Let's Go To The Zoo!

Presented at Bellevue Public Library on Wednesday, September  25, 2013.

Today begins our first of many (virtual) trips to the zoo!  Our library mascot, Buzz, and I went to the Henry Doorly Zoo recently and had a great time visiting the various animals and taking pictures!  I will be sharing Buzz's photos throughout the school year as we focus on different animals and attractions at the Zoo!

Here are the photos I shared from Buzz's photo album:

This is Andrea, a zoo employee, who walked along with us at the zoo.  She also drove us around in a golf cart!  Whew!  Those hills are hard to climb!

Books:

Bouncing Time by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

  ~ Do you sometimes have trouble getting your child to "sit still for stories"?  Well, then this book is just for you!  You and your child can BOUNCE! during this story, as the title suggests, but there are also many animals you can imitate throughout the book!  Can you stretch your neck like a giraffe?  Slither like a snake?  This is definitely NOT a book for couch potatoes!

 Zoo Borns!: Zoo Babies From Around the World by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland

Children's nonfiction books are usually overlooked when planning storytimes.  Often the text is too wordy and the concepts are too complex for children this age.  And sometimes the photos are just too small to be enjoyed in a group setting.  I will be including more nonfiction this year whenever I find a book that I feel will enhance the storytime experience.  Zoo Borns is a great book to use with Story Walking!  The photos are large and clear, just right for Storytime.  I like to show the children the photos - sometimes not even all the photos - and hold a conversation with them about what they are seeing.  Children love chiming in with their own story of seeing a tiger at the zoo...with very LARGE teeth, or watching the penguins dip and dive through the water.  These are great opportunities to enhance your child's vocabulary by following up on their comments. 
For example:
(child):  "I saw penguins in the water."

(adult)  "You saw penguins in the water?  What do you think the water felt like?  Was it warm like your bath?"

(child)  "No, there was lots of snow around them, so I think it is cold."

(adult):  "You are right!  The water is icy cool.  Brrrr!"



Songs:

Good Morning!
(tune: "Frere Jacques")

Good morning! (echo)
How are you? (echo)
I'm so glad to see you! (echo)
Wesley is too! (echo)



If You're Ready For a Story
(tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

If you're ready for a story, take a seat.
If you're ready for a story, take a seat.
Clap your hands and stomp your feet,
Make your hands all nice and neat.
If you're ready for a story, take a seat.



Let's All Go to the Zoo Tomorrow
(words adapted slightly from "Mommy's Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow" by Raffi)

Let's all go to the zoo tomorrow,
Zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow.
Let's all go to the zoo tomorrow,
And we can stay all day! 

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!
How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too!
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!


Playtime Activities:

Puppets:
Since we had so much fun playing with them last week, I thought I'd bring them out again...and they go great with our Zoo theme!

Books about zoos and zoo animals:

Animal Go Fish:

Animal Concentration:
Turn over two cards at a time to see if they match.  If they do, you get another turn!  If not, you turn them back over and let your partner have a try!

Zoo Flannel Story:

It's great, creative fun to use flannel pieces to tell your own story about a trip to the zoo!




Here are some photos from today's event!:

 

Next week's Toddler Storytime theme: New Books!
I plan to devote the first Toddler Storytime of each month to sharing some of my favorite new books that have recently been added to the library's collection.

Library News: We have a very busy October planned.  I hope one or more of the events will be of interest to you and your family! 

October 1st is Runza's Great Books for Great Kids Day!  Fifteen percent of the revenue from the Galvin Road location will be given to the library to purchase children's books!  We are so thankful to be a beneficiary of this annual fundraiser!

Our October Momaha Storytime will be held on Thursday, October 3 at 7 PM.  The theme will be apples!  For those who can stay, we will be making applesauce at the conclusion of storytime!  Yum!!!

Pajama Storytime will be held on Tuesday, October 8 at 7 PM in the Children's area. 
 

Our next "Zoo"-themed storytime will be on Wednesday, October 16.  I showed the children and adults a few photos so that they could guess what our next zoo theme will be.  Can you guess too??:

 

Each Toddler Storytime includes activities that support one or more 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).

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

Friends!

Presented at Bellevue Public Library on Wednesday, September 18, 2013.

Books:
My Friend and I by Lisa Jahn-Clough

A Friend Like You by Tanja Askani

(For this book I used story walking instead of reading the entire book.  Story walking is ideal when your child is too wiggly to sit through an entire book, or the text is just too long for them.  Story walking allows you to go through the book at a pace that you and your young one like, skipping some pictures or text, pausing to enjoy an eye-catching illustration, talking about what you think might be happening, or what might happen next.  This book has many photos of real-life "friendships" between unusual pairings of animals.)


Songs:

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!)


Good Morning!
(tune: "Frere Jacques")

Good morning! (echo)
How are you? (echo)
I'm so glad to see you! (echo)
Wesley is too! (echo)


If You're Ready For a Story
(tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

If you're ready for a story, take a seat.
If you're ready for a story, take a seat.
Clap your hands and stomp your feet,
Make your hands all nice and neat.
If you're ready for a story, take a seat.


