Saturday Storytime January 2019: Feelings

This storytime is for ages 0-5, but I've decided to structure it as a combination of Toddlertime and Preschool Storytime.

My formula for Saturday Storytime is:

Intro and Hello
Learn Theme Signs
Book #1
Movement Songs
Felt Story/Song
Book #2
Movement Song
Goodbye Song
Bubbles
Take-Home Craft

Intro and Hello

Hello Song

"Hello Friend"
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!

Friend

Warming Up Motor Skills

"Open, Shut Them"

Stretching

"Tall/Small"

This is a short, easy stretch the preschoolers especially get a kick out of.

Learn Theme Signs

Our theme this week is feelings, so we learned the signs for "feel," "happy," "sad," and "grumpy."

Happy

Sad

Grumpy/Angry

Book #1

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

This is one of my favorite storytime books because it's fun to read, and the kids love grumpy bird's transformation from grumpy to part of his happy friend group. 

Movement Songs

"Clap Your Hands"

"Feelings"

I like to do this song twice because it's only 40 seconds long. This also gives the kids a second chance to get all the movements down.

Felt Story/Song
"If You're Happy and You Know It"

After identifying the emotions each face seems to be feeling, we sang " If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" for the happy face. Then we did the following verses for the other faces:

If you're sad and you know it, say boo hoo. BOO-HOO!

If you're surprised and you know it, say oh my. OH MY!

If you're scared and you know it, give a shriek. AAHHH!
If you're silly and you know it, make a face. (make silly face)

Book #2
Love by Stacy McAnulty
This book is new to our library, and a complete delight! Super diverse, super sweet, and few enough words to keep a group of wiggly kiddos engaged as storytime winds down.

Movement Song
"If You're Happy and You Know It" by Mr. Jon
We sang it a cappella already, but this is another good time to practice signing "happy" and get our wiggles out with a special appearance of the hilarious Tickle Bugs.

Goodbye Song
"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box
When we sing this song, I help them recall the sign for friends, and teach them a couple others as we sing. After a while, storytime regulars start to look like native signers!

Goodbye

Friend

Meet

Bubbles
I like to play the two following songs while I blow bubbles for the group.
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles
Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song

Take-Home Craft

Since this is a monthly storytime with a theme, I thought it would be fun to provide families with a craft based on the theme to work on when they get home. This month I put everything needed for the craft in baggies, including an instruction sheet so they know how to do the project once they get home. It's a feelings wheel made of two paper plates, a brad, stickers showing different emotions, and whatever decorations the child would like to add. 

Giving a take-home craft as families leave the storytime room is a good way to extend the learning experience after families have left the library. Also, it's a great way to provide a literacy-based craft without having to clean up afterward.

Here's a video I took of my demo wheel in action:

And here is the "how to" sheet included in the craft bags:

(Click image to enlarge)

No Snow, Snow Day

It's December, which can be a tricky time for those of us working in public service. You don't want to ignore Christmas, but at the same time want to be inclusive of all the other cultural holidays that take place around this time of year. Usually, I solve this problem by sticking with a theme of "winter" instead of focusing on any one holiday. The No Snow, Snow Day program was something we did last December with fantastic participant numbers, so we decided to have it again this year.

This program was structured as drop-in stations, something I've learned our community prefers to an instructional program where you have to stay the whole time. We had three stations: sensory snow, shape penguins, and coffee filter snowflakes.

Sensory Snow
Supplies: baking soda, white shaving cream, large bin.
Mixing equal-ish parts baking soda and shaving cream creates a chemical reaction that makes the substance cold like snow! I did learn that if we do this program again next year, we'll need A LOT more baking soda since it sort of dissolves when hit with the shaving cream. The kids loved playing with the "snow," but I would have liked for the bin to be more full.

The mess afterward... But it vacuums up easily and smells great!

Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Supplies: white coffee filters, safety scissors
Surprisingly, this was the most difficult project for the kids to grasp. I found myself sticking close to the snowflake table in order to explain how to fold and cut the filters so that when you unfold them, you have your own originally designed snowflake. After they got the hang of it, our 4-6-year-olds especially seemed to enjoy this activity.

Being silly with snowflakes

Shape Penguins
Supplies: black and white paper cut into shapes, orange triangles, glue sticks, googly eyes (we used self-adhesive ones and they worked great)
I like this activity because all ages of kids can tailor it to their personal skills. The younger ones can work on matching rectangles with rectangles or circles with circles, while the older ones can combine the shapes to make a more advanced penguin. It's also nice because if you don't have much time to prep, you can let the kids cut out their own shapes. If you have more time to prepare for the program you can do what I did and cut out the shapes ahead of time so participants can focus on matching shapes and creatin

The four examples: rectangle, square, circle, and oval.

