oral telling

I was inspired by Lori's most recent post (and the fact that I'm running out of ST books) to do a bit of oral telling yesterday for my in-house STs for 1 year olds. Obviously, the "plot" was really simple for 1s - I used a stuffed monkey and just said, "monkey is hungry - what do you think he wants to eat?" and a couple of older siblings said "a banana!" So then I walked monkey around looking for a banana. He meets his friends: rooster, cow, and horse. "Hello" says monkey, and they cock-a-doodle, moo, and neigh, respectively. Monkey then asks "do you have a banana for me?" and they all answer "no." Monkey finally runs into his ol' pal gorilla, and whaddyaknow, gorilla's got the goods. I used a real banana, and wrapped the monkey's long arms all around the fruit, hugging the banana because he was so happy. I then put on the monkey-eating-a-banana hat and said something like "ooh, bananas taste so good"...yeah, not exactly Nat'l Book Award material, but the kids liked it, and it offered plenty of opportunities to make animal sounds...so, success.

Actually Written by Miss Rory, Posing Shamelessly As Miss Lori

My Wonderful Ones were kind of exhausting this morning. Lots of running laps, too many weary nannies, and several cases of the grabbies (when kids just want to take anything that's in my hand out of my hand) but we prevailed.

I think some of the grown-ups have been in other storytimes where they don't have to sit on the ground, and they're sort of rebelling by pulling up the bigger chairs. I do not condone this, but with such a large group it's hard to convince them it'll be easier for everyone if they "find a spot and squat," as my step-mom used to so elegantly say. Besides, a couple of these grown-ups are pregnant or grandmotherly.

I read George's Book! and that went over well, though I abridged several middle pages. The kids almost laughed when I put the book on my head like a hat--and almost laughing is exactly like laughing for one-year-olds.

We tried another read-along with Elmo's SO Big, or whatever it's called. The book has a bit too much text so it was a pretty wobbly few minutes. The kids do love the end, when Elmo pops right out.

I had better luck with Lori's octopus puppet--I wiggled it around and most of the kids waved back. I sang "This is the way we wash our hair/bellies/backs...on a Tuesday morning" and then used one of its tentacles to brush my teeth. More almost-laffs.

BTW, I need some suggestions of new stuff to do with the shakers...the Milkshake Song is getting dusty.

two little penguins...in a helicoptor...flew 'round the world one day...

After "Head, Shoulders" and playing peek-a-boo with the scarves (and we used every single one in the box!), I did something slightly different with with my Ones today. I said, "Let's show our little ones how good our imaginations are, grown-ups. Let's pretend your scarf is a...hat! Let's pretend it's a...bowtie! Let's pretend it's an...apron! Let's pretend it's...lederhosen!" Then I went down the body again, making up new stuff. It was really fun.

We read Ten In the Den and I kept messing up. I would turn the page too early or too late, always revealing the animal that was rolling down the hill at an awkward time. I don't know--I don't like books that are repetitive in story but not in layout. It's confusing for a storytimer! I did, though, show them how the Brits sing the song (with a crazy chorus about knots in your pajamas) and they laughed.

One hit was a song I re-wrote for two of our penguin plushes, to the tune of "Three Little Men In A Flying Saucer."

There were 29 one-year-olds in that room today! Somehow, it worked.

Forever Young

My Wonderful Ones went well today (and, wow, there were a lot of them), but it would have even better if I'd better remembered the difference between a 13-month-old and a 23-month-old. I had a lot of older Ones today, and I'm not sure I challenged or engaged them as much as I could have. My brain is still calibrated toward babies and their caregivers.

For example, I realized that I was asking parents to grab their little ones' feet when I read Charlie Chick (which I need to retire, I think--I've read it in/at least 15 storytimes)...and that's more of something you do with babies. I could have asked the bigger Ones to point to their own feet/beak/belly. I also forgot that felt boards were a magnet for roaming Ones and had to practically swat a few off when I did "Old McDonald" on the board. Doing Moo Bah Lalala as a read-along was a hit, though, as was handing out the puppets (I'm so glad we've got those!) and doing "Head, Shoulders" and "Humpty Dumpty" and "Rockabye Baby" with them.

