Preschool Storytime- Letter H

Opening Song
If You Listen and You Hear Me

Letter of the Week

Book
Froggy's First Kiss by Jonathan London
I was worried this book would be a little too lengthy, but my group was full of quiet kids so it worked perfectly!

Book
Ping Pong Pig by Caroline Church
The kids did not find this book as funny as I thought they would. It's worked for me in the past, so it might have just been my group.

Rhyme/Movement
Five Little Monkeys

Book
Cows to the Rescue by John Himmelman
This book is great for interaction! My group was being extremely shy, and this definitely helped bring them out of their shell.

Rhyme/Movement
Roly Poly

Book
The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
Since my kids were finally starting to talk and interact I thought I would pull out this classic. Over half of the group was laughing their heads off at poor Grover, but there were three concerned individuals who were very worried for his safety. They kept trying to convince the other kids that bad things were going to happen. So, I had to keep reassuring them I would never actually let Grover get hurt. Everyone was happy in the end.

Book
The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort
I've been sick this week and my voice was giving out at this point, but the kids saw this book in my bag and really wanted to sing it. I was hoping the parents would step in and sing loudly...but that didn't happen. They seemed to be ok with a scratchy sounding Miss Brooke though.

Flannel
Red Heart, Red Heart, What do you see?

This flannel was discovered on Youtube courtesy of Miss Tracy. She has some wonderful flannel rhymes, so check her out! This flannel went over so well in toddler time that I tried it to preschool too! We sang the rhyme, added in counting, and we made shapes with the hearts. The kids loved it so much we did it twice.

Closing Song

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Toddler Storytime- Valentine's Day!

This was my last week of storytime and Valentine's week. So, I decided to do a mix of books I love, and books all about love!

Early Literacy Tip
Today in storytime we'll be making noises and moving during each book. Playing while reading makes books more interactive and fun!

Opening Song
Hands are Clapping

Book
I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy
Very sweet book about different animals meeting a new baby. It has great black and white illustrations that make it a fun "guess the animal" game too!

Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Book
Monkey See, Look at Me! by Lorena Siminovich
In this book, the monkey pretends to be different animals and the real animal comes and joins him. This book has great repetition and lots of opportunities for movement.

Rhyme/Movement
This is Big, Big, Big
If you haven't heard of this rhyme, go check it out! It's great with all ages too. Thank you to Mel's Desk for creating and sharing this wonderful rhyme!

Early Literacy Tip
Playing with rhymes is a great way to interact with your little one! You are increasing their vocabulary and it's fun!

Book
Roadwork by Sally Sutton
My storytime toddlers love this book. We usually spend more time talking about the trucks then reading, but that's ok!

Rhyme/Movement
Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumbkin?
We didn't really need this extra rhyme, but I had a special request from one of my kids. By request, I mean she screamed "THUMBS" and held them out. Close enough.

Book
Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon
Wonderful rhyming lift-the-flap book about animals. The kids and parents always really enjoy this one.

Flannel
Red Heart, Red Heart, What do you see?
I found this flannel chant on Youtube courtesy of Miss Tracy. It's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, but with hearts! The kids absolutely loved it. I will definitely be reusing this flannel on non-Valentine related storytimes.

Closing Song
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

What to expect when you are leaving your job...

Lots of crying and hugs.

I have been given the amazing opportunity to move to La Crosse, WI and pursue my children's librarian career at a fabulous library. I applied to the job on a whim, and I honestly never expected to be chosen. It was such an amazing chance though that I felt I had to try. I thank my new coworker Sara for #3 on her blog post announcing the job opening.

The biggest challenge for me, once I knew I was leaving, was telling my storytime families. I have been with these families for over a year and have become part of their Tuesday and Thursday routines. With this in mind, I told some families individually and some as a group. The families that I have really made a connection with I felt deserved to be told personally and I'm glad I made this decision. It gave them time to process the information privately, and not in front of a huge group of people. Since I can't do this with everyone though, I announced at the end of my storytimes the week prior to my last day that I would be leaving. I felt this gave the parents and children time to adjust to the idea of a new storyteller. We traditionally rotate storytellers on a 4 week basis, but I've been in a longer rotation this time since I am trying to take as much stress off my staff as possible. The reactions ranged from no emotion to full on crying. I was definitely unprepared for it. For the most part though, I was given many well wishes and "we'll miss you" by the parents.  

Another hard adjustment for me is leaving my staff. I have come to love these girls and consider them my family. They will do amazing once I'm gone, but I still struggled with guilt about leaving them without a librarian. I've tried to plan ahead as much as possible to help them get through this transition period. The entire spring session is planned and the groundwork has been laid for Summer Reading. All of the performers are booked, dates are set, and ideas have been suggested for each program. They also are aware that they can contact me at any point if they get lost or need help deciphering all my notes. I've done as much as possible to take make these next few months less stressful. They're amazing friends and workers and I am so sad to be leaving them behind. Apparently, they are all too afraid of cold weather to follow me to Wisconsin.

Finally, it was really hard for me to give my two week notice. This is the first time I've ever had to quit a "real job". Before, it was always serving positions where there was a multitude of people waiting to take my place. That is not the situation I am leaving behind at my library. I am resigning and there is currently no one to take my place. However, I had to do what was best for my career and personal life and living in Virginia, 12+ hours away from my family and friends, is not it. Luckily, my manager was very understanding when I told her and completely understood where I was coming from.

Overall, my "leaving transition" has been a pretty smooth one. I have had no ill wishes from current staff members and they have all been extremely supportive. I will miss my staff and storytime families ridiculously, but I am very excited for my new position. I can't wait to start blogging about all of my new challenges and experiences! Stay tuned!