Storytime regular with her circle penguin!

Penguin and snowflake

Advanced penguins--they even added a background!

Working hard on shape penguins

If there's one thing I've learned while working with this community, it's that drop-in themed programs like this are always a slam dunk. We had over 80 people at this program, and everyone found something they liked. I love watching caregivers encourage their kids to make things and be creative!

Baby Lapsit 5-18-18

Today after saying hello, our first book was Who Says That, Cat the Cat by Mo Willems. Personally, I'm delighted by every single Mo Willems book, so I was excited to find out he has board books as well. This one invites lots of interaction with animal sounds, and ends with a big hug for Bunny the Bunny.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

For the musical lap bounce portion today, I went with my standby theme of "pop:" "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "Popcorn" by Raffi twice through. This morning, I encouraged the grownups to toss their baby into the air a couple of inches for the POPs, instead of just lifting them. A few did, and it sounded from the giggles like the babies had the time of their lives. 

Our second book today was I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. That book happened to be an at-home favorite of one of my regular babies who attends with his grandma, so it was fun to read it with them in the room. There's nothing especially remarkable about this book as far as baby-level board books go, but it's very sweet, and I like to pick books about grownup/child love and bonding as much as possible for this storytime.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our friends, and finish up with bubbles and toys.

Learn & Grow With Rhythm & Flow 2-9-18

This morning, after saying hello to our friends with our regular introduction, I actually deviated from the usual Rhythm & Flow plan. For the first time since this program started I did not do the Heckity Peckity rhyme! I could say I wanted to put more variety into my storytime, but the truth is, I forgot my bumble bee finger puppet at my desk. It worked out okay, though, because with the passig out and collecting of rhythm sticks, we ended up just about on time.

After the intro, we sang the incomparable "Goldfish Song" because I could tell there were some extra wiggles in the room this morning. Before singing this song, I like to teach the kids the phrase, "Wait a minute, we're fish!" so they are ready when it comes up in the song.

At this point, I passed out a pair of rhythm sticks to each child. I like to tell them that I have two rules for rhythm sticks:
1. The only people who get sticks are the ones sitting calmly in one place.
2. Don't hit your friends.

They think it's hilarious when I make them repeat "Don't hit your friends" several times, but it's effective. They do not hit their friends. Actually, everyone was incredibly calm and respectful of the sticks today.

After everyone got their sticks, we learned a short rhyme. Along with it, we did a rhythm with our sticks. The X's show a place to hit the floor with your sticks, and the O's show a place to hit them together.

Rain on the rooftop
  X    X        O

Rain on the tree
  X    X        O

Rain on the green grass
  X    X        O

But none on me!
       X      X  O

This diagram is not exact, which is why it doesn't seem like an even rhythm... But it is, I promise. Two hits on the floor, and one tap of the sticks together. It's a simple pattern that kids find easy to follow, but that still does the job of waking up the music centers in their brains. In addition to tapping this rhythm with the rhyme, we turned off our voices and tapped it alone a few times. I think this really helped drive home the rhythm for the kids and grownups.

After our a cappella stick exercise, we practiced following directions while tapping to "Tapping on My Sticks."

After collecting the sticks, it was already time to say goodbye! My biggest tip for using any prop in storytime, from scarves to egg shakers to rhythm sticks, is to remember to build the time to pass out and collect the props into your storytime plan. With an especially large and/or wiggly group, it can take up to five full minutes just to make sure everyone has an egg shaker! In a 30 minute storytime, 5 minutes counts. This is valuable time that teaches preschool-age kids a lot about cooperation and being patient, so the time is not wasted. It's just something you need to account for so the program doesn't go overtime.

Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow 1-12-18

If you recall, the last time I did this program we had some major tech issues and my beloved tiny blue iPod kicked the bucket. Luckily, I used the break from storytime to order a new-to-me iPod that I will keep at work and use for all my storytimes. Say hello to ADMIN'S IPO! (I haven't picked out a name for him yet, this is just what shows up when I plug him into the computer.)

After our regular introduction, we did the "Heckity Peckity" chant and counted the syllables in our names. I use a little bumblebee finger puppet when we do this, like she uses in the second video below. Before we start, I tell the kids my friend Bumble Bee really wants to meet each of them, but he's really shy, and he will only ask their names if we all say this rhyme together. Then, after we all say the first two lines, he buzzes up to children and asks them what their name is.

