Hedgehogs - A Storytime Outline

Hedgehogs. Yes, hedgehogs. Let's all go, "Awwww!". A lot of this program was inspired by other storytime bloggers like Storytime ABC's and Notes from the Story Room because they did such a wonderful job. Thank you, ladies!

BOOKS

"Hedgehog" Draw-and-Tell story written by Linda Meuse (T, P)
I really enjoyed doing this draw-and-tell story. It was the very first thing that I did before we started the program so that the families had to guess what the program theme was. The preschoolers already had an idea because they saw one of books on the table before. The Toddlers really liked by drawing skills, and the Preschoolers were a little less than impressed.
Source: Notes from the Story Room

Harriet Dancing written by Ruth Symes and illus. by Caroline Jayne Church (T, P)
This is such a fun book. The girls in the Preschool Storytime thought it was fun to see Harriet covered in flowers. 

Hedgehogs: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual written by Sharon Vanderlip, D.V.M.
I showed this book to both groups because it had a good amount of photos of real hedgehogs. Everyone loved the little pink baby ones. Who doesn't?!

Ouch! written by Ragnhild Scamell and illus. by Michael Terry (P)
 Everyone loved this book! I will need to make a flannel version of this one someday.

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P)

follow actions

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a little clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them up to your chin

Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a big clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap.

Butterfly, Butterfly Passing Me By (T)
tune: Bluebird, Bluebird On My Window
Butterfly, butterfly passing me by
Butterfly, butterfly passing me by
Butterfly, butterfly passing me by
Oh, what color are you?
(name the color)
Source: Me! Dorothy, WPCC

Ten Little Hedgehogs (T, P)
tune: Ten Little Indians
One little, two little, three little hedgehogs.
Four little, five little, six little hedgehogs.
Seven little, eight little, nine little hedgehogs.
Ten little hedgehogs sitting by some logs.

Ten little, nine little, eight little hedgehogs.
Seven little, six little, five little hedgehogs.
Four little, three little, two little hedgehogs.
One little hedgehog chasing a frog.
Source: Storytime ABC's

I'm A Little Hedgehog (P)
tune: I'm A Little Teapot
I'm a little hedgehog, short and round.
Here is my smile, here is my frown.
When I get scared, I roll around.
Just watch me spin across the ground.
Source: Storytime ABC's

Touch Your Nose (T, P)

follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

ACTIVITIES

Egg Shakers (T, P)
One of our egg shakers cracked because it was being slammed into another one during our play time. Time to think about making more of them!

FLANNEL BOARDS

Ten Little Hedgehogs (T, P)
To create the template for the hedgehogs I drew my own little critter then traced it on my felt. To add some life to each one, and so that I had another activity built into the flannel board, I give five of the hedgehogs little bows to signify them as girls and the boys are regular.

When we did the rhyme "Ten Little Hedgehogs" I had the children take turns and put them on the board. Then we did a little bit of math skills and we had to count how many were boys and how many were girls. Remember to ask: "If we add five boys and five girls, how many hedgehogs do we have total?" You'll find out how many already know how add. Awesome! I should make a frog flannel piece to slap on their at the for next time.

CRAFTS

Dancing Hedgehogs (T, P)
Inspired by the book Harriet Dancing we made our own dancing hedgehogs. To make the spiky part of the creature I actually used a die cut for a patch of grass. I will call myself a creative genius now. For the little head/body I basically cut out little bean shapes with a swoop for the nose. Each child also got flowers they could add to their page. For those who wanted them there were also little red bows too. Mine is enjoying a little ukulele music.

PICTURES

Ten Little Hedgehogs flannel board,
Toddler and Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

Dancing Hedgehog,
Toddler and Preschool Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

It's a Circus! - A Storytime Outline

And it was a circus! Literally! The public schools were out for the day and so there was a good influx in attendance, especially in Preschool Storytime. This storytime was a lot of fun because of theme and because the Toddlers LOVED their program.

But it was also one of the toughest.

All storytime librarians know that every so often a new child comes to storytime as shy as can be, and you make them feel welcome and to encourage them to have fun. Then it kinda backfires. The child opens up to being a very curious self that requires constant attention and answers to questions during the program. Everything that is normally hidden behind an easel is found in the middle of a story, which is also when you see that the caregiver is at the back of the room and is voluntarily immobile and mute. Knowing the condition of the child also makes you realize that cannot be nice but stern with the child because it would cause a breakdown in the middle of the program. Tough Preschool Storytime. I love a child with a curiosity, but I also love a child when there is an adult who help him/her understand the ways of behaving in storytime. Lesson learned: brush up on those authority figure skills.

