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)

Sign Language Storytime: Feelings

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

"If You're Happy and You Know It"

Almost everyone knows this classic song. We sing it with five different emotions, and practice the feelings signs whenever we name that feeling.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (*Clap clap*)
If you're sad and you know it, say "boo hoo" (Boo hoo!)
If you're scared and you know it, say "oh no" (Oh no!)
If you're angry and you know it, give a frown (Grr grr!)
If you're excited and you know it, say "yipee" (Yipee!)

Video

"Feelings Song" by Dream English Kids

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

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

This book teaches a great lesson about cheering up your friends, and also provides a great opportunity to practice the sign for "mad" or "grumpy."

Movement Song
"Feelings" by Mary Trachsel
A nice simple song that kids and grownups can easily sign along to. It's also very short, so I usually repeat it twice.

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. 

Baby Lapsit 11-28-17

Today was my last time with the babies for two months! I'm really sad about it and going to miss seeing their adorable, squishy faces every week. Since we have three children's librarians at our branch, we decided to rotate monthly between the three storytime age groups. This way all the storytime families will get to know all three of us, and the kids won't have the shock of a stranger running storytime if one of us needs to call out sick.

It's a good idea with great reasoning behind it, and I'm sure I'll have a great time with the preschoolers in December and the toddlers in January. Even so, I'm gonna miss my babies!

After saying good morning, the first book we read was My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall. This is one of those board books that doesn't have an actual plot. Instead, each page shows an animal and the narrator describes what characteristic of their heart matches that animal (for example, "brave like a lion"). At the end, your heart is "tired as a zookeeper who had a busy day," and all the animals are gathered together in the zookeeper's dark bedroom. It's super cute, and a fun way to practice the names of animals.

 

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)

AND NOW I HAVE BREAKING BABY LAPSIT NEWS! I USED A NEW SONG TODAY! After we bounced up and down in our little red wagon...

...we bounced our babies to this bluegrass tune, "Bounce Your Baby" by Caspar Babypants.

As always when you introduce a new song to a group of regular storytimers, there was some uncertainty on their part and mine. I didn't realize until the song was halfway over that there really are no movements built into this song. We ended up simply lap bouncing the whole time, with the option to turn the baby to face us and interact with them while bouncing. I would use this song again, but not very often as there's not really enough other movement for it to be interesting on a recurring basis.

Our second story was The Mommy Book by Todd Parr. I've raved about the wonder that is Todd Parr before, but I really can never sing his praises to a wide enough audience. Todd Parr is an absolute champion for diversity, tolerance, and acceptance. The best part is, these complex topics are explained in a way that young kids actually understand and respond to. Plus, the art is really colorful and pleasing to the eye. I love, love, love Todd Parr, and if I could get him as a storytime guest I'd probably die of happiness. 

Today, since it was my last time with this group of babies until they're all in college, I did two movement songs with them. We did my favorite version of "Wheels on the Bus," and then what has become a regular Baby Lapsit standard, "One, Two Hands."

Click here to listen to my version of "Wheels on the Bus"

Then we did our usual goodbye song, "Skidamarink," blew some bubbles, and played with toys. In the next couple months, I might try to poke my head into their community playtime even though it's not my Baby Lapsit rotation anymore!

Preschool Storytime 11-28-17: Feelings 2.0

I did feelings again, and it was a success this time!

Not sure if that's because I'm a more seasoned storytime presenter than I was in June, or I chose better books, or what, but I felt much more accomplished walking out of the room today than I did the last time we tackled feelings.

The idea to try again came to me by accident when I was browsing the stacks, looking for good storytime books. I came across the Sesame Street book We're Different, We're the Same by Jim Henson, which was our first story after saying hello. This book acknowledges that while people's physical features might be different, we are all the same on the inside and all deserving of respect and love. There is even a part that acknowledges that while we all feel them differently, our feelings are basically the same. I love this because it teaches young readers that their feelings are not only valid, but normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

After the story, we danced to "Clap Your Hands" because it is, in my opinion, a storytime classic.

Click here to listen to the version of "Clap Your Hands" that I use. 

