Baby Lapsit 6-29-17

I suppose you could say the theme of this storytime is farm animals because of the book choices, but the songs don't really reflect that, so I'm going to refrain from classifying it that way.

After our introduction, the first board book of the day was Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. This book is a personal favorite of mine, and actually the first one I buy for any friend who announces they're having a baby. The rhyming is great for a small child's language development, and Sandra Boynton's characters are just so dang cute. There's nothing bad about this book.

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 "Walkin' Ol' Joe" again as our first lap bounce song, which I guess is also applicable to the farm. Our second lap bounce song was "Noble Duke of York," which is long but affords a lot of opportunity to bring the baby up, down, left, right, and even upside-down (over your shoulder) if you're brave enough. I always see grownups' eyes widen the first time they see me turn my demonstration teddy bear upside down, but by the end of the song, they're trying it out and their babies usually have the time of their life!

The second book was Quick, Duck! by Mary Murphy. It was fun to make the babies (and their grownups) to quack like ducks. Some of them got the idea and started quacking by the end, but most importantly, I demonstrated for their caregivers a potential interactive activity they can do with their babies as they read. Talking about the animals on the page, and what sounds they make, is a great way to practice identifying pictures, which is one of the first steps toward learning sight words later on.

Our last movement song today was "I'm a Little Teapot." I have a version with this song first, and then "Two Little Blackbirds" to the same tune directly after. I like this version because that nursery rhyme has fallen out of use over the years, and it's still a fun fingerplay.
Click here to listen to the version I use.

I could have included "Six Little Ducks" by Raffi to continue with the barnyard theme, and because there's never a bad time to play Raffi, but I'm still working out movements for that one.

To conclude storytime we sang "Peek-a-Boo" and "Skidamarink," then had bubbles and a 15-ish minute community play time. You can see my usual Baby Lapsit conclusion by scrolling up and clicking on the "introduction" link.

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

Baby Lapsit 6-22-17 Transportation

This Baby Lapsit session began, as they all do, with my three "hello" and introduction songs, that can be found (along with the "goodbye" ending) here.

Transportation was the first themed Baby Lapsit that actually landed! I'm so excited to report that the babies seemed to be having as much fun reading and singing about cars, boats, wagons, and horse rides as I was!

Our first story was Beep! Beep! by Sam Hearn. This book can easily be brought down to baby level by talking about the colors of the vehicles and practicing counting them as they line up at the beginning of the race. 

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)

We did three (count em, THREE!) lap bounce songs today because I couldn't bear to exclude any of these picks. We began with "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck," moved on to this adorable version of "Little Red Wagon," and finished with a lesser known and more mellow closer, "This is the Way the Ladies Ride."

Our second story was Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman. For the babies, it's an excellent intro to following directions and pairing gestures with words when you put movement to the repeating phrases in the book: "dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!"

Our final song before saying goodbye was "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." I saw some of the parents practicing gestures with their baby during this song, and others treating it like another lap bounce. Either one is great, as long as the grownups and babies are interacting and the babies are getting the most out of the music!

I covered all forms of transportation except, regrettably, air travel. I wish I had had an airplane song!

After "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," we finished up with the usual goodbye, bubbles, and playtime. Here is a list of books I displayed on the subject of transportation:

• Race Car Count—Dotlich 
• Are We There Yet?—Laden 
• Gus’ Garage—Timmers 
• Hello Airplane—Cotter 
• Toot Toot Zoom!—Root 
• Freight Train—Crews

Preschool Storytime 6-22-17: Transportation

Today's storytime was all about things that go! So after saying hello to all our friends, I asked a few questions to the group of kids about the type of travel they've experienced. We talked about riding in the car, flying in an airplane, sailing on a boat, and then tried to name as many vehicles as we could. This was a fun exercise to introduce the theme of transportation and start the kids feeling engaged in the storytime.

Our first story was Beep! Beep! by Sam Hearn. This story went over a lot better with the preschoolers than it did with the babies. The preschoolers were excited about identifying and counting all the cars as they lined up, and actually laughed at the joke at the end.

