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.

Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow 4-6-18

It's rhythm stick day again! The parents think it's hilarious when I make the preschoolers repeat my only rhythm stick rule, "Don't hit your friends." It is funny, but definitely gets the point across. Yay for perpetuating nonviolence!

After our simple two-song hello, 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.

My with my friend Bumble Bee

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 "Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve. I like this one because it's directed movement with built in naming of body parts. Plus, they throw in a surprise game of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes during the bridge. There is no downside.

vid

Then we passed out the rhythm sticks ("Don't Hit Your Friends.")

Classroom management tip: I try to make the passing out of instruments as orderly as possible. Before handing out the sticks, I let the kids know that only those sitting down calmly will be given a pair. Except for the ones who don't yet understand full sentences, this works great. 

After everyone had a pair of sticks we practiced hitting them together quickly, slowly, loudly, and quietly. We also hit them high above our heads, low by our feet, and hitting them on the ground. Then, I turned on "Tapping on My Sticks" and we followed the tapping directions in the song.

As orderly as the passing out of instruments has become, returning them is always a circus. I've stopped fighting it. They're so excited to be making noise and playing with toys at the same time, I just let them storm me all at once and drop their instruments back into the container as a mob.

We still had about five minutes left in the session, so I had time to play the extra movement song I'd included on my playlist just in case: "Milkshake!" This is one of my faves, and always a good get-the-wiggles-out song.

Finally, we sang our goodbye song and had bubbles.

Toddler Time 2-28-18: Dinosaurs

Today, I once again strayed from my regular hello routine, and sang "This is the Way We Wave Hello" a capella instead of "Hello Friends."

I use totally different lyrics, but this video will give you an idea of the tune:

Here are the lyrics we use:

This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello.
This is the way we wave hello,
Hello, hello, hello.

Repeat with clap, tap (stomping feet), and then close it out with another chorus of wave.

Our first story today was Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton. He has a bunch of great books appropriate for toddlers. While my favorite is Bones, Bone, Dinosaur Bones, I thought this one would be more appropriate since it shows the dinosaurs alive. Maybe we can read the other one if we have a fossils themed storytime.

After the story, our movement songs were "We Are the Dinosaurs" and "One, Two Hands," both by the amazing Laurie Berkner. 

Next, we did a flannel board story called "Five Dinosaurs." The kids and grownups all had fun calling each new dinosaur in and then slapping their thighs to make the sound of the dino running over.

Chant:

[One dinosaur is placed on the flannel board]

One dinosaur went out to play

In the Arizona desert one day.

He had such enormous fun

He called another dinosaur to come!

Ooooohhhhhh dinosaaauuuurrrrrr! 

[slap thighs like a drum roll to show dino is running over]

[Repeat with two, three, and four. When fifth dino is added...]

Five dinosaurs went out to play

in the Arizona desert one day.

They had such enormous fun

They laughed and played 'til the day was done!

At the end, it's a good opportunity to say goodbye to each dinosaur and count backward from five to zero as the dinos are put away.

Then we did another movement song. I found this really cute counting song called "One Friendly Dinosaur." During the song, we practiced counting on our fingers.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. The kiddos were pretty riled up from roaring like dinosaurs (every chance they got, encouraged by me to the detriment of my classroom management #sacrifices), so bubbles were an extra crazy baby mosh pit today. It was chaotic, but so much fun. 

Here is the list of dinosaur books I displayed:

• If You Happen to Be A Dinosaur—Bailey 
• Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones—Barton 
• The Berenstain Bears’ Dinosaur Dig—Berenstain 
• Dad and the Dinosaur—Choldenko 
• Rory the Dinosaur (series)—Climo 
• Dinosaur Rescue—Dale 
• The Good Dinosaur: A Friend in the Wild—Disney 
• Tig and Tog’s Dinosaur Discovery—Garland 
• Duck, Duck, Dinosaur (series)—George 
• George and the Dinosaur—Hayes 
• Drumheller Dinosaur Dance—Heidbreder 
• T. Veg: The Story of a Carrot-Crunching Dinosaur—Prasadam-Halls 
• Dinosaur vs. (series)—Shea 
• Dinosaur Kisses—Stein

Baby Lapsit 2-23-18

The new "This is the Way We Wave Hello" song was such a hit in Toddler Time this week, I decided to use it for the babies as well! The only difference is, most of our babies are not yet standing steadily on their own. So instead of tapping our feet, we wiggle our fingers!

I use totally different lyrics, but this video will give you an idea of the tune:

Here are the lyrics we use here:

This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello.
This is the way we wave hello,
Hello, hello, hello.

Repeat with clap, wiggle (wiggling fingers), and then close it out with another chorus of wave.
After that, we continued with the rest of our regular Baby Lapsit hello, minus the first song. Then, our first book was Where is Baby's Puppy? by Karen Katz. I don't usually use lift-the-flap or pop-up books in storytime because of the size of the group, but our Baby Lapsit rarely has more that 30 people. Plus, today it was nice to have a more interactive book since I had one older sibling in the room. She is almost three, and really enjoyed that I let her lift the flaps for me before we showed the surprise picture to all the babies.

Next it was time for our lap bounce journey and it began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." I have a few regulars who have come to Baby Lapsit continuously since their babies were only a couple months old, and they know this chant by heart now. 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)

Since it's been a while, I brought back the "pop" theme for our musical lap bounce today. "Pop Goes the Weasel," and then "Popcorn" by Raffi (twice through because it's very short).

Our second board book today was Olivia Loves Owl by David McPhail. Short and sweet with cute illustrations, this one was a big hit with the grownups.

Before recorded songs with gestures, I did an a capella fingerplay today. "Two Little Blackbirds" is a bit of an antiquated nursery rhyme, but I'm trying to bring it back. I like to sing it to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," which adds an extra line onto the end of the original version:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill
One named Jack and one named Jill
Fly away Jack and fly away Jill
Come back Jack and come back Jill
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill
One named Jack and one named Jill

The fun thing about this song is, once you learn the original melody you can substitute "Jack and Jill" for any set of opposites. It's a great way to teach rhyming words and opposites to any age of child. Example:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a gate
One named Early and one named Late
Fly away Early and fly away Late
Come back Early and come back Late
Two little blackbirds sitting on a gate
One named Early and one named Late

You can even give your fingers personalities that match their names; Late could move slower than Early to show he is always late. Here is Jbrary giving a great example of this song.

I plan to teach more songs where you can substitute the words as a fun game. It's something I grew up with, and I feel it's very important for kids to grow up playing with language and letters. It helps them become better communicators later on, and also makes them more confident and comprehensive readers.

Our next song was "One, Two Hands" because these are great hits with the kiddos as well as grownups, and there's no limit to how often babies and toddlers should practice the names of body parts.

After that, we said goodbye to our friends until next time!