Year Long

Book: Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah: a Letter from Camp. We used a puppet to sing this story.

Song/Activity: A Camping We Will Go, sung to the music of The Farmer in the Dell.
A camping we will go,
A camping we will go,
Hi-ho, off we go,
A camping we will go.

Patty* will bring the tent,
Oh Patty will bring the tent.
Hi-ho, off we go,
Oh Patty will bring the tent (or, can substitute with “a camping we will go.”)
Continue the song while having children take turns putting a camping supply in our backpack (water bottle, first-aid kit, bug spray, flashlight, cookware, food, etc.)
* = A child who is in the audince's name.

Book: Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer

Activity: We took the kids on a “hike”, walking through tall grass, swimming a river, climbing up and down a mountain, etc. until we “found” the perfect picnic spot which included a "campfire" (an electric fan pointed up with red yellow and orange crepe paper attached). We gave the children marshmallows on a stick and let them roast marshmallows. In the background we played Echoes of Nature: American Wilds.

by Deanna and Paul

Daddies, June 2nd and 3rd, 2010

2010-06-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

Song: D-A-D-D-Y – to the tune of BINGO
I have a very special friend
And I call him Daddy!
D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y, D-a-d-d-y
And I call him Daddy!!

Book: Oh, Daddy! by Bob Shea

Poem: Remote-A-Dad by Shel Silverstein
One of us dressed up as “DAD” and the other used a remote control
to act out this funny rhyme.

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It
We did a version with different emotions – because Dad’s love us
whether we are happy, sad or mad!

Book: If My Dad Were a Dog by Annabel Tellis
We used a puppet to act out the things the daddy dog in the story does.

Book: A Wild Father’s Day by Sean Callahan

Final Activity: We gave out paper neck ties and then had the children act out father activities: golf, fish, eat, etc.

Bears, May 26th and 27th, 2010

2010-05-15T15:52:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson; illustrated by Jane Chapman.

Poem: A Bear Eats Honey.

A bear eats honey (pretend to eat)
He thinks it's yummy
In his tummy (rub tummy)
But the bees don't think it's funny
Buzzzzzzzzzzz! (make hand buzz around like a bee)

Book: Where’s My Teddy by Jez Alborough.

Story: The First Teddy Bear. We have a great flannel board version of
this story.

Activity/Story: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen & Helen
Oxenbury. We had the kids do the actions with us in place of reading the actual book. It was a lot of fun.

Book: Gotcha! by Gail Jorgensen; illustrated by Kerry Argent. Along with the book, we also used a bear puppet, fly swatter, and fly.

Rhyme: Five Bears in the Bed.

Five bears in the bed and the little one said,
“Roll over, I’m crowded.”
So they all rolled over, and one fell out.

Four bears in the bed, and the little one said,
“Roll over, I’m crowded.”
So they all rolled over and one fell out.

Three bears in the bed, and the little one said,
“Roll over, I’m crowded.”
So they all rolled over and one fell out.

Two bears in the bed, and the little one said,
“Roll over, I’m crowded.”
So they all rolled over and one fell out.

One bear in the bed, and the little one said,
“I’m lonely, come back.”

Book: How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers; illustrated by Bernice Myers. We used puppets and pictures to tell this story on a magnetic chalkboard, in place of the actual book.

Activity/Song: Bear hats and song. We made bear hats for each of the kids
and then had them do the actions to the song, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear from the compact disc, Songs from the Cozy Cottage.

by Paul and Robyn

Dinosaurs, May 19th and 20th, 2010

2010-05-15T15:51:00.003-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Dino Pets by Lynn Plourde; illustrated by Gideon Kendall.

Poem: Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein. We recited this poem using a sleeping
bag with eyes and a tongue and changed the word “boa constrictor” to “dinosaur.”

Oh, I’m being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I’m being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don’t like it – one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It’s nibblin’ my toe.
Oh, gee,
It’s up to my knee.
Oh my,
It’s up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It’s up to my middle.
Oh, heck,
It’s up to my neck.
Oh, dread,
It’s upmmmmmmmmmffffffffff . . .

Book: Dinosailors by Deb Lund; illustrated by Howard Fine.

Song: We Are the Dinosaurs from the Laurie Berkner cd, Whaddaya Think of That?

Book: Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea.

Poem: The Tyrant King. We used a pirate puppet to tell
this poem, but also had a T-Rex puppet to prowl around the room.

Song: All Around the Swamp sang to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus, but with dinosaurs.
The dinos in the swamp go roar, roar, roar.
Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar, roar.
The dinos in the swamp go roar, roar, roar.
All around the swamp.

Pteranadon's wings go flap, flap, flap
Tyrannosaurus Rex goes grr, grr, grr
The Triceratop's horns go poke, poke, poke
The Apatosaurus goes munch, munch, munch

Book: Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland.

by Patrick and Paul

Mommies, May 12th and 13th, 2010

2010-05-15T15:51:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino; illustrated by Steven Kellogg.

Poem: My Mother Has Gone Crazy by Suzanne Wunder from the book, I Invited a Dragon to Dinner and Other Poems to Make You Laugh Out Loud, illustrated by Chris L. Demarest. We brought in props to use along with the poem.

Book: That’s What You Get! by Rick Walton, illustrated by Jimmy Holder. We used a puppet for the part of the mother.

Story: Busy Mother.

Book: Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney.

Song: Over in the Meadow from the Raffi compact disc, Baby Beluga. We used some animal pictures on the magnetic chalkboard while we sang the song.

Book: Mother, Mother, I Want Another by Maria Polushkin Robbins; illustrated by Jon Goodell. We used a little mouse puppet as well as some other animal puppets while we read the book.

