Early Literacy Tip
Today we talked about playing! I always try to write out my tips beforehand and then just paraphrase them in storytime. So I planned on saying, "In all of our books today we're going to be playing! Playing with your child during story increases their understanding and makes reading more fun!"
Opening Song
Hands are Clapping
Book
Snap Like a Crocodile! by Kate Burns
This is a lovely and short lift-the-flap book. After each lift, we made animal sounds or talked about where the animals lived.
Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider
Book
Roadwork by Sally Sutton
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia is a huge storytime favorite with this group, so I thought I would throw in a similar, but different book. The illustrations look more realistic which my toddlers loved. After I turned each page, we would stop and talk about the new truck that appeared. We also did the movements along with the trucks. This can get long, so I clipped some of the pages.
Rhyme/Movement
Roly Poly
This was a natural transition since one of our trucks in the previous book rolled the road flat!
Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumbkin
This song is a life saver. When my group is crazy and wiggly after a book or rhyme this always calms them down. I normally do each song 2x, once it is in the rotation, but sometimes this one gets 3 repetitions.
Book
Do Crocs Kiss by Salina Yoon
This is an adorable board book that is big enough for a group to see. The rhymes are cute for most of the animals and we did animal noises and movements for each lift-the-flap. This book is great at working on predictions. By the end, I had quite a few kids guessing what the last word was... yes, it was an animal sound, but they were beginning to understand what the concept of the book was.
Early Literacy Tip
At this point, I planned on saying something about animal movements and noise are always a good way to bring some play into your reading. However, since my toddlers in all 4 sessions began making predictions, I talked about that instead.
Rhyme/Movement
3 Little Monkeys
The toddlers love this song because you get to sway, use your fingers to count, and CHOMP like a crocodile! With preschoolers I do 5 monkeys, but I've found it works best with 3 for toddlers.
Book
Do Pigs Have Stripes by Melanie Walsh / Move Over Rover by Karen Beaumont
This book is another great lift-the-flap, animal guessing game. At this point, I realized that almost all of my books had crocodiles in them, so the toddlers were very excited when we got to his page. This is a great book to talk about differences and traits of animals.
Also, I usually bring in 6 or 7 books to each storytime. I like to have a variety to pick from depending on the groups mood and energy. For one of the groups, who were a little quieter, we did Move Over Rover. This book has great repetitions, and a fun ending!
Early Literacy Tip
"Reading should be fun with your toddler! If you are having reading time at home and your little one gets distracted, its ok to stop. Its better to have three minutes of great reading times than 15 minutes of reading with them fighting you the last 10 minutes. You're all doing the right thing by reading to your little one and it shows. The development and maturity in this group is very notable and I'm so happy and impressed!"
On the last storytimes of the session, I always make parents clap for themselves. Their toddler wouldn't be here without them, so I think its important to acknowledge all of the work they're doing. If your parents feel appreciated, they will continue to come back to your programs.
Closing Song
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
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