Dinosaur Storytime

Today we talked all about dinosaurs.  There was A LOT of roaring going on!

Songs:

We Are the Dinosaurs By: Berkner

I Can Shake My Shaker Egg By: Mr Eric & Mr Michael (SO FUN)

Flannel Board:

Five Enormous Dinosaurs

Books:

Dinosaur VS Bedtime By: Bob Shea

Dinosaur Stomp By: Paul Stickland (POP UP BOOK)

A Number of Dinosaurs By: Paul & Henrietta Stickland (MORE POP UP)

Check out my Dinosaur tag on my Shelfari page for more good books that I didn’t have time to read!

Craft:

I found a similar craft on Pinterest and knew I HAD to make it. We used paper plates, colored clothespins (which we just happened to have on hand), a google eye, spikes, and Dot Art Painters from Lakeshore. They worked SO good when it came to “painting” the plates. Dries super fast and little mess!  The kids and parents all loved making these little guys. I normally don’t do crafts this intricate, but sometimes you just gotta mix things up!

Cow Storytime

This is my cow storytime I did a few weeks ago. It was so much fun! We mooed and mooed the whole time.

Songs:

The Tempo Marches on By: Jim Gill (we use rhythm sticks)

The Goldfish Song By: Berkner (Nothing to do with cows, I just like the song. WHO DOESN’T?!)

Flannel Board:

Five Brown Cows

5 brown cows walking through the door, one got stuck and that left 4.

4 brown cows running from a bee, one cow hid and that left 3.

3 brown cows walking in their shoes, one cow tripped and that left 2.

2 brown cows sitting in the sun, one fell asleep and that left 1.

1 brown cow feeling all alone, so he went away and then there were none!

Books:

Moo! By: David LaRochelle (THIS BOOK IS THE BEST)

Lets Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy By: Jan Thomas

Is Everyone Ready For Fun? By: Jan Thomas

Check out my Cow tag on my Shelfari page for more good books that I didn’t have time to read!

Craft:

I used our barn and cow die cuts and we colored and glued!  Easy!

Valentine’s Day Storytime

I LOVE VALENTINE’S DAY! So here is what I did for my preschool storytime.

The first thing I did was teach them this adorable rhyme that I got from Jbrary. We made hearts with our hands and the kids loved it! Then we did it again at the end to see if they could remember it.

Songs:

Skinnamarink (with all the hand motions)

If You’re Happy and You Know it By: Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael (I love this version because it’s so spunky!)

Tooty-ta By: Dr. Jean (Cause WHY NOT)

Flannel Board:

Mama Loves You, with book by: Caroline Stutson

I also did an interactive flannel board with them. I passed out colored hearts and each child received one.  Then there was one BIG heart on the flannel board and I invited the kids to come “decorate” the valentine with their tiny hearts.  I called them up by color and they would place it on the board. I stole this idea from my newest coworker Liz! THE KIDS WENT NUTS.  They loved it so much. Just being able to touch the flannel board made them so happy.  I might make this a weekly thing.

Books:

Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine By: Sarah Weeks

Love Monster By: Rachel Bright

Check out my Valentine’s Day tag on my Shelfari page for more good books that I didn’t have time to read!

Craft:

We made love bug valentines out of die cut hearts!

Baby Storytime-Animals

Well, I finally did my very first Baby Storytime!  I’ve been really excited about trying new things lately.  I’m trying to keep things fresh, and I’ve always only done preschool storytime (and still will).  We used to have baby ST as a part of our weekly STs, but over 2 years ago they got clumped together with the toddler time and are now one huge program of 0-5 year olds.  I really wanted to try to offer something for the littler ones because so many kids can be pretty overwhelming for them.  And now that we have more staff in my department, I figured why not try!  My boss is really great when it comes to trying new things.  In the past, she was the one who would do baby ST, so I took her outline and tweaked it a bit. Less work for me!  Also, we have kits that were created with a grant by our Outreach team (that doesn’t exist anymore).  They include at least 10 board books on the theme to be shared individually by the parent/baby, 1 book to read aloud, toys to be played with at the end etc. I only had one mom show up, but we still had fun and she was all about participating.  I’m having another one next month and hoping news will spread that baby ST is back!  Here is my outline:

Baby Storytime – Animals #1

Welcome Song: (Sign the song)

The more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we’ll be. Because your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends, the more we get together the happier we’ll be.

Names with Tambourine

We pass around the tambourine and each person mom/dad and baby get to tap out the syllables to their name. It’s a great way for everyone to learn who is who!

Nursery Rhyme – Hey Diddle Diddle

These Are the Pets I Love (Baby Signing Time, Vol. 1)

I made magnet pieces to put up while we sing this song of the different animals.

Book Sharing – Peek-a-Moo! by Marie Torres Cimarusti (I read this one aloud)

Song – Old MacDonald (Six Little Ducks CD)

Book Sharing (On their own) – Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle

Nursery Rhyme-Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song/Flannel Board – Five Little Ducks (Where is Thumbkin CD)

Goodbye Song
On my face I have a nose, and way down here I have 10 toes.

I have 2 eyes that I can blink and I have a head to help me think.

I have a chin and very near I have 2 ears to help me hear.

I have a mouth that I use to speak and when I run I use my feet.

I have 2 arms to hold up high and here’s a hand to wave goodbye!

Halloween Storytime

This week we talked about Halloween! (My FAVORITE holiday) And we all dressed up in our costumes!

Songs:

We Will Stomp By: Mr Eric and Mr Michael (This was great because in the song they’re pretending to be monsters)

Hip Hop Body Rock By: Mr E and Mr M (We used shakers)

Flannel Board:

Pumpkin Faces

Books:

Leonardo the Terrible Monster By: Mo Willems

What Am I? By: Margaret Lewis

The Spooky Box By: Mark Gonyea

Check out my Halloween tag on my Shelfari page for more good books that I didn’t have time to read!

Craft:

I cut out BIG pumpkins with our Ellison machine and we colored them!  Easy but really fun for everyone.