Today our theme was intended to be about audience participation and recapping past songs and rhymes. I printed out some of the songs we’ve done in the past, and put a couple of new ones on there. I put up a display of some of the books we read in the past. I think originally I planned for families to choose a book and read it together individually at some point… But I didn’t feel like we had time in the end.
Books We Shared
We read Hush, Little Baby, an old lullaby illustrated humorously by Marla Frazee.
Then, we read another book based on that lullaby:
Hush, Little Alien by Daniel Kirk has large, imaginative pictures showing the love of a green alien dad, and it can be sung! I recently attended a storytime workshop about the value of “singing” books. It slows the words down so that people learning the language can read them. It also slows things down so that small children can develop print knowledge. And, there is research that shows kids love hearing their parents sing! (Whether we hold our own voices in such high esteem may be a different matter!)
Flannel Boards We Shared
Five Pigs so Squeaky Clean
This is one of the songs I put on the handout, and I wanted to bring it back for repetition and learning’s sake.
Five pigs so squeaky clean
Cleanest you’ve ever seen
Wanted to go outside and play
Oink! Oink!
One jumped into the mud
Landed with a big THUD
Then there were four clean squeaky pigs!
(Take a pig and flip it over to show it getting dirty. Repeat the rhyme with one fewer pig mentioned, until there are no more clean pigs)
I also showed how the songs “Five Little Ducks” and “Six Little Ducks” have a similar melody:
Six Little Ducks
Six little ducks
That I once knew
Fat ones, skinny ones,
Fair ones, too
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack,
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
Down to the river
They would go
Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble,
To and fro
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack,
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
Back from the river
They would come
Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble,
Ho, hum, hum
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack,
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack
We took one duck away, and the song became…
Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
but only four little ducks came swimming back…
Four little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
but only three little ducks came swimming back…
Three little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
but only two little ducks came swimming back…
Two little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
but only one little duck came swimming back…
One little duck went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
but no little ducks came swimming back…
No little ducks went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,”
and all five ducks came swimming back.
Letter of the Day
Our Letter of the Day was R, for “recap” and “remember” and “read.” We made “the world’s biggest R” in the air and talked about words that start with that letter.
Action Songs & Bounces We Shared
Flea
On my toe there is a flea
Now he’s climbing on my knee
Past my tummy, past my nose
On my head where my hair grows
On my head there is a flea
Now he’s climbing down on me
Past my tummy, past my knee
On my toe… Take that, you flea!
One Bright Scarf
One bright scarf waiting for the wind to blow
Toss it up high, and wave it down low
Wiggle it fast, and wiggle it slow
(then cover your face)
Hey! Where did everybody go?
(lift up scarf) There you are!
Pop Goes the Weasel
All around the cobbler’s bench
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought it all in fun –
Pop! goes the weasel!
A penny for a spool of thread
A penny for a needle
That’s the way the money goes –
Pop! goes the weasel!
Open Shut Them
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Place them on your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, crawl them,
Creep them, crawl them,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open up your little mouth,
But… do not let them in!!
Two Little Blackbirds
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill
One named Jack and the other named Jill
Fly away Jack and fly away Jill
Come back Jack and come back Jill
Goodbye Friends (song in sign)
Click here for video: Goodbye Babies (Friends)
Goodbye friends, goodbye friends
Goodbye friends, it’s time to say goodbye.
Music from CDs We Shared
Did you know singing and dancing improve brain function? Here are some of the songs/dances on CD that we used in storytime to power up our early literacy with some great blood flow!
“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman
“I Know a Chicken” from The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band
“Goodbye in the Bayou” from Bon Voyage by Jazzy Ash
“Goodbye Song” from Shining Like a Star by Laura Doherty
Video We Shared
We watched several videos about letters from the Sesame Street Alphabet Songs DVD. First it was two songs about the letter R, and then a really funny song about the letter N!
Continue the Fun
For more picture book versions of songs, check here.
If you ever want to learn some more fingerplays and songs to do with your kids, please check out the videos on our Fingerplay at PPL site. There are tons of fingerplays there, in several different languages!
It was such a joy to have all of you in storytime. Hope you can come next week to see Angie Donkin perform in our auditorium at 10 am on Tuesday, Dec. 10th!
I wish you all a very happy holiday season!