Heckity peckity bumblebee,
Won't you say your name for me?
Bzzzzz (Bee buzzes up to a child and asks their name. Let's say it's Harold.)
Everyone say Harold. (Group says name)
Can we whisper it? (whisper the name)
Can we do it on our legs? (Repeat name and pat thighs with each syllable)
Can we clap it? (Repeat name and clap with each syllable)
Now let's turn off our voice (Do a clicking motion with hand on throat and make clicking sound)
And let's just clap it (Group claps the syllables without speaking)
How many claps was that? (Group answers)
Harold's name is two claps! Who is next?

Our movement song today was "It's Time to Stand Up" by Susan Salidor. It might be my imagination, but I think today's group of kids had an extra amount of silly fun with this song.

Because this song is so exciting, I found it necessary to do a chant to calm down. I used my favorite "Hippo on the Bus," because it is really fun and hilarious, but you can do it as many times as necessary to get the kids back to listening status.

A hip, a hip, a hippotomous
Got on, got on, got on the 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)

While passing out rhythm sticks, I made sure the kids knew that I would only be handing a pair to children who were sitting calmly on the floor, and those who loudly repeated my one and only rhythm stick rule: "Don't Hit Your Friends!" Kids and parents alike find this rule giggle-worthy, but it's also very seriously my only rhythm stick rule.

I gave them a minute to hit them on their own, then lead the group in hitting out sticks slowly, quickly, loudly, quietly, and rubbing them together to create a new sound. Then we did two songs with the sticks: "Tapping On My Sticks" and "Lummi Stick Tap." For that one, I always teach the word "lummi," what they call rhythm sticks in the UK, so the kids aren't confused when they hear that word in the song. 

Finally, it was time to give the sticks back and say goodbye to all our friends!

Learn & Grow with Rhythm & Flow 12-8-17

This morning, I was planning to do a program similar to the last time we used rhythm sticks in Rhythm & Flow. I got my lesson plan together, made the playlist on my iPod, and was just about to set up the sound system when I noticed my iPod's screen was blank no matter how many buttons I pushed. Of course it was about 5 minutes before storytime was supposed to begin and there were already some kiddos and parents in the room. I ran to the back of the library and plugged it into my computer, where it was not recognized as a device in iTunes. The computer didn't even register that anything was plugged in! After a minute, I realized that this iPod is completely dead and will not be coming back to life. It has served me well for about nine years, so RIP Tiny Blue Guy.

Thinking fast, I connected a laptop to the room's central sound system and pulled up my Google Drive, where I have a lot (but not all) or my storytime music stored. Instead of using my usual rhythm and music introduction we said hello with the Preschool Storytime introduction, which you can view here. Then we did the "Heckity Peckity" chant and counted the syllables in our names. Today we had three children with two-syllable names, and two children with three-syllable names.

Heckity peckity bumblebee,
Won't you say your name for me?
Bzzzzz (Bee buzzes up to a child and asks their name. Let's say it's Harold.)
Everyone say Harold. (Group says name)
Can we whisper it? (whisper the name)
Can we do it on our legs? (Repeat name and pat thighs with each syllable)
Can we clap it? (Repeat name and clap with each syllable)
Now let's turn off our voice (Do a clicking motion with hand on throat and make clicking sound)
And let's just clap it (Group claps the syllables without speaking)
How many claps was that? (Group answers)
Harold's name is two claps! Who is next?

Next, we danced with semi-directed movement to "Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve.

I didn't have time to write the "Little Clapping Mouse" chant out on the white board today, so we skipped it and went right on to passing out rhythm sticks.

After everyone had promised not to hit their friends with the sticks and each child had a pair, we sang an a capella rhythm stick version of "Happy and You Know It." Each verse below is the full, usual verse of the song with the clapping, stomping, and hooray-ing substituted with the following words:

If you're happy and you know it, tap your sticks (*tap tap*)
If you're happy and you know it, rub your sticks (rub them to make scraping noise *rub rub*)
If you're happy and you know it, hit the floor (*hit hit*)
If you're happy and you know it, do all three (*tap tap, rub rub, hit hit*)

Next we listened to "Tapping on My Sticks," a good song to listen to with rhythm sticks because it directs the listener to tap their sticks slowly, quickly, loudly, quietly, in the air, and on the floor.

After that, it was already time to say goodbye! Instead of the regular bubble songs, I had to use Mr. Jon's "Happy and You Know It" as bubble background music.

Even with my tech issues this morning, I had several parents make sure to tell me how much their kids enjoyed the session, so I feel like it went well. We will be taking a break from storytimes for the last two weeks in December, so hopefully I'll be able to get a new iPod before the new year!

Preschool Storytime 12-5-17

Hello again! You can view my Preschool Storytime hello and goodbye here. I like to begin and end consistently each week so the kids learn the songs and begin to fall into a routine, which will help them later on when they are in school.

