Dinosaurs BIG, Dinosaurs small

Who doesn't like a giant lizard?
Today was all about that big extinct beast, the dinosaur.

Here are the books we shared :





















I love this silly take on "Baby Bumblebee" -- such a fun little number.

I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur,
Won't my mommy fall right through the floor?
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur ...
Ouch! He bit me!

I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur,
Feeding him will make my mommy poor,
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur ...
Hey, where did all the dog food go?

I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur,
My mommy says, "Don't bring home anymore!!"
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur ...
Um, Mom? Where are you going with all your suitcases?

These dinosaur flannel pieces (courtesy of Piper Loves the Library) are absolute perfection for any storytime, for children of all ages :

One little dino went out to play
On a bright and sunny day,
She had such ENORMOUS fun
That she called for another dinosaur to come
"oh ... DI-NO-SAUR!!!!"
tromp, tromp, tromp
Two little dinos went out to play ...







For those of you who were unable to receive an activity sheet today, here is a copy of what I handed out -- please only use at home for personal use.

 

Cows in the Meadow, Moo! Moo! Moo!

Moooooo ....
It's a bovine celebration at storytime today!

Among the books we shared today are two of my absolute favorites -- Jackie French's Too Many Pears falls in my "perfect for storytime" category -- fantastic double-page illustrations, humor, a touch of the exotic (womat! Australia!) and a story that both toddlers and preschoolers can appreciate, as long as it is read during the front-end of storytime. It was my lead-off book for today.

David LaRochelle and Mike Wohnoutka collaborated to publish Moo!, a book that is a little gem and works extremely well in supporting the "Read Together" aspect of the ECRR2 curriculum. Additionally, they are from my area and all-around good guys, so you can't go wrong with this book. I love it.

Rounded out the selection with classics from Denise Fleming and Nancy Tafuri, both grand dames of the children's picture book publishing world.

There was a bit of discussion several weeks ago on Storytime Underground about which flannel sets were the most basic and important to have in your collection. Prompted by this, I decided to update my "farm animals" flannel (which can be used for a myriad of stories) to use at this storytime.

I adapted the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" text to "Brown Cow, Brown Cow" -- since I ran out of traditional colors, I ended with a purple chicken which, naturally, everyone thought was very silly ... unless, of course, there is a purple marshmallow chicken in your Easter basket. I had all the animals end in the red barn at the end :

Versatility!
I'm sure I'll be using this set again at both my Family and Baby storytimes.



Along those same lines, I adapted the book Lunch! by Denise Fleming to involve a cow rather than a mouse -- why not??  In some ways, it was a lot more humorous because I used my Folkmanis cow puppet which has a large mouth and each food item was able to be "eaten" by the cow.