Saturday Morning Stories – Colours and Rainbows

Pouring rain forecast for this weekend, but we’ve had some lovely spring days so I planned a Rainbow storytime to keep things bright.

•  Opening:
  • ♫ Clap and Sing Hello ♫
  • ♫ Wheels on the bus ♫

•  I ain’t gonna paint no more by Karen Beaumont and David Catrow
  • ♫ Open Shut them ♫
  • ♫ These are the colours that we know ♫
• Felt: Make a rainbow
  • ♫ Can you find the colours ♫
• A colour of his own by Leo Lionni
  • Little Chameleon’s Colour Game
  • ♫ If You’re wearing any red ♫
  • ♫ Bend and stretch ♫
  • Wiggle my fingers
• Last short story:  Duckie’s rainbow by Frances Barry
• Game: Green says go go go… (using felt props)
• Closing Songs:
  • ♫ Roly Poly goodbye ♫
  • ♫ We wave goodbye like this ♫

Other story options:

• Lemons Are NOT Red  by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Butterfly, Butterfly by Pert Horacek
• Planting a Rainbow Lois Ehlert
• Wow said the owl by Tim Hopgood
• Little white rabbit by Kevin Henkes

Back to Storytime! (Preschool Storytime, Fall Series Start)

Yay! The kids are back in school, finally. And we are well into the fall season for children’s programs.  This fall I have been assigned the whole fall series for Preschool storytimes (or one of three that this library provides). I am so happy to be able to plan a full series of storytimes because this allows me to really get into planning with a focus on literacy and language learning. And I get to try out some new ideas. You may notice that most of these plans don’t have a clear theme because I focused on great books and materials that I could retell in different ways throughout the series and then I built my storytimes around those materials.

So without further ado I give you:

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Preschool Storytime 1 Fall Series 2014

• Opening:
  • We clap and sing hello
  • Wheels on the bus
  • I have ten little fingers
• Intro Franck: A is for alligator
• Longest story: The gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
• Stand-up song: Bend and stretch
• Action song/ circle song: I was going to Kentucky
• Action poem:Open shut them
• Felt story/ Puppet story: Little red riding hood
• Counting story/song: Five Green and Speckled frogs
• Action song:Shake my sillies
• Action poems/ fingerplays:
  • Here is a bunny
  • Little bo peep
  • Here is a beehive
  • Four little beetle bugs
• Last short story: The Black Rabbit by Phillippa Leathers
• Felt game/ interactive song: Scat the cat
• Closing Songs:
  • Teddy bear, teddy bear
  • We wave goodbye like this

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Follow-up:

As usual I planned too much, although I would have done better if my Little red riding hood hadn’t rambled on as it did. My audience was getting restless. Next time I shall practice my red ridinghood first. The Gruffalo was right on the verge of being too long. There is quite a young crowd at this storytime so I will have to ensure my books are no longer then The Gruffalo. I didn’t get to The Black Rabbit unfortunately. But I will use it next week.

Also, because I ran long, I forgot to make Franck say goodbye. Oh yes Franck, I shall have to do a whole post on Franck with pictures. He is my first try at a storytime puppet mascot, he is a young, boisterous but sensitive crocodile. His name is french, but he is not.

Things to Keep:

• Opening, closing, bend and stretch, I was going to Kentucky, scat the cat, Gruffalo

Things to improve:

• Little red riding hood, Franck

Things to toss:

• Long versions of little red riding hood.

Swimmy Family Storytime – July 19th

So I have the same storytime I had last week. I anticipate it being as toddlery as last time so I tried to plan younger this time. I really focused on language acquisition concepts and repetition as most of the kids appeared to have a language other than English as their mother tongue.  I’m working regularly at this library almost every Saturday now so I’m going to request I become the regular presenter for this storytime. I miss having a regular storytime.

