The Flow for this week is all about DANCING!
Yes, we're prepping for our big dance party with this mini-lesson full designed to inspire and embolden us (!) with these books:
Giant Dance Party
Elephants Can't Dance by Mo Willems (
Dancing Feet (Lindsey Craig)
Now Move!
Elephant and Piggie's Dance site is still our favorite- we dance-off between girls and boys, or pick our favorite character. We can dance like this all day!
Freeze Dance is always something to keep our attentionL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=388Q44ReOWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqz4z9aQRJY
Extra Stuff:
ASL/ Sign Language Dancing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPD9tpEQ0M8
Monday, October 22, 2018
Jamaica Dance Party Story Time
Discovery Streaming (permissions required)
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzMxMTg1OF9fQU41?sid=37de7e9d-17b7-4126-88b0-f4b2ee4282d5@sessionmgr4008&vid=3&format=EB&rid=1
A really nice rolling display of Jamaican animals:
https://www.expedia.com/pictures/caribbean/jamaica.d88/animal/
Official country tourist website:
https://www.visitjamaica.com/feel-the-vibe/best-of-jamaica/
Jamacian reading 1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish https://jamaicans.com/dr-suess-one-fish-two-fish-read-in-jamaica-patois/
Three Little Birds official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qqDuEP4okw
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Don't Worry, Be Happy!
Our district is asking counselors to prepare lessons about positive attitudes... so I made this books list of books about optimism. If you have a favorite book, leave a comment in the links below!
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
MO WILLEMS Pigeon Story Time
It must be telling that I've done this story time for 5 years but never blogged about it: Mo just comes so naturally into the hearts of children that we improvise with whichever books are in stock.
Welcome song
4-finger rules of the library
English: Pigeon
Spanish: Paloma
Sign Language: Make a beak and open/close twice. (This is a general sign for bird, but with 5-year-olds it's just right.)
Game: Duck, Duck PIGEON! (Almost Exactly Like Duck, Duck, Goose!)
As of Sept. 2018, the Pigeon Presents website has been reworked: so many of the fun games have been taken down but Elephant and Piggie DANCE PARTY still exists and the main site.
We also LOVE the Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late video DVD disc because it's awesome and Cher does one of the voices!!!! Buy it here.
And this funny SONG:
The Pigeon on the Bus
Welcome song
4-finger rules of the library
English: Pigeon
Spanish: Paloma
Sign Language: Make a beak and open/close twice. (This is a general sign for bird, but with 5-year-olds it's just right.)
Game: Duck, Duck PIGEON! (Almost Exactly Like Duck, Duck, Goose!)
As of Sept. 2018, the Pigeon Presents website has been reworked: so many of the fun games have been taken down but Elephant and Piggie DANCE PARTY still exists and the main site.
We also LOVE the Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late video DVD disc because it's awesome and Cher does one of the voices!!!! Buy it here.
And this funny SONG:
The Pigeon on the Bus
To the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”
The pigeon on the bus asks, “Can I drive?”
“Can I drive, can I drive?”
The pigeon on the bus asks, “Can I drive?”
All through the town.
The children on the bus say, “No! No! No!”
“No! No! No!” “No! No! No!”
The children on the bus say, “No! No! No!”
All through the town.
Book Review: Three Books (Sadly) just for girls.
I'm off to the start of my 7th year as an elementary school librarian, and I'm so excited to have a basket full of books borrowed from the local public library to preview.
These three each share a message and strong female characters and I'd recommend each of them for your elementary school student & library.
I Walk With Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness by Kerascoet (Schwartz Wade, 2018: New York) is a wordless book that you and your school counselor will love. I picture-walked with a group of 1st graders through it and each of us understood and sympathized with Vanessa and the girl in the yellow dress whose small gesture sets off an ocean of compassion. The end of the book shares ideas even the smallest of children can understand and take action upon.
Dear Girl, byAmy Krause Rosenthal and Paris Rosenthal (Harper Collins, 2017: New York) made my heart ache a little. I miss Amy Krouse Rosenthal's sweet, loving world view and her cleverness so much! I reviewed the book on Goodreads here. Recently my fellow librarians in Denton have been making much of diverse characters and while it's absolutely true that every deserves representation with the very best books, I'm still frankly a little disappointed that this title only addresses girls with its message of the uniqueness of each child.
I Am Enough by Grace Byers (Balzer & Brey, 2018) Beautiful illustrations and simple ideas which will hopefully connect to young readers. Again, this is a book completely about girls: there are no pictures or references to boys.