Puppet Show: My Mom Is Better Than Your Mom based on the story My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad by Andy Griffiths from the book, Guys Write for Guys Read. We used boy puppets while we acted out this funny story.

by Patrick and Paul

Rain, May 5th and 6th, 2010

2010-05-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: The Napping House by Audrey Wood; illustrated by Don Wood.

Song: Rain Is Falling All Around

Rain is falling all around,
On the housetops, on the ground.
Rain is falling on my nose,
On my head and hands and toes.

Poem: Lazy Jane, from the book, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. We used a puppet, a cloud on a stick, and some glitter to perform this poem.

Book: Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems.

Song: And the Rain Came Down All Around, sung to the music of The Green Grass Grew All Around. We made up our own words to the song. We also used pictures on a magnetic chalkboard to correspond with various parts of the song.

Book: Soggy Saturday by Phyllis Root; illustrated by Helen Craig.

Story: The Umbrella, from the book, Kibitzers and Fools: Tales My Zayda Told Me by Simms Taback. We used the puppets, an umbrella with holes, and the blue blanket to act out this story.

Book: Kipper’s Rainy Day based on the books by Mick Inkpen; illustrated by Stuart Trotter.

Story: Drip Drip Drip from the book Well Done, Worm by Kathy Caple. We made cut-outs which can be used on a magnetic chalkboard, in place of the actual book. We told the story and put up the “drips” and “buckets.”

Song: Ducks Like Rain from the Raffi compact disc, Rise and Shine. We gave the children duck feet which they wore while we ran our bubble machine. This was fun!

by Deanna and Paul

Let's Go Outside! April 28th and 29th, 2010

2010-04-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne.

Poem: Sleeping Outdoors by Bill Martin Jr.
Under the dark is a star.
Under the star is a tree.
Under the tree is a blanket.
And under the blanket is me!
We used magnet board props with this one.

Song: The Animals in the Desert sung to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.

Book: In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming.

Storytelling: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We had the kids follow along with the actions.

Book: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert.

Song: The Farmer Plants The Seeds.
Sung to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell.

The Farmer plants the seeds
The farmer plants the seeds
Hi ho the cherry-o
The Farmer plants the seeds

The rain begins to fall...
The sun begins to shine...
The plants begin to grow...
The buds all open up...
The flowers smile at me...

Book: A Good Day by Kevin Henkes.

Activity: Binocular Safari. Before storytime we hung up 10 pictures of animals around the room. We handed out paper binoculars to the children and had them look around the room for animals. They had lots of fun spotting the animals!

Book: A Closer Look by Mary McCarthy. We encouraged the kids to guess what the picture was going to be as we read this book.

by Patrick and Robyn

Birds, April 21st and 22nd, 2010

2010-04-06T14:02:00.003-07:00

Start by singing Raffi's Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: Barnyard Banter

Poem: My Mother Makes Me Chicken by Jack Prelutsky
At the end of the poem, cough with a handful of feathers for extra laughs!

Puppet Show: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy

Rhyme / Song: Little Birdie Song
Way up in the sky, (Raise arms above head)
the little birdies fly, (Flap hands)
While down in the nest, (Cup hands)
the little birdies rest. (Press hands together on cheek to “sleep”)
With a wing on the left, (Fold hand under arm to make “wing”)
and a wing on the right, (Fold hand under arm to make “wing”)
The little birdies sleep all through the night. (Press hands together on cheek to “sleep”)
(pause)
Shhhhh! You might wake up the birds! (Spoken with finger to lips)
(pause)
The bright sun comes up, (Raise arms above head)
the dew falls away, (Wiggle fingers as you bring your hands downward)
Good Morning, Good Morning! (Make hands “talk” like birds’ beaks)
the little birdies say.

Book: Tickle the Duck

Rhyme: Two Little Blackbirds
We did this one three times, each time we went a little faster.

Book: Chick by Ed Vere

Book: Duck! Rabbit!

Song: I Know a Chicken from the CD Whaddaya Think of That? by Laura Berkner
We handed out egg-shaped shakers and had the kids follow along with the actions.

by Patrick and Paul

Colors, April 14th and 15th, 2010

2010-04-06T14:02:00.001-07:00

Start by singing Raffi's Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle

Rhyme Scat the Cat
I'm scat the cat,
I'm sassy and I'm and fat
and I change my colors just like that! (clap)

Each time the kids clap their hands Scat changes his colors. Scat is a cat drawn on a transparency, the transparency is then inset on a manilla envelope. The envelope is full of colored paper. As each sheet of paper is removed Scat changes color.

Book: Lunch by Denise Fleming

Song: If Your Clothes Have Any...
Sung to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It
If your clothes have any red clap your hands....
If your clothes have any green jump up and down....
Etc..

Book: Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
We used a dog puppet with this book and added colored spot each time dog gained another spot. Then when had the kids count each spot. Super fun, this was our best book!

Song: Colors by Hap Palmer from Learning Basic Skills through Music. Volume 1

Book: Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry

Final Activity: Color Song from Parachute Express
We handed out colored streamers and danced to the music.

By Deanna and Patrick

Things That Start with "A," April 7th and 8th, 2010

2010-04-06T13:57:00.002-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: (ANIMALS & AUSTRALIA) – Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles; illustrated by Rod Clement.

Story: (ANT) Ant’s Picnic by Paul Musser. (We used pictures on a magnetic chalkboard to tell this story.)

Song: (AROUND) The Green Grass Grew All Around. We sang this song using a magnetic chalkboard and some home-made pictures.

Book: (ALICE) Alice the Fairy by David Shannon.

