Jan Thomas!

One of my favorite sources for storytime books is my co-worker, Kristine!  She always has such creative ideas and is really big on reading books where the kids can participate in some way -- usually with them shouting out a word or phrase.  She first introduced me to Jan Thomas' books a couple of months ago, and while I'm not a huge fan of the illustrations, the stories are SO MUCH FUN!  They encourage creativity and audience participation; I even received a round of applause afterwards!!  An enormous compliment coming from a gaggle of 3-5 year olds:)

"Okay Everyone, Stand up!
No wait, I changed my mind, sit down!
No!  I mean stand up! . . ."

What a great beginning to a book!  In this book, we play pretend and the kids get to act out the moves along with the story.  There's dancing like a chicken, wiggling, Big Scary Frogs, and of course, bugs.

I originally did this story as an "F is for FUN" storytime, along with Is Everyone Ready for Fun?  I think it was a great example of the Every Child Ready to Read's "Play" theme too.

Is Everyone Ready for Fun? As much as I like Can You Make a Scary Face?, this book is probably one of my all-time favorite fun books!  It reminds me of the "Magic Elevator" -- more to come on that in a later post -- I make all of the children stand up (for reals this time), and we pretend the storytime carpet is Chicken's couch!  We dance, wiggle, jump, and eventually (lie down and) nap on Chicken's couch, and watch as he becomes more and more agitated . . .

I read this book while holding it up for everyone to see the pages, but I think it would also be fun to read with a chicken puppet and simply act out the scenes without a book.  It's easy enough to memorize, and Chicken's reactions are hilarious!  You could have a lot of fun with a puppet, or maybe even a partner to recite Chicken's lines.

One More . . .

Before I go to bed, I'd like to get one more fun fingerplay post written.  

I really like the idea of including some Sign Language elements into my storytimes.  I found an awesome YouTube resource for some fun songs here:

Her name is Kathy MacMillan, and although she only has a couple of videos (so far!) I really enjoy her ideas.  I've used a couple for babytime, and one for storytime...The best suggestion I've been given when it comes to incorporating Sign Language into storytimes is to keep it simple and limit it to a handful of repeating signs (Thanks to Connie Dellis over at Ironwood Branch Library in Ahwatukee).  Also, I've found it helpful to go over the signs before we begin the fingerplay.

Here we go:

Caterpillar, Caterpillar

Caterpillar, Caterpillar - Use your pointer finger as a caterpillar and have it crawl up your arm

Turn around - Hold up your pointer finger on each hand, invert one, and move one hand counterclockwise, and the other clockwise.  I tell the parents that it looks like a carousel

Caterpillar, Caterpillar - Have it crawl back up your arm

Touch the ground - Touch the ground

Caterpillar, Caterpillar - Once more, up the arm

Reach up high - Reach up with both hands

Soon you'll be a butterfly! - Bring your hands down and around, have your palms facing you and cross your arms.  Link your thumbs and wiggle your fingers for a butterfly

Another easy one I've used is her version of "5 Little Trucks," sung to the tune of "5 Little Ducks."  Super cute, easy, and uses signs that parents will use (Mommy, Truck, Sleep...).  I recommend this one for a little older group however, because it's really fun if the kids can join in.  I'm trying to work in "Three Jellyfish," because I totally love the sign for jellyfish!!

Here is the Beehive . . .

...but where are the bees?

At my library, the library assistants all rotate our monthly programs.  One month I'll do babytime, another family storytime, computer classes, teen programs, etc...On one hand I really like the fact that I have exposure to a wide variety of programs -- I think it creates a very well-rounded and highly marketable librarian.  On the other hand, I don't do any one thing long enough to be "natural."  I'd almost prefer that we (or at least me, the "newbie") do maybe a 2-3 month rotation.  I would like to have more time to bond with the children, learn their names, recognize more faces, and of course find my storytime groove.  Just as I start to get the hang of it, I am pulled away to do something else and it's another six months (at least) before I have to start again.  I really have to do research to make my storytimes and babytimes fun...Don't get me wrong, I do them well, I guess it's just that my stockpile of activities and resources is not very big yet.  So, I've made it my goal to continue planning storytimes, and as I find fun storytime suggestions, I'm hoping to catalog them here and then I'll have a great place to go for one-stop shopping for all of my storytime needs!  One of the greatest challenges for me is making up different hand motions for the rhymes.  As I go along, I'll try to note them here for easy reference:)

One of my favorite fingerplays so far is "Here is the Beehive":

Hold up two fists, shake around, and make a buzzing noise.

Here is the beehive - continue to shake fists

But where are the bees - shrug shoulders (some people like to do a "palms up" shrug, I keep my fists closed and shaking)

Hidden inside, where nobody sees.

Soon they'll come creeping, out of the hive...

One - Open up one finger from each fist

Two - Take out another

Three - At this point I begin to sound really excited, hold up another finger

Four - And the fourth finger

FIVE! - You should have all five fingers on each hand out now, and use them to tickle your child!

Back in the hive, bees! - Close up fists and put them behind your back.

I like to walk the parents through the steps before I begin the rhyme.  I think they like it better (and can easily participate) if they know what's coming...I usually say something like:

"Okay, now we're going to do 'Here is the Beehive!'  For this fingerplay, we're going to take our beehives (show your fists).  The bees are inside where nobody sees.  Soon they'll come out, and we'll count to five (I show how we'll open our fists).  And then we're going to tickle babies until the bees go back in the hive!  Ready?  Let's get started!"

Book Review: The Uglies

The Uglies
I worked at Border's Bookstore for YEARS and passed this book by everyday.  I don't know why.  I think it reminded me of the "trendy" books of the time, The It Girls, The Clique, etc.  Well, the joke was on me because this book ROCKED!  

In a world where competition was the fatal flaw that led to the destruction of civilization as we know it, the government has stepped in to save us from ourselves.  They "leveled the playing field," so to speak, and have wiped away all those nasty feelings of jealousy, greed, and envy by mandating that every 16-year old must under go cosmetic surgery to wipe away all imperfections.  Now, no one is prettier (or "better") than anyone else in any way; at 16 you are essentially "born again" as the perfect person, in a perfect body.  Everyone is happy...or so they seem.

The question soon arises -- What happens to those who don't want to be "perfect?"  And so the adventure begins...

I should probably preface this with the fact that I am currently REALLY into dystopia books.  For that, I blame The Hunger Games.  I thought this book was interesting because unlike the Panem government, Westerfeld's futuristic Big Brothers put forth the illusion of bettering society and maintaining peace...I mean who wouldn't want to be perfect in every way?  Surely there wouldn't be any strings attached or anything.  Hmmmm...

Anyway, I'll hopefully have a copy of the book sometime this week.  Here's to hoping it's as good as the first...

~s

And the Journey Begins...

Well, here we are.  I began writing my library plans and ideas in a journal that I oftentimes carry around with me.  However, I am getting too many ideas and need some means of organizing them so they make a bit of sense.  I've looked at a ton of different platforms available, but for my needs (and budget) a blog seems to be the best option.  As of right now, I'm not intending to be a blogging genius, but if you happen to see my page and have any thoughts/comments/suggestions/whatevers, feel free to leave a note!  ~s