Gobble Gobble!

Books we read:

All For Pie by David Martin

Sometimes it's Turkey, Sometimes it's Feathers by Lorna & Lecia Balian

The Littlest Pilgrim by Brandi Dougherty

Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner by Lillian Hoban

We made a cute turkey.  The template can be found here (click here).  All you need is glue, colored paper, scissors, and wiggle eyes (or crayons/markers to draw the eyes).

The children named their turkeys too!  The came up with names like Joe, Bob, Freddie, Grandpa, and Mulan.

We also did some finger plays with these little turkeys.  They were easy to make, just a craft stick, orange colored paper cut in a circle, yellow colored paper cut in a smaller circle and also in small triangles for the beak, brown colored paper for the body, red marker and black markers

                                       

Here are some songs you can sing using these turkeys:

Did You Ever See a Turkey

(sung to "Did you ever see a Lassie)

Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,

Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that. (move turkeyy around in all directions)

Go this way and that way, and this way and that way,

Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

10 Little Turkeys 

10 little turkeys sat in their pen

"Hide turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.

One little turkey flew far away

But the other 9 decided to stay!

9 little turkeys sat in their pen

"Hide turkeys, hide!" said the little red hen.

One litte turkey flew out the gate,

and when he was gone, there were...8!

(repeat first two lines each time, counting down to 1)

One little turkey flew far away

But the other 7 decided to stay!

One little turkey hid with chicks,

When she was gone, there were 6

One little turkey flew far away

But the other 5 decided to stay!

One turkey hopped out the door,

And when he was gone, there were 4

One little turkey flew far away

But the other 3 decided to stay!

One little turkey flapped her wings and flew,

And when she was gone, there were 2

One little turkey flew far away

But the last 1 decided to stay!

The last turkey flew off toward the sun,

And when he was gone, there were none

Mr. Turkey

I have a turkey, big and fat (make fist with one hand, thumb out for turkey's head)

He spreads his tail and walks like that (attach "tail" by spreading out fingers of other hand and join together)

His daily corn he would not miss (poke with thumb at floor)

Amd when he talks, it sounds like this

Gobble, gobble , gobble!!

Thank You!

I just wanted to thank Jean Munk for doing story time last week!  The children had a lot of fun and we really appreciate it!

Pigeons

Books we read:

Don't Let the Pigeon Dive the Bus

Can I Play Too?

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

 -All books are written by Mo Willems

These books were great because they children were able to play along as the pigeon pleaded to drive the bus or to stay up past his bedtime.  The children were able to respond and tell him "no!"  There was even a part where the pigeon said "I bet your mom would let me" and the kids looked at their mom's for them to answer no.  You could talk about why it's important to go to bed on time, sharing, etc.  if you wanted to.

We started out with an activity!  We made an alphabet train!  Each child had a letter of the alphabet that was on a "boxcar" of the train.  We went through the alphabet and everyone brought their letter up and taped it to the train.  We sang the alphabet afterwards.

After reading a couple of books, we did some wiggle poems:

I'll touch my hair, my lips my eyes

I'll sit up straight and then I'll rise.

I'll touch my ears, my nose, my chin,

Then quietly sit down again

My hands upon my head I place,

On my shoulders, on my face,

On my knees and at my side,

Then behind me they will hide.

The I raise them uo so high,

'Till they almost reach the sky.

Swiftly count them 1,2,3,

And see how quiet they can be

 (place finger over mouth as if saying shhhh)

After reading the rest of the books, we made a pigeon door hanger and also had a coloring page.

Thanksgiving Bulletin Board - Gobble Up a Good Book!

For this months bulletin board, I made a turkey that says "Hey little turkey!  What are you thankful for?"

The kids at storytime, as well as other children who visit the library are filling out the word bubble on their own turkey (smaller version of the big one above), and then we take their picture and put their face in the place of the turkey's.

Bugs!

Books we read:

Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

Willy the Worm by Christianne Jones

Today's storytime theme was bugs.  We had a lot of fun today.  We started out with a bug hunt!  I told the children that someone left the doors open in the library last night and a whole bunch of bugs got in and we needed their help to gather them up.  I had paper bugs taped all over the room, gave each of the children a paper jar, and let them go aroung and collect the bugs.  Thay had a lot of fun doing this!

Next we read two books:

Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

Then we sang a song:

The Ladybug has Spots

(Sung to "The Farmer in the Dell")

The lady bug has spots.

The lady bug has spots.

Can you count the number of

This ladybug's spots?

I held up a ladybug with a different number of spots for each round and let the children tell me how many spots they counted.

