Monsters

Sing: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Talk:  Letter of the week: M.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter M: Minnie Mouse, makeup, Mustang, moose, Magic pony, Mickey Mouse, M&Ms, magnifying glass.

Read:  

The Monsters Return - McCarty

Action Rhyme:  Monsters Galore – Storytime Katie

Monsters galore, can you roar? (Roar.)Monsters galore, can you soar? (Flying motions.)Monsters galore, please shut the door. (Clap.)Monsters galore, fall on the floor! (Sit/fall down.)

Read:  

You Are Not Small - Kang

Sing:  10 Little Monsters - Kididdles

One little, two little,

Three little monstersFour little, five little,Six little monstersSeven little, eight little,Nine little monstersTen of them can't scare me!

Ten little, nine little,Eight little monstersSeven little, six little,Five little monsters,Four little, three little,Two little monsters,One of them can't scare me!

None of them can scare me!

Read:  

There Are Monsters Everywhere - Mayer

Activity:  Paper bag monster puppets

What happened:  All went fairly well and we had a nice big group.  The kids had a lot of fun making the paper bag monsters.

Kings & Knights

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Talk: Letter of the week: K.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter K: keys, ketchup, (wrestler action figure), kiwi, kitten, kit (a baby fox), kangaroo.

We talked about Castles, Knights & Kings from the book “Discover Kids Knights & Castles”-Walker 940.1

Read:

King Jack & the Dragon – Bentley

Sing: Drawbridge Ditty – Mailbox magazine Aug/Sept 2010

See the drawbridge going up,

Going up, going up.

See the drawbridge going up,

We can’t cross.

See the drawbridge going down,

Going down, going down.

See the drawbridge going down,

Let’s all cross.

Read: 

The Knight & the Dragon - DePola

Activity: Show and tell - Lola, the falcon

What happened: We didn’t do a lot of different things in today’s storytime, but our song took a little while to do so that everyone could have a turn.  The kids with the drawbridge song were really funny to watch! I laid a blue sheet on the floor to be our “moat” and the kids reacted to it like it was really water!  When the drawbridge went down over the sheet and I told everyone they could walk across it, they all just stood there.  Some of the kids had to be guided by their parents across!  After a couple of times they decided it was okay and had fun with it.  Craig (our library director's husband) brought in his falcon, Lola.  I think the kids and the parents really enjoyed it and the kids were calm and listened carefully.  They were also really good to not try to pet the bird, which I was really afraid of. 

J

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Discussion: Letter of the week: J.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter J: Atlas-Jack the skeleton, Avery-jump rope, Eden-Jar of jam, Van-jaguar, Jett-jerseys & jellybeans, Rylan-jersey, Teagan-jar of jelly, Lyncoln-jalapeno, Huntley-jar.

Read about other things that start with J from “My J Sound Box” book. 

Rhymes: Jack & Jill, Jack Be Nimble

Action Rhyme:  Johnny Pounds the Hammer 

(hammer fist on knee)

Johnny pounds with one hammer

One hammer, one hammer.

Johnny pounds with one hammer,

Then he pounds with two.

(hammer both legs with both hands)

Johnny pounds with two hammers

Two hammers, Two hammers.

Johnny pounds with two hammers,

Then he pounds with three.

(add stamping of one foot)

Johnny pounds with three hammers

Three hammers, Three hammers.

Johnny pounds with three hammers,

Then he pounds with four.

(add stamping of other foot)

Johnny pounds with four hammers

Four hammers, four hammers.

Johnny pounds with four hammers,

Then he pounds with five.

(add bobbing of head)

Johnny pounds with five hammers.

Five hammers, five hammers.

Johnny pounds with five hammers,

Then he takes a rest! (collapse)

Book: 

Jeremy Draws a Monster - McCarty

Action Rhyme:  Jack, Jack and A Boy Named Jack – 1001 Rhymes

Book: 

Jupiter - Simon 

Activity: Jupiter paintings

Notes: J was a hard theme for me to work with.  The kids really liked the rhyme "Johnny Pounds the Hammer" which I was really lucky to find in a little booklet someone brought home from another library.  I was really nervous to paint with the kids, but it went really well and the kids loved it.  

