Storytime: Music & Sound

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP theme, I have chosen seven science topics for our summer. This week we looked at music/sound.


1) What's the weather? 

I made a weather chart for week one of summer reading, and am starting each week this summer talking about the current weather. We sang this little song to go with it, to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine:

What's the weather, what's the weather,
What's the weather everyone?
Is it windy, is it cloudy, is there rain, or is there sun?


2) Introduce topic - music/sound
Science makes sound happen! I encouraged kids to feel their throat, then say a quiet lalala. Feel the vibrations? Your throat vibrates and invisible sound waves travel through the air, which then vibrate the little bones inside your ear and you can hear it! Yay science! (idea from Abby)


3) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
We sing this every week before reading our first book. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


4) Chuck's Band - Peggy Perry Anderson

A fun book about different animals on the farm forming a band as the farmer buys different instruments for them.


5) Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Do animals really play instruments?? No... but they can make music, right??
I found some really cute crocheted animal finger puppets, which I put in a tin I have that has a barn on the front. One by one they came out, and the kids loved singing this classic song.


6) Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin - Lloyd Moss

This book is pretty neat on its own (Caldecott Honor), talking about and showing different instruments in an orchestra, but I wanted to take it another step. It can be downloaded as an audio book in a few places (which costs money), but I found it also on YouTube. I hooked up my iPad to some speakers, and let someone else read the book while I showed the kids the pictures. The best part? The reading of it included the sounds of ALL the different instruments!

It was pretty long, and some of the kids got restless toward the end, so we started interacting with it a bit by counting the instruments on each page and standing up and "conducting" the orchestra at the end. When it was done I asked the kids which instrument they would like to play. After a number of them answered, I told them I had an instrument they could play right now!


7) Rhythm sticks
I took resources from Amy and Kendra. I introduced what we were going to do by saying "Each of you will get a pair of rhythm sticks! [look at parents] They will naturally start clicking them together, and that's great. I need you to help them learn to use them properly, and not clack them on each other. I want them to have the chance to try something new, but we don't want anyone to get hurt!"

After handing out sticks, I took a pair and sat down and said "You guys sound great!! Let's see how good your ears are today, let's see how well you can listen." We practiced putting our sticks on our shoulders until I gave further instructions, and we practiced making our sticks sound fast and loud, and soft and quiet. Then we did this song together:

(Mulberry Bush)
This is the way we tap our sticks, tap our sticks, tap our sticks
This is the way we tap our sticks, so early in the morning.

This is the way we rub our sticks...
This is the way we tap our knees (gently!!)...

As Kendra did, we sang the entire thing through three times, and by the end they were all right with me. Repetition does amazing things for kids.


8) Music/sound craft
I was able to get the rhythm sticks back from the kids by telling them next we were going to make an instrument that they would get to take home with them. :) Really easy shakers -- they colored on the backside of small paper plates, put a handful of dry beans in, and stapled it shut around the outside.

My 4-year-old daughter's version. She thought
to put the music note on all by herself. :) 

Other music ideas:
Violet's Music - Angela Johnson (I had this one on my list to read at the end, after rhythm sticks, but we were already at a half hour)
Jazz Baby - Lisa Wheeler
Jazzmatazz! - Stephanie Calmenson
The Happy Hedgehog Band - Martin Waddell
Crash Bang Donkey! - Jill Newton
Punk Farm - Jarrett Krosoczka
I Know a Chicken song - Laurie Berkner

Storytime: Water

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP theme, I have chosen seven science topics for our summer. This week we looked at water.


1) What's the weather? 

I made a weather chart for week one of summer reading, and am starting each week this summer talking about the current weather. We sang this little song to go with it, to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine:

What's the weather, what's the weather,
What's the weather everyone?
Is it windy, is it cloudy, is there rain, or is there sun?


2) Where do you find water?
I told the kids our topic for the week, then asked them what some of the places are where they see water. I listed them on a piece of posterboard, to encourage some word/letter recognition.

3) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
We sing this every week before reading our first book. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


4) Water in the Park - Emily Jenkins

A little long, so I ad-libbed a bit. I also made a simple clock that I could move the hour hand to each time of day, to help keep the kids' attention.

5) Sink or float?
Idea from Amy and Katie. Rather than using it as a station like they did, I did the "experiment" in front of the kids. I explained what "float" and "sink" mean, then held up objects one at a time and asked the kids which they thought it would do in water. I had two crayons at the end, and purposely dropped the first pointy-end down so it would sink, then did another and gently laid it on top of the water to float. I encouraged them to find things at home (with parent permission of course!) that they could test in their own bathtub.

