Monday Tods Chaos

I had a full 9:30 toddler program on Monday, but at least a 1,000 kids in the 10:30. I nearly lost my voice shouting the books. My favorite thing was Rory's Three Little Men in a Flying Saucer. I would have done it with the British accent like Rory does, but Martyn was in there with his daughter Emily, so I felt weird. Hush Little Alien calmed the crowd. I wish that book hadn't gone out of print, but we do have a very beat up copy in the storytime collection. The kids also liked the rhyme, Andy Pandy Sugar and Candy all pop up... repeat....all pop in, all pop out, and all pop down!

No Ravioli For Me Thanks!

I had a first today--four kids who refused to hold my pretend ravioli. I had put some fake fruit in one of the story boxes (calling it my snack box) and after pulling out an orange, some grapes and an apple and rejecting them, I pulled out the ravioli and said "that's the food for me" (leading into the song).

I went to pass out the pieces and four toddlers turned me down. The nerve! or maybe they wanted real ravioli instead of a piece of paper towel. or maybe they didn't have a clue as to what ravioli was and it seemed scary or maybe they thought the fake fruit looked way more appetizing. I don't know, but there was definitely some group think going on.

Jason's Blanket was a success. Thanks Jennifer. I tried a new Alligator rhyme and used it with Clarabella's Teeth and it went over just fine. I also read at Heather's recommendation, Walking in the Jungle, which is gold! Interestingly, I had alligators/crocodiles (who knows the difference?) in all three books without aiming for it as a theme. Does that ever happen to you? You realize your hodgepodge actually makes some kind of sense.

Wednesday Two's

I started with my surefire hit, Walking in the Jungle, which is one of our big books. The kids love the suspense and the sound effects and I really ham it up with dramatic play. We put on our pretend jungle hats, bug spray, sunscreen, boots, and take nets and binoculars and I repeat the refrain so everyone joins in the fun. Next, I read Pip & Squeak, which is rather bland. I tried it twice and while the pictures are great, the kids just didn't get into the text. Annie's Chair was fantastic and when both Annie and the dog are crying the kids are riveted. Both dog books--Desmond the Dog and Hunky Dory Ate It were popular and I matched up the fingerplay, "Rags the Dog" while we pretended to be puppies. The "Milkshake Song" always rocks and I passed out the egg shakers for it. The Wiggleworms version of "Row Your Boat" is my absolute favorite, and I introduce music time by playing the harmonica--THAT gets everyone's attention instantly! The flannel 5 little snowmen was a hit, and 2 more snow rhymes "Snow Angels" and "I'm a Little Snowman" rounded out the weird dog-snow hybrid theme. If you want me to demo the rhymes, let me know. Overall it was a great session.

Random Thoughts on Subbing

Okay, so I have been subbing for a few of you (Andy, Rory). And after reading Jennifer's post, I was reminded of my first time subbing for Rory's babies. A mom approached the ST room and saw me greeting: "You mean MISS RORY's not HERE?!" It went downhill from there... I learned my lesson--next time I subbed for Andy, I asked him to PLEASE let them know that there would be a sub the following week. It seemed to work because no one sobbed when they saw me. (Sorry, Jennifer!) I seriously do think it helps, and as a sub, I appreciate it. These people are true creatures of habit. Don't mess with their storytellers.

I did "Owl Babies" with his group and they were mesmerized, especially with the Mama Owl puppet and her blinking eyes. They also enjoyed "Five Fat Sausages" clapping chant and Jim Gill's "Silly Dance Contest" with scarves.

I love reading all your ideas, triumphs and flops. I'm so happy to belong to such a creative and collaborative group.

QUESTION--Is it possible to get an RSS feed for this blog? I would be able to read it more readily. Thanks.

Forest Friends Storytime

We had about 12 mostly two year olds at this Saturday's storytime. I read I'm not Cute, A Good Day, Busy Little Squirrel and Owl Babies. I should have followed the maxim of reading the books again before sharing them with the kids, because I picked I'm Not Cute off the shelf rather than the storytime cabinet and it was missing two pages. That was awkward. I had never read A Good Day in storytime before, but it was perfect for this group and worked well with the Hap Palmer "High and Low" song.

The Gray Squirrel song, adapted to work with our brown squirrel puppet, was popular as was the Little Acorn rhyme. I had the kids stand up to do the I'm A Nut refrain and told them to be super silly. They loved this. Also, by popular request we did Alice the Camel. We ended with Rock-a-bye your Bear from the Wiggles which I can't get enough of. Thanks for sharing this one with me Andy.