What We Did in Storytime: 4/8

It’s Monday and that means storytime! Today we read about cars and fish.

Song: If You’re Ready for a Story

Book: Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia

Emma Garcia has written some of my favorite books for storytime and this one is no exception!

Song: The Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
Round and round, round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
All through the town
The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish
Swish swish swish, swish swish swish
The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish
All through the town

Since I had a longer song planned with Bubble, Bubble, Pop, I kept this one short with just 2 verses.

Book: Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins

I liked this book, but it was a little long for our group today. I wish I’d paperclipped a few pages together to shorten it.

Song: Bubble, Bubble, Pop!
One little red fish [hold 1 finger up]
Swimming in the water, [hold hands together and make swimming motion]
Swimming in the water,
Swimming in the water.
One little red fish [hold 1 finger up]
Swimming in the water,
Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble…POP! [twirl index fingers upwards for bubbles and clap for POP!]
Two little blue fish [hold 2 fingers up]
Swimming in the water [hold hands together and make swimming motion]
Swimming in the water
Swimming in the water.
Two little blue fish [hold 2 fingers up]
Swimming in the water [hold hands together and make swimming motion]
Bubble bubble bubble bubble POP! [twirl index fingers upwards for bubbles and clap for POP!]
Three little yellow fish [hold 3 fingers up]
Swimming in the water [hold hands together and make swimming motion]
Swimming in the water
Swimming in the water.
Two little blue fish
Swimming in the water [hold hands together and make swimming motion]
Bubble bubble bubble bubble POP! [twirl index fingers upwards for bubbles and clap for POP!]

This song went so well last time that I had to bring it back. Credit goes to Jbrary for this fun little counting song.

What I Didn’t Use: 

Splish Splash Ducky by Lucy Cousins

Hands are Clapping
(to the tune of Skip to the Lou)
Hands are clapping, clap clap clap
Hands are clapping, clap clap clap
Hands are clapping, clap clap clap
Clap your hands my darling!
Toes are tapping, tap tap tap
Toes are tapping, tap tap tap
Toes are tapping, tap tap tap
Tap your toes my darling!

And that’s what we did in storytime today! If you’d like to see what we did in past weeks, click on the “What We Did in Storytime” tag. And be sure to come back next Monday to check out what Miss Marta did!

Miss Jessica

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This Week at Moline Public Library

Celebrate National Library Week with Free Rentals

National Library Week is around the corner! Come in and visit us next week and enjoy free DVD and video game rentals.

5 on Friday: Spring Picture Books

It’s finally starting to feel like spring! Winter seemed to drag on forever this year, so I am especially glad to see plants start poking their heads out and feel some warmer weather. In honor of that, I chose my 5 favorite picture books about spring for this month’s 5 on Friday.

 

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano

Fogliano won the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for New Writer and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Nominee for Picture Book Honor Book awards for this sweet story about a boy and his dog planting a garden. They both wait…and wait…and wait some more for the garden to grow.

 

When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes

Henkes is a bestselling author for a reason, but what really makes this book a standout to me are Laura Dronzek’s beautiful illustrations. No one knows how to capture the wonder of a season the way she does.

 

Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson

Fletcher the fox mistakes the falling blossoms as snow and rushes to warn his friends that they have returned from their migrations or woken from hibernation too soon. I really enjoy the Fletcher books and I think kids will too.

 

Wake Up, it’s Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst

One day, the sun whispers to the earth, “Wake up, it’s spring!” And the earth tells the worm, who tells the seed, and so on until everyone is awake and cheering for springtime. The simple, playful text makes this great for read-alouds.

 

Abracadabra, it’s Spring! by Anne Sibley O’Brien

As you might be able to guess from the title, this charming picture book focuses on the magic of winter transforming into spring. Some of the magic words are a bit of a stretch – I’ve never heard anyone say “Alizebu!” before – but the fold-out pages showing the change to a new season are lovely.

And that’s all for this month! Be sure to check back in May, same bat time, same bat channel for the next 5 on Friday.

Miss Jessica

 

What We Did In Storytime: Jungle!

 

Opening Rhyme: Let’s Get the Rhythm (with Shaker Eggs)

Let’s get the rhythm of our knees

Let’s get the rhythm of our knees

Let’s get the rhythm of our knees

If you please

Let’s get the rhythm of our knees

 

Let’s get the rhythm of our shoulders

Let’s get the rhythm of our shoulders

Let’s get the rhythm of our shoulders

Big boulders!

Let’s get the rhythm of our shoulders

 

Let’s get the rhythm of our head

Let’s get the rhythm of our head

Let’s get the rhythm of our head

Oh, dread!

Let’s get the rhythm of our head

 

Let’s get the rhythm of our feet

Let’s get the rhythm of our feet

Let’s get the rhythm of our feet

How neat!

