Happy Tuesday! It's an outer space storytime!

Happy Tuesday Everyone! Most kids have a very centered concept of existence. It's fun to expand their knowledge of the universe around them and plant science concepts early by reading and learning about them. Today we mainly focused on the moon, sun, and gravity. I think those three concepts are good enough for preschool. Mine started to lose interest when I went into Earth's neighbors. It was also somewhat challenging to find entertaining books for this age and theme. We made it work and have a great time.

The Books:
My First Big Book of Space by: National Geographic
Moustronaut by: Mark Kelly
Space Walk by: Salina Yoon

What we did:

1.) Action song: Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! (jbrary.com)
Zoom, zoom, zoom! We're going to the moon. (Clap hands together on beat)
Zoom, zoom, zoom! We're going to the moon. (Clap hands together on beat)
If you want to take a trip, climb aboard my rocket ship. (Pretend you are climbing a ladder)
Zoom, zoom, zoom! We're going to the moon. (Clapping)
In 5-4-3-2-1 BLASTOFF! (Count and crouch as you count down, then jump and shout on BLASTOFF!)

2.) Gravity Dance- I got a collection of fast/slow swing tunes. I explained that Gravity is what allows us to move like we do on earth. In space, we move more slowly and smoothly. We danced fast to some Louis Prima and Sam Gaillard. We danced slowly (Without gravity) to Louis Armstrong. Even Ruby got to dance. TONS of fun!

3.) Flannelboard- Five little rocket ships (cfkidslibrarian.blogspot.com)
Five little rockets ready to zoom,
This one says, "There's not enough room."
It starts its engine;
Ready to fly, 
Looks at the others and waves good-bye.

Four little rockets...(Continue counting down until...)
one little rocket ready to zoom
this one says "Everyone's gone!"
It starts its engine;
Ready to fly,
It looks at us and waves good-bye!
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-BLAST OFF!

4.) www.gonoodle.com Brain breaks and body movement
We continued leveling our champion up.We tried two new songs called This or That and Push all the Buttons. One little one was dancing so close to the screen, I thought he would crash into it.
HA HA HA! It's working! Some of my storytime moms and grandmas have gotten their own gonoodle.com accounts!

5.) Playtime- We had four

stations today. I had a very busy week so we couldn't have our asteroid toss game, and I was mildly disturbed at some of the other suggestions I found on the internet. One involved having kids throw balled up socks at each other...no joke. So we had four stations today

a.) Corn Bin

b.) Planet painting- Kids used a sponge to paint a paper plate any color they wanted. Then, if they chose to, they could stick brown construction paper on the plate to simulate "land". It was pretty fun.

c.) Star scopes- I took toilet paper tubes and put black construction paper over the top, rubber banding it for support. I poked some holes in the black paper to simulate stars and boom. Telescopes.

d.) Star matching game. I made ten starts with numbers 1-10 on them. Then I made a matching set with corresponding dots on them. The kids could play with them and try to match the numbers with the dots.

Thanks for stopping by to check us out. I always have a great time at storytime and I appreciate that you took time to look at what we do.

Mr. Mike

Happy Tuesday! It's a hibernation storytime!

Happy Tuesday Everyone! One of the most important survival adaptations humans have developed over eons of evolution is the ability to recognize patterns. Our ancestors saw patterns in the weather, stars, and seasons. Recognizing these and adapting to the changes they bring allowed us to develop tools, farming techniques, and helped us recognize the need for homes, moving us from a nomadic people to a settled one. No I did not say that at story time. However, a pattern that the children can recognize is that some animals hibernate, or go to sleep, during winter. So we explored this concept at storytime today.

The Books:
Bear Snores On by: Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
Polar Bear Night by: Lauren Thompson
Hibernation by: Anita Ganeri


What we did:

1.) Action Rhyme: Marco the Polar Bear (Storytime Katie)
Marco the polar bear (hold arms out in a circle)
Was white as the snow (hold arms out wide and proud)
He sat down on the ice (sit down)
near the cold river flow. (hug self and shiver)
"Lunch! I need Lunch!" He said. (Rub Tummy)
I will make a wish. (Rub hands together)
He dipped his hand in the water, (plunge hand down)
and pulled out a fish! (pull hand into the air and wiggle it around)

2.) Parachute play- Lots of fun with the parachute. I put some stuffed animals on the parachute and we pretended that they needed some rocking to fall asleep. we moved them slowly, up and down until they were asleep. I would call out springtime and then we shook the animals on the parachute and bounced them up and down! So many giggles and screams of joy.
POINT OF ADVICE: The parachute is loud and may scare some younger ones. Make sure they have a parent near in case they don't like the air in their faces or loud noises.