Next, we did two movement songs in a row: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck." I usually use "Firetruck" as a baby lap bounce, but discovered today that it's possibly more fun on your feet! 

Our next story was Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman, and it was an interactive hit! Before we started reading I taught the kids the words and actions for the book's refrain: "dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" By the end they were screaming it. It was amazing.

Today, we did two movement songs before going straight into goodbye, without a third book. I love sharing three stories with the preschoolers, but sometimes they're just too wiggly to sit still for it. However, "Little Red Wagon" and "Wheels on the Bus" were both big hits, and after bubbles, I sent them home to their parents sufficiently hyped up! #evillibrarian 

My version of "Wheels on the Bus"

Baby Lapsit 6-15-17: Sleep

I think the parents and caregivers appreciated the theme of this storytime more than the babies did. It can be hard to get your baby to go to sleep, so I approached the subject with humor as well as some solid lullaby tips.

We started out with my usual introduction (this post also contains my usual conclusion).

Our first story was No Nap! Yes Nap! by Margie Palatini. I think I hit the sweet spot in terms of the amount of words on a page for a baby storytime (very few). This book is adorable, short, and relatable for anyone who has ever tried to get a toddler to take a nap. The moms in the group especially got a chuckle out of it.

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 lap bounce music today, I repeated last week's "Walkin' Ol' Joe," which is always fun because the babies get to pretend they're riding an unpredictable pony.

Our second lap bounce song was "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck." It doesn't have anything to do with sleep, but it's one of my favorite songs to do with all ages of storytimers. They can tailor the movements to their ability level, and it is a really fun lap bounce song as well.

Our second story was Llama, Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. I love the Llama, Llama books in general, but this one might be my favorite.

And I obviously didn't include it in storytime, but if you haven't seen this video of Ludacris rapping this book, you need to.

For our song with gestures, we learned some signs for "Hush Little Baby." I advised the grownups that while their babies might not be at the point where they can do these signs perfectly yet, it's always helpful to sign to their babies to encourage earlier communication and understanding. This will solidify the concept that words have a meaning, and later on, that marks on a page mean words too. Signing as babies and toddlers encourages early literacy and makes kids better readers later in life!

I like this video even though I don't use this exact version. She signs slowly and clearly, which is what I try to do also when demonstrating.

This is the version I use. It's very short, so I usually do it twice through: once as more of a demonstration, then again so the grownups and kiddos can follow along.

Then it was time to say goodbye and sing "Peek-a-Boo" and "Skidamarink," then have bubbles and community play time (scroll up for my Baby Lapsit conclusion link).

Finally, here is a list of the books I had displayed for sleep storytimes:

• Creak! Said the Bed—Root
• Ten Sleepy Sheep—Root
• No Nap! Yes Nap!—Palatini
• How Does Sleep Come?—Blackmore
• The Sleep Sheep—McQuinn
• Where to Sleep—Radzinski
• Naptime—Mouy
• Sleep Tight, Anna Banana—Roques
• Sleepyheads—Howatt
• Slepy Places—Hindley
• No Go Sleep!—Feiffer
• Very Little Sleeping Beauty—Heapy
• Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night—Roth
• Click, Clack, Peep—Cronin
• Feet, Go to Sleep—Bottner
• Back to Bed, Ed—Braun
• The Princess and the Giant—Hart
• Time Now to Dream—Knapman

Preschool Storytime 6-15-17: Sleep

We began today's Preschool Storytime by saying hello to all of our friends the same way we always do, because repetition helps form neural pathways in developing brains.

The theme today was naptime and sleep, so we learned the American Sign Language sign for "sleep."

Our first story was Sleepyheads by Sandra J. Howatt. I learned last week to get mellower books out of the way earlier in storytime, so we started out with this short and quiet list of sleepy animals. 

 

Then to wake up again, we danced to "Clap Your Hands" and "The Ants Go Marching."