Preschool Storytime- Letter F

I'm a little behind in my storytime posts. I've accepted a new job in Wisconsin, so the past few weeks I've been prepping my library for my departure. We're now on the letter "F" at preschool storytime!

Opening Song
If You Listen and You Hear Me

Letter of the Week

Book
A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
This is a great counting and rhyming book! The kids always love how big the frog grows.

Book
Clothesline Clue to Jobs People Do by Kathryn Heling
This book worked wonderfully on Tuesday. The pages are full of clues to the job a person has, and the person is revealed on the next page. I really love this book because it gives females jobs that are typically associated with males and vice-versa. However, my group on Thursday really struggled to guess the occupations.

Rhyme/Movement
Five Little Monkeys

Book
Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
My storytime group loves llama llama! There were gasps when I brought it out of the storytime bag today by both kids and adults.

Rhyme/Movement
Hokey Pokey

Book
Dog's Colorful Day
Amazing book for preschoolers. There are colors, counting, guessing, and a silly dog. It is one of my favorite storytime books for preschoolers.

Closing Song
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Toddler Storytime #3

Early Literacy Tip
I know it seems early to think about your little one writing, but writing is important in getting your child ready to read! Today in storytime we will be talking about different letters that we see!

Opening Song
Hands Are Clapping

Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumkin
Usually we go right into a book after our opening song, but my toddler were crazy this week! There must be something in the air because they were having a very hard time focusing today. Thumbkin finally calmed them down after singing it 3x.

Book
Farm Animals by Simms Taback
This is a wonderful book! The illustrations are amazing and its a giant fold-out of an animal on each page. This was the short, attention grabbing book I needed with this crowd. I also pointed out what letter each animal began with. Then they repeated the letter back to me.

Rhyme/Movement
Roly-Poly

Rhyme/Movement
Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

Book
Toes, Ears, & Nose by Marion Bauer
Great lift-the-flap that focuses on body parts.

Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Early Literacy Tip
Singing rhymes like the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and using the hand motions are a great way to develop fine motor skills. These will help your child when they begin to learn to write and hold a pencil!

Book
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
This is a great book because it involves colors, big trucks, and movements. What more could you ask for?

Rhyme/Movement
Patty-Cake Patty-Cake
This is my go to rhyme when a child start screaming. For whatever reason, this always takes their focus off whatever was causing them trouble.

Book
Zookeeper Sue by Chris Dermarest
Wonderful lift-the-flap book about animals. The kids liked trying to guess before I lifted the flap. The best guess was an ostrich & flamingo... it was a giraffe.

 Closing Song
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Footloose Friday!

Today we held our first ever dance party! I have been wanting to try this for months, and there was a huge need for this program at our library. We currently hold 7 storytimes a week, but that was the only programming we offered for preschoolers and younger. Some children have a really hard time participating and listening in storytime and I wanted to offer them another option.

We had 75 people show up to dance! It was really cold and snowing and they still came! Some were even dressed up and wearing tutus. This program is very relaxing and a great opportunity to interact with your storytime kids in a different environment.

The first time you hold this program there will be some prep work. You need to decide if you want to read books, what kind of music you're going to dance to, and if you are going to keep a strict time frame. Once you have the basic outline and initial prep work done, this program is a great one to repeat! Here is the outline I followed.

10:00- Settle in and introduction

10:05- Opening song and warm up/stretching activity

10:10- Structured dance- songs with action/specific movements

10:20- Shaky Eggs



Hot glue, rice, and duct tape



Dollar tree scrunchies and ribbon



10:25- Free Dance with ribbons and shaky eggs

10:30- Cool down

10:30-11:00- Free play

The timing was used to give me a rough estimate on how many songs to play. Once I was actually doing the program, I honestly didn't look at the clock once. The most important thing is to figure out how you're playing the songs. Ipod? Cd's? Just you singing? I chose an Ipod and simply made a playlist. It was very convenient to not have to flip cd's and find the right track, etc. Here is the playlist:

Eye of the Tiger by Survivor- This was our warm up song. The parents loved it!

Shake and Move by Paty Shukla- Great dance with easy to follow movements.

The Freeze by Greg and Steve- The kids loved this and it was hilarious to watch them freeze and try so hard to stay still!

I Know A Chicken by Laurie Berkner- The best shaky egg song ever.

Splish Splash by Bobby Darin- Again, the parents really liked this one. It's a perfect dancing song.

I Like to Move It by Erick Morillo- A lot of the kids recognized this from Madagascar and were very excited.

Upside Down by Jack Johnson- Almost anything by Jack Johnsoncan work as a cool down song. They're all so relaxing!

After the program portion was done, we had a playlist of 11 songs that we played in the background and brought out bubbles. The kids played with the bubbles, shaky eggs, and ribbons for the next 30 minutes.

Overall this program went really well. We told everyone in the beginning that we were going to be silly and look ridiculous and we expected them to dance. We also let them know that their child would be looking to them for a model so to please participate. It really worked. Our parents and caregivers are lovely and were showing us all of their moves!

Next time I think we will incorporate more structured dancing. This definitely helps the parents take a breath and relax a little bit more than free dancing. Our most important lesson of the day was that we should only keep our bubbles slightly filled. There weren't a ton of spills, but enough for us to realize that less is better.

My favorite part of the program was when we tried to teach the kids how to do jumping jacks. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, ask the next young child that you see to do a jumping jack. Here is my assistant and I trying to break it down for them.