3.) Fingerplay: Sleepy Bear (Thumbkin from Storytime Katie)
I Used a popsicle stick puppet of a bear in pajamas for this.
Where is Bear? Where is bear?
Here I am...Here I am
How are you this winter?
Very tired, thank you.
Go to sleep! Go to sleep!
Have the kids shout WAKE UP, BEAR! and do it again.

4.) www.gonoodle.com Brain breaks and body movement
We continued leveling our champion up.We tried two new songs called This or That and Push all the Buttons. One little one was dancing so close to the screen, I thought he would crash into it.

5.) Playtime
a.) Car Painting- I just did this for fun. It would be ideal for a cars or things that go storytime theme. Basically, I just provided paper, toy cars, and paint. The kids "drove" the cars through the paint and onto the paper.

b.) Pla-Doh

c.) Hibernation cave- Another simple idea that ended up being quite fun. Since our theme was hibernation I hung to large blankets over the sides of a big table. I provided some stuffed animals and flashlights for imaginary/exploratory play under the table in the "Hibernation cave". It was clear that the kids grasped the idea of hibernation when they keep calling out "I'm tired! I need to hibernate." Or, Shh! I'm hibernating in my cave!"

Thanks for checking in with us. See you next week!

Mr. Mike

Happy Tuesday! It's a snowman storytime!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today we talked about all the fun things you can do in the snow! Our main focus was on snowmen. I felt it was up and down. When it was good, it was actually great. When it was not so good, I felt it was really bad. If anyone has suggestions of snowman books that aren't so saccharine sweet and overly schmaltzy. The ones I picked were so sweet, I might have lost a tooth somewhere.



The Books:
The Biggest, Best snowman by: Lisa Cuyler
Snowman Magic by: Katherine Tegen
The Smiliest Snowman by: M. Christina Butler


What we did:

1.) Ruby the Chicken builds a snowman- Ruby greeted the kids with her usual southern charm. She talked about things you can do in the winter time. She naturally said silly things that are warm weather activities, but finally she mentioned snowmen. Using flannel pieces we had the kids help Ruby build a snowman on the flannelboard.

2.) Action Rhyme: I built a snowman
I build a great big snowman (hold hands up high)
With an orange, carrot nose (point to your nose)
Along came a bunny (Make bunny ears and bounce)
And what do you suppose? (Shrug shoulders)
That hungry little bunny (Rub Tummy)
Looking for his lunch (Hold hand over eyes like you're looking)
Ate that snowman's nose! (Clap hands on Ate)
Nibble! Nibble! Crunch! (Pretend to eat)

3.) Fingerplay: Five Little Snowmen
Five Little Snowman standing in a row
Standing straight and tall in the bright white snow
Out came the sun, shining hot and bright all day
and one little snowman melted away

4.) www.gonoodle.com Brain breaks and body movement
We continued leveling our champion up. We repeated the same two gonoodle.com dances involving the Instant Insanity roller coaster and get yo body movin! We had a great time.

5.) Playtime- I already mentioned that when this storytime was good, it was great, I was speaking about playtime. I feel the three stations were a few of the strongest I've presented since switching my philosophy.
a.) Shaving Cream Snowman- The idea was to spray shaving cream in a bag, seal it, then glue eyes, mouth, and nose onto the bag. Good idea in theory. In practice, the kids ended up spreading the shaving cream all over the table and putting their snowman faces in that and just drawing in it and having a great time. I was inspired with their ingenuity. They took something fun and made it better. Excellent!

b.) Snowman puzzle- I got this idea from the teach preschool website. I printed out a template of two circles. I laminated them for future use. I then gathered buttons, felt noses, and sticks. I spread them out on a tray and covered them in snow. I had the kids use tweezers (or their fingers if they wanted to and didn't mind the cold) to pull the buttons and sticks out of the snow and design their own snowman. It was messy, but a great sensory and tactile experience that helped strengthen their fine motor skills.

c.) Corn tub- Fun for measuring, sensory, and group play. The kids love scooping, sifting, (sometimes flinging) the corn and it's easier to clean up than sand or rice!

Thanks for your click! Have a great week!

We're back with a Happy Tuesday Penguin Storytime!

