1. Hello Song: Glad to See You by Peter and Ellen Allard
2. Letter of the Day presentation: Show six pictures and have them guess the letter of the day
3. Read a Long Book
4. Sing a song with props (bells, bean bags, scarves etc)
5. Fingerplay/Feltboard
6. Sing an action song
7. Read a simple book
8. Sing either "The Wheels on the Bus" or "If You're Happy and You Know It"
9. Blow Bubbles to Ten Little Bubbles by Sara Hickman
10. Sing a Goodbye Song (example Goodbye by Old Town Folk Music)
11. End with handing out each kid a die-cut letter of the day, coloring page and stamping their hands with the letter.
With this in mind, I organized my storytime around the theme "Puppies".
Most kids love dogs and I knew that reading Bark George by Jules Feiffer would be a hit for any crowd. I spent a lot of time planning and it didn't go quite as planned, so here's what I ended up doing:
1. Hello Song
2. Letter of the Day "P"
3. Read The Pigeon wants a Puppy by Mo Willems
4. Sang My Dog Rags by Kindermusik International with actions found on the King County Library YouTube site.
5. Fingerplay: Five Little Puppies courtesy of Storytime Katie. I even made the same fingerpuppets she did. They turned out super cute!
You can purchase the pattern from seller Floral Blossom here. I'm sort of slow at hand sewing, so they took me the better part of the day to make. Totally cute though!
7. Read Bark George by Jules Feiffer
8. Read A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (I had the book on display and a kid asked for it after I finished Bark George, so I couldn't refuse).
9. Sang Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi. I had intended to sing The Wheels on the Bus, but I burned a disc of music for storytime and somehow missed adding it.
10. Played Goodbye by Old Town Folk Music, stamped each kid's hand with a Paws-to-Reading stamp (the only "dog" stamp on site) and handed out a puppy coloring page. We don't have a die-cut machine, so I skipped the letter. It is something I'd like to add as it reinforces the letter of the day, but I just didn't get to it. We also have no bubbles, so I skipped bubbles. This too is something I'd like to add in the future.
How it went:
I'd say it didn't go poorly for a first time. The library hasn't had a children's librarian for nearly 6 months and has been using volunteers for storytime. I've seen a few of them perform and they do a fine job overall, but I think the kids could use consistency. They have gotten used to pretty subdued storytimes, so it was hard to get them up and moving. I'm uncertain if this is something that will change as they get used to me or not.
When showing the kids the pictures at the beginning, they got the ones I thought might be hard, but didn't guess "puppies" for the picture of puppies. They guessed "dog" instead. That was a surprise as it was the only one they didn't guess correctly and I thought it was an easy one.
Bark George was a huge hit and is totally a favorite now. In fact, I've read it on each of the 3 preschool library tours I have given and has had great reception every time. What kid doesn't love making animal sounds?
The Pigeon wants a Puppy went over well too. I love The Pigeon, but I was worried about this one as Kristine has said she had difficulties with The Pigeon wants a Hot Dog (the only Pigeon book she's read at storytime).
Singing My Dog Rags was a huge mistake. I sang along to a recorded song and did hand motions which I explained before the song started, but the kids must have never heard it before and they really didn't get it. They knew Shake My Sillies Out and that went a little better.
At least the first-time jitters are over! I'm excited for my next preschool storytime: Dinosaurs!
No comments:
Post a Comment