Duck, rock, Lego, popsicle stick, penny, crayons

6) It Could Still Be Water (nonfiction) - Allan Fowler

I'm loving these Rookie Read-About Science books. I found one to use during our moon storytime last winter, and they are at just the right level for preschool storytime. I wish the books themselves were a little bigger though, the kids had to come close for them to see the pictures.


7) The Goldfish Song - Laurie Berkner
The previous book ended with mention of water being a home for fish, which led great into one of my kids' favorite songs.


8) Water Can Be - Laura Purdie Salas

This book came out in April, and is a great simple, poetic way of telling all the different roles water can play in our lives. I highly recommend adding it to your collection if you don't already have it!


9) Water craft
I purchased some simple water painting pages from CSLP/Upstart, gave the kids paintbrushes and cups of water, and let them go at it.

Other water ideas:
This is the Ocean - Kersten Hamilton (I actually almost used this one, and thought of making a flannel board for it. Then I found the non-fiction book and chose it instead.)
All the Water in the World - George Ella Lyon
It's Raining - Gail Gibbons
Moonbear's Pet - Frank Asch
Itsy Bitsy Spider song
anything from my Underwater Storytime
markers on coffee filters, spray with water to make cool designs
water cycle bracelets

Storytime: Animals

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP science theme, I have chosen seven topics for our summer. This week we did the easy, generic topic of animals.

My own kids and I managed to come down with strep throat over the long holiday weekend, and while I was feeling much better come storytime, my singing and reading voice was not completely healed yet. Luckily I had a volunteer who comes on Monday evenings who had previously said she was willing to read for me anytime, and on Tuesday morning my library director was available to read. The songs were all done from cds, and I just introduced each thing we did.


1) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
My current opening song. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


2) What Pet to Get? - Emma Dodd  OR  Where's My Mom? - Julia Donaldson

I let my volunteer readers choose between a handful of books what they would like to read.


3) Song - I Know a Chicken - Laurie Berkner
Chickens are animals too. :) This is a favorite song for my kids. Luckily we had just enough egg shakers to go around!


4) If You're Happy and You Know It - Jane Cabrera  OR  Mommy Carry Me Please - Jane Cabrera

Again I let my volunteers choose. The If You're Happy book went over really well because it got the kids up and moving, another one I would have personally chosen for this slot is Eric Carle's From Head to Toe.


5) The Monkey Dance - Wiggles
A really easy song to act crazy and jump around and get some energy out!


6) Brown Bear, Brown Bear - Bill Martin Jr.

Both volunteers chose to end with this book. Most of the kids read it right along with them. :)


7) Animal Craft
I purchased some Color-In Masks from Nasco. The kids colored them however they wanted -- I put up pictures of some animals and we had animal books around the room for inspiration. Most just scribbled whatever colors they wanted, but some of the older ones really tried to make theirs look like animals. Tigers were popular (which is what my example was), as were the purple cats from our last book. :)

Other animal ideas:
From Head to Toe - Eric Carle
Actual Size - Steve Jenkins (I probably would have used this one myself, it's a great book for incorporating some non-fiction into storytime, as are the books below)
Whose Legs, Tail, Eyes, Nose, Ears are These? - Peg Hall
5 little monkeys
Old MacDonald
Paper bag puppets
Anything from my previous zoo storytime

Storytime: 5 Senses

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP science theme, I have chosen seven topics for our summer. This week we talked about the five senses.


1) What's the weather? 

I made a weather chart for week one of summer reading, and am going to start each week this summer talking about the current weather. We sang this little song to go with it, to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine:

What's the weather, what's the weather,
What's the weather everyone?
Is it windy, is it cloudy, is there rain, or is there sun?


2) Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
To introduce the topic of our five senses, we talked about some of the cool things our bodies can do, and sang this classic motion song.


3) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
My current opening song. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


4) My Five Senses - Aliki

A simple book that describes our senses. I had the kids point at the parts of their body each time we talked about a sense -- pointing at eyes on the page about seeing, etc.


5) Five senses flannel
This idea is from Miss Meg's Storytime. Rather than creating all new flannel pieces, I raided what I already had in my drawer and pulled out things like a bird, flower, strawberry, rabbit, and ice cream cone. Then I printed out the senses words and flannel backed them. We looked at one item at a time and I went through the list - Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you smell it? Can you touch it? Can you taste it? and put up the correct words next to the item.

