Apple BINGO--Inspired by Flannel Friday

I was inspired by posts I saw both at Falling Flannelboards (she includes PDF's, which I didn't notice until now, doh) and Roving Fiddlehead Kidlit to create my own version of Apple BINGO. I made mine with paper, and constructed it to work like a lift the flap book on the magnet side of my easel. It worked great!


This word says, 'apple.' A-P-P-L-E, apple. How many letters are in this word? Let's count them, 1-2-3-4-5. Five letters work together to make one word, 'apple.'  Let's sing a song about apples.

I know a fruit that's good to eat
And apple is its name-o
A-P-P-L-E
A-P-P-L-E
A-P-P-L-E and apple is its name-o

Uh oh, I'm hungry! Gobble gobble munch (open up the first flap to show the bitten apple instead of the letter).

I know a fruit that's good to eat
And apple is its name-o
*crunch*-P-P-L-E
*crunch*-P-P-L-E
*crunch*-P-P-L-E and apple is its name-o

And so on!

Inspired by Flannel Friday--Five Green and Speckled Frogs

I have been wanting to make this storytime prop for YEARS--ever since I first saw it on Mel's Desk in April 2011 (Holy moly time flies!).

I loved Mel's adorable frogs and their little log, but first I had to learn how to sing the song (that explains why it took so long).

Also, I knew that in order to use it in my family storytimes, I would have to make it bigger! Enter the mailing tube! Each frog photo is four inches wide, and it's shown sitting on the top shelf of a book cart, to give you an idea of the scale.

I added numbers for a little extra literacy punch. And yes, the waves do line up, because I'm fancy like that.

Next, I plan to steal another one of Mel's ideas, and hand out pipe-cleaner flies for the kids to wave around while we sing.

Flannel Friday--10 Little Babies

One little, two little, three little babies...

Four little, five little, six little babies...

Seven little, eight little, nine little babies...

Ten little darling babies! *kisses*

The babies are quite large; each face is four inches round. I used them in baby storytime this week, and all the babies (and adults) LOVED them. We sang the song three times, and the first time I put the babies up on the board as we sang, and then pointed to each face on the repeats.

These are HEAVILY influenced by the artwork of Karen Katz, so all credit for their adorableness goes to her!

Marching Band Storytime

 I had a special guest star at storytime recently: a Marching Band!

Warming Up Before Storytime

I contacted members of a local high school marching band, and coordinated a visit to storytime. We did it on a day where there was no school, and the teens were able to get extra credit for visiting. I had about 15 band members visit with their instruments, and it was fantastic!

The parents LOVED it. The kids ended up loving it too, but many of them were very apprehensive at the beginning of storytime. Since the marchers were warming up, the room was very noisy before storytime, and there were a lot of unfamiliar faces at the front of the room. I offset this by

• Asking my band to stop playing five minutes before storytime started so people could get settled.
• Playing one of the familiar music cds I usually play before storytime.
• Making sure that I was visible, welcoming, and reassuring as families arrived.

I did my normal opening song and our letter of the day with Fergus, then introduced the band. I had each of the teens say their name, what their instrument was called. Then the played a quick scale or rhythm to show what their instrument sounds like. Then I read Wynton Marsalis' "Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!" Each time I came to an instrument that was in the room, I paused and prompted the teen with that instrument to give us the 'real' sound. I talked about sounds a lot with the kids, specifically high and low sounds, and we practiced a lot of sounds as a group.

The trombone was particularly popular! But we did have to adjust our tape line to accommodate the reach of the trombone and make sure no littles were sitting right in the way.

Normally during storytime kids are sitting ON my tape line, lol

After that, the band played their school fight song, and "Happy and You Know It" and "ABC's" while we sang along.

Then, with the help of the drum we used our voices to make beats with the book "Tanka Tanka Skunk" by Steve Webb (a new favorite of mine).

 Then we added a new twist to our favorite storytime song of all, "The Watermelon Song" by singing it with musical accompaniment (I told the teens that if they didn't know Frere Jacques/couldn't play it they had to sing and dance with me).

And finally, we finished by reading, "Soon Baboon, Soon" by Dave Horowitz

Then I sang our closing song, we clapped for the band, and I invited kids up for hand stamps (every member of the band also lined up for hand stamps).

You may want to put up noise-level warning signs for patrons if you do this! My colleague also did a kazoo parade through the library when she did this, but that wasn't a great fit for my library (though it would have been fun).

Storytime Scarf Love

I love using scarves in storytime; they are definitely in my top three favorite ST props. I would say I probably incorporate them into storytime once or twice a month on average.

