Go, Shapes, Go! (Preschool and Two's)

Today we had games!  To view all that we did, please click here.

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: Shape Guessing Game

*The kids loved guessing what was hiding behind each of my shapes.

Book: Shapes, Reshape!

*The kids loved guessing the animals in this book.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Fingerplay/Flannel: Kangaroo, kangaroo, behind which shape are you?

Book: Apples and Robins

*I am in love with this book! You see one item on the page, and when you turn it over it magically becomes an apple or a bird! The kids enjoyed it, but didn’t like as much as I hoped.

Fingerplay: Bird House Matching Game

*The kids went crazy!

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Fingerplay/Flannel: Baa Baa Black Sheep

*The kids loved bringing items to the flannelboard and did really well waiting on me to call out shape they were holding.

Credit: Read Rabbit Read

Book: Achoo! By Morgand

*The kids went crazy over items being thrown out on them!

Extra Books:

*Our craft today was shapes on the farm!  The kids glued down the pig, wheels, triangles around the sun, and tractor.  They turned out adorable!
Credit:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Shapes, Reshape! (with puppets)

*The two's did so great with this book!  They all guess what the shapes might be and went crazy when the puppets popped up behind me.

Fingerplay: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Triangles by Yonezu

*Normally I don't do three books with the two's, but I risked it today and I'm so glad I did. This board book is super short and simple, but the two's went wild over it! I'm so happy that they loved it like they did.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Baby Kangaroo, Baby Kangaroo”

Book: Achoo! By Morgand
*As usual, the two's went bonkers during this book. Why? Because I threw out all the paper shapes onto them!

Extra Read-Alouds:

*Our craft today was shapes on the farm!  The kids glued down the pig, wheels, triangles around the sun, and tractor.  They turned out adorable!
Credit:

SRP 2018

It's that time of year again...SRP!!!  I will try and update this post as I get time, no promises though!  Usually we go all out and decorate every possible inch of my department.  But we had a complete renovation last year, so we can't decorate our area like we used to.  But we are in a new, fabulous space, so I won't complain!  But we will have small things decorated for our theme this summer, to help jazz up our desk.  Plus I'm hoping to decorate our auditorium, where we have all our programs, and our display case in the front lobby.  When I get those items done, I will post pics, if I don't forget.

I have to share the wonderful thing my boss did! We have stuffed animals sitting in our window, elephant, piggie and pigeon.  But they needed some items to go with our SRP theme this year, so my boss came to the rescue!  Check it out below!  Are they not the best???  I honestly think I like pigeon's microphone the best!  But I can't decide.  I really love the logo on the front of elephant's drum that says "Mo Willems Band".  All so precious, and all the credit goes to my rockin' boss!

Below are some decorations that are up in our auditorium.  We've recently renovated our youth services area, so we can't go all out with decorations like we used to, but that's okay!

  

April Games and Sensory Bins

For April, I tried to make the games match up with the storytimes we did this month.  So most of my games centered around shapes, bugs and springtime.

1. Rabbit Shape Matching
The preschoolers did great matching the carrots to the correct shape!  Such a fun way to help them learn their shapes.
Credit: Totschooling

2. Caterpillar Pom-Pom Drop
As usual, the kids love dropping anything through our tubes!




3. Bumblebee Letter Matching
For this, we spelled out the word S-P-R-I-N-G.  I think the kids got confused because I had both halves of the bee taped down.  They dug out the matching letter from our sensory bowl.  Next time I will only put down one side of the bee on the table so that they can match the other side to it.
Credit: Modern Preschool

4. Butterfly Sensory Bin
The kids go crazy digging through the butterfly petals!  Today we dug out butterflies, of course!

Buggy for Books (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Walter’s Wonderful Web

*This book is so much fun to read! I had the kids blow like the wind and roll their hands while Walter was spinning the web. I think this helped make this book more interactive. The kids really enjoyed telling me all the shapes that Walter was making.

Fingerplay: Bug Guessing Game

For this, I made shadows of bugs to hold up, then flipped them over to show the picture of the bugs. I was very surprised that the kids could guess very quickly all of the bugs! I found this idea on youtube, and the video is wonderful! I plan to use some of the videos in the series later on.

Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB0-lie2hrY

Fingerplay: Hiding Game

Little bug, little bug, are you under the {red} rug?

Book: Bye, Bye, Big Bad Bullybug!

*I adore reading this book! It's just like "Go away, big green monster!" with all the cutouts. As you read, the big bad bullybug appears! The best part? You smoosh him with your foot! After I turned the page and we all stomped our feet and smooshed the bullybug a little boy told me the most precious thing. He said "You're not supposed to stomp on bugs!" I just lost it right there in front of everyone! I told him, no we're not, but this was just a silly book. The best reaction I've ever received after reading this book, by far.

Fingerplay: Bug Action Cards

Book: Bugs From Head to Tail

*This is a great guessing book to use and the kids loved telling me all the bugs inside the book.