6) Rain - Manya Stojic

This book made a nice connection to last week's discussion of weather. The kids liked the big bold pictures of animals. It's a really neat book for describing how you can use all five of your senses to describe one thing.


7) Senses Hokey Pokey
You put your seeing eyes in, you put your seeing eyes out
You put your seeing eyes in, and you blink/shake them all about
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around
That's what it's all about!

...touching fingers...
...smelling nose...
...listening ears...
...tasting tongue... (the kids LOVED this one, trying to sing with their tongue sticking out!)
...whole self!...


8) Senses on the Farm - Shelley Rotner

There are a couple other books in this series (Senses in the City and Senses at the Seashore), and I thought this one would be most relevant to the kids in our small town. I paperclipped a lot of the pages, choosing just two or three of each sense.


9) Senses stations and take-home activity
Instead of a craft this week, I set up five stations around the room. The kids could go to each station and do an activity related to one of their senses.

Cardboard, tree bark, smooth and rough stones,
nail file, steel wool, cotton balls, feather

Coins, jingle bells, cotton balls, LEGOs, corn, marbles

Cotton balls with lemon juice, vanilla extract, pepper, cinnamon, coffee

I managed to erase the pictures I took of sight and taste before getting them to my computer. Whoops. For sight, I listed 8 things for the kids to find in the painted mural around our room (a basketball, a rainbow, the letter T, etc.) like I did during my E is for Eyes storytime. For taste, I put out little plastic cups in three groups -- one had a few granules of sugar, another a bit of salt, and the third a tiny bit of unsweetened lemonade mix.

I had a lot of parents say they really liked the stations idea! It really reinforced what the five senses are. I also sent home a paper with some ideas of ways to use five senses at home, like describing tastes while eating and playing I Spy while on a walk.



Other senses ideas:
Five for a Little One - Chris Raschka
Senses at the Seashore - Shelley Rotner
Senses in the City - Shelley Rotner

Storytime: Weather

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Hurray for the beginning of Summer Reading! Our Pre-Reader group is our most-highly-sought-after program. We offer storytime each week, with two time slots for families to choose between, and they always max out on registrations. We end up with 60 kids total ages 2-5, while our 1st-6th grade group has 80-100 and our teens have around 25. In the future I'm hoping to really work at encouraging the kids to come back as they get older!

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP science theme, I have chosen seven topics for our summer. We opened with Weather.

1) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
We used this as my opening song all last summer and last school year, and the kids seem to like it so much that I decided to not change it. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


2) Hello Sun - Dayle Ann Dodds

A simple little story of a girl and her cat who want to go outside but keep needing to come back in for different clothes because of the changing weather.


3) What's the weather? 

I made a weather chart similar to this one. I hope to incorporate talking about the current weather each week this summer. We sang this little song to go with it, to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine:

What's the weather, what's the weather,
What's the weather everyone?
Is it windy, is it cloudy, is there rain, or is there sun?


4) Mr. Sun - Raffi
It has been a rainy week, so we transitioned to hoping the sun will come out, and singing this song to help him along. I used a combination of motions from Jbrary and Raffi himself.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun (make big sun with arms over head)
Please shine down on me (wiggle fingers and come down, kind of like rain actually)
Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun (make big sun with arms over head)
Hiding behind a tree (hide eyes with hands)

These little children are asking you (point at self with thumbs)
To please come out so we can play with you (hands make "come here" motion)
Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun (make big sun with arms over head)
Please shine down on me (wiggle fingers and come down)


5) Little Cloud - Eric Carle

A small cloud changes into different shapes. I let the kids tell me each time what they thought it looked like.


6) Itsy Bitsy Spider
The previous book ended with it raining, so I told the kids they knew a song about rain. We sang it the traditional way, then also did the "great big hairy spider" (in a really deep voice) and the "teensy weensy spider" (in a high squeaky voice).


7) Sounds of rain activity
I told the kids we were going to make it sound like rain inside our room. I had them just watch and imitate me:

Rub hands together
Pat the floor with hands
Clap hands
Stand up and stomp while clapping
Clap hands
Pat the floor with hands
Rub hands together

I then had fun jumping between the really quiet and the really loud and back again. :)


8) A Rainbow of My Own - Don Freeman

I paperclipped a couple of pages together in this one, knowing it was our last book and our first storytime, the kids would be getting a little antsy. It led into our craft, where the kids got to take home a rainbow of their own!