So this is the plan:

• Wheels on the bus (opener)
• I wiggle my fingers
• I’m the biggest thing in the ocean by Kevin Sherry
• Slippery fish aLa Charlotte Diamond (with felt props)
• Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee (w felt)
• Row Row Row Your Boat
• Five Speckled Frogs
• Jump Frog Jump (felt)
• Sleeping Froggies (bunnies)
• One Fish Two Fish by Dr. Seuss (fish dish)
  • The opening poem
  • Ish Wish Dish poem
• Little mouse house

 

I’ll let you know how it turns out after I do it on Saturday!

p.s. I know Swimmy isn’t a word but the storytime covers more than just fish.

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Update July 19th.

Storytime went great! I totally forgot the tune to Sleeping bunnies and stuttered a bit through Jump frog jump but all in all it went very well. It was very young with toddlers and babies and mostly ESL families. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  I followed the plan for the most part. I just skipped the Five Speckled frogs, and added “Rain is Falling Down” song for the babies. Row Row Row your boat was nice and the older kids loved when I finished by Pulling out a crocodile for the last time round:

Row, Row, Row your boat

Gently down the stream.

If you see a crocodile

Don’t forget to scream!

And I proceeded to look  scared at the crocodile puppet then scream and throw him over and behind my head. I love it when they say “Again, Again!”

They got into Jump Frog Jump, starting hesitantly then enthusiastically telling the frog to jump.

The Dr. Seuss poems would be better with felts or actions. Kids didn’t laugh at I’m the biggest thing n the ocean again, it must be my delivery 😕

 

Colours We Know Felt Story & Song

Colours We Know or Rainbow Stew

(Tune: Skip to my Lou)

Take some cherries, put them in the pot,
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out now what will it be?
The prettiest red you ever did see.

Take an orange, put it in the pot,
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out now what will it be?
The prettiest orange you ever did see.

Take a lemon, put it in the pot,
Stir it stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out now what will it be?
The prettiest yellow you ever did see.

Take some limes……..

Take some berries…….

Take some grapes……..

Red and orange, yellow and green, blue and purple
Colours are seen.
Put them together, what will they be?
The prettiest rainbow you ever did see.

This is a great repetitive song with felt props: rainbow fairy, pot, fruits, and colour arches to build rainbow. (I will take a picture soon, promise) Kids and parents pick up on the familiar tune and repetitive phrasing pretty quickly.

Colours/ Rainbow – Family Storytime

Colours/ Rainbow — 30 min — Family

Plan

• Opening:
  • Song: We Clap and Sing Hello
  • Song: Wheels on the bus
  • Song: Colors we know
  • Poem: I have ten little fingers
• Longest story: I ain’t gonna paint no more
  • Action song: Green says go go go…
  • Action song/ circle song: Singing in the rain
  • Action song: Open Shut them
• Felt song: Make a rainbow
• Poem/song: Can you find the colours
•  Felt story/ Puppet story:
  • Action poems/ Song: If You’re wearing any red
  • Poem: Bend and stretch
  • Poem: Wiggle my fingers
• Last short story: Go away big green monster by Ed Emberley (w/ puppet)
• Felt game/ interactive song: Little mouse house
• Closing Songs:
  • Shake my sillies out
  • We wave goodbye like this
• Other story options:
  • Wow said the owl by Tim Hopgood
  • Little white rabbit by Kevin Henkes

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How it actually turned out

• Opening:
  • Chant: Bread and Butter and marmalade jam
  • Song:We Clap and Sing Hello
  • Poem: I have ten little fingers
• Longest story: I ain’t gonna paint no more
  • Action song: Green says go go go… (felt props)
  • Song: Colors we know (felt props)
  • Action song: Open Shut them
• Felt song: Make a rainbow
  • Poem: Bend and stretch
• Puppet Story: Go away big green monster by Ed Emberley (w/ puppet)
• Felt game/ interactive song: Little mouse house (again, again!)
• Closing Songs:
  • Shake my sillies out
  • We wave goodbye like this

Comments:

Young crowd for a family time, mostly toddlers, many appeared to be with nannies.

Active, we had lots of fun. Story went over well. I have to work on how I prompt for the GO AWAY part of Green monster so that it is consistent. Also with such a young crowd, I could have indicated some instructions to the caregivers for what to do with the really young (bounce on lap with songs, etc.)

Flow was good, it seemed natural. I really enjoyed this one.