Activity: (ACTION, ADVENTURE, & ACTIVITY) Action Adventure School! We had the kids participate in various activities like swinging on a vine, getting trapped in a giant spider web, being shot out of a cannon, riding a rhino, driving a racecar, swimming through the ocean & wrestling a giant squid, walking on a tight rope, and being turned to stone.

Book/Song: (ART & AIN’T) I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by David Catrow.

Rhyme: (AIRPLANE) Airplane

The airplane has great big wings (arms outstretched)
Its propeller spins around and sings, “Vvvvvv!” (make one arm go round).
The airplane goes up (lift arms)
The airplane goes down (lower arms)
The airplane flies high (arms outstretched, turn body around)
Over the town!

Book: (AAAARRGGHH!) Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks.

Song/Activity: (ALPHABET & AFRICA) Alphabet Song. We gave each child a letter from the alphabet and then proceeded to sing the alphabet song, after which we threw the letters on the parachute while we listened to the African Alphabet courtesy of Sesame Street.

by Patrick and Paul

Things That Start with M, March 24th and 25th, 2010

2010-03-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

(At the beginning of storytime we put the letter “M” on the Story Room wall. Before reading each story, we introduced our next “M” word and taped it to the wall.)

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: (MOUSE) The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
by Don and Audrey Wood

Song: Little Mouse Creeping, from the compact disc, Circle Time: Songs & Rhymes for the Very Young

Book: (MOUTH) The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-up Book by Keith Faulkner;
illustrated by Jonathan Lambert

Rhyme: (MOON) Blast Off! by Cynthia Holley.

Jump into your spacesuit,
Don’t forget your hat. (Imitate putting on suit and helmet.)
Climb into the rocket ship
On the launching mat. (Climb in, sit down.)
Buckle up for take off,
Belts from head to toe. (Buckle up!)
Countdown from ten and blast off,
Up to the moon we go!
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . . Blast off!

Song/Book: (MOTHER) Down by the Bay by Raffi; illustrated by Nadine Bernard
Westcott. (We used a “mother puppet” to help sing along with the book.)

Book: (MONKEY & ME) Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett

Rhyme: (MAGIC) – Hat Trick by Deanna Romriell. (We used a cool top
hat with rabbit inside puppet along with a selection of other animals to perform this rhyme. In order to finally pull a rabbit out of the hat, we had the children help us say the magic words. This was a nice touch.

Magic! Magic! In my hat,
I’ll pull out a rabbit –
Aaaaaa!! What is that?!!
(Pull anything other than a rabbit out and repeat.)

Eric Carle, March 17th and 18th, 2010

2010-03-09T15:07:00.001-08:00

Start by singing Raffi's Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
(pop-up version)

Poem: The Apple and the Worm
I bit an apple
That had a worm.
I swallowed the apple,
I swallowed the worm.
I felt it squiggle,
I felt it squirm.
I felt it wiggle,
I felt it turn.
It felt so slippery,
Slimy, scummy,
I felt it land – PLOP –
In my tummy!

I guess that worm is there to stay
Unless…
I swallow a bird some day!

Book: The Little Cloud by Eric Carle (we used the overhead projector)

Song: Baby BumbleBee
I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won’t my mommy be so proud of me,
(cup hands together as if holding a bee)

I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Ouch! It stung me!
(Shake hands as if just stung)

I’m squishing up a baby bumblebee,
Won’t my mommy be so proud of me,
(‘squish’ bee between palms of hands)

I’m squishing up a baby bumblebee,
Ooh! It’s yucky!
(Open up hands to look at ‘mess’)

I’m wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Won’t my mommy be so proud of me,
(wipe hands off on shirt)

I’m wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Now my mommy won’t be mad at me!
(hold hands up to show they are clean)

Activity: I’ll Plant a Little Seed
I’ll plant a little seed in the cold, cold ground (squat down, pretend to be a plant)
Out comes the yellow sun, big and round (put arms above head, like sun)
Down come the raindrops soft and slow (dancing fingers, like rain)
Up come the flowers grow, grow, grow! (jump as flower emerges)

Book: The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle (we used a plastic spider, fly and made a web as we told the story) .

Song: There’s a Spider on the Floor (used pom pom “spiders”)
from The Singable Songs Collection (Raffi)

Book: From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

by Paul and Robyn

Fairy Tales, March 10th and 11th, 2010

2010-03-09T15:05:00.001-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again by Dave Horowitz

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt

Book: The End by David LaRochelle

Activity: The Three Little Pigs (storytelling with wolf puppet and props) We gave each child a little paper pig stick puppet to help us tell the story.

Rhymes: Nursery Rhyme Medley we interspersed these nursery rhymes throughout the storytime with no rhyme or reason…

I’m a Little Teapot (action)

Hickory Dickory Dock (action)

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (action)

Jack Be Nimble (candlestick prop, asked children to come jump over the candlestick)

The Noble Duke of York (action)

Hey Diddle Diddle (moon and cow puppet, we had fun using the wrong prepositions- the cow jumped into, under, around the moon.)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sign language)

Little Miss Muffet (we used a plastic spider on a string)

by Patrick and Robyn

Birthdays, March 3rd and 4th, 2010

2010-03-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

Dedicated to Dr. Seuss (March 2, 1904) and
Eric Carle (June 25, 1929, but on March 20, 1969 the world first met The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: Not Last Night but the Night Before by Colin McNaughton illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark.

Song: Birthday Cake from Parachute Express: Sunny Side UP.

Book: A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas (we had the audience yell TURNIP whenever the word appeared in the story).