The More We Get Together

The more we get together, together, together,
The more we get together the happier we'll be!

'Cause your friends are my friends,
And my friends are your friends.

The more we get together the happier we'll be!


Playtime Activities:

Puppets:

Puppet play encourages children to make up stories about the various animals, talk about what each animal eats, where they live, what sounds they make, etc. It also helps sparks their imagination. 

Today the children also had the choice to play with my mouse puppet, inspired by the book Lunch by Denise Fleming.  This is a fun way to engage your child in exploring colors, as well as talking about their food preferences and where each food is grown (a tree, a bush, above the ground, below the ground, etc. )





Flannel Stories:

"Community Helpers"

Playing with flannels such as these can encourage children to use and develop their narrative skills.  Invite your child to talk to you about the various people and occupations.  Does she know someone who is a mechanic or a chef?  What kinds of things do they do in their work?  Why do some people wear special clothes?  Holding conversations with your child is a valuable experience that encourages them to use their imagination and their story-telling skills.

"Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"  This favorite of many children exposes them to some of the individual sounds that make up words.  As we chant, we hear, "Five li-ttle mon-keys..."  This is also a fun counting game!



Here are photos from today's storytime:

Next week's theme: The Zoo!
Click here to learn more about this theme which will weave its way in and out of Toddler Storytime over the next 7 months!



We had a huge turnout today (49!) for our first Toddler Storytime of the school year.  I hope everyone was able to see and hear and that their children were engaged and entertained.  If these attendance numbers hold steady over the next few weeks I may look into offering a second Toddler Storytime each week.  If you think you might prefer another day/time, with a smaller class size, please feel free to leave me a message below or email me at alice.boeckman@bellevue.net.  I welcome your thoughts and input!  Please be as detailed as possible in letting me know what days/times also work for you!

Each Toddler Storytime includes activities that support one or more 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).

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



Baby & Me Storytime

Presented at Bellevue Public Library on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.

Book:

How Many? by Judy Nayer

(Sorry, no book cover photo available)


Songs:

You Are My Sunshine

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.



Activities:

A Flea on My Toe

On my toe there is a flea.
Now it's climbing past my knee,
Past my tummy,
Past my nose,
On my head where my hair grows.

On my head there is a flea.
Now it's climbing down on me,
Past my tummy,
Past my knee,
On my toe,
Take that, you flea!

Our parents and grandparents seem to especially enjoy this one during storytime!  You can creep your fingers up and down your child's body, stopping at each mentioned part.  On the last line, you can tickle or kiss your child's toes, or help them gently shake their leg!

Pizza, Pizza, Pumpernickel

Pizza, Pizza Pumpernickel,
(gently pat child's legs in rhythm on the underlined syllables)
My little baby shall have a tickle.
(gently pat child's leg in rhythm on the underlined syllables)
One on the nose,
(gently tickle child's nose)
And one on the toes,
(tickle toes)
And one on the tummy
(gently pat child's leg in rhythm on the underlined syllables)
where the pizz-a goes!
(gently pat child's tummy in rhythm on the underlined syllables)


Peek-a-Boo is a great game to play with your infant.  At Storytime we sometimes use our hands to cover our eyes.  Other times we might use a baby blanket, 2 beanbags, or a puppet!  It's fun to be creative!

One Little Baby Rocking in a Tree

One little baby rocking in a tree. (adult gently rocks child)
Two little babies splashing in the sea. (adult/child make "splashing" motion)
Three little babies crawling on the floor. (move hands in "walking" motion in front of child)
Four little babies knocking at the door. (make a fist and "knock" in the air)
Five little babies playing hide and seek. (cover eyes with hands)
Don't look!  Don't look!
Until I say...PEEK! (uncover eyes)



Our Hands Say Goodbye

Our hands say goodbye with a clap, clap, clap.
Our feet say goodbye with a tap, tap, tap.
Clap, clap, clap,
Tap, tap, tap.
We roll our hands around and say... "Let's do it again!"

Our hands say goodbye with a clap, clap, clap.
Our feet say goodbye with a tap, tap, tap.
Clap, clap, clap,
Tap, tap, tap.
We roll our hands around and say... "Goodbye!"

Today I introduced the practice of "picture walking" with the adults and babies.  We used "How Many?" by Judy Nayer (ours is in Big Book form) as our example today.  The Every Child Ready to Read curriculum encourages picture walking as a way to experience a book before actually reading it with your child.  Picture walking involves such things as pointing out the title, author and illustrator of a book, looking at the pictures and talking about what is happening,  introducing new words, and expanding language by using descriptive words.  This monologue will become a dialogue as your child's verbal skills develop.  As I turned the pages, I pointed out some (but not all) of the pictures, making observations such as, "Look at those gray and white kittens.  This one has his mouth open.  What do you think he is saying?  Meow-meow.  This picture has some little yellow fish.  Do you have fish at your house?  Have you seen fish at the zoo?  Maybe after Storytime you can see the library's fish!" 
At this stage our babies are listening, and before long they will start joining in the conversation!