Ice

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Discussion: Letter of the week: I.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter I: Kali-iPhone, Eden-ice cube tray, Avery-ice, Van-iPhone, Teagan-igloo (made from sugar cubes), Lyncoln-iguana, Jett-iguana

Read about other things that start with I from “My I Sound Box” book. 

Book: 

Mice on Ice - Emberley

Magnet Board: Rhyming with Ice (read a list of words and shivered if they rhymed with ice)

Book: 

Frozen Noses - Carr

Song: Once There Was a Snowman - Laptime Songs

Magnet Board: Ice cream cone letter matching – Mailbox Dec/Jan 09-10

Book: 

From Milk to Ice Cream - Taus-Bolstad

Activities: Ice Cream Sprinkles (rolled the die and put that many sprinkles/pom poms on paper ice cream scoops)

Ate ice cream!

Notes: The kids loved singing Once There Was a Snowman!  Of course they loved eating the ice cream and it was so funny how quiet the room was while everyone was eating.

Hats

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Discussion: Letter of the week: H.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter H. 

Book: 

The Magic Hat - Fox

Magnet Board: Matching Hats - Powerful Mothering

Book: 

I Want My Hat Back – Klassen

Song: Hinges - Children's Songbook

Activity: Hat parade around the library.  Compared hats (pointy/flat, big/small, etc.)

Book: 

Brimsby’s Hat - Prahin

Activity: Paper hats.

Notes: The kids had a lot of fun with the hats and it was fun to have them do a parade around the library.  Next time we need to go all over the library because the adults thought it was pretty fun to see the kids in the parade.  I wouldn’t read “I Want My Hat Back” again.  The kids didn’t really seem to get the story.  The paper hats were fun to make, but they weren’t large enough for some of the kids to actually wear them.

Gingerbread

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Discussion: Letter of the week: G.  Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter G.  Van-garbage truck, Avery-giraffe, Jett-garage door, Rylan-giraffe, Ben-gorilla, Dominic-green blanket.  Found the letter G in name tags and wrote the letter in the air with our fingers.

Book: 

Gingerbread Mouse - Bratun

Activity/Magnet Board: Gingerbread matching – Mailbox Dec/Jan 02-03

Poem: The List of Jeremy Quist 

Action Song: Reindeer Pokey

Story: 
The Gingerbread Man - themailbox.com

Activity: Rudolph hand prints.  Also colored paper ornaments and put them on the tree.

Notes: As the kids came in for storytime I helped them make hand prints on the paper so that they were dry by the end and it would be easier to decorate them (best idea I have had yet!)  The example that I saw on Pinterest had a red nose, but we have so many pom poms I let them pick whatever color they wanted.  I also made molasses (aka Gingerbread) cookies.  Thankfully, everyone loved them!

Frogs

Opening Song: We Clap and Sing Hello!

Discussion: Letter of the week: F. Kids brought things from home that begin with the letter F.  Van-fire truck, Avery-frog, Eden-flashlight, Jett-flamingo, Teagan-frog, Rylan-fork, Lyncoln-fish, Lily-fish, Ben-feather, Sam-frog slippers. Found the letter F in name tags.

We read the book "From Tadpole to Frog" (by Shannon Zemlicka) and discussed the life cycle of the frog.

Book:


Jump Frog Jump - Kalan


Song: Five Little Speckled Frogs
(This is my favorite version)

Five little speckled frogs,
Sat on a hollow log,
Eating some most delicious bugs.
Yum yum!
One jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool.
Now there are four green speckled frogs.
Glug glug!

Book:


Frog Jog - Ziefert
With this book we discussed word families and how they could practice reading this book themselves.

Book:


The Icky Sticky Frog - Bentley

Activity: Origami frog races and Frog lifecycle coloring pages (from Little Miss Hypothesis).

I mad several origami frogs ahead of time (I knew there was no way the kiddos would be able to make them since some of them don't come with a parent) and we flicked them around the room.  I knew some of the kids would rather color, so I had a coloring page ready as well.

What I Learned: Great group! We sang Five Little Speckled Frogs 13 times because, of course, every kid wanted to participate. I thought the Frog Jog book would be good, but the kids didn’t seem that interested. The origami frog race went pretty well, but it isn’t too easy to skip the frogs on the carpet. We had to show the kids how to form a line to race their frogs because they were trying to race in a circle lol;)