Duck Storytime

Ducks and ducklings is always a fun storytime!  I used a few new books (to me) but stuck with old favorites for the songs!

Books

Just a Duck?

Carin Bramsen

Come Along, Daisy!

Jane Simmons

Duckie's Ducklings:  A One-to-Ten Counting Book

by Frances Barry

Songs/Flannel Board

Five Little Ducks

5 little ducks went out to play

Over the hills and far away

When Mother Duck said

"Quack, quack, quack, quack"

4 little ducks came waddling back.

Continue counting down through zero

But when the Daddy Duck said,

"QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!"

5 little ducks came waddling back!

Hop, Hop, Stop!

Hop, hop, stop!

Hop, hop, stop!

Run a little,

Run a little

Sit down, Plop!

I have a Little Duck

(tune: Wheels on the Bus)

I have a little duck that goes

"Quack, quack, quack

Quack, quack, quack

Quack, quack, quack

I have a little duck that goes

"Quack, quack, quack!"

All day long.

Additional verse:

Waddle

Swim

Bob up and down

Quack

My Hands

My hands upon my head I'll place

Upon my shoulders, on my face

At my waist and by my side

And then behind me they will hide.

I will raise them way up high

And let my fingers fly, fly, fly

Then clap, clap, clap

And 1, 2, 3

Let's sit down quietly.

Play and Learn

Water table with hard plastic ducks

Ducks numbered 1-5 give them the right number of buttons

Coloring page

Train

Puppets

Farm Magnets

Baby Storytime--Books with Flaps!

Our last week of our theme of "Books with Flaps" with probably the largest crowd of babies I've ever had!

Song/Rhymes/Bounces
Clap, Clap, Clap
Hello Song (because we had such a large group the adults introduced their babies and we sang one verse of Hello Friends)
Little Bear
I Have a Little Duck
Tiny Little Babies
The Rain is Falling Down
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Jack and Jill
Pease Porridge Hot
Acka Backa Soda Cracker
Hug, Hug, Hug

Read Aloud

Where's Spot?

by Eric Hill

Shared Reading

We had such a huge crowd today that I didn't have enough books to do shared reading...but here are a few I had pulled.

Whose Toes are Those?

by Sally Symes; illustrated by Nick Sharratt

Can You Say? Woof! Woof!

by Sebastien Braun

Play and Learn

Frog Preschool Storytime

I was just in the mood for frogs today! :)

Books

Little Quack's New Friend

by Lauren Thompson; illustrated by Derek Anderson

I Don't Want to be a Frog!

by Dev Petty; illustrated by Mike Doldt

Songs

I Have a Little Frog
tune:  The Wheels on the Bus

I have a little frog that goes
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit
I have a little frog that goes
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit
All day long!

Additional verses:

Jumps
Splash
Sleep
Jump!

My Hands

My hands upon my head I'll place
Upon my shoulders
On my face
At my waist
And by my side
Then behind me they will hide
Then I will raise them way up high
And let my fingers fly, fly, fly
Then clap, clap, clap
And 1, 2, 3
Let's sit down, quietly.

Magnet Board Activity

Little Frog, Little Frog
Come out and play!
What color log are you behind today?

Play and Learn

Paper plate frog

Lily Pad Jump

Pom-pom Count

Frog Food Matching Game

Blocks

Wooden Beads

Puzzles

Baby Storytime with Lift the Flap Books

Another storytime featuring books with lift-the-flap!

Songs/Bounces/Rhymes

Clap, Clap, Clap
Hello Song
Little Bear
I Have a Little Duck
Tiny Little Babies
Three Little Monkeys
I'm a Little Teapot
Humpty Dumpty
Pease Porridge Hot
Acka Backa Soda Cracker

Alabama, Mississippi (with parachute)

Read Aloud

Good Night Like This

by Mary Murphy

The babies were very wiggly and active so we just did a few pages of this book.

Shared Reading

A variety of board books that have lift the flaps including:

Peekaboo

by Giuliano Ferri

Guess Who?

by Guido Van Genechten

Play and Learn

We started our play and learn using the parachute to Jim Gill's Alabama, Mississippi

We had a fairly large group today.  One little guy was having a hard day and had to leave early.  Two kiddos switched moms during the shared reading and parachute.  Such a fun group today!

New Storytime Resource Books

An internal blog post

Have you seen theses two new storytime resource books?

Time for a Story: Sharing Books with Infants and Toddlers by Amy Read and Saroj Ghoting

Supercharged Storytimes: An Early Literacy Planning and Assessment Guide by Kathleen Campana, J. Elizabeth Mills, and Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting

I love how both of these resources address background information and research about early learning and how storytimes at the library can really address the skills children need to develop.  Such terms as phonological awareness, print motivation, alphabetic knowledge, and vocabulary are used to teach us, the storytime presenters, what skills we can strive to develop during storytimes.  However, both of these books also address Every Child Ready to Read’s five practices:  Singing, Talking, Reading, Playing and Writing which are easy for storytime presenters to explain to parents and caregivers. 

I love how the skills and the practices are two sides of the same coin.  As storytime presenters we need to understand both sides of the coin; however, when we talk to parents and caregivers about things they can do at home with their children we just have to talk about the five practices and how they support early learning.  Singing, Talking, Writing, Playing and Writing are vehicles that lead to skills identified through VIEWS 2:  communication, language use, comprehension, print concepts, alphabetic knowledge, and writing concepts in addition to the six skills from ECRR1: phonological awareness, vocabulary, print motivation, narrative skills, print awareness, letter knowledge.

Although the majority of Time for a Story discusses specifics about doing storytime with infants and toddlers, there is a great table near the back of the book that would be beneficial for all storytime presenters to look at:  Story-Time Ideas and Book Sharing for Each Component starting on page 112.  The chart lists the skill and its description, ideas for how to use it at storytime, book characteristics that support the skill, and tips about sharing the book.  There are also sample parent tips starting on page 133.

Chapters 2-6 in Supercharged Storytimes highlights one of the five practices and takes us through what a storytime would look like for children ages birth-18 months, 18 to 36 months, and 36 to 60 months, highlighting the skills through each of the practices.

If you haven’t had a chance to look through these new resources I would encourage you to do so! 

Bugs Toddler Storytime

I don't often get to do Toddler storytime, so it was a little challenging for me to select books that would be age appropriate.  The books ended up being good, but the spider song and caterpillar craft didn't go over too well with the toddlers.

Books

Sleepyhead Bear

by Lisa Westberg Peters; illustrated by Ian Schoenherr

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by Eric Carle

Songs/Rhymes

Clap, Clap, Clap

Take your little hands and go clap, clap, clap
Clap, clap, clap
Clap, clap, clap
Take your little hands and go clap, clap, clap
Give a little clap!

Take your little toes and go tap, tap, tap
Tap, tap, tap
Tap, tap, tap
Take your little toes and go tap, tap, tap
Give a little tap!

Take your little feet and give a jump
Give a jump
Give a jump
Take your little feet and give a a jump
Give a little jump!

Ladybug Has One Black Spot 
magnet board

Ladybug has 1 black spot
1 black spot
1 black spot
Ladybug has 1 black spot
Pretty Ladybug!

Continue adding one spot, counting and singing.  End with either 4 or 6 black spots.

There's a Spider on the Floor
with die cut spider for each child

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

There's a spider on my knee...how could it be?
There's a spider on my tummy...oh, it really isn't funny!
There's a spider on my arm...it doesn't mean any harm
There's a spider on my face...oh, what a big disgrace!
There's a spider on my head...I wish I was in bed!

There's a spider on the floor.

If You're Happy and You Know It


Play and Learn

Caterpillar (die cut and pencil)

Duplos
Train
Straws and felt circles
Felt button chain
Trace the lines

Lift the Flap Baby Storytime

Today we had a smaller group--10 babies and 10 adults.  It was the perfect size!

Songs/Rhymes/Bounces

Clap, Clap, Clap
Hello Song
Little Bear
I Have a Little Duck
Tiny Little Babies
Pat-a-Cake
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
If You're Happy and You Know It
Humpty Dumpty
Acka Backa Soda Cracker
One Bright Scarf

Read Aloud

Count with Maisy, Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!

by Lucy Cousins

I didn't read all the words in this book for the babies.  Although the book is a good size, not all the pictures behind the flaps are large enough for babies to see from a distance.  We made animal noises for all the animals, not just the chicks.

Shared Reading

Roar, Roar, Baby!

by Karen Katz

Who Can Swim?

by Sebastien Braun

Play and Learn

Title 1 Nights @ the library

Each spring we hold a series of Title 1 nights for area schools as their final parent engagement event.  We use the summer reading theme and build a simple program around it.  Since this year's theme is "On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!" we choose to do an Olympic theme.

Some teachers bring snacks or even pizza or ice cream for the families--a good incentive for them to come!  Our most successful events were those held in the evening vs. the afternoon/after school.

Our program:

• Welcome
• Library Basics--how to get a card, how many things you can check out, read away fines, kinds of books (early readers, non-fiction, transitional, etc), and other library materials--DVDs, audio books
• Summer Reading Preview--what programs are coming up this summer and books links
• Read Aloud

Olympig!

The Triumphant Story of a Underdog

by Victoria Jamieson

• Activity--This year we played "The Best Game"  After dividing the group into 2 or more teams (depending on the size of the group) you ask the kids to send up the person on their team who is... (an ambiguous subject) such as: longest..., shortest..., brightest...

After each team has sent up their teammate you reveal the rest of it
The longest...hair
The shortest...name
The brightest...t-shirt
It takes a few rounds for the kids to catch on, but it was fun!

• Craft--We made Olympic medals using cardboard circles, aluminum foil, star stickers, and ribbon
• Book Display--a variety of books related to sports, including picture books, non-fiction, early readers, transitional books, and chapter books.

We had 10+ schools come for a Title 1 evening at the library throughout April, May, and June.