Now, onto this fun storytime theme.

BOOKS

Where's Pup? written by Dayle Ann Dodds and illus. by Pierre Pratt (T)
The toddlers loved this book and would help me ask "but where is pup?" with adorable question-faces. 

Star of the Circus written by Michael and Mary Beth Sampson and illus. by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey (T)
This was fun book, but I decided that I'm not a huge fan of the color choices. 

Wolf Won't Bite written and illus. by Emily Gravett (P)
I love the illustrations of this book. The kids were dead-set on the wolf was going to bite those cute piggies at any minute. 

Little Monkey Says Good Night written by Ann Whitford Paul and illus. by David Walker (P)
This was a good book to end the program with. 

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P) 

follow actions

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a little clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them up to your chin

Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a big clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap.

Popcorn (T, P)
You put the oil in the pot and you let it get hot
You put the popcorn in and you start to grin.
Sizzle, sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle
POP!
Start the poem in a crouch position, knees bent, hands on the floor. At "sizzle," s-l-o-w-l-y rise until the POP!, then jump up in the air!
Source: PreschoolEducation.com via What Happens in Storytime...

Touch Your Nose (T, P) 

follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

ACTIVITIES

Egg Shakers (T)

The name "Egg Shakers" should be synonymous to the word "nirvana" or to the sound of your favorite rock band's concert intro or the songs of angels as the light of Heaven beams through fluffy clouds. The kids love them!

Tight Rope Waking (T, P)
I used bright red masking tape to create two lines that ran through the threshold of the storytime room doors. If they wanted to, children could test their balancing skills as they came into the room.

Ring of Fire Walk Through (T, P)

I found this idea via Pinterest with a link to the blog Maya*Made and thought it'd be perfect for the program. I made he flames from colored printer paper (construction paper would also work). The children could go through the ring. Keep an eye out for little ones who can't step over a high bar, but also keep an eye one who won't noticed the top part and will bonk their head. Be warned and watch out for the over exuberant ones will cut the line! Safety is important!

FLANNEL BOARD

Sammy the Seal's Balancing Act (T, P)
I love this flannel board. To make my little Sammy the Seal I found a printable online and enlarged it (he's approximately 8 inches across). For the collar I simply created a half circle with squiggly edges and I added squiggly stripes for some flair. As for his different colored balancing balls, I used a die cut that my library has on hand.

The children (both Toddlers and Preschoolers) took turns placing the balls on top of each other. One thing you have to remember, especially if you have a lot of children in your program, to place Sammy at the bottom of your flannel board (I have an easel type, by the way) so that you have enough room for a very tall column of balls! The children loved this simple flannel activity and loved counting how many balls we got to balance on Sammy's nose!

CRAFTS

Popcorn Bag (T, P)

I saw this craft idea on Crafts for Kids ©'s MySpace page via Pinterest. It was so cute and it did not involve a clown. Everyone needs a snack when they go to the circus, so obviously we had to make some popcorn! Instead of just gluing small pieces to resemble individual popped kernels I had the children squish up their little pieces to make them appear to be puffy popcorn. The parents loved this craft.

PICTURES

Sammy the Seal's Balancing Act, Toddler and Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

Popcorn craft, Toddler and Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

Ring of Fire activity (after use), Toddler and Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

Stories in the Stars - A Storytime Outline

I fell in love with the storytime theme "Stories in the Stars" from the blog A Bad Case of Books because it sounded so fantastical and lovely. I had to do a storytime. There weren't a lot of books that were specifically about stars that would be for the children who attended my storytimes so I had to flush out a little and include the moon. To create the perfect ambiance for my families, I taped die cut stars all over the storytime room walls, cabinet, and doors. I also included a smiling crescent moon on my flannel board. Everyone loved it!

Everyone enjoyed the books, but the toddlers loved the flannel board activity and egg shakers. The preschoolers loved singing the song "If You're Gong to the Moon" because after going through the original lyrics the children got to create their own. We ended up singing about wear our pants and underwear before going to the moon. So silly!

BOOKS

When the Moon Smiled: A Bedtime Counting Book written and illus. by Petr Horcek (T)
The toddlers and parents really enjoyed this book. The little ones that it was silly too! 

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon written and illus. by Dan Yaccarino (T)

Papa, please get the moon for me written and illus. by Eric Carle (P)
When we got to the page that I had to unfold the book to show how long Papa's ladder was the children were in AWE!