I don't know if you're familiar with Michigan winters, but they can get nasty and bitter when they want to. Sure, we didn't have snow on Christmas and temperatures were around 40 degrees. Once January hit, the winter season was full on. Slippery roads, icy winds, and lots and lots of snow. It's Michigan so we could be at the beach by next week, but we'll just have to wait and see. I was in the mood for a cold weather animal storytime so I chose penguins. Penguins are a great theme for storytime because so many books star penguins. Kids really seem to like penguins too. Maybe it's the way they walk, the cute puffin babies, or the fact that they huddle together to keep warm. Either way, they are always popular.

The Books:
Tacky the Penguin by: Helen Lester
If You Were a Penguin by: Wendel and Florence Minor
Penguin in Peril by: Helen Hancocks

Note to self: Find out how many Helens have written a book about Penguins.


What we did:

1.) Ruby the Chicken puppet- I reintroduced Ruby the Chicken as our storytime mascot. She is a one or two handed puppet. You can put one hand in her to work her mouth and let her wings hang limp, or you can put one hand in your mouth and one hand in a wing, or forego the mouth and put a hand in each wing to make her flap around. She's very versatile and works great with a southern accent. Something about the name Ruby...she should have a drawl. Anyhow, I used her to introduce our topic by guessing animals who were birds (She thought duck) and black and white (she thought cow). The kids cracked up because I had a cow and duck puppet who paraded out from behind my desk and acted like they were going to be the star of the show. Finally I had the kids guess what bird I was talking about when I told them it was a black and white bird who can live in really cold places.

2.) Action Rhyme: Baby Penguins
One baby penguin makes a wish (Point at the sky)
Two baby penguins catch some fish (Slap hands together)
Three baby penguins slip and slide (Wiggle arms)
Four baby penguins run and hide (Run in place)
Five baby penguins look around (Put hand on forehead and cry Mama! In a high pitched voice)
Calling " Mama! Mama! Mama!"
Out waddles mama now the babies are found. (Waddle like a penguin)

3.) Fingerplay: Two Little Penguins (A take on the rhyme two little blackbirds)
Two little penguins out on the ice (Show index fingers)
One bows once and the other bows twice (bow fingers)
Run away penguins, waddle away! (Put hands behind back)
Come back penguins, time to play! (Bring hands back around)

4.) www.gonoodle.com Brain breaks and body movement
Sure these don't have anything to do with penguins, but the music is high energy and they're appropriate for all ages. You can create a free account at gonoodle.com. It is designed for educators to use as brain breaks for their students. I stumbled on this while volunteering for my son's kindergarten teacher. You have your choice of playing YouTube videos through gonoodle, they have a selection of Zumba for kids, and my favorite Koo Koo Kangaroo. You can set your class up to track the amount of time they have used with their brain breaks and you can pick a champion (avatar) to represent your class. If your class/group does 10 videos/exercises, your champion with level up and change to get stronger. They are seriously fun. We did the Koo Koo Kangaroo songs Roller Coaster and Get Yo' Body Movin! Serious bouncy, silly fun.

5.) Playtime

a.)Penguin paper craft- I am still on a big process art kick, so I made one as an example and let the kids go to town.  This was just one station, but if you just prefer a single craft after storytime this will do just fine. I cut the paper apart first and just let the kids glue it down and put googly eyes on it. You could have older kids cut the paper apart as well.

b.) Play-doh: I plan to alternate this with the sensory corn bin. The kids like to make things with the cookie cutters and other tools I provide. They hang out at the library for a long time after storytime is over and I just love that they want to stay here. It's the place to be!

c.) Penguin memory match- I downloaded two match game decks from the club penguin site and left them out for the kids to play with.

 It was a great return to storytime. I missed these kiddos a lot over the last month. Glad to have such a great return.

See you very soon!

Mr. Mike

Happy "Tuesday"! It's a Snowy Day Storytime!

Surprise! We got a load of snow here in Michigan! On the fly, I switched up my storytime theme from another Opposites (Loud/Quiet) to a snowy day theme. It worked out great as the kiddos were very eager to tell me all about how much snow was falling and how excited they were to go out and play. We had a smaller crowd, but there's nothing wrong with having a more quiet storytime every now and then.

Books:
The Snowy Day: Ezra Jack Keats
Snow Day!: Patricia Lakin/Scott Nash
There Was a Cold Lady who Swallowed some Snow: Lucille Colandro/Jared Lee

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.) Snowman Puzzle: I downloaded and printed a 6 piece snowman puzzle from Kidsparkz. I told the kids a story about how I built the snowman last night, but the wind blew him all to pieces! I messed up all the pieces on the magnet board and had them put the snowman back together again. This went well. They had fun, especially when I tried to put the snowman back together and messed it up!

