I modified my hello for a slightly older crowd. Found a new song, "Hello Friend," added in some sign language, but kept the other two introduction songs the same. You can see the whole intro and goodbye by clicking the link above.
Today's theme was fish and the ocean, so after we got the initial wiggles out, I asked the kids whether they had ever been swimming in the ocean, been fishing, or seen a live fish at the aquarium. Then, we learned the signs for "fish" and "water."
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| fish |
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| water |
Our first story today was Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count by Lois Ehlert. In addition to counting how many fish on each page, I asked the kids to shout out what color each pages fish were. Some people have a different read-aloud style, but I think it's okay for the kids to be shouting things out, and even up and walking around a little bit, while I'm reading a story to the group. Asking them questions about the book keeps them engaged.
Next we did two movement songs, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Octopus (Slippery Fish)." In both of these songs, it's really easy to figure out what movements you should lead the kids in doing just by listening to the lyrics. They have a blast rowing their imaginary boats and pretending to be different sized fish. Also, they always get a kick out of the giant burp at the end of "Slippery Fish."
Our second story of the day was Over the Ocean by Taro Gomi. This book is a really mellow little story about a girl wondering what else is out in the world beyond what she can see from the beach where she lives. The kiddos got a little wiggly during this one, but most of them at least tolerated this book that was not funny and had no opportunities to count or identify colors. In hindsight, I would have done this book first and saved Fish Eyes for second.
Our next movement song was the incomparable "The Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner. Before we sing this song, I teach the kids the line, "Wait a minute, we're fish!" so they know it when it's time to shout it during the song. This is another one with very self-explanatory movements, and one that neither the kids nor I ever get tired of.
I read one more book to the group today, because we had a little extra time near the end and the Goldfish song effectively got out most of the wiggles. The Pout Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen served the dual purpose of going with the fish/ocean theme and reminding everyone in the room to have high self esteem and believe in themselves. The Pout Pout Fish gets frustrated because he's not able to do anything at school on his very first day, until he finds the classroom for new fish where you can learn to do everything from square one. At the end, I had the kids repeat his mantra with me: "You are smart! You can get it! You belong! So don't forget it!"
This book also gave us a chance to practice our sign for "fish" that we learned earlier, as well as learn "smart."
After the final book, we sang our goodbye song and had bubbles, which is my post-storytime ritual and the way most kids know we're really done. Here is a list of books I displayed for the fish/ocean theme:
- Fish School—Poydar
- Faucet Fish—Robinson/Anderson
- Rain Fish—Ehlert
- Fish—Walsh
- The Specific Ocean—Maclear
- Whale Shines—Robinson
- Ugly Fish—LaReau
- Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale—Pfister
- The Pout-Pout Fish—Diesen
- The Legend of Sea Glass—Noble
- Ocean Whisper—Rockhill
- Over the Ocean—Gomi
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