Poem: Eight Balloons from A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (the first day we actually popped balloons, however this proved too traumatic so we used paper balloons and had the audience clap to “pop” the balloons with much calmer results).

Book: The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli.

Song: Hokey Pokey from Mickey's Party Songs.

Book: Brownie & Pearl Step Out by Cynthia Rylant pictures by Brian Biggs.

Final Activity: Party Games – “Hop on Pop”, Pin the bowtie on the “Cat in the Hat”, “Green Eggs and Ham” toss.

by Deanna and Robyn

Bedtime, February 24th and 25th, 2010

2010-03-09T14:59:00.001-08:00

Start by singing Raffi's Shake Your Sillies Out.

Book: Mother, Mother, I Want Another by Maria Robbins

Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys Jumpin’ On the Bed

Book: Race You to Bed by Bob Shea

Activity: Everybody Sleeps we used props for this and asked the kids for help matching the beds to the right character – getting them wrong a few times makes it fun!

Book: Pet Shop Lullaby by Mary Ann Fraser

Poem: Sleeping Sardines by Shel Silverstein

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Book: Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea

Final Activity: Counting Sheep! We gave the children sheep hats and let them jump over a little fence.

by Deanna and Paul

The Winter Olympics, February 17th and 18th, 2010

2010-02-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

Begin with Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Dinos in the Snow by Karma Wilson (we abbreviated this slightly)

Song: R-I-N-G-O (sung to the tune of BINGO)

There was an athlete good at sports
And Ringo was his name-o!
R-I-N-G-O, R-I-N-G-O, R-I-N-G-O
And Ringo was his name-0!

Poem: I Did a Nutty Summersault by Jack Prelutsky from A Pizza the Size of the Sun.

Book: Penelope in the Winter by Anne Gutman

Song: Down to the Bottom from Bananas in Pajamas bumping and a-jumping

Book: Sledding by Elizabeth Winthrop

Story: Hey, My Name is Sean, the Olympic Version of Hello, My Name is Joe.

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me,
"Hey Sean, do you mind hanging loose with your right hand?" (make “hang loose” motion with right hand - continue throughout rhyme)
I said, "Sure, Coach."

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me,
"Hey Sean, do you mind curling with your left hand?" (make curling action with left hand )
I said, "Sure, Coach."

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me,
"Hey Sean, do you mind snowboarding with your right foot?" (slide right foot, continuing with hand motions)
I said, "Sure, Coach."

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me,
"Hey Sean, do you mind ice skating with your left foot" (slide left foot, continuing with hand motions)
I said, "Sure, Coach."

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me, "Hey Sean, do you mind catching some snowflakes with your tongue?” I said "Sure, Coach."
(now talk with tongue sticking out)

Hey, my name is Sean and I’m an Olympic athlete.
I have a hat, a coat, and a snowboard.
Now one day my coach said to me, "Hey Sean, are you busy?"
And I said, "Yeah, I'm a little busy right now, Coach."

Story: Turtle’s Olympics by library staff member Paul Musser.
Final Activity: Winter Olympics
• Skating (on paper plates)
• Ski Jumping (jump off short stool)
• Hockey (hit a ball through the goal posts which consisted of tape on the wall)
• Sledding (we had a sled they could sit in)
• At the end each child received a gold medal

Things That Start with F, February 10th and 11th, 2010

2010-02-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

(Prior to storytime, we put a giant “F” on the front wall of the story room. Before reading each story, we introduced our next “F” words and taped them to the wall.)

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: (FOGGY & FOREST) The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt

Song: (FLY & FEATHERS) A Fly is on Your Nose (We gave each child a feather
which they pretended was a fly, and had it land on different parts of their body while we sang the song.)

Poem: (FOOD) Baloney! from Never Take a Pig to Lunch: and other poems about the
fun of eating. (We used a boy puppet, two slices of foam bread, a slice of felt bologna, and a lunch box to recite this poem.)

Book: (FERGUS, FRIENDS) Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon

Song: (FEELINGS) If You’re Happy and You Know It from the compact disc, Get Ready, Get Set, Sing! Songs for early childhood and ESL. (This is a good version of the song as it goes through various emotions such as being happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry, etc.)

Book: (FROG & FIT) Big Frog Can’t Fit In: A Pop Out Book by Mo Willems

Song: (FARM) Old MacDonald Had a Farm. (We used a farmer puppet along a
few animals to sing this song.)

Story: (FISH & FUNNY) The Big Fish by Phyllis Root; illustrated by James Croft.
(We used paper cut-outs which can be used on the magnetic chalkboard in place of the actual book.)

Story/Puppet Show: (FALLING, FAIRYTALE, & FINALE) Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox; illustrated by Lydia Monks. (We did this as a puppet show in Storytime).

by Deanna and Paul

Silly Stories, February 3rd and 4th, 2010

2010-02-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

We started off telling the children, we wouldn’t shake our sillies out because we wanted to keep them in for our Silly Storytime.

Song: The Hokey Pokey from Rocking Tots Favorites

Book: Do Lions Live on Lilly Pads? By Melanie Walsh

Poem: Imagining by Shel Silverstein,
we used props for this.

Book: Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort – sing for tons of fun!!!

Song: Chicken Dance from Dance Baby Dance.

Book: Can You Make a Scary Face? By Jan Thomas

Jokes: We each had a puppet and told jokes to each other:
How do you stop a skunk from smelling? Hold his nose!
What kinds of pets make the best music? Trump-pets
What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence? Time to fix the fence

What is the hardest part about learning to ice skate? The ice
What kind of insect lives in a graveyard? A Zom-bee!!!!

Book: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback we used an Old Lady puppet and props.

