On The Move

For storytime this week we were on the move! Each of our books were about being on the go and moving about. This was a fun theme to choose books for because it’s actually rather broad.  The kids had fun too because I threw in fingerplays with a lot of movement.

The first book we read was Duck On A Bike by David Shannon.

This is a super silly and fun book all about a duck who rides around the farm on his bike.  It was a good choice as an opener because it’s just funny enough to keep them on their toes. This book opened up to a nice discussion about whether or not we could ride bikes. I know that some librarians shy away from group discussions but I feel that if they have something to say, I will let them say it. Sometimes it can be hard to control, but usually saying something like “Raise your hand if you want to sing a super silly song!” gets them back on track.

The next book we read was Freight Train by Donald Crews.

I love this book and so did the children. Trains are an especially popular topic with this age group so it was no surprise that they had fun with this book. Crews illustrations are so wonderful, so I decided to use a big book to give everyone a larger view of them.

Next we read Sputter, Sputter, Sputby Babs Bell, illustrated by Bob Staake.

This book has a fairly simple concept, a man fills his car up with gas, runs out of gas and then fills it up again to “sputter, sputter,  sput” all over. To be honest, I thought it would be a bigger hit with the children. It has all sorts of great words like sputter and glug, which I thought would keep them entertained. Maybe my reading was a bit off because the group got a bit antsy during this book. I think next time I would try it with a slightly younger crowd. It also would make a great lapsit for some one-on-one sharing.

Finally, we finished with Sheep In a Jeep by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple.

Sheep In A Jeep was a fun way to end storytime this week. It has lots of great rhyming words, which the children enjoyed saying with me.

For Craft this week, we made stop light necklaces.

This was a great craft. Very easy to prepare and fun for the kids. It’s simple enough that they really had a sense of accomplishment when they completed it. Initially, it was going to be regular, old stop lights and I decided to make it a necklace because the kids all look so cute leaving the program room wearing something.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk

Storytime started again this week! I’ve been anxiously awaiting its return!! It had been forever since I did a storytime!

This week starts our fall session, which lasts through November. This session I am doing storytimes for 3-5 year olds. Each week we have two sessions for this age group so I will be sharing the responsibility of planning and actually doing the storytimes with one of my colleagues. I do one storytime a week and plan every other week. This has been working out great so far.  We choose themes and select some books to go along with the themes, but each apply our own style to the storytime itself. Basically, it means that we each only have to prepare half of the crafts, which is a huge time saver with the overall workload.

Well enough about planning…. on the books!

I started this week with Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe.

Since this was my first time with this group of kids, I wanted to start with something that I consider to be a guaranteed crowd pleaser. This is a great book to get the kids up and moving around and a lot of fun to read aloud. A great way to kick off this week!

Next we read It Looked Like Spilt Milk  by Charles G. Shaw.

This was the inspiration for this storytime. It is a great book for storytime, as it lends itself to a lot of fun interaction and discussion. It’s also easy to make a flannel board of, which can add a whole new level to the story.

Finally, we read Little Cloudby Eric Carle.

I didn’t realize that I did two Eric Carle books until just now! I usually try not to repeat authors, but the kids didn’t seem to mind this time. This story is similar to It Looked Like Spilt Milk, so it reinforced its plot elements. When we read It Looked Like Spilt Milk,  none of the children guessed that we were reading about clouds. I think if I had read this book first they would have guessed that right away.

For the craft this week, we did a little exploring on our own with the cloud shape concept.

I will be honest, I didn’t plan this week. So, I can’t take the credit for this spectacular craft. My colleague made these cute little booklets with blue paper and during the craft portion prior to the program. I put a little bit of white paint in the center of the booklet, had the child close it and then open it to determine what shape they think their “cloud” made.

This is mine. I think it looks like a sheep… or maybe a goat. What do you think?

This craft was super easy, super fun, and super quick.  The only advice I would give is to make sure that you put away the paint before any of the children can get into it. They had markers to write their names, so that kept them occupied.