Sign Language Storytime: Things That Go

My Sign Language Storytime format is:
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:

Intro and hello:

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!

Warming Up Motor Skills: "Open, Shut Them"
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.

Stretch: "Tall/Small"
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
"This Little Train"
To the tune of "This Old Man." Bolded text is where I encourage storytimers to sing along.
Start out with just the tracks on the board, add each train car with their verses.

This little train, painted black (add black engine)
It comes chugging down the track
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

This little car, painted blue (add blue train car)
It has seats for me and you
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

This little car, painted yellow (add yellow train car)
It shimmies and shakes like a bowl of jello
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

This little car, painted green (add green train car)
It's the fanciest train car you've ever seen
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

These train tracks, metal and gray (point to tracks)
They take you places far away
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

This caboose, painted red (add caboose)
It will take you home to bed
With a choo-coo, toot-toot, hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.

Movement Song
"Five Little Monkeys"

I decided not to use a video this month, because I once again could not find one with signs relating to our theme that presented a good amount of signs in an accessible way. So, we learned the signs for "boat" and "bus," then rocked out to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Wheels on the Bus."

Book

Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman

This book is one of the few that is great for toddlers and preschoolers alike. Even if you don't want to use the official signs for "truck" and "town," it still has a great opportunity for repetition and directed movement. The kids love being included when it's time to "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" An added bonus is, the universal sign everyone uses when pretending to drive a car is actually the official sign for car or truck! 

Movement Song
"Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck"

Since we already learned the sign for truck (on the handout above), I gave a bonus sign, "fire," and then we practiced our sign for "firetruck" between the usual movements in this song. A lot of the older kiddos seemed delighted to know the sign for firetruck, which was really fun to watch.

Fire

Goodbye
"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.

Friends

Meet

Goodbye

This is the only storytime that I don't close with bubbles, because directly following is another program called Stay and Play where I set out 4-5 bins of toys for a 30 minute free play. Adding bubbles to that seems to be too much stimulation.