Intro and hello
Felt story
Movement song or video
Book
Movement song
Goodbye
This storytime is special for a couple of reasons. First, it's the only one that I give a handout with pictures of the signs on it, so that the kids and grownups can refer to it during storytime and then practice at home. Second, I'm experimenting with adding an AV component to storytime by showing videos to follow along with instead of just listening to songs.
Handout:
Hello: "Hello Friends"
Before turning on the music, I teach the kids (and grownups) the American Sign Language sign for "friends." Then we boogie, wave, and sing hello to all our friends!
On this song we do the movements described in the lyrics: open our hands, close our hands, clap three times, put our hands in our lap, creep our fingers up to our chin, and don't let them in our mouths.
This is a short, easy stretch the kids get a kick out of. While we're stretching, I like to encourage them to reach for the ceiling, touch their toes, then make themselves into a tiny ball.
Felt Story
"With My Family"
I am proud to announce that I made this felt story myself, and came up with the rhyme mostly on my own with some suggestions from various internet sites made my preschool teachers and other librarians.
If you have a group of younger or wigglier kiddos, it's not necessary to do every verse. They might not sit through them all.
I usually just use the family signs and "like," but I sometimes like to throw in "play" and "sing" for an older or more focused group:
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| Like |
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| Play |
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| Sing |
Before each verse, I hold up the family member and have the kids guess which family member it could be. I'm disappointed in the heteronormativity of this family, but this family looks like the majority of the ones who regularly attend my storytimes.
To the tune of "The Muffin Man"
Add each family member as you sing about them.
Tell me when you like to do, like to do, like to do
Tell me what you like to do with your family.
I like to play with my toys, with my toys, with my toys
I like to play with my toys with my daddy.
I like to sing silly songs, silly songs, silly songs
I like to sing silly songs with my mommy.
I like to play at the park, at the park, at the park
I like to ply at the park with my sister.
I like to eat yummy food, yummy food, yummy food
I like to eat yummy food with my brother.
I like to take fun trips, take fun trips, take fun trips
I like to take fun trips with Grandma and Grandpa.
I like to play fetch outside, fetch outside, fetch outside
I like to play fetch outside with my puppy.
Tell me what you like to do, like to do, like to do
Tell me what you like to do with your family!
"Five Little Monkeys"
I decided not to use a video this month, because I couldn't find one with family signs that I loved. So, we did Five Little Monkeys because it talks about a monkey family and helps us practice the sign for "mom," as well as some others that might come up in daily conversation like "all done."
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| Number signs |
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| Monkey |
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| Jumping |
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| Fall off |
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| Hurt head |
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| Mom |
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| No more/All done |
Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang
I love this book! It doesn't have a lot of words, but it does the important job of showing all kinds of families. Single parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, same-sex parents, only children, and kids with lots of siblings are all celebrated through the accessible language of "some children have..."
"You're Wonderful" by Debbie Clements
It's not necessarily about families, but this is one of my favorite storytime songs because it's all about celebrating yourself and your loved ones. It's also a slow, mellow song to sign to.
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| Wonderful/Marvelous |
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| Beautiful |
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| Magical |
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| Filled |
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| Curiosity |
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| Dreams |
"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box
When we sing this song, I help them recall the sign for friends from the hello song, and teach them a couple others as we sing: meet, time, and say.
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| Friends |
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| Meet |
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| Goodbye |
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