It's (finally) SUMMER!

After what seemed like the coldest, longest winter in Minnesota, we were finally able to celebrate SUMMER at storytime today!

Here were our book selections for the day :

 

In preparation for outdoor summer eating, our fingerplay for today was "Five Little Hot Dogs" ... with a bit of a twist at the end :

 

Five little hot dots

Frying in the pan

(five fingers of R hand rest in palm of L hand)

The pan got hot (pssss!)

And one went ... BAM!

(clap hands together)

 

Four little hot dogs ...

Three little hot dogs ...

Two little hot dogs ...

 

One little hot dog

Frying in the pan

The pan got hot

And one went .....

"Please put me in a bun, put ketchup and mustard on me,

and EAT ME UP! yummm ..."

 

The story "Red Chalk" by Iris van der Heide was shared courtesy of Book Props, Inc.

I find this book to be a bit jarring, so I took some liberties with the text to soften the message. The toys go round the circle, trading hands, but at the very end, all the kids come together to play a game of hopscotch -- something they can all share.

Here is a link to the Book Props page : http://www.bookprops.com/www.bookprops.com/Prop_for_The_Red_Chalk.html

Summer means ice cream ... and ice cream means this flannel song!

"Ice Cream Man"

Ice cream man,

Do you know?

I love chocolate ice cream so,

Find some, find some if you can!

Thank you, ice cream man!

 

I especially love putting the cherry on the top of the ice cream cone at the end.

 

If you would like to create this song at home, here is the handout we had at storytime today!

Cut out the pieces, color them in any flavor you like and SING TOGETHER to create your very own topsy-turvy ice cream cone!

Please use only for at-home, personal use

 

 

 

 

Tremendous Trains

All aboard?
Whooo-hoooooooo!!!!!!
It's time for a TRAIN storytime!

Storytime was introduced today with a demo of a wooden train whistle. The train whistle I have is from Lionel and can be purchased here for the low, low price of $3.99. If you have a true train afficionado in your household, you may want to consider this for the next birthday gift.

Then we climbed aboard and shared these stories :

This chant is something I've known since I was about five years old -- we used it when I was a child to count off for who was "it" in tag. Can also be used as a nice train chant and tied in great with the text of "I'm Fast!" which involved, what else? a race to Chicago!

Engine, engine, number nine
Going down Chicago line,
If the train should leave its track,
Do you want your money back?
Yes ... (nod head)
No ... (shake head)
Maybe so ... ("so-so" hand sign)

For our flannel today, I used the pieces from my longer "Freight Train" flannel to accompany this text (thanks to Storytime Katie for the fab idea!) :

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack,
Here comes a train on the railroad track!
Clickety-clunn, clickety-clunn,
Here comes the engine -- that's number ONE!
Clickety-clew, clickety-clew,
Here comes the coal car -- that's number TWO!
Clickety-clee, clickety-clee,
Here comes the box car -- that's number THREE!
Clickety-clore, clickety-clore,
Here comes the tank car -- that's number FOUR!
Clickety-clive, clickety-clive,
Here comes the cattle car -- that's number FIVE!
Clickety-clicks, clickety-clicks,
Here comes the caboose -- that's number SIX!
Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, there GOES the train on the railroad track ...
Chooo - chooooo .... goodbye!

My handout today was intended to help with "Read Together!" at home.
Courtesy of Making Learning Fun, this is a cool activity to take home and work on together.
Simply color in each train image, cut on the long edge, tape the ends together, and fold accordian style to form a book.
(this image is intended for at-home use only)