Food! Yum! Themed Storytime

November 29, 2012

Opening song: Good Morning/Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)

Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger
Literacy: The Red Hen by Ed and Rebecca Emberley followed by a feltboard Red Hen story.

She baked a cake and iced it all by herself.

She decorated the cake all by herself.

 


With the feltboard Red Hen story, I had cue cards that had pictures of a cat, rat and frog on the front and what they say on the back. I held these up when it was time for the animals to speak and the audience said their lines along with me. I like to include a language element where ever I can and I saw this as the perfect opportunity. The cat said: "¡Yo no! Dice el gato." The rat said: "Not I!" said the rat." The frog said: "Ribbit, said the frog."

Song/movement break: Open Shut Them
Literacy: Potato Joe by Keith Baker
New song/movement break: One Potato Clap (can also be a bounce, too)

1 Potato, 2 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

3 Potato, 4!

5 Potato, 6 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

7 Potato, More!

8 Potato, 9 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

Count them up to 10… 

(Hold up all 10 fingers)

I will count all the potatoes and I will count them all again! 

(Clap along with the words. I end up clapping 8 times.)

 
Literacy: Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
Closing fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds
Closing song/movement: Hokey Pokey

Post storytime activity: I usually choose between an art activity or a physical activity, but this morning we did both.
Parachute play: We sang Ring Around the Rosie and Fishies in the Ocean.

Art activity: Cotton ball clouds with tissue paper streamers. I didn't take a picture of the final product, but its such an easy craft I think you can get it just from my description. This is the cloud template I used. I gave the kids glue sticks and cotton balls to glue onto the clouds, which I printed on white cardstock and passed out as is. Then I gave them some long tissue paper strips to glue on for rainbow rays. Voila!

Mother's Day and Art Supplies Clean Up Craft

Last year we made Spoonfuls of Kisses, which was super easy. So I knew that this year I was not interested in anything more complicated than that. Looking around on the net I came across Tulip cards, which looked pretty easy. I've got all the supplies and a volunteer to cut out the template. Couldn't be any easier, could it? Well, that doesn't really matter because I won't make tulip cards ever again. There's nothing wrong with the craft. It is simple and easy, but the kids just didn't get it. None of them knew what tulips were in the first place and almost all of them made the card upside down. This activity just wasn't for them. Maybe older kids would have got it.
Nonetheless, no one went home unhappy. If they didn't like their messed up tulip cards, they had the opportunity to make a craft from my Art Supplies Clean Up Kit.
What's that you ask? All the odds and ends, recycled boxes and containers and the last bits of art supplies that are just too little to use for a group craft that I've been saving. Makes for great collage art activities. I wrote about them before....

2012 Children's Book Awards

2012 Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
Balloons Over Broadway is a biography of Tony Sarg and a history of how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade got started.
This is a beautifully illustrated book! I love the combination of materials and styles that went onto the pages including some primary source and handmade elements.
I honestly didn't think it was going to be interesting once I found out what it was about, but the story was so fun that I had to keep remembering the fact that I was reading nonfiction. Its wonderful that sometimes the truth can be capital entertainment! I really enjoyed the book's end notes, too.

2012 Caldecott Honor Blackout by John Rocco
Blackout is the story of one night in the life of a little boy who's mostly plugged in family couldn't find the time for and what happens to all of them and their neighborhood when the power goes out.
This book would be a great to add to an anti-screen time bibliography based on the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. It could include Blackout, Todd’s TV and I would at It’s a Book if it wasn’t for that one word!

2012 Sibert Honor Drawing From Memory by Allen Say
Drawing From Memory was illustrated really well, in fact, it’s a bit comic-book like with all of its illustrations and their placement. But what really got me stuck on this book is the story. It’s a great biography. Makes me really want to learn more about the characters and their work.

2012 Sibert Honor Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer
I've always been fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, and have watched several documentaries and films about it, but this book is the first piece of literature I've ever read about it and I'm glad. I've mentioned it a couple times in my reviews of other books, but I LOVE PRIMARY SOURCES! And this book is chock full of quotes from trial transcripts, letters and public documents and wouldn't you know, the bibliography has web links so I can look them up! This book is perfect for people (kids especially) who like history, or who need to read a nonfiction book, but would rather it read kind of like a novel.

I did have a problem, though. I often found the storyline buried in too many facts at once. I really like how the author wrote the history in chronological story format and I obviously really like facts, details and information, but at times I felt bogged down, when I really wanted to know what happened next. I'd much rather have had several breakouts of information on adjoining pages.

I looked at a couple of different websites and they all recommend this book for 10+. I don't agree. The middle schoolers I worth with would not be able to pass the five-finger test for this book. I also disagree with the lack of glossary. There are a lot of old, maybe even archaic words included and not everyone has access to an instant dictionary, nor would want to always have to paw one.

Other recommended award winners and honors:
A Ball for Daisy (2012 Caldecott winner)
Me...Jane (2012 Caldecott honor)

Paint! Themed Storytime

Today was yet another day I found myself an hour away from storytime totally unprepared. Luckily, I had spied a book during this morning's class visit (You know, when a class comes, tears books off the shelves and strew them about?). I found it on the shelf and built a whole storytime around it, which worked out awesome. Bear's Picture by Daniel Pinkwater is a story that is a great way to get across to kids that not everyone has to understand your art. Plus, there are subtle notes of dealing with judgment, visualization, and perception. Then end is a nice treat. Then I found Wait! No Paint! by Bruce Whatley, which is the tale of the Three Little Pigs, but wouldn't you know it? The book's illustrator is having some difficulties and butts into the story. I remembered a couple summer reading programs ago, the theme was Be Creative! and we had a storytime-in-a-box for I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. The box included a foam board stand up paper doll that was laminated so we could actually paint on it then wipe it off, paint, paint brushes, a tarp and paint bibs for the kids. I had a great storytime with that box. So I decided that that would be the end of today's storytime, except I drew a paper doll figure on a giant sticky note pad and used that instead of the laminated stand-up. For the paint theme finale, I read I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, which is a fun book that you can sing or rhyme along with to the tune of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More. The story is about a mom who tells her bad child that he can't paint anymore. This kid, he thinks differently and paints different parts of himself in each verse. I gave the kids who came to storytime paper doll cut outs (You can make on your own by cutting out big gingerbread men or purchase), crayons and markers. Then they colored along with the song/story. After I was done reading the book, I passed around my eye container and they chose what kind of eyes to put on their "painted" dolls. Voila! Art activity and storytime combined. Easy prep, easy clean up. Whew!

ebooks and apps for kids

Here's a great resource for librarians and parents alike. Little eLit provides information and reviews about digital products produced for children. I took a quick peruse through the blog and there are reviews of apps and ebooks as well as interesting articles on the subject. I'm not big on giving kids the opportunity to get in more screen time, but I guess if they're going to do it anyway, they might as well be reading or using a lit-based app. Either way, check it out.