It's a hard political line to draw in 2018, where we strive for equality but know in our hearts none of us is truly without prejudice. That's why although I enjoyed each of these books very much, part of my conscience says I'm not sure limiting your audience in such a blatant way during a time of already-divided society is in the best interest of the young people who could potentially benefit from the books. Read each for yourself and enjoy them, then decide.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
SUPER Heroes
Super-heroes are in the culture of every American kid. Who doesn't have his favorite? One walk down the toy aisle will convince you that the fantasy of super-powers is potent stuff.
Today in the library we celebrate super-heroes with stories, songs a video and crafts.
Action Rhyme:
Five brave superheroes (hold up five fingers)
Action Song: uperhero, turn around
Superhero, superhero turn around
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Wv3J2trMs
Sesame Street on Disguises! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgSJfGx8XDM&disable_polymer=true
Today in the library we celebrate super-heroes with stories, songs a video and crafts.
Action Rhyme:
Five brave superheroes (hold up five fingers)
Ready to save the day. (hands on hips in ‘superhero stance’)One flies off to chase a villain, (“fly” one finger behind back)Up, up and away! (stretch arms up into the air, i.e. ‘flying pose’)
Count down from 4, 3, 2…
One brave superhero
Ready to save the day.
She flies off to chase a villain
Up, up and away!
Hooray for superheroes! (clap hands, shout hooray!)
Ready to save the day.
She flies off to chase a villain
Up, up and away!
Hooray for superheroes! (clap hands, shout hooray!)
SONG: The Superhero(Tune: Wheels on the Bus)
The Superhero’s arms flex and lift,
Flex and lift, flex and lift,
The superhero’s arms flex and lift, all around the town.The Superhero’s eyes go zap, zap, zap…The Superhero’s legs run very fast…The Superhero jumps up super high…The Superhero flies zoom zoom zoom…The person in trouble yells help help help!….The Superhero goes to save the day!….Found on: The Mild-Mannered Librarian
Action Song: uperhero, turn around
Superhero, superhero turn around
Superhero, superhero touch the ground
Superhero, superhero put on your suit
Superhero, Superhero put on your boots.
Superhero, Superhero put on your boots.
Superhero, Superhero, jump up high
Superhero, Superhero, fly, fly, fly
Superhero, Superhero, fly, fly, fly
Superhero, Superhero, turn around.
Superhero, Superhero, please sit down.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Wv3J2trMs
Sesame Street on Disguises! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgSJfGx8XDM&disable_polymer=true
Monday, May 7, 2018
High Energy Fun! All Sports Story Time
We've had lots of fun doing more active story times, as the spring weather permits us to get outside. This week, we are introducing the NFL "Play 60" program to keep our kids active (and us adults, too.)
WORD OF THE DAY:
SPORTS
DEPORTES
https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=2053
There's so many good choices for sports books.
* Teammates and Goal Line by Tiki & Ronde Barber
* Salt in his Shoes (about Michael Jordan!)
* Biographies of sports stars are great. Simone Biles has gotten a lot of attention and her book was a great choice for this week, too.
COMPUTER SKILLS
We loved introducing research ideas to kindergarten on our databases this week, with an article on SPORTSMANSHIP on Pebblego and choosing our favorite sport to read about on Britannica.
Early Math
We listed games and sports we liked, then classified them by single/team and active/not - so -active.
We used dots and voted for our favorite sports, then decided which were the most popular.
We talked about PLAY60, http://www.nfl.com/play60
WORD OF THE DAY:
SPORTS
DEPORTES
https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=2053
There's so many good choices for sports books.
* Teammates and Goal Line by Tiki & Ronde Barber
* Salt in his Shoes (about Michael Jordan!)
* Biographies of sports stars are great. Simone Biles has gotten a lot of attention and her book was a great choice for this week, too.
COMPUTER SKILLS
We loved introducing research ideas to kindergarten on our databases this week, with an article on SPORTSMANSHIP on Pebblego and choosing our favorite sport to read about on Britannica.
Early Math
We listed games and sports we liked, then classified them by single/team and active/not - so -active.
We used dots and voted for our favorite sports, then decided which were the most popular.
We talked about PLAY60, http://www.nfl.com/play60
Living on the ISS: Astronaut story time!
We bought Scott Kelly's "My Journey to the Stars" at the book fair and used it as the beginning of a great story hour about outer space travel.