The Way Back Home written and illus. by Oilver Jeffers (P)

The Moon written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illus. by Tracey Campbell Peasrson (P)

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P) 

follow actions

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a little clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them up to your chin

Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a big clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (T, P)
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Four Little Stars (T, P)

Four little stars winking at me.
One shot off and then there were three!
Three little stars with nothing to do.
One shot off, and then there were two!
Two little stars afraid of the sun.
One shot off, and then there was one!
One little star alone is no fun.
It shot off, and then there were non!
Source: PreschoolEducation.com via What Happens In Storytime...

If You're Going to the Moon (P)
Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It
If you're going to the moon, wear your boots (stomp your feet!)
If you're going to the moon, wear your boots
If you're gong to the moon, this is what you have to do,
If you're going to the moon, where your boots.

Other Lyrics:
... wear your glove (clap your hands)
... wear your helmet (point to your head)
Source: Sunflower Storytime 

Touch Your Nose (T, P) 

follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

ACTIVITIES

Egg Shakers (T)

Need I say more?

Catch A Star (P)

This activity was at the very end of the Preschool Storytime. The children had to "catch" a star from the room decorations. These stars were used for their craft. They LOVED it!

FLANNEL BOARD

Storytime's Starry, Starry Night (T)
The Toddlers got to create a lovely starry night sky scene with felt stars and planets. (Sorry, I can't find my picture of it!) 

CRAFTS

Starry Night Skies (T, P)

All of the children got to create their own starry night sky picture with special construction paper crayons (whoever thought up these crayons is a genius!) and to glue on their own stars. For the preschool group I added the element of glitter. Once they were done coloring they came to my table where they squiggled on some glue and we placed the paper into a box lid that lined with aluminum foil and had a thin layer of multi-colored glitter. This method with the box lid and foil liner worked amazingly well and resulted with no mess what.so.ever!

PICTURES

Toddler Storytime Craft, created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013 

Preschool Storytime Craft with glitter
, created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2013

Sammy the Seal's Balancing Act - A Flannel Friday

Salutations everyone! This Flannel Friday posting is brought to you by an It's A Circus! storytime that I did last month (an outline of that is in the works). This is a really simple flannel activity to do, which something that I love and do very often because it is always fun and just works on the children's fine motor skills. 

To make my little Sammy the Seal I found a printable online and enlarged it (he's approximately 8 inches across). For the collar I simply created a half circle with squiggly edges and I added squiggly stripes for some flair. As for his different colored balancing balls, I used a die cut that my library has on hand. 

During the storytime, I placed the first ball on Sammy's nose as the example. Then the children (both Toddlers and Preschoolers) took turns placing the balls on top of each other. One thing you have to remember, especially if you have a lot of children in your program, to place Sammy at the bottom of your flannel board (I have an easel type, by the way) so that you have enough room for a very tall column of balls! The children loved this simple flannel activity that tied into the uber fun theme for the day!  

Have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone!

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Mollie on her blog What Happens in Storytime.... To learn more about Flannel Friday and ways to get involved, please visit the official Flannel Friday blog!

Old Bear's Seasons - A Flannel Friday

Long time, no Flannel Friday post! I'm finally getting back into blogging again. Whew! Thought I'd share my Old Bear's Season flannel board that I did for my I Heart Kevin Henkes storytime I did last last year. The activity started out as a joint project between me and one of our Library Assistants, Korey. For a Library Science class she needed to plan a storytime. We decided that she would help me plan out my Kevin Henkes program since it just so happened one book option was Old Bear. Needing a flannel board, I told her that ideally we should have something with lots of pieces so that the little ones can play with it. So what you see is what we came up with!

She made one version for her to keep and I made a copy for the library. I used a lot of die cuts to create the pieces. The bear you see here is an exact copy that Korey created by hand! Wow!

For Toddler Storytime the children played with the pieces after I read the story. For Preschool Storytime, as I read the story, the children had to put appropriate season on the board.

Thank you, Korey, for being my co-creator for this flannel board!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Melissa on her blog Mel's Desk. To learn more about Flannel Friday and ways to get involved, please visit the official Flannel Friday blog!

Funky Patterns - A Storytime Outline

The first storytime of my Spring season was about patterns. It is said that National Argyle Day is January 8, and my storytime was the day before, so obviously I had to do funky patterns! The families enjoyed the program

BOOKS
Dog's Colorful Day: A Messy Story About Colors and Counting written and illus. by Emma Dodd (T)
The toddlers loved this story. One little boy continuously said "very messy" whenever Dog got a new spot.

The House in the Night written by Susan Marie Swanson and illus. Beth Krommes (T)
I read this Caldecott Medal winning book because I loved the illustrations. The texture and patterns of the black and white lines and the selective yellow was a lot of fun. The toddlers were not into it as much as I would have liked them to be.