Our second story today was Too Shy for Show and Tell by Beth Bracken. I fell in love with this story about a shy giraffe navigating preschool immediately, which is why I'm surprised it wasn't better received by the group. No one hated it, but the kids were wiggly and a little bit louder than they would have been if they were truly engaged.

Next, staying in the theme of feelings, we sang two versions of "Happy and You Know It." The first one was a capella, and corresponded to some felt faces that my partner youth services librarian made last summer:

(pic to come)

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 made up our own verses for the other faces:

If you're sad and you know it, say boo hoo. BOO-HOO!
If you're angry and you know it, give a growl. GRRR!
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)

The kids had a great time with this spin on the classic song. After that, we danced to the Mr. Jon version of "Happy and You Know It."

Before saying goodbye, we had a few extra minutes so I tacked on an extra movement song: "Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve. I love this song because it presents loosely guided movements like wiggling your fingers, nodding your head, and waving your elbows, but also gives the kids plenty of opportunity for free dance time and burns off some of their seemingly endless energy.

Baby Lapsit 9-12-17

Hello again!

(Look how clever I am. Click that link to see my usual hello/goodbye for the babies.)

Our first story today was Who is Smiling? by Yusuke Yonezu. Like the last few board book authors I've discovered, Yonezu has several books with similar art, all of which are simple and great for readers under two. I'm starting to think board books are an underappreciated literary art.

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)

Next were two of my favorites, "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck" and "Noble Duke of York."

Our second story was one I found in our branch's storytime collection, Bunny Roo, I Love You by Melissa Marr. In Baby Lapsit especially, my two favorite story subjects are love and diversity. This one covers love in a very sweet and simple way.

Our last movement song of the day before saying goodbye was "Wheels on the Bus." Always a fun song for kids, and an opportunity to talk about anything from transportation, to talking to strangers, to the sound a muffler makes (spoiler alert: it sounds an awful lot like a zerbert).

Click here to listen to the version I use.

Preschool Storytime 7-20-17

Hello again, and welcome to another Preschool Storytime post!

We have been doing a lot of themed storytimes lately, and today's theme was supposed to be robots, but I had trouble finding anything to go with that theme except the "I Am a Robot" song (which we did actually dance to today). I figured rather than put on a subpar storytime that stuck with a difficult theme, I would put on a GREAT storytime without a theme. 

So our first story today was I Am Tall by Flying Frog. This is a lift-the-flap book I like because at the end, you have to physically turn the book sideways in order to reveal the tall giraffe. It's also a fun book of opposites, and the preschoolers have fun calling them out. I like to prompt them by saying things like, "If the bird is small, then the giraffe is..." and they almost always catch on right away. 

Our first movement song of the day was "Clap Your Hands," which I got on a burned CD from a previous library and haven't been able to find another downloadable version of since. Some children's songs are illusive like that (and like the Out of the Box goodbye song), and I'm glad I kept my version because it's a great movement song that keeps the kiddos engaged. I like to start it out by asking if they know how to clap their hands, stomp their feet, brush their teeth (that always gets a laugh), and touch their nose. They always respond that they do, and show me how they do it. My answer before pressing play is, "Well then, you guys will do great at this next song!" I've found a short introduction like this to movement songs makes them more interested to see what is about to happen.

This is the version of "Clap Your Hands" that I use. 

Next we danced to "Arms Up," a simple and slightly mellower tune which is also impossible to find on the internet without knowing who sings it. 

Click here to listen to the version of "Arms Up" that I use.

Our second story was Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard. I love, love, LOVE this book. It is so funny, and formulaic enough that the kids can follow along almost immediately, without ever becoming boring. 

 

One thing I like to do with this book is teach the kids the sign for "grumpy" before we start reading. Then every time the bird declares that he's grumpy, we practice the sign while making our grumpiest faces.

angry/grumpy

Our last movement song was the fun, fast, and silly "I Am A Robot." Even though the kids (and me, most of the time) have a hard time following all the directions quickly enough, we all have fun doing our best robot dance and powering down at the end. 

