Time to Brush Your Teeth

This week in storytime we discussed teeth. As a child, I really hated going to the dentist (probably because I always had cavities) but I have grown up and seen the error of my ways.

When I decided on this theme, I wondered if there would be good fiction on this topic. We have a lot of nonfiction books that are not very good read alouds. I was very pleased with the books I discovered.

We started with Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth by Alison McGhee, illustrations by Harry Bliss.The premise of this book is a bit scary. At the start of first grade, a second grader tells the main character that her teacher, Mrs. Watson is an alien who eats children’s teeth. Luckily, it turns out the second grader is wrong and Mrs. Watson is actually really nice. The Kids really enjoyed this book. I prepared them in the beginning, telling them to be brave. Everyone was relieved that Mrs. Watson was not an alien..

Next we read Clarabella’s Teeth by An Vrombaut.My co-worker had mentioned that she used this book for storytime once and it didn’t work to well. I decided to give it ago because I think that Vrombaut’s illustrations are so fun, they could carry the book on its own. I am glad I went through and read it. The kids loved the repetition of Clarabella’s brushing and brushing and brushing. This also led to a nice discussion about the importance of brushing your teeth. I am pleased to report that almost all of the children brush their teeth “right away” when they get up and “right before” bedtime. I always like to ask kids if they have seen Star Wars. For those who have I ask if they remember The Emperor- that guy definitely didn’t brush his teeth!

Next we read Maisy, Charley and the Wobbly Tooth by Lucy Cousins.Lucy Cousins’ books always work really great in storytime. I think it’s because the kids can really identify with Maisy Mouse and her friends. I wanted to include a book that mentioned dentists, just to reaffirm that dentists aren’t bad or scary.

We closed with Snip Snap! What’s That? by Mara Bergman, illustrations by Nick Maland.For our closer, I took a different turn with the teeth theme. I love reading this book aloud. It can be a bit scary, but it doesn’t have to be if its framed the right way. I sort of used Mrs. Watson as a way to prep and see how scared this group got. Not to worry, these were some brave kids- just like the ones in the story.

For the craft this week, we made super teeth paper bag puppets.

The craft can be found here: http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/smiles/pdf/puppet.pdf

I found some fingerplays that were to the tune of other songs. Interestingly, the kids didn’t really enjoy them so much. They kept asking if we could sing “the real one.” Something to remember for the future.

Mice are nice

I had some difficulty deciding on today’s theme. For some reason, I felt drained out of new and fun ideas. Finally, I decided on a mouse theme. I realized quickly that this was a great choice because there are SO MANY books with mice in them.

This beautiful Caldecott Honor book was a great way to start out storytime this week. There is a mysterious element to this story and the children really loved that.

The next book we read was one of my favorites from childhood, Whose Mouse are You? written by Robert Kraus illustrations by Jose Aruego.
I think I love this book so much because I can remember it being on of the first books I read on my own. We had fun talking about Aruego’s pictures- especially one of lots of cheese.
Next we read Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley.
This is a delightful book about a mouse who helps himself to a few snacks and makes a huge mess. He then blames the owners of the house for being so messy which the children found hilarious. This book has great rhyming text which makes it fun to read and listen to.

Finally we finished today with The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood.
I love reading this book because the children always think it is going to be scary, but it’s not. It is actually a very sweet, funny story. It is always a crowd pleaser, the children always enjoy hearing this story and get a kick out of the illustrations of the little mouse.

For our craft we made another paper bag puppet, but this time it was a mouse!
Everyone enjoyed making this craft however I think it might have been a bit complex for a lot of the children. It required a lot of gluing which can be tough for little hands.
Here is the link for this craft: http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/paper_bag_mouse_puppet.htm

Let’s go to the zoo!

We had so much fun during last week’s storytime when we went to the farm, so this week we took a trip to the zoo! I love zoo/jungle themes because there is an endless amount of books that fit this them and the crafts are always really fun.

We started with the book Beautiful Bananas by Elizabeth Laird illustrated by Liz Pichon.

This is a very sweet story about a girl who is trying to take her grandfather a gift of bananas but the animals of the jungle keep messing up her plans. I enjoy reading this book in storytime because it is fun for the kids to discuss the animals however it is a bit long so I usually start with it when their attention spans are at their longest.

Next we read Sam Who Never Forgets by Eve Rice.

The kids liked this book a lot, more than I expected. I think it is because of the elephant that is featured in the story, they all seem to really like elephants. This book lead a to a nice discussion about zoo keepers and what they do.
After that we read Whose Nose and Toes by John Butler.This book is awesome! I love, love, love reading it in storytime. The children always have a great time guessing which animal each set of nose and toes belong to. This sort of thing never gets old in storytime.

The final book we read was The Giraffe Who Cock-A-Doodle-Doo’d by Keith Faulkner illustrated by Jonathan Lambert.

This book is a great way to end. It is lots of fun and as an added bonus is a pop-up book.

For our craft this week we made paper bag puppets. We have a lot of paper bags in our craft closet so I decided to use them to create fun puppets.I am not sure if there is anything cuter than a 3 year old running around making his paper bag puppet lion roar at other paper bag puppets.
Here is a link to the template for this craft:
http://abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crafts/paper_bag_puppets/