Our first story today was We Are Best Friends by Robyn Newton. It is a board book, but more appropriate for preschoolers than for babies because it has a full verse of a rhyming poem on each page. It's fun to have the kids tell you what is on each page; the sets of best friends range from a fork and spoon, to milk and cookies, to salt and pepper. 

Next we sang my version of "I'm a Little Teapot," which comes with a bonus verse of "Two Little Blackbirds" to the same tune.

Here is the version of these songs I use.

And here is Jbrary demonstrating the same moves I teach the kids for both classic nursery rhymes.

After that mellow song, we did a very NOT-mellow song: "I Am a Robot." It is an instructed gesture song, asking the kids to jump, run, hop on one foot, etc., but it moves so quickly that a lot of them don't catch on. For this reason, I prefer to use this one as a get-the-wiggles-out helper instead of worrying about the instruction too much. And, keeping the structure looser allows plenty of time for the preschoolers to show me their amazing robot dance moves.

To calm back down for another story after that high energy exercise, I hauled out the "Hippo on the Bus" chant. I demonstrated it once, and then encouraged both kids and grownups to keep time by hitting their knees with open palms and chant with me as we did it two more times.

A hip, a hip, a hippotomous
Got on, got on, got on the 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)

Our second story was The Night Before Preschool by Natasha Wing. Since Christmas is coming up I thought this rhyming story would be a nice mention of the season without getting too heavy handed about a holiday not everyone celebrates. This book isn't holiday-oriented at all, except to borrow the rhythm of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The kids seemed engaged while I read this book, calling out things they saw on each page and telling me how they thought the kids in the illustrations were feeling.

After the story, we sang and moved to "Baby Shark" and "Peek-a-Boo." I like "Baby Shark" because it includes very easy, obvious movements (sharks of different sizes, swimming, sunny day, wiping your brow for "safe at last") that the kids catch onto quickly. As a bonus, the grownups always think Grandpa Shark, making a shark mouth with your fists because Grandpa has no teeth, is hilarious.

Click here to listen to the version of "Baby Shark" I use. (link to come)

Even though it's not exactly the song I use, here is a video of some kids acting out the song similarly to how I demonstrate it at storytime. 

And another bonus, here is an adorable Halloween version of the song that was a hit at our Spooky Singalong in October:

Even though I usually only use "Peek-a-Boo" with the babies, older kids also like to do it occasionally. Today I noticed a few in the group peek-a-boo-ing their parents and younger siblings. This song is just a fun one to have in your back pocket whenever you are around little ones because it's catchy, and once they get it they'll sing it to themselves or their sibling for hours. 

Click here to listen to the version of "Peek-a-Boo" I use. 

Then, we said goodbye to all our friends with a little sign language, a little more singing, and of course, bubbles. 

Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week Four

Today was the final session of our four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three

Much like our first session, today was very free form. Some of the kids who were absent last time came back (we took a week off since last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and the library was closed) so we rounded out the class with a solid ten tweens.

As I promised last time, this week they got to physically make their own books! I was aware of these blank books at Michaels, and bought a bunch of them ahead of time. They were very reasonably pried, $2.99 plus tax for a pack of three books. (Warning, sarcasm ahead) And I definitely didn't spend my own money on them, because that would be crazy and is something no educator does ever, because they are always provided with an adequate budget (end sarcasm).

We did not do a warm up activity today, because after four sessions all the kids know each other and I have learned almost all their names. I wanted to give them as much time as possible to work on their final products, so I set out art supplies, passed out blank books, and made myself available for help!

Some of them brought the story ideas they started last time, and others made up a brand new story. I noticed that I got a lot of "Can I do this?" questions. I did my best not to say yes or no; instead my answer was, "You can do anything you want, it's your story!" After the seventh or eighth "Can I..." question, I realized that many of these kids had never sat down and tried to compose their own 100% original story before. Whether they had never thought of it, or there isn't enough time with school work, or no one in their life had ever suggested they try it, this was the first time they had ever had zero guidelines before! In the last session of this workshop, it hit me how important it was for the kids who came. Best of all, everyone left today having created something gorgeous and original. Here are some pictures of their books:

Most didn't finish their books completely, but I encouraged them to finish at home or come back to the library and use our supplies to finish them here. I had so much fun with this workshop. I will be running monthly drop-in Tween Writing Time programs in 2018, which I am excited to report on, and my partner Youth Services librarian and I might even be starting a tween book club for ages 8-12. It's such a fun age group to work with because of their creativity and willingness to try anything. That's why being a children's librarian is so much fun; you can have fun at storytime with the babies and preschoolers, then turn around and put on your classroom teacher hat for a tween educational workshop. When the paperwork and meetings get overwhelming, I remember that I also get to do amazing things like this. Programming for these kids makes the rest of the hard work completely worth it!