Hello all!
My goal is to start blogging weekly about the storytimes I do every week.
I have Book Babies on Mondays (Ages 0-24 months, though I always get some older ones in there), Silly Storytime on Saturdays (Ages 2-5, though I generally have all sorts of ages come to that one), and I just recently acquired the Wednesday Storytime (All Ages) slot, because our former Wednesday Storytime librarian retired at the end of April.
Wednesday's have, by far, our biggest storytime crowds. there's generally a daycare group (or two!) that come in, as well as a group of dedicated parents who come to almost every storytime we offer! Let me start off by saying that I am not used to having 20+ kids in storytime, but once I took over on Wednesdays, I had to jump right in and keep everything together!
My goal is to start blogging weekly about the storytimes I do every week.
I have Book Babies on Mondays (Ages 0-24 months, though I always get some older ones in there), Silly Storytime on Saturdays (Ages 2-5, though I generally have all sorts of ages come to that one), and I just recently acquired the Wednesday Storytime (All Ages) slot, because our former Wednesday Storytime librarian retired at the end of April.
Wednesday's have, by far, our biggest storytime crowds. there's generally a daycare group (or two!) that come in, as well as a group of dedicated parents who come to almost every storytime we offer! Let me start off by saying that I am not used to having 20+ kids in storytime, but once I took over on Wednesdays, I had to jump right in and keep everything together!
"Classic" Storytime (5/6/15):
I decided to do a sort of "Classic" Storytime theme for my first official Wednesday storytime, because I wanted the kids to feel comfortable by hearing some stories they may have previously heard before, thus making the transition from Miss Betty to Miss Julia, a smooth one; and also, because it was National Children's Book Week!
I decided to do a sort of "Classic" Storytime theme for my first official Wednesday storytime, because I wanted the kids to feel comfortable by hearing some stories they may have previously heard before, thus making the transition from Miss Betty to Miss Julia, a smooth one; and also, because it was National Children's Book Week!
Book One: Listen To My Trumpet (Elephant and Piggie) by Mo Willems
Activity: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (regular and then ULTRA fast!)
Flannel Board: Itsy Bitsy Spider
Book Two: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Egg Shakers: First, we shook our shakers to "Shake Your Shakers" from the lovely ladies at Jbrary, and then shook & danced to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" from the CD Storytime Favorites: Music for Little People.
Activity: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (regular and then ULTRA fast!)
Flannel Board: Itsy Bitsy Spider
Book Two: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Egg Shakers: First, we shook our shakers to "Shake Your Shakers" from the lovely ladies at Jbrary, and then shook & danced to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" from the CD Storytime Favorites: Music for Little People.
Book Three: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean
Songs: The Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Book Four: How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Songs: ABCs and BINGO
Book Five: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.
Flannel Song: 5 Little Ducks
Then, we ended with some bubble play time! Ever since I bought those fancy bubbles from Gymboree, I try to use them as much as I can, because the kids really love them.
Oh, also, did I mention our storytimes run for an hour? WOOF. So, I try to do a lot to keep everyone excited and into the storytime! My first Wednesday storytime went pretty well! There were 25 kids total and about 10 caregivers, and everyone seemed to have a good time! Until the end, when I had a couple kids meltdown because I didn't do the "Beanbag Song" like Miss Betty used to do..so I promised them we would do the "Beanbag Song" next week, because honestly I had no idea how to do it!
Feelings Storytime (5/13/15):
Songs: The Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Book Four: How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Songs: ABCs and BINGO
Book Five: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.
Flannel Song: 5 Little Ducks
Then, we ended with some bubble play time! Ever since I bought those fancy bubbles from Gymboree, I try to use them as much as I can, because the kids really love them.
Oh, also, did I mention our storytimes run for an hour? WOOF. So, I try to do a lot to keep everyone excited and into the storytime! My first Wednesday storytime went pretty well! There were 25 kids total and about 10 caregivers, and everyone seemed to have a good time! Until the end, when I had a couple kids meltdown because I didn't do the "Beanbag Song" like Miss Betty used to do..so I promised them we would do the "Beanbag Song" next week, because honestly I had no idea how to do it!
Feelings Storytime (5/13/15):
Opening Song: Hands Go Up (tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
I wish I could remember where I got this, but I've been using it for a few years now! It's a great song!
Book One: Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James Dean
Activity: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Song: Open, Shut Them
Book Two: Hooray for Hat! By Brian Won
Egg Shakers
Book Three: Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr
Flannel Board: Where Is Mr. Mouse?!
Song: Skinna-Markini-Dinky Dink -- I don't remember where I learned this song, but it definitely was a favorite from my childhood!
Book Four: If You're Happy and You Know it (Jungle Version) by James Warhola
Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & Itsy Bitsy Spider
Activity: Sticky Bubble Gum! from Jbrary (thanks ladies!)
I wish I could remember where I got this, but I've been using it for a few years now! It's a great song!
- Hands go up, and hands go down,
- I can turn myself around.
- I can stand up on one shoe,
- I can listen so can you.
- I can sit, I'll show you how.
- Storytime is starting now!
Book One: Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James Dean
Activity: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Song: Open, Shut Them
Book Two: Hooray for Hat! By Brian Won
Egg Shakers
Book Three: Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr
Flannel Board: Where Is Mr. Mouse?!
Song: Skinna-Markini-Dinky Dink -- I don't remember where I learned this song, but it definitely was a favorite from my childhood!
Book Four: If You're Happy and You Know it (Jungle Version) by James Warhola
Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & Itsy Bitsy Spider
Activity: Sticky Bubble Gum! from Jbrary (thanks ladies!)
Book Five: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Activity: "Bean Bag Rock" from the Bean Bag Activities & Coordination Skills CD by Georgiana Liccione Stewart
Bubble Time!
This week I had about 13 kids show up, which is a much more comfortable number for me. I think their favorite part was acting out "If You're Happy and You Know It (The Jungle Version)" because it had Miss Julia crawling all over the floor and generally just being veeeeery silly. I even did the Bean Bag Song (which is not my favorite), but the kids loved it, so it might be something I keep that Miss Betty did with the kids. I also had some parents tell me I was doing a great job, and they were happy that I was taking over storytime! Which made me feel great :)
Lastly, I want to pose a question for you all: Does anyone else sweat their butts off during storytime!? Or is it just me?
Cheers!
Activity: "Bean Bag Rock" from the Bean Bag Activities & Coordination Skills CD by Georgiana Liccione Stewart
Bubble Time!
This week I had about 13 kids show up, which is a much more comfortable number for me. I think their favorite part was acting out "If You're Happy and You Know It (The Jungle Version)" because it had Miss Julia crawling all over the floor and generally just being veeeeery silly. I even did the Bean Bag Song (which is not my favorite), but the kids loved it, so it might be something I keep that Miss Betty did with the kids. I also had some parents tell me I was doing a great job, and they were happy that I was taking over storytime! Which made me feel great :)
Lastly, I want to pose a question for you all: Does anyone else sweat their butts off during storytime!? Or is it just me?
Cheers!