Birds--Preschool Storytime

I found Peck, Peck, Peck several months ago and was excited to use it in storytime; however because of our storytime mashups and training storytime people I finally got to this theme today!

Books

A Bird is a Bird

by Lizzy Rockwell

Hooray for Birds!

by Lucy Cousins

Peck, Peck, Peck

by Lucy Cousins

Graph Question
Which bird would you like to see?
Eagle (2)
Penguin (3)
Ostrich (0)
Flamingo (3)

Song

Are You Sleeping?

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Little bird, little bird
--snore--
Wake up little bird!
Wake up little bird!
Flap, flap, flap!
Flap, flap, flap!

Additional Verses:
Penguin--waddle
Eagle--soar
Flamingo--stand on one foot
Ostrich--run
Duck--quack
Owl--whoo

Play and Learn

Hole Punches!
Peck holes just like the little woodpecker in Peck, Peck, Peck

Train
Puzzles
Flannel Pizza
Counting Cars

Stories and Meals in the Park

Last week I did our 2nd storytime in the park while the children ate their free lunches provided by the school district.  Kids' ages ranged from 4 to 11.  Not a huge group, and so of the kids who got lunch choose not to stay and listen to the books.

Here's what I read:

Count the Monkeys

by Marc Barnett; illustrated by Kevin Cornell

The Princess and the Pig

by Jonathan Emmett; illustrated by Poly Bernatene

Even Monsters Need Haircuts

by Matthew McElligott

That Is Not a Good Idea!

by Mo Willems

STEM for Baby Storytime

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for BABIES?!  Yes!  And we do more of it than you probably think!  Here are just some of the areas I came up with that deal with STEM:

Counting/Numbers
Cause and Effect
Building/Stacking/Nesting
Size (Big/small)
Shapes
Nature--animals, plants, water
Compare/Sort
Positional Words
Magnets
Sounds
Light--mirrors, colors

Read Aloud

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by Eric Carle

Sequencing, counting, colors, big/small, nature

In addition to our regular play and learn toys--highlighting how each relates to STEM (see list above)--I set up a water "table"

STEM Preschool Storytime

Our third "mash-up" storytime for the summer...featuring all things STEM!

Books

Charlotte the Scientist is Squished
by Camille Andros; illustrated by Brianne Farley

Shape Shift

by Joyce Hesselberth

Graph Question
Science and math are all around us!  What is your favorite way to learn about science and math?
Bathtub (1)
Playing outside (5)
Cooking (4)
Playing a game (1)

Songs

ABC Welcome Song

Pattern Song; adapted from Songs for Teaching

It’s pattern time! It’s pattern time! 

So move your body while I move mine

Clap your hands.  

Stomp your feet.  

Jump up; turn around, 

Do something neat.

(I used four cut out shapes--with magnets on the back--to create patterns.  Each shape was one of the four action in the song)

Animal Goodbyes

STEM Play and Learn Stations

Aluminum Foil Boat/Sink and Float

Cornstarch Quicksand

Bear Balance Set with Weight STEM Challenge Cards from Playdough to Plato

Geometric Shape Art

Blocks

Monkeys--Toddler Storytime

I subbed last minute for Toddler Storytime today.  I don't have a ton of experience with toddlers, but I think it turned out well.

Books

Kiki's Blankie

by Janie Bynum

More and More

by Emma Dodd

Spunky Little Monkey

by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson

illustrated by Brian Won

Songs/Flannels

Slow and Fast
(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Roll, roll, roll your hands

As slowly as can be

Roll, roll, roll your hands

Do it now with me.

Roll, roll, roll your hands

As fast, as fast can be

Roll, roll, roll your hands

Do it now with me.

Clap, clap, clap your hands

Stomp, stomp, stomp your feet

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

My Hands

If You're Happy and You Know It

A is for Alligator

A is for alligator, snap, snap, snap

B is for bird, flap, flap, flap

C is for circle, turn round and round and round

D is for dizzy, let's all sit down!

Our Hands Say Goodbye

Our hands say goodbye with a clap, clap, clap

Our feet say goodbye with a tap, tap, tap

Clap, clap, clap

Tap, tap, tap

We roll our hands around and say…

Let's do it again!

(2nd time) Good-bye!

Play and Learn

Bean Bags--they loved putting them in the buckets and carrying them around

Blocks

Puzzles

Monkey Coloring Page

Trail Mix and Match from Learning Resources

Storytime Training

We are in the midst of training a fairly large group of public service associates and specialist to do storytimes.  Mostly so that there are "back-ups" at all the branches in case the main storytime person can't be there.  That way we are not constantly sending people from the Valley to go out to do them, which makes it tight here.

I have been mentoring four of the newbies to storytime.  It has been a great experience to do some training, observing, and giving feedback about one of my passions--storytime and early learning!  Because each new storytime presenter needs to present an actual storytime it has been easiest on the schedule to just have the newbie "take over" my regularly scheduled storytime.  So, in other words, I haven't done many actual storytimes this summer--which is a bummer, but like I said, it's been good to help others "catch the vision" of storytime--it's so much more that just reading a few books!!  I've tried to stress the "whys" behind the "hows".

I have also observed several newbies whose mentor wasn't able to observe their storytime.

Storytime in the Park

We are trying something new this year by partner with Spokane Valley Parks and Recreations to do six storytimes in the parks.  They host daily activities at three of the area parks with a free breakfast or lunch provided by the school district.  The library will be visiting the parks twice, once in June and another time in July to read books to the kids while they eat.  Our first storytimes in the park was June 28.  Numbers for the three parks had a staggering difference in the number attending:  5, 18, 48.  I was at the park with 18 in attendance.  Here are the three books I read while the kids (ages 2-10) ate their lunch.

Troll and the Oliver

by Adam Stower

Let's Do Nothing

by Tony Fucile

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf

by Mark Teague