Photo Credit: FaP ;-) via Compfight cc

I'm sure to bring them out for any dancing or music themed storytime, but what I really love about them is their capacity for imaginative movement and play. I'm not too fussy about tying them to a theme (no surprise there). I've used them for:

--Butterfly theme (Flying! Changing them from 'long' skinny caterpillars into hidden fist-cocoons and transforming them to flowing butterflies).
--'Get Well storytime' and 'bathtime' theme where we pretend to wash and talk about body parts.
--I LOVE using them for a work-machine themed storytime. We read "I am a Backhoe" by Hines and "Tip Tip Dig Dig" by Garcia. Then we used the scarves to act out the motions of the different vehicles. My favorite is the dump truck, where we hold the scarf behind our heads while bending at the waist then stand up and, "Tip, tip--Let it go!" and drop the scarf down our backs behind us.

I'm usually working with a group of 50 people, so one thing I try to make sure of is that if I take all the time to pass out the scarves, that we play with them long enough to make it worthwhile! 

This is my standard "playlist" for using the scarves:
--We Sail song (listen here). The MacPhail Center for Music is local, so I love using their music for ST
--Two Little Black Birds action activity (below)
--Popcorn song (below)
--any thematic tie-in that I want to make, or just directed actions, eg: "Throw your scarves up in the air and let them fall to the ground--there they go! Can you try and catch it? Ok, make your scarf disappear into your hands. Now let's throw them one, two, THREE!"

Using scarves in storytime is pretty much limited only by your imagination!

Have you written about using scarves in storytime? Leave me a comment and I'll link to your post!

Two Little Blackbirds sitting on a hill. (Wave scarves)
One named Jack, and one named Jill
Fly away Jack (hide one behind back)
Fly away Jill (hide both)
Come back Jack, Come back Jill

Two little blackbirds sitting on a cloud
One was quiet, and the other was loud
fly away quiet, fly away loud
come back quiet, come back loud

...sitting on my hat
one was round (wave scarf in circle)
the other was flat (pull scarf taut)

...sitting on my toe
high, low (wave high, wave low)

...sitting on a stick
slow, quick (you get the idea)


Popcorn Song (tune of Frere Jacques, so sing each line twice)
Popcorn Kernels (wave scarves overhead)
In the pot (I pause and tell the kids to make their scarves 'disappear' by bunching them up in their fists)
Shake them shake them shake them (shake)
'til they POP (Toss scarves up into the air)

Sing Sing Sing!

Hi Miss Julie posted a great piece on singing in storytime today, and it's motivated me to finally, FINALLY write down my experience with singing in storytime. I've been thinking about and planning this post for, oh let's see...wow. Over a year ago. 

Stage Fright

I don't use recorded music in storytime, except when we've had a storytime that was specifically ABOUTexploring music. Because I believe there is lots of great recorded music out there, I play music before and after storytime. I rotate the CD each month. This helps me learn new songs, highlights our music collections, and sets the stage for storytime really well.

There are two main reasons I don't use recorded music DURING storytime. First, my personal storytime philosophy emphasizes modeling behavior to parents and caregivers. I want them to have NO REASON not to sing at home, and I don't want them to feel like they need a certain CD to sing at home. Second, I can't sing along with recorded music.

If you had told my 10 years ago that I would regularly and happily sing in front of people I would have literally started to cry. For years, I listed wanting to be musical as the one thing I would change about myself if I could. I couldn't even hum a few bars of a song in front of a friend without tearing up with embarrassment and wanting to hide under the bed.

I did, however, always love camp songs but could never figure out why I could happily sing those songs but nothing else. Despite a few years of piano lessons and band, I don't understand music. I don't know how to change the key, and if someone is singing differently than I am able to (pitch? key?), I don't know how to adjust. In fact right now I have a mom/nanny who sits right in front during storytime and she sings really well...and it's totally throwing me off the same way recorded music does.

I had a HUGE revelation when I realized that I wasn't a soprano. I know, that sounds dumb, but so much singing is soprano and I always tried to emulate that. Once I had that revelation I was able to understand why I could sing songs I knew very well, but nothing else. I have to know a song really well in order to be able to sing it within my range. When I'm in my range I have a fairly nice, serviceable voice--and I love singing in storytime!

I can't read music, so to learn new songs I listen to them over and over until they're in my head. Then, I sing them over and over--usually in the car--until they are second nature to me.

