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)

Let’s Cook Up Some Fun!

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This summer, our Summer Reading theme at my library is “Reading is soooo delicious!” So, I’m cooking up some fun at storytime with food-related stories, songs and finger-plays. This week was dedicated to the “art/act” of cooking… Bon apetit!

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

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig
*Song with flannel pieces: I am a Pizza
Fingerplay: Five Fat Sausages
Read-aloud #2: Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds
Song (with finger puppets): Old MacDonald
Read-aloud #3: The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
Flannel: Stone Soup poem (template found here)
Read-aloud #4: Warthogs in the Kitchen by Pamela Duncan Edwards
**Flannel song: Aiken Drum

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

*I am a Pizza
I am a pizza, with extra cheese.
From tomatoes, sauce is squeezed.
Garlic and mushrooms, oregano.
I am a pizza, ready to go.

**Aiken Drum
There was a man lived in the moon,
lived in the moon, lived in the moon,
There was a man lived in the moon,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle,
He played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his eyes were made of gum drops…
And his nose was a banana…
And his mouth was a watermelon…
And is hair was made of green beans…
(Templates can be found in the book 52 Programs for Preschoolers: The Librarian’s Year-Round Planner by Diane Briggs.)

Coming back!

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Sorry for the lack of posting lately! Life was a little crazy for a while there… but it’s time to come back to this blog… and back to storytimes!

This summer, I will be presenting Milk and Cookies Storytimes on various Mondays (starting next week!) at the Panera on Randall in Elgin. Space is limited, so be sure to register… see the Dundee Library kid’s webpage for more information. I will also be on the patio serving as a “Story Chef” in the children’s department at Gail Borden Library some Tuesdays starting in July. (Details to be determined.)

Our summer reading theme is “Reading is soooo Delicious!”, so let’s cook up some FUN!

“Just Right” Bears

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This storytime was “just right”…

Bears Outreach Class Visit with Jennifer: October 8, 2008

OPENING:

Introduction
Opening song: Let Everyone Clap Hands with Me

PROGRAM:

Read-aloud #1: The Three Bears version by Byron Barton
Flannel: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle
Read-aloud #2: Thank You, Bear by Greg Foley
Song: Animals on the Bus
Read-aloud#3: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
Rhyme: Apples
Storytelling Activity: Bear Hunt (based on Michael Rosen’s version)
Song: Fun with Hands

CLOSING:

Good-bye!

HANDOUT:

Bear Ears Headband

Funny Bunny

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I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Bunnies Outreach Class Visit with Jennifer: June 19, 2009

PROGRAM
Rhyme: Ten Little Fingers
Rhyme: Bunny with Ears So Funny
Book: A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan
Song: Pig On Her Head (Bunny on Her Head)
Book: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
Flannel: The Enormous Turnip
Book: Hurry Up and Slow Down, L. Marlow
Song: Little Bunny Foo Foo (with finger puppets)
Book: It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler
Rhyme: Tony Chestnut

HANDOUT or CRAFT
Bunny Foo Foo Coloring Sheets

It’s raining… Dogs!

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Dogs Preschool Outreach Storytime with Jennifer: January 7, 2009

OPENING:
Intro Song: Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Song: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Bertie Was a Watchdog by Rick Walton
Flannel: Where’s Spot?
Read-aloud #2: Dog Food by Freymann and Elffers
Fingerplay: Ten Little Fingers
*Fingerplay: Ten Little Doggies
Read-aloud #3: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Flannel Song: BINGO
Read-aloud #4: Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems

CLOSING:
Song: Fun with Hands

CRAFT OR HANDOUT:
Spot Coloring Handouts

*Ten Little Doggies
Ten little doggies went out one day
(hold 10 fingers up)
To dig in the dirt and play, play, play.
(Pretend to dig like a dog with both hands)
Five were spotted, and five were not,
(Hold up one hand at a time)
and at dinner time they ate a lot!
(Pretend to eat)

March showers bring April flowers?

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This weather has been incredible! And a little strange… But, it makes me happy to be able to go on nice walks and see all of the daffodils!

Rain Open Storytime with Jennifer

OPENING:

As children are entering, blow bubbles and play “If All the Raindrops” on Barney’s Favorites
*Opening rhyme: I clap my hands…
Fingerplay: Ten Little Fingers
Fingerplay: Rain is Falling Down (from I’m a Little Teapot)

PROGRAM:

Read-aloud #1: Raindrop, Plop! by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
Song: “I Hear Thunder” (from I’m a Little Teapot)
Read-aloud #2: Rain by Manya Stojic
Rhyme: Rain, Rain, Go Away
**Flannel: Daffodils
Storytell (with animal puppets, parachute for mushroom, and rainstick/shakers/drum): Mushroom in the Rain
Rhyme (repeat): Rain is Falling Down
Song: “Silly Dance Contest” from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song

CLOSING:

Song: “Toe Knee Chestnut”
Closing song: “We Wave Good-bye”

*I Clap My Hands
Suit actions to words

I clap my hands,
I touch my feet,
I jump up from the ground.
I clap my hands,
I touch my feet,
And turn myself around.

**Daffodils (use 5 flannel daffodils)

One little daffodil had nothing much to do,
Out popped another one, then there were two.

Two little daffodils were smiling at a bee,
Out popped another one, then there were three.

Three little daffodils were growing by the door,
Out popped another one, then there were four.

Four little daffodils were glad to be alive,
Out popped another one, then there were five.

Five little daffodils were wearing gold crowns,
They danced in the breeze in green satin gowns.