Sign Language Storytime: Numbers and Counting 2

My Sign Language Storytime format is:
Intro and hello
Felt story
Movement song or video
Book
Movement song
Goodbye

This storytime has a laid back atmosphere and is always a great forum for me to try out my new ideas. When it began I tried introducing an AV element, and that went over very well. I also usually include a handout for parents so that they can follow along with the signs (although I didn't make a handout this month). The people who come to this storytime are open to new ideas and don't expect anything from month to month, so they go with the flow if I decide to mix it up! This month instead of a felt story, I did two interactive books and a YouTube video.

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.

Story

I Know Numbers! by Taro Gomi
Taro Gomi is one of my favorite children's authors. He is sparing in his use of words, and the art in his books look almost like very intentional collages. I have several Gomi standbys that I use often, and I think I Know Numbers! has just joined that list. It explains locations where you might find numbers and math in everyday life, which starts children noticing numbers as they move about their day.

Video

"One From the Left" by Jim Gill

During the video, I encouraged everyone to practice along. This is just a fingerplay, not traditional sign language, but I went over the differences with the group before the video to make sure there was no confusion. 

Story

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean

I like asking the kids to sing along with me each time we sing the button song.

Movement Song
"Jumping and Counting"
This song gives a great opportunity to get all the wiggles out, and sneaks in some counting as well.

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.

Music Lab for Kids: Textured Noisemaker

The Project: Noisemakers from Pool Noodles
We've all seen the musical instrument that looks like a wooden block with a piece of sand paper glued to one side. When you rub two together, they make a satisfying sound that adds depth to a musical combo.

The real version of sand blocks is also a great musical tool for preschoolers. The only thing they don't do when you make them out of pool noodles is loudly clap together...but like the teacher in the above video mentions, that sound is the enemy of every adult in the room. So maybe it's okay if our noisemakers can only be rubbed together.

If you're an avid reader of my blog (which almost no one is, so don't feel bad), you might remember this project from last summer when we made it during our huge Build Your Own Musical Instrument program. Since there were several options for instrument projects at that program, I made this poster to explain how to turn a pool noodle into a safe, fun, and easy noisemaker:

Today's group was much smaller and more attentive, so I was able to verbally explain the directions and there was no need for a sign.

To prep this craft, all I did was cut pool noodled into 3-inch pieces. I left them otherwise intact, leaving the splitting in half to the kids and their grownups. I figured it was a good opportunity to develop some fine motor skills. And don't worry, I handed out very dull plastic knives so there were no injuries to tiny fingers.

After everyone had cut their noodle in half, we learned two chants and a song that you can use the instrument with. 

Chant 1: Rain on the Rooftop

Learning this chant happened in several stages.
1. Practice counting to four on an even beat (one-two-three-four-one-two-three-four etc.)
2. Each time you say a number, scratch your noisemaker one time.
3. Change it up; scratch the noisemaker on "one," "two," and "three," and put them on your shoulders on "four."
4. When thee group mostly gets that down, say the rhyme instead of counting out loud.

If you're musically inclined, you will recognize this as being in 4/4 time starting on the down beat.
Here is the rhyme, showing where each number of the beat falls:

Rain on the rooftop
   1     2         3    4
Rain on the tree
   1     2         3     4
Rain on the green grass
   1     2         3        4
But none on me!

         1     2    3     4

And here it is with Xs showing when you should scratch your noisemaker:

Rain on the rooftop
   X   X         X 
Rain on the tree
   X   X         X   
Rain on the green grass
   X   X         X     
But none on me!

         X     X   X   

With this exercise, I gave the parent tip that breaking down simple 4/4 rhythms by counting is a great way to start understanding how rhythm works.

Song: B-I-N-G-O

Our second exercise was one everyone knows. After the mind-bender that was Rain on the Rooftop, we needed something fun and easy. We sang the song B-I-N-G-O, but every time we dropped a letter, we scratched our noisemaker instead of clapping. The group loved it! I hung up this visual aid to help the grownups (and any kids already reading words) follow along.

Chant 2: Hippo on the Bus

Even though the kids were getting pretty wiggly by this point, we had ten minutes left in the program and I had one more chant up my sleeve. I've used it before and it's always a major hit. Instead of the usual method of making a beat by slapping our thighs, today we made the beat with our noisemakers. We tried out a few different speeds, including a super fast one that was just for fun. This seemed like the perfect way to end the program.

A hip, a hip, a hippopotamus
Got on, got on, got on a city bus
And all, and all, and all the people fussed...
STOP SQUISHING US!
(On that last line, squish your cheeks in from both sides so your mouth looks funny and speech is distorted, as if you were being squished by a hippo. Today we squished our faces with the halves of our noisemakers, which made it extra funny.)

Even though running this program kept me busy, I was able to get the group together with their noisemakers for a picture at the end. I'm so glad they had fun!

Sign Language Storytime: Numbers and Counting

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

"Five Little Monsters"

This story doesn't particularly lend itself to counting, so before the story starts I have the kids count all 5 monsters with me. Then we do it again at the end as the monsters are going to bed...they each hide under the bed very slowly so we have time to count them :p

(for some reason when I took pictures of felt stories I could only five four... but there used to be a purple one, too)

Five little monsters sitting on the floor
The red one said, "Let's knock on someone's door."
The green one said, "Let's act a little scary."
The purple one said, "Why are we so hairy?"
The blue one said, "I hear a funny sound."
The orange one said, 'There's no one else around."

Then WHOOSH went the wind, and "EEK," they all said.
So the five little monsters hid under the bed.

Video

"The Counting Song" by Signing Time

During the video, I encouraged everyone to practice along. Using videos in storytime is still something I'm trying out, but it's going well so far.

Book

Grandma's Tiny House by JaNay Brown-Wood

Adorable book with rhyming text about a big family gathering. Kids helped count the groups of family members up to ten.

Movement Song
"Jumping and Counting"
This song gives a great opportunity to get all the wiggles out, and sneaks in some counting as well.

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.