Now singing is one of my favorite parts about storytime, even though it doesn't come easily to me. I'm never afraid to sing with children, no matter where I am. There's such joy in holding a friend's baby and bouncing out a little tune. So much of the feedback I get from parents and caregivers is about favorite storytime songs. Just sing, you won't regret it!

Robot Storytime

One of the most common searches that brings people here is "Robot Storytime." So, by popular demand, I'm posting my robot storytime outline for your edification.

Edit: I *just* read Ame Dyckman's Boy + Bot and it's absolutely perfect for robot storytime! It would be fun to do a movement activity that had the kids doing some robot movement until the adults turned their 'off' buttons. Robot Freeze!

My favorite books are:
Hello Robots by Staake
Rolie Polie Olie by Joyce (also works for Underwear Theme)
Ribbit Rabbit by Ryan
The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot (also works for Space or Alien Theme)
The Birthday Box by Patricelli

Other books that might work for you:
Robobots by Novak
The Robot and the Bluebird by Lucas
Snowbots by Reynolds

 

We sing our opening song and jump right in with Rolie Polie Olie. I like to lead with this one because it sets the stage nicely to talk about robots. I ask them what a robot is, and we talk about machines. Some kids get REALLY excited about robots, so this is always a fun discussion. Then I tell them we're turning into robots today in storytime and we practice saying, "Hello" and "Goodbye" like robots.

This leads us nicely into our second book, Hello Robots.
After we read it, we use my Hello Robots flannel and the kids re-tell the story as I place the pieces. It's a great way to build narrative skills, and at the end we also have a discussion about the shapes and colors involved, "Which robot has a triangle body? What color is he?"

 Now it's time to get some movement going. Depending on how wiggly the group is, I would probably add one or two of our standard every-week wiggle busters like I Can Jump Jump Jump or A is for Alligator before moving on to a themed action activity that I wrote.

I Am a Robot (obviously you'll need your best robot voices and movements here)
I am a robot (march in place with 'robot arms')
I am a robot
Clank Clank (bend forward and back at waist)
Clank Clank (bend side-to-side at waist)
ZZZZZZZrt (Raise arms up while shaking them)
CRASH (Either fall, or 'lose power' or clap--my kids love anything that ends with an anticipated CLAP BANG CRASH)
(feel free to use, but please credit back--thanks!)

At this point I'd read another story. I would choose which one on the fly depending on how the group was doing. If they were antsy or skewed younger, I would read The Birthday Box by Patricelli and that would be the final book of the session. If they were older or still doing really well, I would read Ribbit Rabbit (a little shorter) or Three Little Aliens (need really good listeners for this one).

For this theme, we'll also sing a piggy-back version of "Happy and You Know It" which would obviously by "If You're a Robot and You Know It." You can easily make up your own verses, but here's what I did:

If you're a robot and you know it
Clank your coils (clap hands)
Clunk your gears (stomp feet)
Press your buttons ("Beep beep")

As far as other extension activities--basically any song or fingerplay works since all you have to do is add 'robot voice' and it's on-theme (if that's important to you).

And finally, for craft time we made robot costumes. I used brown paper bags which I prepared ahead of time. Cut straight down the middle of the back of the bag, then cut out the bottom of the bag so that the whole thing lies flat. Then cut armholes in the sides, and a half-moon out of the front for the neck. The idea is that the kids can stick their arms through and wear it--like putting a vest on backwards.

Then I put out glue, tin foil, chenille stems, markers and anything else that they might want to use to decorate their costumes.

Hope that helps!

Flannel Friday--Holiday Extravaganza!

Today I bring you felt finger puppets!

The happy trio

The naughty little elf

Rudolph

Santa

The finger puppets are made from simple shapes cut in felt, layered together and stitched. They could just as easily be glued if you're not a sewer. But if you want to try hand sewing, nothing is more forgiving or fun to work with than felt.

Here's what I do with Santa. I love this simple fingerplay, and so do kids. Especially when they don't know that I have a finger puppet on!

Here Is The Chimney
Here is the chimney(Make fist, enclose thumb)
Here is the top.(Palm of hand on top of fist)
Open the lid.(Remove hand quickly)
And out Santa will pop.(Pop up thumb)

Here's what I do with Elf. I do this song all year, it's one of my favorites and makes the kids giggle and giggle when I pop the Elf out from behind my back and look at him suspiciously before he jumps to the next verse location (My head!)

There's  a Little Elf
Sung to: "If You're Happy & You Know It"

There's a little elf that's sitting on my nose, Uh Oh!
There's a little elf that's sitting on my nose, Uh Oh!
I don’t know what to say, and then he runs away

Now there's no little elf on my nose.