Of course, when it was time for Busy Babies, I welcomed them as my default . I did almost the same storytime, but provided more talking points ("remember that varying your voice a lot when you read even the simplest thing helps your baby to learn letter sounds!"). We skipped the feltboard and I tried the Color Farm board book, which might have been a little too small for a storytime.

Today doubled my resolve to try a lot of new things with my little guys this term (do we call it a term?) and to be careful with my distinctions between Babies and Ones.

I heart Sandra Boynton

If I ever grow up to be an author of board books, I want them to be just Sandra Boynton's. I read The Going to Bed Book today, and the ones just loved it, but the moms also laughed, when after the animals on the boat are getting ready for bed; they put on their pajamas;they brush their teeth, "And when the moon is on the rise, they all go up (to the lido deck) .........to exercise." Boynton always seems to surprise. Moo, Baa, La, La, La, and Blue Hat, Green Hat are also great.

I Ain't Gonna Sing No More No More

Tuesdays One's made me very self-conscious about my terrible singing voice. I tried two new songs, "This is My House" and "Good Morning Mrs. Perky Bird," (from the Mother Goose on the Loose CD) and got very little parent participation, because they weren't quite sure how to follow the melodies I was attempting. I revamped for Wed. and spoke the songs as rhymes and it went much better.

Maybe that's why so many children's songs are sung to familiar tunes like Frere Jacque or Shortnin' Bread, so parents will know how to follow, even when we're not quite on key.

Books used this week included Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? I thought it would be awesome to do Polar Bear Turn Around instead of Teddy Bear Turn Around as a stretcher, but didn't have a polar bear prop to use. Amazingly, one year old Mary shows up with a polar bear and her nanny says it would be fine for me to borrow it. I didn't notice until I was done with the rhyme that Mary was silently sobbing. She never recovered and cried for the next 25 minutes. Bad bad Miss Lori.

Overcrowded

I had 26 one year olds today and had to adjust my storytime plan, adding a couple extra songs on CD to keep their attention--Head and Shoulders and Pease Porridge Hot from It's Toddler Time. I also tried a rhyme of my own that I wrote so I could use a little stuffed otter I have. Oscar the Otter, floated in the water, waiting for his lunch. He felt a nip, "ouch," (have fish fingerpuppet bite Oscar) and took a dip. And caught that fish. Munch Munch.

I hope those of you doing storytimes will start writing some highlights or low moments soon, so I'm not the only one posting. Thanks, Lori

Little Legends

I went to Little Legends on Thursday and did a storytime for 11 10 -20 monthers. These little ones were mostly quiet (stunned) for about 20 minutes of excessive singing, rhymes, prop manipulation and three stories. The big hit of the storytime was Biscuit. I can't recommend this enough for the ones, but I did shorten it by eliminating some of the repetition on each page.

Monkey and Me

It must be monkey week. I also kicked off the Ones with a monkey book, Monkey and Me, stealing Andy's idea to wear the Monkey hat (which barely fit my huge head). Jane Cobb says you should avoid using props with the ones, and I think this storytime was way too prop heavy. I did a block rhyme using 12 foam blocks "one block, 2 blocks, 3 blocks in a row; 4 blocks, 5 blocks, 6 blocks--up they go. 7 blocks, 8 blocks, 9 blocks going high; 10 blocks, 11 blocks, 12 blocks--Oh my!" They were fascinated the first time, but then scrambled for the blocks the second time I did it.

Surprisingly, Find the Duck, a board book with a tiny duck hiding in the pages, held their attention more than any of the others. We got through the Five Little Ducks song using the monkey mitt without anyone coming to take the ducks; they were still focused on getting blocks off the cart. They did pretty well with Biscuit (the big book version) and really liked this puppy rhyme, "Here is puppy's doghouse. Here is puppy's bed. Here is puppy's food bowl, where puppy can be fed. This is puppy's collar. His name is on it too. Throw a stick for puppy and he'll bring it back to you."

We closed out with Skinnamarink and the bells this time. The ones are getting better at giving things back as we progress through the session.