Fingerplay: Five Ladybugs (Use puppets)

Five Little Ladybugs

Five little ladybugs on our front door,  (Hold up five fingers)

One flew to Daddy, and that left four.

Four little ladybugs, oh so wee,  (Hold up four fingers)

One flew to Mommy,, and that left three.

Three little ladybugs saying "howdy-do,"  (Hold up three fingers)

One flew to Sister, and that left two.

Two little ladybugs snoozing in the sun,  (Hold up two fingers)

One flew to Brother, and that left one.

One little ladybug alone on the door,  (Hold up one finger)

It flew to Baby, then there were no more.

Credit: Library Village

Action: We’re Going on a Bug Hunt

*This is by far the best part of storytime! I have a butterfly net, and my volunteer is behind the puppet stage with my bugs I'm trying to catch. Of course, I can never catch them on the first or even second try. The kids went bonkers hollering and screaming at me to catch those bugs! I've got to come up with more items I can try to catch.

*Our craft today was a dragonfly. I had no idea the kids would get such a kick out of this craft, but they loved flying around with it! I think the biggest appeal was being able to hold the popsicle stick in their hands and gripping it. I've got to find more crafts like this, they really liked it!
Credit: Pick Ease

Extra Books:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Office Book: Butterfly, Butterfly

*The two's loved seeing the butterfly pop-up at the end!

Fingerplay: Bug Action Cards

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bug, Little Bug, Are You Under the Rug?

*Another fun option for this is to hide a worm under fruit!  There is a great rhyme for dancing around on her blog too.
Credit: Storytime wtih Miss Tara and Friends

Book: Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug!

Fingerplay: File Folder Ladybug
*I ran out of time for this great file folder story.
Credit: Fun with Friends at Storytime

Fingerplay: Five Ladybugs (Use puppets)

Five Little Ladybugs

Five little ladybugs on our front door,  (Hold up five fingers)

One flew to Daddy, and that left four.

Four little ladybugs, oh so wee,  (Hold up four fingers)

One flew to Mommy,, and that left three.

Three little ladybugs saying "howdy-do,"  (Hold up three fingers)

One flew to Sister, and that left two.

Two little ladybugs snoozing in the sun,  (Hold up two fingers)

One flew to Brother, and that left one.

One little ladybug alone on the door,  (Hold up one finger)

It flew to Baby, then there were no more.

Credit: Library Village

Action: We’re Going on a Bug Hunt

*This is by far the best part of storytime! I have a butterfly net, and my volunteer is behind the puppet stage with my bugs I'm trying to catch. Of course, I can never catch them on the first or even second try.

*Our craft today was a dragonfly. I had no idea the kids would get such a kick out of this craft, but they loved flying around with it! I think the biggest appeal was being able to hold the popsicle stick in their hands and gripping it. I've got to find more crafts like this, they really liked it!
Credit: Pick Ease

Extra Books:

Shake Your Sillies Out! (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

*Ask kids what looks silly, tablecloth, books upside down, what I’m wearing silly, etc.

Book: My Toothbrush is Missing

*I had all the items from this book and my volunteer brought them to me as I was reading. The kids went crazy telling me that each thing wasn't my toothbrush!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Silly Bananas  

Book: Polar Bear’s Underwear

*The kids laughed a lot at the underwear!

Fingerplay: I Hear a...

I heard a little baa; It woke me from my sleep. First I saw a wooly face and then I saw a SHEEP

I heard a little growl; I peeked behind a chair. First I saw a shaggy paw and then I saw a BEAR

I heard a little purr; I lifted up the mat. First I saw some silky fur, and then I saw a CAT

I heard a little squeak; I search around the house. First I saw two shiny eyes and then I saw a MOUSE

I heard a little hiss; I peeped under a rake. First I saw a flicking tongue and then I saw a SNAKE

I heard a little bark; I peered inside a log. First I saw a floppy ear, and then I saw a DOG

I heard a little buzz; I scrambled up a tree. First I saw a stripy back, and then I saw a Bee

Credit: Librarian vs. Storytime

Fingerplay/Flannel: Make a Pig

*This time the kids helped me make a pig, which they went wild over! I start out with a basic body, but it has no ears, tail, legs or nose. Then I ask the kids to tell me what it needs, and I always put up the wrong body part before I ever get it all to look right.

Book: There Is a Bird on Your Head!

*This story is so much fun to do, especially if you have a pretend birds nest on your head. Which I did that exact thing! The kids had fun telling me very quickly I had birds on my head.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Who Has the Cheese
Credit: Etsy

*Loved!

Music: Shake Your Sillies Out OR Silly Dance Contest

Our craft today was a bear in underwear!

Credit: Life in First Grade

Extra Read-Alouds:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Seals on the Bus (With puppets)

*The two's were super quiet during this book but seemed to enjoy it.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree

Book:  Polar Bear’s Underwear

*The two's loved seeing the underwear!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Who Has the Cheese?
Credit: Etsy

Music: Shake Your Sillies Out

*Loved seeing puppets dance behind me.

Extra Books:

Our craft today was a bear in underwear!
Credit: Life in First Grade