Our final book was:

Willy the Worm by Christianne Jones

For the craft, we made caterpillars!  All you need is colored paper (cut into large circles and small circles), yarn, and colorful straws (cut at different lenghts), wiggle eyes, and crayons.  Glue the yarn between two large cirles, glue eyes on the circle and draw a mouth.  Then string different colors of straw "beads" to make the body.  Glue the end of the yarn between two small circles.  Don't forget a cute name!

Halloween

Today for storytime, the theme was Halloween!  Here is a list of books we read:

Haunted Party by Iza Trapani

The Story of the Jack O'Lantern by Kathrine Tegen

The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz

Halloween Goodnight by Doug Cushman

The Story of Jack O'Lantern is based off of Irish folklore and was a great way to teach the children a little history behind the tradition of carving jack o'lanterns each Halloween.

Halloween Goodnight was fun because the children were able to make the noises that the ghosts and werewolfs made when they said goodnight.

Today's craft was a lot of fun.  We made paper plate ghosts!  All you need is white paper plates, black paper for the eyes and mouth, white paper for the arms, yarn, and white crate paper streamers.  I drew the arms out on a piece of paper and made copy for the children to have a pattern, but I let them choose what shape of eyes and mouth to make.  We had circle eyes, triangle eyes, and just about every other shape imaginable.  Some ghosts were frowning, some were saying OOOOO, and others were smiling.  The children loved the crate paper streamers that gave the plates their ghostly appearance.

Here are some songs/chants that we sang:

Ring Around the Pumpkins

Ring around the pumpkins,

A pocket full of spiders,

Boo! Boo!

We all fall down!

The ghosts are in the meadow,

Drinking withces brew,

Boo! Boo!

We all stand up!

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (five fingers up)

The first one said "Oh my it's getting late" (hands on cheeks)

The second one said "There's a chill in the air" (arms around self)

The third one said "But we don't care" (swing pointer finger)

The fourth one said "We're ready for some fun!" (hands in the air) 

The fifth one said "Let's run, run, run!" (running motion)

So woooo went the wind, and out went the lights,

And the five litle pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Jack O'Lantern

First two eyes (point at eyes)

And then a nose (point to nose)

Then a mouth with teeth in rows! (big grin)

Oh! Oh! Spooky sight,

Jack-o-lanterns in the night!

I also made tootsie pop ghosts to hand out at the end.  All you need is tootsie pop suckers, napkins, yarn, and a marker!

We had a great turn out today!  Thanks everyone for comming!

Fun With Food!

Today's theme was food.  Here is a list of books we read:

Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe  by Barbara Odanka

Too Many Pears by Jackie French

Crunch Munch by Jonathan London

Little Pea by Amy Kroous Rosenthal

We played a game after reading a couple of books.  I handed each child a picture of a food item. There were healthy ones, such as carrots, milk, and bananas, and not so healthy ones like cookies, french fries, and soda pop.  Then each child took a turn bringing their item up and placing either the bag labled "Eat Often" (yellow hair) or "Eat Sometimes" (brown hair).  It was a fun activity for the children, which also helped them learn how to make good eating choices.

At the end of storytime, we made a Veggie Man.  The kids had fun pasting and coloring the veggies.  Most of them got the colors right, but a few decided that pink tomatoes and purple carrots would be much cooler.

We also had a wiggle song, a chant, and a poem that I had the children do during storytime.

Shake My Sillies Out
Gotta shake, shake, shake my sillies out
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out
And wiggle my waggles away.

Gotta clap, clap, clap my crazies out.....
Gotta jump, jump, jump my jiggles out.....
Gotta yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out.....
Gotta stretch, stretch, stretch my stretchies out......
Gotta shake, shake, shake my sillies out.....

Carrots
Three little carrots (hold up three fingers)
What can I make?
I'll use one to make carrot cake.
(bend down one finger)

Two little carrots
Just watch my carrot tricks
I'll chop one to make some carrot sticks
(bend down second finger)

One little carrot
Alone in the sink
I'll blend one to make a carrot drink
(bend down third finger)

Color Fruits
One yellow banana extra nice,
Pretty please give me a slice.
Two round oranges really sweet,
What a super-duper treat.
Three red apples very bright,
Hurry up and take a bite.
Four purple plums in a sack,
Make a really special snack.
Five ripe pears all so yellow,
Yum, yum, how rich and mellow.
Six green melons nice to eat,
A dessert that can't be beat.
Seven peaches rather pink,
A good fruit to eat, I think.
Eight blueberries firm and good,
Do have some, you really should.
Nine cherries so shiny red,
Try some now, go right ahead.
Ten green grapes so great to munch,
Here, put a few in your lunch.

Here is another one that I thought was cute:
Vegetable Song
(tune of Twinkle Twinkle)
Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good for me.
For my snack and in my lunch,
Veggie sticks are great to munch.
Carrots, Peas, and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good for me.