4.) Snowy Pokey: This is simply the Hokey Pokey re-written with a winter theme.
Put your right/left mitten in.
Put your right/left boot in.
Put your hat in.
Put your snowsuit in.

5.) Playtime: We divided into three stations today, we had:
a.) Play-doh

b.) Corn Sensory tub

c.) Snowflake bottle stamp: I used this in January of last year, and it smells kinda crafty, but the kids are still free to make any design with glitter glue, stamps, and stickers. Basically, take 20 oz pop bottles and dip the bottoms in white paint. Stamp them on a blue background and use the glitter glue to give it some pop. Add winter themed stickers and you've got yourself something pretty to hang for winter!

Check back next Tuesday for more Story time fun! It's our last one before I break for December. I will return in January, but keep visiting for some book reviews!
Mr. Mike

Running an Art Contest for Children! It's Great!

Traditionally, my library has held a bookmark contest for school aged children during the fall. The kids like having something creative to work on and the teachers like something for the kids to do after they're done with an assignment or MEAP testing. This year, the standardized test is held in the spring, so we decided to move the bookmark contest and have a kids ArtPrize instead. Nothing like this had been done in Ionia before, so we weren't really sure what to expect, but wow! The community responded in a big way! We received 50 entries by children ages 5-16. Nearly 500 votes were cast. I was blown away. The artwork was spectacular and the kids worked really hard at truly expressing themselves through their media.

We had four separate categories by grade level:
K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.
We put no restrictions on what the kids could create in regards to media, we just limited the size to 3'x3'x3' (And a few of them got really close to that). We got flooded with drawings, paintings, pastels, sculptures, posters, collage, photography, a backpack, miniature models, and more! The top 3 vote recipients will be back for an award ceremony and we will be providing them with small prizes as well as recognition at their own gallery opening. We had some disappointed kiddos but I know that next year, they'll be back and judging by how close a couple of the races were, it will be even more competitive next year!
I highly recommend hosting something like this at your library. It truly benefits everyone.

To see pictures of all the entries, please visit us at our facebook page!


Mr. Mike

Happy Tuesday! It's a BIG and little storytime!

Happy Tuesday! Today we had fun exploring the opposite concepts of Big and Little. We also have some fun with puppets and sensory play!

Books:
I'm Big! By: Kate and Jim McMullan
Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by: Jan Thomas
Big Bug by: Henry Cole

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.) Puppet Story: Bark, George!
Luckily for me, I have a Puppet leftover from the previous children's librarian that is still in great working order. George is a large, plush dog that you can reach into and pull out some smaller animals. If you haven't read the book by Jules Feiffer, you really ought to. I have the kids say hello to George as he sits on my lap. When I tell George to bark, he Meows, then Quacks, the Oinks, then Moos. After the giggles fade away, I notice that George has something in his mouth. I reach in and pull out each of the small stuffed animals.

4.) Action Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big! This is a fun rhyme I got from Storytime Katie.
This is big, big, big. (Throw hands out wide)
This is small, small, small. (Bring hands in close)
This is short, short, short. (put hands close and show vertically short)
This is tall, tall, tall. (put hands apart and show tall)
This is fast, fast, fast (pretend to run very fast)
This is slow, slow, slow (pretend to slo-mo run)
This is yes, yes, yes. (nod your head)
This is no, no, no. (shake head no)

5.) Big/Little sort- http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sorting-activities. First, we sorted the fist into two piles. Little fish and big fish. Then, we mixed them up again and the kids helped me put them in order from smallest to largest.

6.) Playtime: Today our three stations were Pla-doh, Sensory table (corn), and sponge painting.

a.) Sponge painting- Cut sponges into different shapes and set out a few paper plates and paper. Stand back and watch how many different ways they can use the sponges to paint! They can stamp, smudge, streak, paint on the sides, and more! I love turning the kiddos loose on a project and let their creativity expand!

b.) Pla-Doh
c.) Sensory Corn Bin- This was a trial run at a sensory table. I have a space issue and have no real storytime room. So, I set a sterilite tub full of feed corn. I also purchased some funnels, measuring cups and used some of my kids' sand toys that were stored away for the winter. Kids can learn so much from a sensory tub. First, the corn feels fun. Next, they learn about measuring and other concepts such as more/less and empty/full. They learn about what will and what will not fit inside a container. It was a big hit.
We have two storytimes left in our fall session. I hope you've enjoyed the information presented here. Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing. See ya next week!