WORD OF THE DAY
Astronaut=Astronautas
Signed Astronaut and Rocket @ https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=4526
BOOKS
My Journey to the Stars by Scott Kelly
If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty
Astronauts=Astronautas
ONLINE RESOURCES
* Everything NASA Kids...
* You Tube has a lot of videos of scientists on the ISS. We watched them eating pizza, tortillas, and explaining everyday life.
COMPUTER GAMES
https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/games/levelone/KC_Whats_Next_Patterns.html
ACTIVITIES
Though we didn't do this, turning the library into a place where we had a moon rock hunt sounds like fun... maybe next year?
https://www.kids-partycabin.com/space_party_games.html
Cristiano Ronaldo (Ronaldino!) Soccer Story Time
We're combining biography study with the love of the world's most popular game this week. Ronaldino is my favorite, but you could study Messi, or any of the other big stars!
English: Soccer (Comes from SOCial Football Clubs... no kindergarten student would really care, but it is an interesting etymology!)
Spanish: Futbol
Sign Language (ASL): http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/soccer.htm One hand in letter "B", the other shaped like a ball (fist.) Strike the "ball" with the "foot" twice. Easy! Fun!
BIOGRAPHY: I love the facts about his youth on this website: http://mocomi.com/cristiano-ronaldo-biography/
We read: Cristiano Ronaldo (Power Kids Press, 2008)... then
* I Can Play Soccer by Edana Ekhart
* Futbol=Soccer by Holly Karpetekova
* Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London
* Datos Geniales Sobre Futbol=Cool Soccer Facts
Activity: When it rained, we did find a cool coloring page on the Crayola site. On sunny days, we went outside with a couple soccer balls and practiced hitting goals!
English: Soccer (Comes from SOCial Football Clubs... no kindergarten student would really care, but it is an interesting etymology!)
Spanish: Futbol
Sign Language (ASL): http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/soccer.htm One hand in letter "B", the other shaped like a ball (fist.) Strike the "ball" with the "foot" twice. Easy! Fun!
BIOGRAPHY: I love the facts about his youth on this website: http://mocomi.com/cristiano-ronaldo-biography/
We read: Cristiano Ronaldo (Power Kids Press, 2008)... then
* I Can Play Soccer by Edana Ekhart
* Futbol=Soccer by Holly Karpetekova
* Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London
* Datos Geniales Sobre Futbol=Cool Soccer Facts
Activity: When it rained, we did find a cool coloring page on the Crayola site. On sunny days, we went outside with a couple soccer balls and practiced hitting goals!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Nic Bishop Story Time
Nic Bishop's accessible, gorgeous photography amazes even the youngest learner. This week we browsed all his books and read NIC BISHOP FROGS: we learned about these fascinating creatures and made room to understand text features and open ourselves to independent research on the animals we love.
Word of the Week: FROG / RANA
Sign language: first we watched a very short video to observe how the sign might have been created.
Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y8546Xa1LQ
A really fun ASL video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF6HCYR4lEc
Companion Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpHzAH939Tc
Our students LOVED seeing Coyote Peterson's daughter join him on a frog hunt to learn how to safely catch and observe frogs.
Students are starting to do research projects: we demonstrated PebbleGo and some other databases that could give us information about frogs at their learning level and had a brief foray into the internet where we saw that when you "Google" FROG, you don't get much a kindergarten student can use.
They're so curious and ready to learn that usually PebbleGo and a set of headphones filled up the rest of our hour together... but we also had some coloring pages of all the different Nic Bishop animals for those who wanted to express themselves artistically.
If you needed some activities, fingerplays & etc, this site helped a lot: /http://www.childfun.com/themes/animals/frogs/
Everyone said they LOVED Nic Bishop and wanted more of this lesson. Hooray!
Word of the Week: FROG / RANA
Sign language: first we watched a very short video to observe how the sign might have been created.
Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y8546Xa1LQ
A really fun ASL video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF6HCYR4lEc
Companion Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpHzAH939Tc
Our students LOVED seeing Coyote Peterson's daughter join him on a frog hunt to learn how to safely catch and observe frogs.
Students are starting to do research projects: we demonstrated PebbleGo and some other databases that could give us information about frogs at their learning level and had a brief foray into the internet where we saw that when you "Google" FROG, you don't get much a kindergarten student can use.
They're so curious and ready to learn that usually PebbleGo and a set of headphones filled up the rest of our hour together... but we also had some coloring pages of all the different Nic Bishop animals for those who wanted to express themselves artistically.