10) Rainbow Craft
Construction paper (pre-cut), glue, and cotton balls. Easy peasy.

My 4-year-old daughter's version

Other weather ideas:
Kipper's Book of Weather - Mick Inkpen
Colors of Weather - Laura Purdie Salas
The Wind Blew - Pat Hutchins
Storm is Coming - Heather Tekavec
In the Rain with Baby Duck - Amy Hest
Baby Bear Sees Blue - Ashley Wolff
Just a Thunderstorm - Gina Mayer
It Looked Like Spilt Milk - Charles Shaw
Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
The First Day of Winter - Denise Fleming
All You Need for a Snowman - Alice Schertle

Bulletin Board: Star Scientists

In honor of our Summer Reading Program (Fizz, Boom, Read!), I wanted to make my #2 bulletin board something science-y (#1 has info about our summer programs). I wanted it to be interesting and simple to assemble, and something that could stay up all summer long. While searching Pinterest for science-themed bulletin boards, I came across this page from The Teacher Garden. It was perfect!! Mrs. K even had all of her biography sheets available for free download (thank you!!!!). I printed six and matted them on construction paper to put up on my board. I wished I had space to put all 10 scientists up, but I didn't want the board to get too busy.

We have some great display space by our corner fireplace.

Trying to make it personal. :) 

Now I can sit back and not have to do anything with my bulletin boards until fall! Bring on summer reading!

Bulletin Board: Where will reading take you?

Here is a really simple bulletin board I made, good for any time of the year. I saw the idea in a few places on Pinterest (such as here and here). I used butcher paper to make the poles, and printed the place names in Publisher.

Where will reading take you?

Panem

Neverland

The Shire

100 Acre Wood

The Emerald City

Camp Half-Blood

Hogwarts

Narnia

Whoville

Many of the books have been made into movies, and so I could Google search "Hunger Games font" and find a free font to download and use. 

Do you know what book each of these places is from?? :)

Bulletin Board: Summer Reading 2014

Here is the bulletin board I created to advertise our Summer Reading Program events:

The "Summer Reading" heading was taken from a neat website I found called MyFunStudio.com. You can enter any text you want and it will give a PDF or PNG file of the periodic table letters in those words.

The white pages describe each level of summer reading (the adult display is upstairs), with the special events each group will have during the summer.

I used the clipart images from the CSLP cd, printed in color on regular paper, and the two large posters were ordered from CSLP/Upstart.

It's something simple I can keep up all summer long!

Judging Books by their Covers: Eragon

Jessica at Quirky Bookworm hosts Bookworm Fridays on the first Friday of each month, and June features a "Judging Books By Their Covers" linkup. Here's my contribution!

A year or two ago I was searching my library's ebooks for something new to read. I'm a fan of fantasy books like The Lord of the Rings, and when I came across Eragon it caught my eye.

One Boy… One Dragon… A World of Adventure. When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands …

I read the first two books in the series, then put it aside for awhile since they're so long (think Harry Potter, but much more in-depth and descriptive). Just a week or so ago I was in need of something new to read again and was craving some fantasy, and decided to pick up where I'd left off and start book three.

Since I'd only ever seen one cover of this book (see the 2003 hardcover edition below), I thought it would be fun to search for others for this linkup post. And boy did I discover some fun stuff!! First off, there is actually an entire wiki dedicated to this series. I found multiple book covers as well as the history of the series. I had no idea Christopher Paolini wrote the first draft of Eragon when he was only 15! His family self-published the book first, then a famous author came across a copy of it and took it to his publisher. It then became a NYT bestseller.

So which cover is your favorite? If you saw all of these together on the shelf, which one would you reach for?

2003, hardcover edition.
The paperback edition features
a closeup of Saphira's face.

Original, self-published cover, 2002

10th anniversary collector's edition

Japanese edition

Swedish edition

Vietnamese edition

I found the following covers through a Google image search, it appears a college design class had the assignment of re-designing the cover to this book! What a neat idea!

And of course, one of the movie posters. I haven't seen it, but from what I've read the movie is "loosely" based on the book. Come on people, if you're going to create a movie with the same name and plot line as a book, you should try to make it as close to the book as you can! If I remember correctly, I've heard that in the movie, Saphira isn't even blue.

I think my favorite covers out of all of these are the first of the design class -- I like the blue egg and the sunrise, it sets the stage for where the story begins -- and the original edition designed by the author. The collector's edition is pretty sweet too.