Happy Tuesday! CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP! It's a Gator/Croc Storytime!

Happy Tuesday! Today we read stories all about some of the biggest, baddest reptiles in the world! We had a great time reading stories with Gators and Crocs.

Books:
The Watermelon Seed by: Greg Pizzoli
Open Very Carefully, A Book with Bite by: Nick Bromley/Nicola O'Byrne
Two Tough Crocs by: David Bedford

What We Did:
1.) Greeting song: The Storytime Train is coming!
(to the tune of "She'll be comin round the mountain)
Well the storytime train is coming. How are you? (all: Choo Choo!)
Oh the storytime train is coming. How are you? (all: Choo Choo!)
Oh the storytime train is coming, yes the storytime train is coming, well the storytime train is coming. How are you? (all: Choo Choo!)
Let's say hello to _____________. How are you? (Choo! Choo!)
Repeat this for each child in attendance.

2.) Get our bodies ready to read! This is the way...This is the way we clap our hands, clap our hands, clap our hands.
This is the way we clap our hands, when we're at storytime!
Repeat this tune with different actions (Stomp feet, jump up and down, tap your head, whisper voice, and always end with sit in my spot)

3.) Flannelboard Story- Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree
I used clip art monkeys, a gator, and a palm tree. The rhyme goes like this
Five little monkeys swinging in a tree
teasing Mr. Crocodile. Can't catch me! 
Along comes the crocodile, slowly as can be
and SNAP! Only four little monkeys left in the tree.
Repeat until done.

4.) www.gonoodle.com
At this website, you can start your storytime/classroom with a subscription to free brain breaks. There are many options such as Zumba, my favorite Koo Koo Kangaroo, and others. The website keeps track of how often you use it and awards your group points when they do something fun. Today, ours was Ninja Training. Click the link to see!

5.) Scarf Songs- I don't go much for scarf movement all the time, but I found a couple of delightful short ones at www.jbrary.com that the kids had a great time with.
Popcorn-
Popcorn, popcorn
cooking in a pot (wad up the scarf into your hands)
Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it (Shake hands with scarf inside)
Until it POPS! (Jump and throw scarf into the air with POPS!)
Toast in the Toaster
Toast in the toaster
Getting really hot (Crouch way down)
Wait a few minutes and 
Up it pops! ( Jump and toss scarf on pops!)

6.) Playtime: Today our three stations were Pla-doh, block play, and glue/salt paintings.

a.) Glue/salt paintings. Glue/Salt/Food Coloring. That's all you need. Draw a design on cardstock with Elmer's glue. Sprinkle salt all over the cardstock until all of the glue is covered. Shake the excess salt off. Have the kiddo squeeze the food coloring out onto the glue in droplets. The salt will absorb the color. They turn out cute and textured too! We had a great time with this project! The squeezing of glue and food coloring is so good for their little hand muscles! It always amuses me to see the different levels of involvement with process art crafts. Some are SO careful about it, and some are so free and messy!

b.) Pla-doh. It's a fine motor skill day at the library! Squeezing, shaping, squishing, flattening!

c. Block play- Cooperation, creativity, more motor control, manners, and respect. Those are the themes of block play. Most importantly, it's fun!

Thanks for checking me out! I appreciate the hits I get each and every week! See you next time!