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi. Now that Silly Storytime is over it’s time to really shake those sillies out!!!

by Deanna and Patrick

Things That and Start with P, January 6th, and 7th, 2010

2010-01-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

(Prior to storytime, we put a giant “P” on the front wall of the story room. Before reading each story, we introduced our next “P” word and taped it to the wall.)

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: (PRINCE & PRINCESS) – Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox.

Poem: (POEM, PUPPETS, PANDA, & POLAR BEAR) – I Like, from the
book, You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You. (We performed this poem with a panda and polar bear puppet.)

Book: (PRETTY) – Pretty Pru by Polly Dunbar.

Song: (PIRATES) – The Pirate Song, from the cd, H.U.M. All Year Long.

Book: (PIGEON) – Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems.

Song: (PEANUT BUTTER) – Peanut Butter: A Traditional Song by Robin Oz

Activity: (PETS) – We had a competitive pet show-and-tell. For every “pet” I
showed the kids, Patrick brought out a bigger and more impressive version. Sample pets included rubber duckies, plants, eggs (with the optional chicks), mice (puppets), lizards (puppets), a furry-footed leopard-spotted dinglehopper and a blue-bellied hopping zostrich, and zebras (in puppet and mannequin form). Once again this was a hit.

Book: (PAINT) – I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont.

Activity: (PUPPIES, PARACHUTE, & POPCORN) – We let the children play
with mini puppies on the parachute while we listened to “Popcorn,” from the cd Dance, Baby, Dance!

by Paul and Patrick

Things That Start with the letter “D,” December 16th and 17th, 2009

2010-01-04T13:08:00.002-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

We put a large letter D on the wall and during the storytime we surrounded it with words that start with D.

Book: (DUCK) Do Like a Duck Does by Judy Hindley

Song: (DO) Do as I’m Doing (March, Clap, Drum)

Book: (DIRTY DIGGER) I’m Dirty by Kate McMullan

Song: (DANCE) Freeze Dance

Book: (DAD) My Dad by Charles Fuge

Poem: (DEAR) Dear Santa Claus (see attached) we had pictures of D words and let the children choose 9 pictures to fill in the blanks in the poem Dear Christmas by Jack Prelutsky. Then we read the poem using the words the children had chosen.

Book: (DAY) Hello, Day by Anita Lobel

Activity: (DECEMBER) Parachute and Snowflakes used Take a Little Nap from the CD Ralph's World.

All Year Round, December 30th and 31st, 2009

2009-12-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

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

Book: Santa’s Eleven Months Off by Mike Reiss

Poem: Ode to the Months original poem by Patrick and Paul featuring Oscar the Grouch

Book: Twelve Hats for Lena: A Book of Months by Karen Katz (we used flannel board pictures to enhance the story)

Song/Book: Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak (we sang along with the song of the same name from Really Rosie)

Book: Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley

Song: Weather Chant inspired by song Weather Rhythms from H.U.M. all Year Long

Book: Calendar by Myra Cohn Livingston

Activity: We passed out musical instruments and rang in the New Year with a parade around the children’s room.

by Robyn and Patrick

Christmas, December 23rd and 24th, 2009

2009-12-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! by Don and Audrey Wood

Song: We’re all Going to the North Pole from Songs for all Seasons

Book: If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff

Poem: Auntie Flo, in It’s Christmas by Jack Prelutsky (used a box with a ribbon on top with a pair of very large underpants inside)

Book: Have you Been Naughty or Nice by Ethan Long

Song: Ring Those Bells from H.U.M. all Year Long (we gave each child a bell)

Poem: Santa’s Hat

Santa Claus with his beard of white,
Comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve night.
I know it’s Santa, I am sure of that.
Because he wears his Santa hat.

We used a variety of hats until we found the “right” one.

Book: The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell (we used an overhead projector to tell the story). Instead of nothing, we gave each child a candy cane.

Penguins, December 9th and 10th, 2009

2009-12-21T16:47:00.001-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis

Activity/Poem: All Dressed Up
Penguins dressed up black and white
Really make a fancy sight!
Sometimes I get dressed up too.
I wear my---and look like new!
(cowboy hat, red cape, feather boa, brown wig…)

Activity/Poem: Penguin Shuffle
Penguins shuffle shuffle shuffle to the left left left.
Penguins shuffle shuffle shuffle to the right right right.
Give a little wiggle.
Give a little hop.
Waddle around the iceberg,
Never want to stop.

Book: Penguin by Polly Dunbar

Song: Doing the Penguin from Hot! Hot! Hot! Dance Songs

Puppet Show: based on Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems (substituted Elephant and Piggie with Walrus and Penguin…)

Rhyme: Five Little Penguins
Five little penguins stood on the shore,
One went for a swim and then there were four.
Four little penguins looked out to sea,
One went swimming and then there were three.
Three little penguins said, “What can we do?”
One jumped in the water and then there were two.
Two little penguins sat in the sun,
One swam off and then there was one.
One little penguin said, “This is no fun!”
He dived into the water and then there were none.

Book: If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor

Finally: Penguin eggs – we gave each child a “penguin egg” (white beanbag) and danced to Walking in the Snow from Bananas in Pajamas .

Cookies, December 2nd and 3rd, 2009

2009-12-21T16:46:00.001-08:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff (we used props too)

Flannel Board Story: Beeper Bakes by Carole Schaefer

Fingerplay: 5 Yummy Cookies (we used glove puppet and Cookie Monster puppet)
5 Yummy Cookies
5 yummy cookies all chocolate chip
were sitting in the cookie jar when the table tipped.
The cookie jar tumbled,
one cookie crumbled.
How many cookies are left?