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

I don't think I will be doing "Ants" too often. It's a fun song and the constant marching is great for solidifying rhythm patterns and getting the wiggles out, but it's more than three minutes long. As a storytime rule, I try to stick to songs that are no longer than two minutes, to make sure the kids stay engaged and their attention doesn't start to wander. 

Next we read The Napping House by Audrey Wood, and I am lucky to have a big book copy at my library. The kiddos were really entertained by the fact that I had a giant version of a regular book! Plus, it helps everyone to see all the pictures when you're reading to a big crowd. 

And then we got up and sang "The Goldfish Song," because it has sleeping fish in it to stick with the theme of the day, and also because there has never been a better storytime song in the history of the world.

Our last story of the day was Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. I love reading rhyming books with the preschool crowd because you can ask them to finish your sentences. 

Also, here is Ludacris rapping this book, a must see for any fan of hip hop music or picture books. (Disclaimer, I did not show this video in storytime.)

Sticking with the theme of sleep, we learned to sign "Hush Little Baby" and sang it twice through before saying goodbye for the day.

Click here to listen to the version of "Hush Little Baby" I use. And here are the signs:

After bubbles, we had a special treat: a Llama, Llama Red Pajama craft! I had a storytime volunteer cut out about 50 one-piece red pajamas out of construction paper before storytime, then passed out one to each child. We set out crayons and stickers, and let the kids decorate their pajamas however they wanted. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures, but here is one I stole from Pinterest (where I got the idea in the first place).

I love including a craft, or at least a coloring sheet, at the end of Preschool Storytime for a few reasons. First, gripping crayons and scissors helps the development of fine and gross motor skills. Second, a limited number of supplies in a large group of kids forces them to share. Third, sitting down and doing a guided activity gets them ready for kindergarten.

Here is my display list of sleep books:

• Creak! Said the Bed—Root
• Ten Sleepy Sheep—Root
• No Nap! Yes Nap!—Palatini
• How Does Sleep Come?—Blackmore
• The Sleep Sheep—McQuinn
• Where to Sleep—Radzinski
• Naptime—Mouy
• Sleep Tight, Anna Banana—Roques
• Sleepyheads—Howatt
• Slepy Places—Hindley
• No Go Sleep!—Feiffer
• Very Little Sleeping Beauty—Heapy
• Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night—Roth
• Click, Clack, Peep—Cronin
• Feet, Go to Sleep—Bottner
• Back to Bed, Ed—Braun
• The Princess and the Giant—Hart
• Time Now to Dream—Knapman
• Good Night Tiger—Knapman

June 2017 Display: Pride Month

Because June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, I decided to make a display celebrating pride in the Young Adult section of our library. Here are some pictures I took of the display right after I finished it. (Sorry about the weird warping on a couple of them... I attempted to do panoramic view pictures)

Below is the list of books I displayed. For the record, I have not read too many of the books on this list yet. My favorite genre to read is YA fiction, so this list could easily double as my to-do list for the next couple years. Feel free to use as a jumping off point for introducing more LGBTQ+ positive lit in your classroom or library!

• YA Fiction
• Meg & Linus by Hanna Nowinski
• Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
• Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
• Pretend You Love Me by Julie Anne Peters
• How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity
• Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
• Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
• Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan
• Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
• Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark
• None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio
• Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
• One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva
• Hero by Perry Moore
• I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Ash by Malinda Lo
• Lies my Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters
• Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn
• How I Paid for College: A Novel if Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater by Marc Acito
• True Letters for a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan
• If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
• Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon
• Promposal by Rhonda Helms
• The You I've Never Known by Ellen Hopkins
• Drag Teen: A Tale of Angst and Wigs by Jeffrey Self
• Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate
• You and Me and Him by Kris Dinnison

• YA Nonfiction
• The ABC's of LGBT+ by Ashley Mardell
• Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge
• "You Can Tell Just by Looking" and 20 Other Myths About LGBT Life and People by Michael Bronski
• It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living 
• This Book is Gay by James Dawson
• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out edited by Susan Kuklin
• The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities