Tag: storytime

For the Birds!

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Our last Milk and Cookies Storytime at Panera was all about birds… including turkeys. Now that Halloween is over, we might as well start getting excited about Thanksgiving 🙂

Our next Panera storytime won’t be until around Valentine’s Day… but we do have a pajama storytime (Family Reading Night) over at the Dundee Library Thursday, November 15 at 7 pm. The theme will be “Once upon a Time” (fairy and folk tales). Come one, come all. No registration necessary.

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: The Big Woods Orchestra by Guido Van Genechten
Song/Fingerplay: Hand Up High
Song/Fingerplay: Blackbirds
Read-aloud #2: Wow! said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
*Flannel: Mr. Turkey’s Feathers
**Song: A Turkey is a Funny Bird
Read-aloud #3: Hungry Hen by Richard Waring
Fingerplay: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Fingerplay: Five Fat Sausages
Read-aloud #4: The Little Red Hen retold by Heather Forest
**Fingerplay: Ten Fat Turkeys
Fingerplay: Mr. Turkey Went Out One Day
Read-aloud #5: Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Mr. Turkey’s Feathers
(Make a flannel of a turkey sans feathers. Also make red, blue, green, orange, yellow, purple, black, white and brown feather pieces to add to the turkey as the rhyme progresses.)
Mr. Turkey was so sad,
He lost the feathers he once had.
Now he wants us to help him find
All the feathers of his kind.
We will look both high and low,
We will find them, don’t you know.
Here’s a RED one and a BLUE,
Look, we’ve found a GREEN one, too.
Here’s an ORANGE one and a YELLOW,
Soon he’ll be a feathered fellow.
Now we’ve found the PURPLE one,
BLACK and WHITE, we’re almost done.
If we just look up and down.
I know we’ll find the feather BROWN.
Now Mr. Turkey is so glad,
For we have found the feathers he once had!

**A Turkey is a Funny Bird
The turkey is a funny bird,
His head goes wobble, wobble.
All he know is just one word,
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

***Ten Fat Turkeys
Ten fat turkeys standing in a row
(hold up ten fingers)
They spread their feathers and tails like so
(spread fingers)
They strut to the left
They strut to the right
(move fingers left and right)
They Gobble, gobble, gobble
in the bright sunlight!

Trick or Treat!

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We had a very fun Halloween storytime over at Panera today.

Next week will be our last Milk and Cookies storytime at Panera until FEBRUARY! 🙁 I do have a pajama storytime coming up Thursday, November 15 at 7 pm at the Dundee Library, though. 🙂

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo OR Pumpkin Heads! by Wendell Minor
Fingerplay: Once there was a Pumpkin
Flannel Rhyme: 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate
Read-aloud #2: We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House by Mr. Krieb
Song (with ghost flannel pieces): “The Ghosts Go Gliding” (to the tune of “Ants Go Marching, see Cobb’s I’m a Little Teapot book)
Read-aloud #3: Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood
Fingerplay: Scary Eyes
Read-aloud #4: Brooms are for Flying by Michael Rex
*Fingerplay: Three Little Witches
Read-aloud #5: What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen? (flap book) by Nick Sharratt OR The Thirteen Hours of Halloween by Dian Curtis Regan
Song/Fingerplay: Fun with Hands

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Three Little Witches
(Three fingers fly and glide.)
One little, two little, three little witches,
Fly over haystacks, fly over ditches,
Slide round the moon without any hitches,
Heigh, Ho, Halloween’s here!
(from Cobb’s I’m a Little Teapot book)

Monsters don’t scare me!

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As Halloween approaches, I find it fun to do a monster storytime 🙂

Next week, we’ll be reading Halloween stories at Panera. Registration starts tomorrow!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1 (Pop-up): Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski
*Song/Fingerplay: 10 Little Monsters
Read-aloud #2: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
Puppet Story: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (Puppet available here.)
Read-aloud #3: Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
**Fingerplay: Scary Eyes
Read-aloud #4: If You’re a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca Emberley
***Action Rhyme: If I Were a Monster
Read-aloud #5: Halloween Sky Ride by Elizabeth Spurr
Song/Fingerplay: Itsy Bitsy Spider

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Ten Little Monsters
(Tune: “Ten Little Indians”)

One little, two little,
Three little monsters
Four little, five little,
Six little monsters
Seven little, eight little,
Nine little monsters
Ten of them can’t scare me!

Ten little, nine little,
Eight little monsters
Seven little, six little,
Five little monsters,
Four little, three little,
Two little monsters,
One of them can’t scare me!

None of them can scare me!

**Scary Eyes
See my big and scary eyes? (Form circles around eyes with fingers.)
Get ready for a big surprise. (Cover face with hands.)
Boo! (Uncover face peek-a-boo style.)

***If I Were a Monster
If I were a happy monster, I’d go HA HA HA
If I were a sad monster, I’d go BOO HOO HOO
If I were an angry monster, I’d go STOMP STOMP STOMP
If I were a scared monster, I’d go AAAH! AAAH! AAAH!
But I’m not a monster! I’m (Miss Jennifer), so I’ll READ READ READ

Go Bears!

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A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of my storytime kids were wearing Chicago Bears shirts… so I felt inspired to do a beary storytime 🙂 I also wanted to include a new book I LOVE: Goldilocks and Just One Bear (a funny twist on the classic tale where a BEAR is lost and crashes a HUMAN home)!

Next Panera storytime is NEXT WEEK. Registration starts tomorrow!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Thank You Bear by Greg Foley
Flannel: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. (Templates available here.)
Fingerplay: 10 Little Fingers
Read-aloud #2: The Three Bears by Byron Barton
Read-aloud #3: Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson (Although I LOVE this book as-is, I did end up modifying/shortening it slightly for my group)
Song/Fingerplay: Ten in the Bed
Read-aloud #4 (Big Book): Sleepy Bear by Lydia Dabcovich
*Song/Fingerplay: The Beehive
**Song/Fingerplay: Autumn Leaves
Read-aloud #5: Just Like Bossy Bear by David Horvath

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*The Beehive
Here is a beehive
(Make a fist.)
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees.
Watch as they come out of their hive—
One, two, three, four, five,
(Extend fingers one at a time.)
They’re alive! Buzzzzzz!
(Wiggle your fingers.)

**Autumn Leaves
(Tune: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”)
Autumn leaves are falling down, (Flutter fingers down)
Falling down, falling down.
Autumn leaves are falling down,
Falling on the ground.

Autumn leaves are whirling round, (Twirl in a circle)
Whirling round, whirling round.
Autumn leaves are whirling round,
All over town.

Bark!

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Dog storytimes are always popular…

(P.S. No Milk and Cookies storytime next week. Next Panera storytime is 10/15. Be sure to register!)

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (Also: use swallowing “dog” puppet with various animal finger puppets inside)
Song (with finger puppets): Old MacDonald
Read-aloud #2: Oh No, George by Chris Haughton
Fingerplay: 10 Little Doggies
Read-aloud #3: See Me Run by Paul Meisel
Song/Fingerplay: Fun with Hands
Read-aloud #4 (Big Book): Where is Spot? by Eric Hill
Song/Fingerplay: Hands Up High
Song/Fingerplay: Where is Thumbkin?
Read-aloud #5: Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

So Many Ways to Say Hello

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I had an awesome outreach visit last week. I helped out the Literacy Connection by presenting a storytime during one of their family literacy classes held at a local elementary school. Most of the adults are only just learning English… and the kids are still learning, too. So, it was a little bit of a challenge… but they wanted me to present in English to help immerse these families in the language. This group was one of my most active groups ever… EVERYONE (adults, too!) got into it! (The kids ranged from preschool to grade 4.) I am looking forward to future family literacy storytimes.

This “hello” theme was very appropriate for this “first day” of ESL… We even learned how to say “hello” in a bunch of different languages!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (Also: use swallowing “dog” puppet with various animal finger puppets inside)
Song (with finger puppets): Old MacDonald
Read-aloud #2: excerpts from Hello World!:Greetings in 42 Languages around the Globe! by Manya Stojic
Read-aloud #3:Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora
Song/Fingerplay: Hands Up High
Song/Fingerplay: Where is Thumbkin?
Read-aloud #4: Hello, Hello! by Miriam Schlein (how animals say hello!)
Flannel: Hi, Harry! by Martin Waddell
Read-aloud #5: Say Hello by Jack and Michael Foreman
Fingerplay: Fun with Hands

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

Don’t Let the Pigeon Eat All the Food!

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I had a very fun Mo Willems Pigeon mini-storytime (less than 20 minutes) yesterday at Gail Borden. I’ve always wanted to do an all-Pigeon storytime… and I finally did it! Though, I admit, I probably won’t do it again… Pigeon stories are very active and intense (even if very fun!)! I was pooped afterwards. I guess I need Pigeon in smaller doses:) I had a wonderful time being a volunteer “Story Chef” over at Gail Borden this year… Reading was sooooo delicious.

I’m back on “storytime break” until the last week of September… but I’ll likely post on the blog before then. Happy storytiming, friends!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Song (with flannel pieces): The Animals on the Bus
Read-aloud #2: The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems
*Fingerplay: Mr. Pigeon and Mr. Duckling
Read-aloud #3: The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Mr. Pigeon and Mr. Duckling
(I modified this from “Mr. Turkey Went Out One Day”)
Mr. Pigeon went out one day
(Hold up one hand)
In bright sunshiny weather
He met Mr. Duckling along the way
(Hold up other hand)
They stopped to talk together
(Hold up both hands, Have hands “talk” to each other)
Coo, Coo, Coo
Quack, quack, quack
Coo, Coo, Coo
Quack, quack, quack
And then they both went back
(hands behind back) Quack!

MMMilk and Cookies!

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Today was our final Milk and Cookies storytime for the summer. I thought it only appropriate that I tell a “batch” of cookie stories 🙂 I was especially happy to finally be able to read Karma Wilson’s The Cow Loves Cookies at storytime… it was a hit!

We will be having more storytimes at Panera in the fall. Dates will be posted on the Library website soon!

In the mean time, I will repeat this storytime over at the Gail Borden Library tomorrow at 10:15 am in the Youth Services patio area. No registration required! Next week, I’ll be repeating my Let’s Cook Up Some Fun storytime same time, same place.

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
Song (with finger puppets): The Animals on the Bus
Read-aloud #2: Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont
*Fingerplay: Mix the Batter
Flannel: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw (flannel pieces here)
Fingerplay: Open, Shut Them
Read-aloud #3 (Big Book): If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
**Fingerplay: The Quiet Mouse
Fingerplay: Fun with Hands
Read-aloud #4 (Story Cards): The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Mix the Batter
Mix the batter, stir the batter,
(curve one arm to make a bowl; pretend to stir with other hand)
Shake some flour in.
(stirring hand shakes over “bowl” arm)
Mix the batter, stir the batter,
(repeat first movement)
Pour it in a tin.
(hold up bowl in two hands; tip)
Then sprinkle little raisins on
(make sprinkling motion with one hand)
Put batter in to bake.
(Two hands out as if holding cake pan)
Open up the over door.
(opening motion with one hand)
Out comes a delicious cake!
(Two hands out as if holding cake pan; lift pan to nose and take deep sniff!)

**The Quiet Mouse
Once there lived a quiet mouse
(Hold out fist with index finger extended)
In a quiet little house.
(Insert index finger into other fist)
When all was quiet as can be,
Out Popped He!!
(Throw arms and hands apart)

Fun and Fruity!

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The food stories keep on being served… and the kids keep gobbling them up! This week, we read fruit stories. Again, “seconds” will be served tomorrow at Gail Borden at 10:15 am in the Youth Services patio area. No registration required!

I’ll be back at both Panera (registration only, last session for the summer) and Gail Borden next week!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1 (Big Book): Jamberry by Bruce Degen
*Flannel: Fruit Faces
Read-aloud #2 (Big Book): The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
Fingerplay: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Read-aloud #3: A New House for Mouse by Peter Horacek
**Flannel: Five Little Apples
Storytelling Activity: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (using story props)
Song/Fingerplay: Hands Up High
(May use One Little Blueberry by Tammi J. Salzano tomorrow)

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Fruit Faces
(Used homemade fruit flannels with corresponding faces… also had the children make the different faces with me)
Here is an “apple” who’s happy!
Here is an “orange” who sighs!
Here is a “banana” who’s sleepy!
Here is a “pineapple” who cries!
Here is a “pear” who’s angry!!
Here is a “lemon” who’s sad!
Here is a “strawberry” who’s noisy!!
Here is a “watermelon” who’s glad!

**Five Little Apples
(Chanted to Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile)
Five little apples hanging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Slinky Worm “you can’t eat me”,
Along comes Mr. Slinky Worm quiet as can be…
and…CRUNCH!
(Chant with 4,3,2,1)
(Used tree flannel, 5 apple flannels and a worm finger puppet)

Eat Your Veggies!

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Another “Reading is sooooo delicious” storytime at Panera! This week, we had some tasty vegetable stories. “Seconds” will be served tomorrow at Gail Borden at 10:15 am in the Youth Services patio area. No registration required!

I’ll be back at both Panera and Gail Borden next week, too… so come on over and feast on some fine stories 🙂

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
Song: Little Bunny Foo Foo (with finger puppets)
Read-aloud #2 (Big Book): The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Flannel: The Enormous Turnip
Read-aloud #3: Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
*Fingerplay: Five Fat Pods
Read-aloud #4: Mrs. Fickle’s Pickles by Lori Ann Ries
Song: Fun with Hands

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

* Five Fat Pods
Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed (hold hand in a fist)
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest (put thumb and fingers up one by one)
They grew and grew (raise hands in the air very slowly)
And they grew and they grew
They grew so fat
That the pea-pod POPPED! (clap)