There's a little elf that's sitting on my knee,
There's a little elf that's sitting on my knee.
I Don’t know what to say, and then he runs away

Now there's no little elf on my knee.

Clip art for "Call Rudolph"

Call Rudolph
Eight little reindeer pulling Santa's sled
One fell down and bumped his head.
The elves called Santa and Santa said,
"Can seven little reindeer pull my sled?"
7…6…5…4…3…2…
One little reindeer pulling Santa's sled;
He fell down and bumped his head.
The elves called Santa and Santa said,
"Call Rudolph!"

I ended up not enjoying this one when I did it before.  It was TOO LONG, and the joke at the end just really fell flat so I'll be on the lookout for other rhymes to use my Rudolph puppet.

Our round-up is hosted internationally this week, by Library Quine over in Scotland!

posted from Bloggeroid

(Inspired by) Flannel Friday--Five Creepy Monsters

A few weeks ago when I hosted the Flannel Friday roundup I fell head over heels in love with Cate's creepy monsters. I NEVER sing 'Five Little Monkeys on the Bed" in ST--I dunno why, just bored by it, I guess? But, monsters jumping on the bed?! I'll use those adorable little guys all year. I didn't even really try to branch out, Cate's monsters were sooooo cute. So my "inspired by" is more like direct imitation.



I did add a Mama Monster. And I chose different colors/decorations for my lil' creepers.





I chose different belly shapes so we will have more options for things to discuss in ST--shapes, colors, emotions.





The other way I will use them is with a, "Five Little Whatsits" type rhyme, such as this one:

Five little monsters sitting on the floor.
Five little monsters sitting on the floor
The [red] one said, "Let's knock on someone's door."
The [green] one said, "Let's act a little scary."
The [white] one said, "Why are we so hairy?"
The [blue] one said, "I hear a funny sound."
The [pink] one said, "There's no one else around."
Then "WHOOSH" went the wind and "EEK!" someone said.
So five little monsters ran under the bed.

If I used that rhyme, I would probably stick with using ordinal numbers instead of colors. I don't often use a, "Five Little Whatsits" rhyme, but when I do I like to use it to practice/introduce counting with ordinal numbers. "First, second, third, fourth, fifth!"




Check Mollie's Blog for this week's full round-up.

No Flannel Friday--Old MacDonald Had a Farm

I got this idea from the amazing puppeteers at Neenah Public Library during the 2009 WLA conference. Take a box (B&T boxes are so great since they have a flat bottom). Paint it to look like a barn door.  Don't worry, you don't even have to do that good of a job--the kids won't care.

Then cut the upper part of the door so that it opens like so:




Now when you sing Old Mac you POP the puppets through the door. "Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a...COW!!!"




Sometimes I put in a big pause and really punch the animals through. Half the kids jump, and then they laugh and laugh. I always tell them when we've seen all the animal friends in the barn, but maybe if we all sing nice and loud one of them will come back for an encore. Usually it's cow who comes back, and he moos with gusto before saying goodbye to the kids.

I use this once a month or so regardless of my theme, but sometimes I'll put in a weird animal who relates to the theme or something to surprise the kids--like at Halloween the sheep 'dressed up' as a ghost when he popped out.

So much fun and easy to do!

posted from Bloggeroid

Farm Storytime

Today was my first regular storytime since I started this blog. I can barely believe it. I did storytime over the summer, but they were kind of 'greatest hits' storytimes thrown together in a rush.  I would normally have started fall storytime a few weeks ago, but our staffing changes took up all my time. But we're back in business now!

I usually do 1-3 outreach storytimes a week, plus regular storytime Wednesdays at 10:30.  Woe betide any attempts to offer storytime at other days/times in this community!

I will be writing up a few posts on my storytime process later, but for now here's what we did this week:

Opening Song: 1,2,3, I Love the Library (lyrics I wrote to tune I learned as a child).

Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming

I read this one for three of my four sessions and it was a huge hit every time. I am trying to be better about saying the titles of the books, and I defined 'banter' for them. When we looked at the title page most of them thought the goose was a duck so we talked about geese and how they have long necks. The kids LOVED spotting the Goose on every page--more than saying the animal noises with me.

Song: Old MacDonald (with puppets and barn prop) This is one of my most popular storytime activities, and it deserves its own post--coming soon.