If you needed some activities, fingerplays & etc, this site helped a lot: /http://www.childfun.com/themes/animals/frogs/
Everyone said they LOVED Nic Bishop and wanted more of this lesson. Hooray!
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Helen Keller - Braille Story Time
This year I'm doing some biography story times to introduce students to famous people they might not know & should. Helen Keller is one of them.
Words of the week: Blind (and) Deaf
We started by watching the PebbleGo biography of Helen Keller.
Then we picture - walked through one of the more advanced biographies in the library.
I borrowed several books from the central library and we read Rainbow Fish while following along with the raised-picture version for visually impaired readers.
The kids were fascinated with the Braille and raised-picture books!
Video w/ray charles shows braille books
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WyB4jkcnhI
This lesson is a keeper. Next year we are going to repeat it, including some other ideas:
* Texture boxes with things inside for kids to guess what they were.
* Teach ABCs of sign language
Words of the week: Blind (and) Deaf
We started by watching the PebbleGo biography of Helen Keller.
Then we picture - walked through one of the more advanced biographies in the library.
I borrowed several books from the central library and we read Rainbow Fish while following along with the raised-picture version for visually impaired readers.
The kids were fascinated with the Braille and raised-picture books!
Video w/ray charles shows braille books
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WyB4jkcnhI
This lesson is a keeper. Next year we are going to repeat it, including some other ideas:
* Texture boxes with things inside for kids to guess what they were.
* Teach ABCs of sign language
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Feelings 2018
Storytime this week is about emotions. It turns out kids want to express themselves and love connecting words and emotions. This was a fun week & we'll surely put this lesson in the repertoire.
WELCOME SONG
RULES OF THE LIBRARY
WORD OF THE WEEK: feelings/sentimientos
SIGN OF THE WEEK: We learned the signs for 6 different emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, safe, sorry. Students loved this! (We had great timing, too: adults and older kids walking by got emotion fashion shows as the kids showed off their new word signs.)
BOOK #1: How Are You Peeling by Saxton Freymann (Scholastic, 2004.)
While the story is more of a vehicle for the pictures, the pictures are themselves entrancing.
MOVEMENT ACTIVITY: Emotion Statues: We "freeze" in different emotional states (worried, scared, excited, tired, funny, happy, angry, frustrated... you name it!) It's a good chance to move around and express yourself.
BOOK #2: Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr. (Little, Brown 2005.) There are so many books you can read about emotions: The Feelings Book (also by Todd Parr) Enemy Pie, Recess Queen, Today I Feel Silly, In My Heart and many more.. I chose Reading Makes You Feel Good because we talk about character's emotions so often.
VIDEO: Mummenshanz on the Muppet Show!!! Two great Mummenshanz videos from over 40 years ago that every group responded well to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eazq_8jCOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe95sn0cN3k
CRAFT: We colored blank faces with the emotion we were feeling... granted, it's always nice when that emotion is HAPPY in the library!
WELCOME SONG
RULES OF THE LIBRARY
WORD OF THE WEEK: feelings/sentimientos
SIGN OF THE WEEK: We learned the signs for 6 different emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, safe, sorry. Students loved this! (We had great timing, too: adults and older kids walking by got emotion fashion shows as the kids showed off their new word signs.)
BOOK #1: How Are You Peeling by Saxton Freymann (Scholastic, 2004.)
While the story is more of a vehicle for the pictures, the pictures are themselves entrancing.
MOVEMENT ACTIVITY: Emotion Statues: We "freeze" in different emotional states (worried, scared, excited, tired, funny, happy, angry, frustrated... you name it!) It's a good chance to move around and express yourself.
BOOK #2: Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr. (Little, Brown 2005.) There are so many books you can read about emotions: The Feelings Book (also by Todd Parr) Enemy Pie, Recess Queen, Today I Feel Silly, In My Heart and many more.. I chose Reading Makes You Feel Good because we talk about character's emotions so often.
VIDEO: Mummenshanz on the Muppet Show!!! Two great Mummenshanz videos from over 40 years ago that every group responded well to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eazq_8jCOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe95sn0cN3k
CRAFT: We colored blank faces with the emotion we were feeling... granted, it's always nice when that emotion is HAPPY in the library!
Thursday, January 11, 2018
India 2018
Venturing into new territory: we're trying a country/culture story time!