Let’s get the rhythm of our feet

 

Two weeks ago this went so well, I tried it again! As I welcomed families into storytime, I passed out shaker eggs.  We did our opening rhyme using shaker eggs to tap the rhythm instead of our hands and it went really well!

 

Song: We Shake and We Stop

We shake and we shake and we stop,

We shake and we shake and we stop,

We shake and we shake and we shake

and we shake and we shake and we shake

and we stop

 

We tap and we tap and we stop

We tap and we tap and we stop

We tap and we tap and we tap

and we tap and we tap and we tap

and we stop

 

We clap and we clap and we stop

We clap and we clap and we stop

We clap and we clap and we clap

and we clap and we clap and we clap

and we stop

 

We shake and we shake and we stop,

We shake and we shake and we stop,

We shake and we shake and we shake

and we shake and we shake and we shake

and we stop

 

Hilda Must Be Dancing

by Karma Wilson

 

This is a silly story told in rhyme.  Hilda can’t control her dancing feet, much to the dismay of her jungle friends!  It is a bit on the long side for this age group, but they stuck with me and enjoyed the silly things that Hilda tried.

 

Flannel Board: Five Elephants in the Bathtub

One elephant in the bathtub

Going for a Swim

Knock Knock (Clap hands twice)

Splash Splash (tap knees twice)

Come on in!

Repeat this up to 5

Five elephants in the bathtub

Going for a swim

Knock knock (clap twice)

Splash splash (tap knees twice)

They all fell in!

 

Song: Dance, Freeze, Melt

by Mr. Eric and Mr. Michael

 

We have really enjoyed this song!  Lucky for us, this album is full of other equally great tunes.  If you are looking for fun music to get your kiddo dancing, this is an album you won’t want to miss.

 

Wild Baby

by Cori Doerrfeld

 

This is a new book to the library but one that I will use again in future story times!  It is great for younger littles because it is in rhyme, there aren’t many words on the pages, and the illustrations are exciting.  Older littles will get more of the humor in the illustrations, be able to use the pictures to make predictions, and get a little bit of a social story from it.

 

The weather is getting warmer and our littles were restless today, so I stopped both storytimes after this story so we could play and get some wiggles out.  As always, I had some other things on my set list as a “just in case” but it wasn’t necessary today!  Both of the scarf songs on the list came from JBrary’s great collection if you want to give them a try.  Even if you don’t have a scarf at home, a burp rag, washcloth, or blankie will work just as well.  Check back next week to see what Miss Jessica is up to in storytime!

Miss Marta

This Week at Moline Public Library

Reading to Kids Who Won’t Sit Still

Sitting still and listening to a story? For some kids, that nearly amounts to torture. However, we still want them to have the experience of being read a story. So what can you do? With a little patience and creativity, I think it’s still possible. Here are 7 tips to help get started reading with your wiggly little one.

1. Just keep reading. Just because they’re moving doesn’t mean they aren’t listening, too. Once kids are mobile they want to move, and honestly, they should! Even if they’re dancing or rolling around on the floor, they’re still benefiting from hearing you read aloud, and oftentimes kids are paying more attention than you realize. Feel free to paraphrase and cut things short if necessary; this is something we do in storytime when the audience is getting antsy and it works just as well at home.
2. Read at a time when they are already expected to stay in one place, like bedtime, or even mealtimes and bathtime. Start off with a short book and choose more and longer books as their attention span increases. As they get used to this routine, try introducing some of the favorites during other times of the day as well.
3. Try interactive picture books. Here’s a list of some of my favorites. These books ask readers to participate with the book by touching, shaking, making faces, or otherwise engaging with the book beyond just listening. For kids who hate sitting still, this can be a good way to keep them interested in the story.
4. Try pop-up books, books with flaps or textures, or other interesting additions they can physically interact with. Fiona Watt has an adorable series of touch-and-feel board books like That’s Not My Bunny or That’s Not My Dinosaur that are a great example.
5. Give audiobooks a try. Audiobooks are especially great for when you’re in the car or on the move. There are audiobooks and Playaways available at the library for kids of all ages. Stop by and see if we have your favorite or else get a recommendation from the Children’s staff.
6. Ask questions and talk about the pictures in the story. Not only is this a great literacy strategy, it also helps keep kids engaged. Questions like “What’s happening in this picture?” or “What do you think will happen next?” build reading comprehension skills.
7. Try keeping their hands busy to stave off the fidgets. I’m an adult and I still have trouble sitting and listening (even to something that I enjoy!) for long periods of time without some way to keep my hands busy. You can use paper and crayons, fidget toys, playdough, blocks, whatever works! This may seem like a distraction, but like I said before – even if kids aren’t sitting perfectly still, they may still be listening to you.

If none of these strategies work, they may just need to mature a little before they are ready, and that’s okay! Pushing them before they’re ready will turn reading into a chore and that’s the last thing anyone wants. So model positive reading behavior and try again frequently, but don’t sweat it too much.

Miss Jessica