Action Activity: I can Jump Jump Jump. It was rainy here this week, so for the daycares and school groups we did this a few times and varied speed to really get those wiggles out (the source is here, but I've adapted it--we stomp stomp stomp and at the end do it again for show. Repeat all, then sit down slow).

Book: Stuck in the Mud by Jan Clarke or Hungry Hen by Richard Waring

 Hungry Hen was a big hit with my my school and daycare groups, but I opted out of reading it for regular storytime. The group skewed young and quiet and I didn't think they'd appreciate the twist at the end. Stuck in the Mud is fun--we all chimed in (more or less) on the refrain he/she pushed and pulled again and again.

Song: There's a Little Chicken (To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know it"). I do this song with whatever little stuffed animal or fingerpuppet fits my theme or transition best. It's a good way to build body part vocabulary. "There's a little chicken sitting on my...nose! OH NO! I don't know what to say and then he runs away. Now there's no little chicken on my nose." After each verse I have the little chicken pop out from behind my back and pretend that I'm nervous about where he'll go next, which makes the kids laugh and join in. 

Fingerplay: Here is a Cup. I learned this one from last year's Collaborative Summer Reading Program manual, and it's a new favorite.

"Here is a cup (cup hand) and here is a cup (other hand)

and here is a pot of tea (fist with index finger out for spout)

Pour a cup, and pour a cup (you got this).

And have a sip with me"

We start slow and get very fast, ending with a nice looooong drink of tea and rubbing of the belly--YUM!

Book: Clip Clop by Nicola Smee or Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have you Any Milk? by Phillis Gershator.

Flannel Story: Make a Pig. I LOVE this flannel. So much.  It's so much fun--the kids just roll with laughter.

  

Fingerplay: My Hands. The version I use is closest to this one here.

We read one more book--one of the ones I didn't choose above. For each group I decide on the fly depending on how they're reacting and what I'd like to read.  My back up books that I didn't use at all were Margaret Wise Brown's Big Red Barn and Lucy Cousin's Maisy's Morning on the Farm.

Closing Song: Storytime is Over Now (Mary had a Little Lamb).

Hand Stamps (There would be riots if I forgot this).

Craft: I printed a b&w clip art barn onto legal sized paper and there were six animals for the kids to color and glue (precut by my student worker). Easy!

Five Little Monkeys Swingin' in the Tree

One of my most used flannels this week, a super simple set for "5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree."

Simple

Cheeky Monkeys!

"Five little monkeys swinging' in the tree" (hold up five fingers, swing hand)
"Teasin' Mr. Alligator, 'Can't catch me.'" (taunting/finger pointing) (some people repeat 'Can't catch me 2x)
"When along comes Mr. Alligator, quiet as can be..." (hushed, palms together 'swimming' back and forth like a 'gator').
"And he SNAPPED that monkey right OUT of the tree!" (clap)
Then I pull one monkey off and make a spitting out noise, "Blech! that monkey tastes like________"

Repeat until monkeys are gone.

"No little monkeys swinging in the tree, old Mr. Alligator is hungry as can be!"

I totally love Mr. Alligator!

So these are very simple basic cutouts, but what makes them lively is the 3D eyes.  The eyes are pom-poms, and the mouths and pupils are drawn on with sharpies. The monkeys snouts are a little larger than a nickel, if you're curious about scale.

Pretty easy, and it makes the song a little more appealing.

Secret Weapon Song

I have a secret weapon.  It works.  I use it at Head Start, I use it with 2nd Grade, I use it with assemblies of 150 k-5th grade students.  It never fails. 

It's called the Watermelon Song. I learned it at camp, from someone who traveled to the Philippines.  It's to the tune of "Frere Jacques" (what would we do without that song?). The actions are critical to success of the song. I always introduce it as seeming very easy, but pay attention--it gets harder. We start out slowly and progress to C-R-A-Z-Y and always end with a room full of happy laughter. I'm famous for it in these parts.

Watermelon watermelon (trace big watermelon shape with both arms)
Papaya papaya (trace a kind of snowman pattern)
Ba-na-na-na-nana (Make a baby rocking motion with arms and bend knees with each syllable)
Fruit Salad! Fruit Salad! (Hands on hips, 'pop' hips to one side--I also say "frUIT" with a silly squeaky emphasis)

This last line is the killer, especially for older kids who can't decide if they're embarrassed or having a blast--the first round.  By the third round they are ALL IN.

When I have older kids, I always get a helper or two up front with me.  The ones who volunteer are eager to participate, and that sets the tone for the whole rest of the group--those 5th graders are doing it, it must be cool.

Here's a bunch of adorable kids singing it