Elmer written and illus. by David McKee (P)
I had to read Elmer because, well, he's a patchwork elephant! The children got the story, which was awesome!

Stripe written and illus. by Joanne Partis (P)
The children enjoyed this book, and many thought that little Stripe was very cute. Other were excited because my library system's big tiger puppet had been resting on my storytime table that morning.

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P) 

follow actions

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a little clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them up to your chin

Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Give a big clap

Open, shut them

Open, shut them

Lay them in your lap.

I Can See A Circle (T, P)
I can see a circle shape, circle shape, circle shape
I can see a circle shape, how about you?
(continue with square, triangle, rectangle, diamond)
Source: The Story Place via Storytime Katie

Touch Your Nose (T, P) 

follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

ACTIVITIES
Egg Shakers (T)
Need I say more?

Pattern Identification (T, P)
For each program I had printed out examples of different patterns: chevrons, polka dots, stripes, floral, argyle, and etc. for the children to see. I had the preschools try to guess what type of pattern they were seeing.

FLANNEL BOARD
I Can See A Circle (T, P)
To go along with the song I simply used my die cutter to create felt shapes. While we sang the song, the children took turns putting the current shape on the board.

Elmer's Patchwork Flannel Board (P)
This flannel board was super simple. I created the Elmer body by finding a coloring page online to use as my template. I had to enlarge it a little so that Elmer was big enough for lots of patchwork pieces. After gray Elmer was completed, I cut out lots and lots of different color squares. During the program the children had to put on the patchwork pieces. I had them do it by color so that there was some organization to the chaotic-flannel-board-acticity-excitement that happens.

CRAFTS
Pattern Shapes (T) 
Almost an exact repeat of our I Can See A Circle flannel board activity, the toddlers got to create their own pattern to take home. Using the same die cuts I created different color shapes that the little ones had to glue onto a sheet of construction paper.

Kaleidoscopes (P)
I must say that this was on the coolest crafts that I have ever done! Inspired by other blog posts, such as one made by Little Birdie Secrets, about kaleidoscopes, which helped in figuring out what to place inside of the toilet paper tube. What I used was scraps of leftover laminate that I kept after laminating posters and fliers. I cut the plastic into rectangles and folded them into long triangles. What the preschoolers had to do was (1) tape a black circle to one end of the toilet paper tube (this circle had a hole punched in the middle, which served as the eye piece), (2) insert the laminate triangle, (3) cover the other end of the tube with a square piece of wax paper and tape or rubber band it down, (4) cover the wax paper with glue stick glue, and finally, (5) dip the scope into a bin of tissue paper confetti to create their custom pattern. The children :: LOVED :: their kaleidoscopes!

PICTURES

Elmer Flannel Board, Toddler and Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2013

Pattern Shapes, Toddler Storytim Craft,
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2013

Kaleidoscope, Preschool Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2013

Kaleidoscope, Preschool Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2013

Inside of the Kaleidoscope, Preschool Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy, WP-CC 2013

The Legend of the Ghost Dog

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. 2012. The Legend of the Ghost Dog. NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 97806545391276.

BOOK REVIEW
When she follows her father and little brother Jack to Nome, Alaska for two weeks as part of her Spring Break, Tee was hoping for some quiet time to read and hike through the wilderness. However while on a hike with her beagle Henry they both see the glimpses and wisps of a shadowy thing that both sends creepy feelings through both of them. With new friend Quinn at her side, the girls try meet the legendary ghost dog Shadow and solve the mystery of why he is still in the woods by an abandon cabin. There is just enough details of each of the characters for young readers to understand who they are and their background. Some readers will also related to Tee being a the responsible older sibling when both parents are busy workers (dad is a writer doing research for his new book and mom is in Japan on a business trip). A wonderful feature of the story is the use of double voice. The main story is Tee's, but sprinkled in between the chapters there are chapters from the point of view of Dodie, an old woman with a story about her family, their dogs, and the mysterious disappearance of her little sister over fifty-years ago. Additionally, Alaska's history of Balto and the other dog sled teams that brought medicine to Nome during the Diptheria epidemic and the Iditatrod plays a keep part in both stories. Through Kimmel's great writing story has all the qualities needed: adventure, mystery, tension, goosebump producing moments, history, and family and friends, which makes this book a must addition to library and school's juvenile collections.

CONNECTIONS

• Find Nome, Alaska on the map and any other visual connection to the town.
• Explore this history of the Iditarod.
• Pair with the ghost stories of Mary Downing Hahn.