WELCOME SONG
4-FINGER RULES OF THE LIBRARY
MYSTERY BAG: a plastic tiger (the national animal of india)
WORD of the WEEK:
NAMASTE/HELLO in Hindi (also taught HELLO in sign language)
Alternative: TIGER/TIGRE (www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/t/tiger.htm)
INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE: PebbleGo's "India" shows some good background information. Discovery Streaming's "5: India" is more friendly for the youngest learners.
ME ON THE MAP: We used a globe and a map to show where Texas is in relation to India.
* Clothes from India: Many people in India wear Western clothes -- what we consider "normal." Traditional clothes include a turban in some parts of India for men, and the sari and salwar kameez. We have pictures and even some real life examples.
* Animals from India: We watched a video of the top 10 animals of India. There's also a great Jeff Corwin video on Discovery Streaming, if you have access, about the Big Cats of India.
* Music From India: Oh my goodness, I am a Bollywood lover now! We danced to this awesome instructional video from Dance Doo Daa, but there are more! The Bollywood hits on Pandora station is a great choice for choosing-book time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYX8e8l55zs
BOOKS: Mama's Saris is my personal favorite -- the cultural context of the book can be "translated" to any child's desire to grow up and delight at being given more adult responsibilities and privileges.
Other selections include Finders Keepers, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (both too complex for kindergarten but may be good for your kids),and there are lots of blog posts about good Indian books https://kidworldcitizen.org/learning-about-india-through-childrens-literature/. We also had Younguncle Comes to Town, Once A Mouse and One Grain of Rice close at hand.
CRAFT:Originally, we like "Henna" markers hand tattoos but decided to go with some clip-art black and white images of tigers, elephants, the Indian Flag, elephants, the country shape and some Indian clothing and let kids choose and color.
GAME: While cricket might be the national sport, we chose Denner/Chain from this website https://www.thebetterindia.com/53779/old-childhood-verge-of-extinction-indian-games/ as a fun outdoor break. However, the thermometer was rapidly falling on story time day, and we staying inside! It would be fund for a spring day or if you had a large indoor space like a gym.
OTHER IDEAS: The movie of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi might be a good choice if you have lots of time to use it!
Links I used to create the story time:
PebbleGo India: https://www.pebblego.com/modules/5/articles/8636
http://www.oocities.org/teacherkab/countries/india.htm
WELCOME SONG
4-FINGER RULES OF THE LIBRARY
MYSTERY BAG: a plastic tiger (the national animal of india)
WORD of the WEEK:
NAMASTE/HELLO in Hindi (also taught HELLO in sign language)
Alternative: TIGER/TIGRE (www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/t/tiger.htm)
INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE: PebbleGo's "India" shows some good background information. Discovery Streaming's "5: India" is more friendly for the youngest learners.
ME ON THE MAP: We used a globe and a map to show where Texas is in relation to India.
* Clothes from India: Many people in India wear Western clothes -- what we consider "normal." Traditional clothes include a turban in some parts of India for men, and the sari and salwar kameez. We have pictures and even some real life examples.
* Animals from India: We watched a video of the top 10 animals of India. There's also a great Jeff Corwin video on Discovery Streaming, if you have access, about the Big Cats of India.
* Music From India: Oh my goodness, I am a Bollywood lover now! We danced to this awesome instructional video from Dance Doo Daa, but there are more! The Bollywood hits on Pandora station is a great choice for choosing-book time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYX8e8l55zs
BOOKS: Mama's Saris is my personal favorite -- the cultural context of the book can be "translated" to any child's desire to grow up and delight at being given more adult responsibilities and privileges.
Other selections include Finders Keepers, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (both too complex for kindergarten but may be good for your kids),and there are lots of blog posts about good Indian books https://kidworldcitizen.org/learning-about-india-through-childrens-literature/. We also had Younguncle Comes to Town, Once A Mouse and One Grain of Rice close at hand.
CRAFT:Originally, we like "Henna" markers hand tattoos but decided to go with some clip-art black and white images of tigers, elephants, the Indian Flag, elephants, the country shape and some Indian clothing and let kids choose and color.
GAME: While cricket might be the national sport, we chose Denner/Chain from this website https://www.thebetterindia.com/53779/old-childhood-verge-of-extinction-indian-games/ as a fun outdoor break. However, the thermometer was rapidly falling on story time day, and we staying inside! It would be fund for a spring day or if you had a large indoor space like a gym.
OTHER IDEAS: The movie of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi might be a good choice if you have lots of time to use it!
Links I used to create the story time:
PebbleGo India: https://www.pebblego.com/modules/5/articles/8636
http://www.oocities.org/teacherkab/countries/india.htm
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