Make-and-Take : Sheep!

We all hopped on the sheep ba-a-a-a-andwagon today and celebrated those white, wooly creatures. At the end of storytime, everyone was able to take home their own "little lamb-on-a-stick" made from their very own handprint and oodles of cotton balls.

Books we read included :
Sheep in a Jeep (one of the fabulous books by Nancy Shaw starring some very silly sheep)
One Little Lamb by Greenstein
Digby Takes Charge by Church

I got to use the FABULOUS sheep (or rather mutton) puppet that I won at an early literacy event earlier this year.







We shared a flannel story about how (and why!) sheep lose their wool to the farmer's shears in this rhyme borrowed from storytime katie (thank you!) - this is sung to the tune of "Five Green & Speckled Frogs" :

Five white and wooly sheep
In the pasture fast asleep
Their wool kept them cozy all night long
(snore, snore ...)
The farmer slipped away with one
And sheared the wool til it was gone,
Now there are four white, wooly sheep!
(baa! baa!)

Family Storytime - Shaggy Waggy Dogs

Today at storytime we had a guest visitor - therapy dog, Charlie!

We thank Charlie and his owner/handler, Diana, for bringing some doggy joy into our weekly storytime.

There are so many good picture books about dogs that it was hard to select the best and brightest, but here is what we read today :

Shaggy dogs, waggy dogs by Hubbell

Rrrralph by Ehlert
Ivan the terrier by Catalanotto
A dog is a dog by Shaskan

We shared the book prop for Rose Robart's The Cake that Mack Ate


Everyone participated in much tail-wagging during the doggy-version of "If you're happy and you know it ... wag your tail". Lots of barking and tail-chasing took place.

Here is a simple fingerplay that was shared :
     10 little doggies went out one day
     To dig in the yard and play, play, play
     10 were spotted
     And 10 were not,
     And at dinnertime they ate a lot!

And no storytime on dogs would be complete without a rousing sing-along of "B-I-N-G-O"! We did this using flannel letters and pawprints.

Flannel Friday

First post ever!

Here is a flannel made several years ago for the book "Blue Sea" by Robert Kalan, ill. Donald Crews.

 

This is a great story that can be used not only to illustrate color and size but to show kids how sometimes the big and mighty lose and the small are able to escape unharmed and live to swim the blue sea another day! Takes a bit of practice to smoothly pass the fish through their respective holes, but if you have a big blue background it makes a fantastic impression.

Baby Storytime

Farmyard Animals Galore!

Books We Read :
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Noisy Farm by Jane Burton

Flannel Story :
Many parents own a copy of Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider

but this book is actually a bit too long for most babies and young toddlers. One way to abbreviate this book is to tell it as a story rather than reading verbatim from the pages of the book. We did this today at storytime. No need to use all the farm animals -- just make sure you get to the owl at the end!

Family Storytime - Spring!

Despite the 40-ish weather we had this morning, spring was in the air at storytime!

Books we read :

Hurray for Spring! by Patricia Hubbell

Spring is Here by Will Hillenbrand

Five Little Chicks by Nancy Tafuri

Book Props Shared :

What's This? by Caroline Mockford

The Most Wonderful Egg in the World by Helme Heine (here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4RXnZqBTQk to a video version of the book)

Flannel Story/Song :

Five Little Eggs

(tune = Five Brown Teddies)

Five springs eggs, sitting in the hay

Five spring eggs, sitting in the hay,

And if one spring egg should fall and roll away ....

There'll be four spring eggs, sitting in the hay

&etc

last time :

One spring egg, sitting in the hay

One spring egg, sitting in the hay

And if that spring egg should stay just one mroe day ...

(CRACK!!!)

There'll be one spring CHICKEN sitting in the hay!

Baby Storytime

Five Little Mice went out one day,
Gathering crumbs along the way,
Out came kitty-cat sleek and fat ...
And four little mice went scampering back!

Four little mice ...
Three little mice ...
Two little mice ...
One little mouse ...


Last time:
Sad Mother Mouse went out one day
She found kitty-cat asleep in the hay,
She shook that cat with all of her might ...
And all her mice came back into the light!

(this fingerplay can be done with fingers of one hand for mice and other hand for the cat -- make the sign for a cat by indicating whiskers against the cheek. When mamma mouse rescues her baby mice, shake hands together for a dramatic finish!)

Tamarack Nature Center

We had a visit from the Tamarack Nature Center at Family Storytime this week. They brought a beautiful little Saw Whet Owl, a bird native to Minnesota. He was a teeny little guy but sure made an impression on those attending!

The visiting naturalist read Martin Waddell's Owl Babies and shared fun facts about owls with lots of show and tell artifacts.

Here is a fun fingerplay that was shared for all :

There's a wide-eyed owl (circle eyes with fingers)

With a pointed nose (make a beak with your fingers)

Two pointed ears (make ears with your hands)

And claws for toes (wiggle your "claws")

He lives way up in the tree (point up)

And when he looks at you (point out)

He flaps his wings (flap your arms)

And says "whoo! whoo!"