Story time: At the Beach

Books Used:
One Fish, Two Fish  by Dr. Seuss
Bats at the Beach  by Lies
Froggy Learns to Swim  by Jonathan London
Rainbow Fish  by Michael Pfister

Craft Suggestions:

Story time theme: Alligators

Book Suggestions:
Invisible Alligators  by Gayes Roberts
             (Storyboards)
Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator! by Mo Willems
            (There are several short stories in this one.)
jNF 597.98  Alligators and Crocodiles  by Laurence Pringle
On the Go with Mr. and Mrs. Green  by Keith Baker
            (There are several short stories in this one.)

Fingerplay Suggestion:
(monkeys attached)

Five Little Monkeys  (Monkeys & alligator attached)
Five little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
CHOMP!

Four little monkeys swinging in the tree...

Three little monkeys swinging in the tree...

Two little monkeys swinging in the tree...
One little monkeys swinging in the tree....

No more monkeys swinging in the tree!

Song Suggestions:
Alligator Goodbye (tune of “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah”)
See you later, alligator.
See you later, alligator.
See you later, alligator.
It’s time to say goodbye!

Alpha Alligator (tune of “Little Bunny Foo-foo”)
Naughty, naughty Aplha
Swimming through the swampland
flipping little froggies off their lilly pads…

Craft Suggestions:  And we made these alligators.  Fun, quick & easy.

My first story time

This was my first story time at this location.  I did this twice, with a total of about 52 children in attendance.  It was summer and the area day care children were able to come.

Craft Suggestion:
We made these cow puppets.


Picture Book Suggestions:
Farmyard Beat  by Lindsey Craig
The Cow That Laid an Egg  by Andy Cutbill
The Story of Ferdinand  by Munro Leaf
The Cow Loves Cookies  by  Karma Wilson

Fingerplays & Rhyme suggestions:

Cow Song - This one is goofy, but I just kept singing & they joined in.
(Tune: If you're happy and you know it)
If you're happy and you know it, sing "Mooo! Mooo!"
If you're happy and you know it, sing "Mooo! Mooo!"
If you're a happy and you know it, then you really ought to show it,
If you're happy and you know it, sing "Mooo! Mooo!"
(repeat song with “stomp your hooves" and “swish your tail")

This Little Cow
(variation of "This Little Piggy")
This little cow eats grass,(wiggle pinkie finger)
And this little cow eats hay.(wiggle ring finger)
This little cow looks over the fence,(wiggle middle finger)
And this little cow runs away,(wiggle pointer)
And this BIG cow does nothing but sit in the fields all day!(wiggle thumb)
We'll chase her, we'll chase her, we'll chase her!("run" fingers up child's arm or run in place)

Other idea:
Pin the Tail on the Cow - the children thought this was hilarious!

Story Time: Fall

Theme for the 1st week of October was FALL, with an emphasis on scarecrows (because I think they are cute).

Stories included: 
*A is for Autumn  by Robert Maass
*Leaf Man  by Lois Ehlert
* The Fall Festival  by Mercer Mayer
*Apples and Pumpkins  by Anne Rockwell
*Dragon’s Leaf Collection  by Becky Matheson
*Shoo, Cro!, Shoo!  By Dana Meachen Rau
* The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

We talked about what fall means, why leaves change colors, what plants are harvested in the fall and why farmers need scarecrows. 

We did some rhymes as well:
Apples
Way up high in the apple tree,
two little apples smiled at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could.
Down came the apples…mmmm, were they good!

Leaves Little leaves fall gently down.
Red and yellow, orange and brown. (flutter hands)
Whirling, whirling around and around (turn around)
Quietly, without a sound. (Finger to lips)
Falling softly to the ground (begin to fall slowly)
Down and down and down and down. (lie on floor)

Five Little Pumpkins
5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The 1^st one said, “Oh, my! It’s getting late!”
The 2^nd one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The 3^rd one said, “Well, I don’t care.”
The 4^th one said, “Let’s run, and run, and run!”
The 5^th one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
“Whoooooo!” went the wind and out went the light!  (clap hands)
And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight (roll hands over each other)

I'm a Little Scarecrow
(I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little scarecrow,
Raggedy and worn.
I wear a hat,
And a shirt that's torn.
When the crows come,
I wave and shout,
"Away from my garden ----
Get on out!"

Scarecrow Chant
Scarecrow, scarecrow,
How scary can you be?
You scared away the crows  (children have fun giving ideas)
But you can't scare me!
No, you can't scare me!

Five Stuffed Scarecrows
Five Stuffed Scarecrows in the corn rows,
The first one said, "Go away, crows!"
The second one said, "I am very small,"
The third one said, "I am standing tall."
The fourth one said, "On my head I wear a hat."
The fifth one said, By my feet runs a cat."
Five stuffed scarecrows in the corn rows,
Moving left and right as the autumn wind blows

Scarecrows
We're the farmer's scarecrows
 We scare away the birds,
We keep the farmer's corn safe
Without any words.
But when Halloween comes
We jump out of the ground
And we scare the boys and girls
When they come walking 'round.
 

Story time: Birds

Today in story time we talked about BIRDS. We borrowed several puppets from another branch and the children LOVED them! There were seagulls, cardinals, a duck, a parrot, an owl (whose head turned all the way around) and a blue bird. I passed out the puppets at the beginning and had them trade after each story.

I always put up lots of books for the children to look through, but here are the ones I selected to read:
Calvin Can’t Fly  by Jennifer Berne
Chickerella  by Mary Jane Auch
How Rocket Learned to Read  by Tad HillsLittle Red Hen  by Barry Downard
Whooo’s There?  By Mary Serfozo

RHYMES
Mr. Owl
Late at night when you're in bed,
Mr. Owl perks up his head.
He looks left and he looks right,
In the dark all through the night.
Hear him hoot when you're in bed,
When Mr. Owl perks up his head.

Two Little Black Birds
Two little black birds… sitting on a hill (pointer fingers for the birds)
One named Jack… one named Jill
Fly away Jack… fly away Jill (finger behind back for each bird)
Come back Jack… come back Jill (bring fingers back)

Finally, we sang Six Little Ducks by Raffi  (of course!)

Our craft - the children were very creative.