Preschool Storytime 11-21-17: Puddles the Raindrop

We had a special guest at Preschool Storytime today, the author of the self-published Puddles the Raindrop series!

Louise Gabriel has published three adventures of Puddles the Raindrop so far, and has plans for a lot more. They are nonfiction workbooks coupled with the story of Puddles as he travels through the stages of the water cycle. 

As a lot of guest presenters do, Louise asked me to kick off the storytime the way I usually do so the kids have the same structure they are used to. So I did my three-song introduction, which you can view in full here. When I was done, Louise read her Arizona story, Puddles the Raindrop Explores the Grand Canyon State, Arizona. 

In the book, there is an illustration of the water cycle that I recreated out of felt and put up on our giant felt board. So after she was done reading the story, we went over the stages of the water cycle with the kids, moving our little felt Puddles as we talked about each one. 

I made this!

Finally, we passed out a coloring sheet and put crayons out, and gave the kids about 10 minutes to color. The sheet was in the theme also: a rainy desert scene. 

At the end, we sang our goodbye song and had the ritual bubbles. Then Louise stuck around to speak to parents about her book series, sell copies of her book and Puddles plushies, and take pictures with/of me:

Me, Louise, and Puddles

Me and Puddles in front of the water cycle

Having guest presenters in storytime can be fun if they are comfortable in front of large groups of children, skilled at public speaking (loudly) and controlling a crowd, and not afraid to get a little silly with us. You would be surprised how many people, even children's book authors, do not possess even one of those three qualities. Luckily, Louise was an excellent storytime guest. We had a lot of fun, and might even have her back when her next Puddles adventure is published!

Preschool Storytime 6-29-17: Desert and Summertime

Hello again!

I had the best intentions of making today's storytime desert/summertime theme. I succeeded with the books, but not so much with the songs. It's surprisingly hard to find songs with directed movement that are also about hot weather. I found some great children's music about summertime that get stuck in your head, but weren't quite right for storytime. I'll link them at the bottom of this entry.

After our regular Preschool Storytime introduction (above), our first story was Hug Me by Simona Ciraolo. This book's main character, a gentle baby cactus named Felipe, has a non-affectionate family and just wants a friend who will hug him. He goes in search of someone to hug, but encounters some difficulties with his spikes. I won't spoil the ending for you, but he finally finds someone equally lonely to be friends with...

 

This story was pretty mellow, so I figured we needed some high energy movement songs afterward. First we did "Jumping and Counting," because 3-5-year-olds will always inexplicably love jumping in place indefinitely. 

Our second movement song was "It's Time to Stand Up" by Susan Salidor. This song is hilarious, and always cracks up the kids with its fast moving directions and all-around silliness. Best of all, it ends by slowing down and instructing the kids to sit down quietly. There is nothing bad about it as a storytime song. 

In keeping with the desert/summertime theme the best I could, our next story was Desert Day, Desert Night by Anthony D. Fredericks. The best part about this book are the stunning illustrations. I think they did a great job keeping my preschoolers engaged after all that moving around. 

Finally, before saying goodbye we sang "Five Little Monkeys" complete with some sign language! I'm not able to find a video showing exactly what I do for this song, so here is the version of the song I use, and below are some pictures of the signs. Maybe eventually I'll make a video of myself doing the signs so you can see exactly how I do it!

At the end, you might notice that I use "all done" for "no more monkeys jumping on the bed." I like to teach this sign because it's great for a lot of everyday use. Using just this small amount of signs all together creates a good rhythm that kids find easy to follow. I love doing this signed song with the preschoolers! Stay tuned for my video so you can see how it all comes together in my storytime. 

monkey(s)

jumping

fall off/fall down

hurt head

mom

call

all done/no more