Book: Who Ate all the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont

Song: ‘C’ is for Cookie from Songs from the Street CD ZL SONGS S30
We gave each child a letter “C” and asked them to raise the letter each time it is mentioned in the song.

Book: The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Puppet Show: The Gingerbread Man based on the fairytale.

Final Activity: We had the children follow the “Gingerbread Man’s” footprints to the craft room where little bags of cookies were waiting.

Weird Pizza

2009-12-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

One day I ate a pizza
that wasn’t very good.
The sauce was made from mustard,
the crust was made of wood.

Instead of cheese and olives,
you’ll find this rather scary,
the pizza’s top was covered
with something black and hairy.

No mushrooms, onions, peppers too,
instead I found a worn out shoe.
And what about the best part - meat?
How ‘bout moldy shredded wheat.

Some bites were kind of chewy,
and others hard as rocks.
The ones that were the worst though
tasted just like dirty socks.

So the next time that I’m hungry,
I am going to be sure,
When the guy yells out “Weird Pizza!”
Not to open up my door.

Hello, My Name Is Joe

2009-12-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me,
"Hey Joe, do you mind stirring the sauce with your right hand?" (make stirring motions with right hand - continue throughout rhyme)

I said, "Sure."

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me,
"Hey Joe, do you mind chopping the veggies with your left hand?" (make chopping action with left hand)

I said, "Sure."

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me,
"Hey Joe, do you mind opening the trash can with your right foot?" (tap right foot, continuing with hand motions)

I said, "Sure."

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me,
"Hey Joe, do you mind opening the door with your left foot?" (kick left foot, continuing with hand motions)

I said, "Sure."

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me, "Hey Joe, do you mind licking some stamps with your tongue?" (now talk with tongue sticking out)

I said "Sure."

Hello, my name is Joe and I work down at the Pizza Factory. I have a house, and a dog, and a family.

Now one day the cook said to me, "Hey Joe, are you busy?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm a little busy right now."

Thanksgiving, November 25th, 2009

2009-11-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

Poem: I Ate Too Much from the Jack Prelutsky book, It’s Thanksgiving. We hooked a balloon up to a bicycle pump and put it underneath a puppet’s shirt. While the puppet talked about all the things he had eaten, we pumped up the balloon, creating the illusion that the puppet’s stomach was getting bigger and bigger.

Book: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson; illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner. We used an old lady puppet we have who has big mouth that leads to a big pocket inside her belly. We also used little food props to accompany the actual book.

Poem: My Mother Makes Me Chicken from the Jack Prelutsky book, A Pizza the Size of the Sun. We substituted the word “turkey” for “chicken.” As Patrick read the poem he had a fist full of feathers. When he got to the end of the poem, he put his fist up to his mouth and coughed into his hand, blowing out the feathers.)

Song: The Turkey Hop from the compact disc, H.U.M. All Year Long.

Book: Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim

Puppet Show/Book: Turkey Trouble by Wendi J. Silvano; illustrated by Lee Harper. We performed this story as a puppet show, in place of the actual book. It was highly entertaining! The kids all laughed at Turkey's different disguises

Things That Start with "N," November 18th and 19th, 2009

2009-11-25T15:37:00.002-08:00

Prior to storytime, we put a giant “N” on the front wall of the story room. Before reading each story, we introduced our next “N” word and taped it to the wall.

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out

Book: (NOSE) The Nose Book by Al Perkins.

Poem: (NOBODY) Nobody from Shel Silverstein’s book, A Light in the Attic. We told this poem with puppets.

Book: (NAMES & NUMBERS) Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton. We use some great pictures on a magnetic chalkboard, in place of the actual book.

Song/Book: (NOISE) The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort; illustrated by G. Brian Karas. We used magnetic pictures for this one as well.

Book (NEW): New Socks by Bob Shea.

Activity (NINJA): We had the kids participate in “Ninja School.” While playing the song Kung Fu Fighting, from the cd Kung Fu Panda, we taught the children how to bow, breathe, be nimble (jump), kick, chop, balance, eat noodles, sneak (quietly tip toe), and bow again. This was great fun.

Book (NO): No, David! by David Shannon.

Activity (NOVEMBER): We let the children play with autumn leaves on the parachute while we listened to Take a Little Nap (The Disco Song), from the cd Ralph’s World. This was a fun way to end our program and an all around fun storytime!

Pizza, November 4th and 5th, 2009

2009-11-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

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

Book: Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter.

Poem: Weird Pizza by Paul Musser. We made a wooden pizza with all of the toppings which can be used along with this poem.

Book: Pizza Pat by Rita Gelman.

Song: Silly Pizza Song from the compact disc, Signing Time!: Songs. Volumes 1 – 3. We made pictures of all the pizza toppings which can be used on a magnetic chalkboard. Also, consider using the actual signs for each of the toppings while singing the song.

Story: Hello, My Name is Joe

Book: Pizza by Phyllis Root; illustrated by James Croft. We have pictures which can be used on a magnetic chalkboard, in place of the actual book.

Book: Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig. We used my boy puppet with the movable hands and told the parents they could do the same with their kids.

Activity: We made a giant pizza using the parachute! While the kids played with the “pizza dough” (the parachute), we added various toppings (paper cut-outs): red pepperonis, black olives, blue anchovies, green peppers, gray mushrooms, yellow pineapple wedges, and lots of mozzarella cheese strips. The whole while we listened to Dean Martin’s That’s Amore. This was a really fun activity!

