Preschool Storytime: Saying "Thanks!"

This Preschool Storytime was presented at Bellevue Public Library on  November 15 & 16, 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:

One is a Feast for Mouse by Judy Cox, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette

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!)

The Turkey on the Farm
(tune: "The Wheels on the Bus")

The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble.
The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble,
On Thanksgiving Day.

The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop, chop...
The turkey on the farm says, "Please help me!"...
The children on the farm say, "Come and hide!"...
So the people on the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken...


Shake My Sillies Out
(by Raffi)
Listen to the song on YouTube by clicking here

I'm gonna shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
And wiggle my waggles away!


Goodbye, Friends!

(tune: "Goodnight Ladies")

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

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?

The green box held several activity sheets which supported pre-writing skills, shape recognition, and number and letter identification.  The sheets (and many more) are available from totschooling.net.

I also handed out this fun game for the children to play with an adult:

The idea and design came from planningplaytime.com.

As your child reaches in and pulls out a Skittle, use the card to guide the child's response, such as, (for a purple Skittle) "I am thankful for my Nana!" or (for a yellow Skittle) "I am thankful for the splash pad at the zoo!"

I hope parents will enjoy this exercise in gratitude with their children!

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