Preschool Storytime: Apples

This Preschool Storytime was presented at Bellevue Public Library on October 4 & 5, 2017.

Each Preschool Storytime includes activities that support all or most of the five early literacy practices identified as essential in helping your child develop the skills they need before they can learn to read. The five practices – singing, talking, reading, playing and writing – were developed for Every Child Ready to Read®, an initiative of the Association for Library Services for Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA).

Reading:

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Singing:

Hello, Friends!
(tune: "Goodnight Ladies")

Hello friends.
Hello friends.
Hello friends.
We're glad you came today!


Everybody Say Hello!
(tune: "London Bridge")

Everybody say hello, say hello, say hello,
Everybody say hello, hello Wesley!

(Wesley is my turtle puppet who pops out of my apron pocket whenever we sing this song.  Then he sits quietly on his rock and listens to the stories and sings along with us.  At the end of storytime he says goodbye to the children, gives them high fives, eats pretend food from their hands, blows kisses, and plays hide and seek!)

Goodbye, Friends!
(tune: "Goodnight Ladies")

Goodbye friends.
Goodbye friends.
Goodbye friends.
We're glad you came today!


Rhymes:

Way Up High in the Apple Tree
(To prepare for this activity we all planted our feet firmly on the floor (roots), made our torso straight and tall (trunk), extended our arms (branches), and made two fists (apples)!

Way up high in the apple tree,
Two red apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could...
Mmmm!  They were good!

What's in the Green Box?
(tune: "Sally Wore a Red Dress")

What's in the green box,
The green box, the green box?
What's in the green box 
For us to play?

Talking:/Playing:
Our activity this week focused on the letter "a", as in APPLE!
Each child took a laminated apple tree and a handful of pompoms.

Parents were then encouraged to play a game with their kiddos.  Children who are just starting to identify letters could try to find the lower case a's and cover them with "apples".   Those having had more practice could find additional letters and talk about the sound(s) each makes.  One family was making up silly things that might (not!) grow on the tree!  While the a's were for an apples, the g was for gorillas growing in the tree, the c was for crocodiles growing in the tree. etc.!  Such fun and creative parents and kids!

At the end of Storytime those who could stay got a turn making their own applesauce!

Every Child Ready to Read^® @ your library^®, PLA and ALSC logos are registered trademarks of the American Library Association and are used with permission.