Spooky Rhymes, October 21 and 22, 2009

2009-10-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Who Said Boo by Anne Miranda

Rhyme: Scat the Cat
I'm scat the cat,
I'm sassy and I'm and fat
and I change my colors just like that! (clap)

Each time the kids clap their hands scat changes his colors. Scat is a cat drawn on a transparency, the transparency is then inset on a manilla envelope. The envelope is full of colored paper. As each sheet of paper is removed Scat changes color. We also purchased some special Halloween scrapbooking paper to make Scat a little spookier.

Song: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat

Book: Haunted Party by Iza Trapani

Poem: The Mummy by Shel Silverstein. While we read the poem we wrapped me up in toilet paper to turn me into a mummy. Funny!

Book: Boo Who? by Lola Schaefer.

Song: The Black Bats Flew All Around

Awesome Storytime, October 14th and 15th, 2009

2009-10-14T14:26:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: A Girl and her Gator by Sean Bryan.

Poem: Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein.

Book: The Doghouse by Jan Thomas.

Song: Rocketship Run by Laura Berkner from her CD Rocketship Run. We all blasted off each time the song counted down! We also followed the actions mentioned in the song. So much fun!

Puppet Show: Based on Watch Me Throw the Ball! by Mo Willems

Book: Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long. This is a touch and feel book and we took the book thru the audience to let them take turns actually tickling the duck. This one is always a hit.

Song: The Chicken Dance from Dance Baby Dance. For our final activity we did the chicken. If you've never seen it before here it is (our version was way cooler though):

Monsters, October 7th and 8th, 2009

2009-10-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi.

Book: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone

Puppet Show: Based on Ted Arnold's Five Ugly Monsters. Basically it's just Five Little Monkeys, but with monsters instead. Really fun though!

Book: Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Hicks

Song: If You're a Monster and You Know It. Sung to the tune of if you're happy and you know it.
The verses are:
Groan and growl
Flail your arms
Stomp your feet
Make a face
Do all four

Shadow Puppet Show: There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer, we made shadow puppets to be used on overhead projector to tell this story.

Book: Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.

Song: Monster's Jubilee from the CD

by Deanna and Patrick

Noisy Stories, September 30th and October 1st, 2009

2009-10-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi.

Book: Yum Yum! What Fun! By Mara Bergman

Poem: Orchestra by Shel Silverstein

We had the children “play” their instruments along with us, “playing” a little bit of everything as we did the last section of the poem.

So you haven’t got a drum, just beat your belly.
So I haven’t got a horn – I’ll play my nose.
So we haven’t any cymbals –
We’ll just slap our hands together,
And though there may be orchestras
That sound a little better
With their fancy shiny instruments
That cost an awful lot –
Hey, We’re making music twice as good
By playing what we’ve got.

Book: The Baby BeeBee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie – we used a noisy bird puppet with this one

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It
We did clap your hands, as well as stamp your feet, and give a yell…

Book: Do Monkeys Tweet?

Song: Old MacDonald had a Farm (with finger puppets!)

Book: Yip! Snap! Yap! By Charles Fuge

Song: Let’s Make Some Noise from Raffi’s Everything Grows CD.
We handed out instruments and marched around the room to the music. FUN!

by Deanna, Paul and Robyn

Pets, September 23rd and 24th, 2009

2009-10-01T14:47:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi.

Book: I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge.

Poem: Our Hippopotamus by Colin West from the book Pet Poems by John Foster. We used a toy hippo and two little finger puppets for this – fun!!!

Book: Good Boy Fergus by David Shannon

Song: Bingo We used a dog puppet, and a sign that letters you can flip over.

Puppet Show: Based on An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino – We used the awesome house that Liesl had and had our puppet animals pop-out of it. So fun!!! Script is attached.

Pet Show: Pet Rocks- we each brought a “pet rock” and showed off the tricks our rocks could do.
Liesl: Mine can do tricks!! Sit!
Deanna: Oh…Mine can’t do that.
Liesl: Mine can stay!
Deanna: Mine can’t do that.
Liesl: Mine can play dead!
Deanna: Mine can’t… but, he can roll over!!!
This was much more fun than we expected!

Book: Peanut by Linas Alsenas

Poem: Hot Dog by Shel Silverstein

Final Song: The Pets I Love from Baby Signing Time Volume 1. We taught the children the sign for each animal and then sang the song. We made pictures of each animal as well.

by Deanna and Liesl

Pirates, September16th and 17th, 2009

2009-10-01T14:46:00.001-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Pirate PiggyWiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox.

Song: Galiant Ship from Kindermusik Adventures: Near and Far.

Book: Dinosailors by Deb Lund; illustrated by Howard Fine.

Song: The Crabby Song from the book and CD, Rhinoceros Tap by Sandra
Boynton and Michael Ford. We draped the blue blanket over a cart and made a pirate ship to "float" on top of the “water.” We decorated three puppets to look like pirates and gave two of them mops, and then had all three lip-sync to the song. It was fun.

Activity: Pirate School. We taught the kids how to become real pirates by attending pirate school. They practiced talking like a pirate (Aargh! Shiver me timbers! Ahoy! Land ho! Blow the man down! Walk the plank!), walking like a pirate (complete with a wooden peg leg), eating & drinking like a pirate (Belch!), swimming like a pirate, and finally, making a face like a pirate.

Poem: Captain Hook from the Shel Silverstein book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. We made a puppet of Captain Hook, which we used to act out the poem.

Song: The Pirate Song from the CD, H.U.M. All Year Long.