After that, we said goodbye to all our friends until next week, and ended with the bubble-filled baby mosh pit that pretty much the best part of my day.

Book Notes

This is a program I put together as a drop-in for teens and tweens, but it would have been applicable for readers of any age. The goal was to write inspirational notes that we will leave in books in the Young Adult section, especially books with difficult themes such as suicide, drugs, abuse, rape, and difficult LGBTQ+ issues. It was a really easy one to put together, and well-received by out summer visitors, especially a group of teen volunteers.

Here are some of the many amazing messages the teens wrote, on the template I made so they can be recognized by our staff as a piece of a library-sanctioned program:

They had a good time coming up with encouraging, funny, and uplifting messages to add to our circulating library books.

I will be making color photocopies of the originals and replenishing the supply in our YA section every few months. I kept the originals so that they will not get damaged in circulation, and I always have them to refer back to.

Baby Lapsit 7-6-17 Feelings

You can find my Baby Lapsit hello and goodbye routine by clicking this link. 

The theme today was feelings. Our first story was Wild Feelings by David Milgrim. It doesn't have a story, but I like this book because it helps kids associate their feelings with things they understand, like animals. It asks questions like "Have you ever felt as stubborn as a mule? As chicken as a chicken?" and ends by normalizing these feelings: "Of course you have. Everyone does."

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)
I used the theme of "pop" for our two musical lap bounces today. First, "Pop Goes the Weasel," where the grownup bounces their baby on their lap until the POP, when they lift them up high. Next we bounced to Raffi's "Popcorn." the sizzling is similar to our "smooth road," and then the baby POPs up high again at the end! I like to do this song twice because it's less than 30 seconds long.

Our second story was Llama, Llama, Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney. This is another one that definitely went over the babies' heads, but the grownups enjoyed it. I also shortened it by paper clipping some of the middle pages together. None of the plot was lost, the babies are still able to enjoy the rhythm and rhyme, but they don't have to sit still and quiet for quite as long.

To conclude feelings day, we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" with gestures, clapping, stomping, and cheering. Then it was time for our closing songs, bubbles, and toys (see above). Here is a list of books I displayed:

• Feelings—Aliki 
• Consider Love—Boynton
• Who Is Happy?—Jarvis 
• If You’re Happy and You Know It—Ormerod 
• Wild Feelings—Milgrim
• Stuck With the Blooz—Levis
• I Am Yoga—Verde
• Llama Llama Mad at Mama—Dewdney 

Preschool Storytime 7-6-17: Feelings

Today's storytime had some good moments, but the second half was overall not very successful because of too many wiggles and too mellow of music and stories. But, it was a learning experience, and maybe I'll try a feelings storytime again at some point. 

First, we said hello with our usual introduction. Our first story was Stuck With the Blooz by Caron Levis. This book is a great one for learning how to get rid of a bad mood, but would be better for one-on-one reading than storytime with a group because of the length. 

Next we sang my favorite version of "Happy and You Know It," and "Milkshake" to get some wiggles out. 

Our second story was I Am Yoga by Susan Verde, which I was especially excited about because of my recent discovery of the music artist Emily Arrow. She takes children's books and writes songs about the stories they tell. We read the book first, and then I attempted to lead the kids in some simple yoga moves while listening to the song. It was a great idea poorly executed because they weren't that receptive, but I might try it again at some point with an older group.

I was successfully able to get the kids to listen to one more short book, Wild Feelings by David Milgrim. It's a very easy book to listen to without a real storyline, just comparisons between feelings and animal traits. If you're ever at a loss in a group of four-year-olds, just ask them what sound a lion makes and enjoy the ROAR!

Our last song before goodbye was "It's Time to Stand Up."

Here is a list of the books I displayed for feelings storytime:

• Feelings—Aliki 
• Consider Love—Boynton
• Who Is Happy?—Jarvis 
• If You’re Happy and You Know It—Ormerod 
• Wild Feelings—Milgrim
• Stuck With the Blooz—Levis
• I Am Yoga—Verde
• Llama Llama Mad at Mama—Dewdney

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