Book: Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

Activity: In order to become official pirates we had the children walk the plank! While the children did this we played the song, “Yo Ho Yo Ho [A Pirate’s Life for Me],” from the cd, Walt Disney Records Presents: The Official Album. After successfully walking the plank we gave each child a pirate hat and an eye patch. As always, this was a big hit

by Deanna and Patrick

Monkeys, September 9th and 10th, 2009

2009-10-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Ou”

Book: Where’s My Mom by Julia Donaldson

Rhyme: 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Ten Naughty Little Monkeys by Suzanne Williams

Rhyme: 5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree

Book: Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett

Book: Hug by Jez Alborough

Final Activity: The Monkey Dance from the Wiggles CD, Yummy, Yummy. We danced along with the music.

by Deanna and Patrick

Cars, September 2nd and 3rd, 2009

2009-09-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

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

Book: Sakes Alive! A Cattle Drive by Karma Wilson

Song: The Fast Cars Drove All Around (we used pictures on a magnetic chalkboard)

Poem: Signals, from the Shel Silverstein book, A Light in the Attic. We made a traffic light which can be used on a flannel board. We had the children do actions corresponding with each color of the traffic light. It was a short but nice break between the first and second book.

Book: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Book/Song: The Wheels on the Bus by Maryann Kovalski.

Poem: Car Sounds. We have several different kinds of cars, which we used on a magnetic chalkboard to help tell this rhyme.

Book/Activity: In the Driver’s Seat by Max Haynes. This is a story that we have converted so that we can use it on a overhead projector. Think of an old-fashioned video game with really slow-moving graphics. Anyway, we had the children all pretend they were getting into their own cars. One librarian sat on the ground and faced the front of the room while reading the story while the other changed the pictures on the overhead projector. It was a hoot! The kids and their mom's had a great time.

Activity: We passed out paper plate steering wheels and had the kids pretend to drive to the music of Drivin’ in My Car, from the CD, Ralph’s World.

by Deanna and Paul

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

2009-08-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

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

Imagination, July 15th and 16th, 2009

2009-07-16T16:49:00.002-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: If I Were a Jungle Animal by Amanda Ellery

Poem: Imagination from Falling Up by Shel Silverstein. We used some drawings and a magnet board to act out this poem.

Book: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Song: What Can a Bean Bag Be? from Can a Jumbo Jet Sing the Alphabet by Hap Palmer. We handed out bean bags to all the kids and had them follow along with the action in the song, this was a lot of fun!

Book: How Can You Dance by Rick Walton

Song: Rocketship Run from the CD Rocketship Run by Laura Berkner. We followed the actions in this song and pretended to be rocketships.

Book: Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea

by Matt and Patrick

Ice Cream, June 24th and 25th, 2009

2009-06-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Body Parts, May 27th and 28th, 2009

2009-05-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Parts by Tedd Arnold

Song: Hinges
I'm all made of hinges, 'cause everything bends
From the top of my neck way down to my ends.
I'm hinges in front and I'm hinges in back;
But I have to be hinges or else I would crack!

Book: Safari Animals by Simms Taback. We had the children guess which animal we were describing as we folded out the picture. So much fun!

Flannel Board: Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. We used a flannel board to tell this story.

Rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We did this rhyme 3 times, first slow, then faster and finally super fast!

Book: Chicken Cheeks

Song: Juanito from Lirica Infantil vol 3 by José Luis Orozco.

by Patrick and Robyn

Birds! May 20th and 21st, 2009

2009-05-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: Stuck In the Mud by Jane Clarke – a cute story & well received.

Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming. We “sang” the story (to the tune of “Skip To My Lou,”) and the kids helped with the animal sounds. We also used a goose puppet which would briefly appear when the story asked, “Where’s Goose?,” and ultimately stole the book at the end. This was a great way to read it!

Puppet Story: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems. We turned this soon-to-be-a-classic book into a really funny puppet show.

Song: I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner from the CD Whaddya Think Of That? We passed out plastic easter eggs with beans inside and shook them as directed by the song.

Book: Tickle the Duck! by Ethan Long. We took the book into the audience and let the kids really tickle the duck – so fun!

Book: Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Another successful story, this one is great for reading with two people.

Song: Doing the Penguin from the CD Sesame Street Hot! Hot! Hot! Dance Songs. We passed out paper penguin feet for the kids to wear while we performed the actions.

by Liesl and Patrick

Fishing, May 13th and 14th, 2009

2009-05-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Begin by singing Raffi’s Shake My Sillies Out.

Book: The Little Fish That Got Away by Bernadine Cook; illustrated by Crockett Johnson. We made shadow puppets which can be used on an overhead projector to tell the story along with the book.

Poem: Melinda Mae, from the Shel Silverstein book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. We made a picture on a piece of poster board which can be used to tell this poem.

Book: Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood; illustrated by Bruce Wood.

Song: Baby Fish from the CD, Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs.

Book: Five Silly Fishermen by Roberta Edwards; illustrated by Sylvie Wickstrom.

Fingerplay: Here is the Sea

Here is the sea, the wavy sea
(wave hands like a wave going by)
Here is my boat,
(cup hands like a boat)
And here is me.
(point to self)
All of the fishes
(wiggle your fingers)
Down below
(point downwards)
Wiggle their tails
(wiggle your fingers, while making a fish)
And away they go!
(wiggle your fingers behind your back)

Book: The Big Fish by Phyllis Root; illustrated by James Croft. We use paper cut-outs, which can be used on a magnetic chalkboard in place of the actual book.

Activity: Go fishing! We attached paper clips to some die-cut fish shapes. We then tied pieces of yarn to chopsticks and taped magnets to the other ends. These were our fishing poles. We had a big piece of blue butcher paper which we pretended was our river. It was a very fun activity!

by Liesl and Paul