If you’re wearing clothes today, stand up and shout Hooray! HOORAY! Today, we had a fun storytime about clothes.

FYI: We’re nearing the end of our fall storytime session. Just two more weeks to go…and then we will break for the holidays (until January). Also: we will be closed next Wednesday for Veteran’s Day, so no storytime at BV next week. Regulars are invited to attend my Friday session over at Central next week (10 or 11) or go to Donna’s storytime on Thursday at BV (10 or 11).

Stories Shared:
Who’s Under That Hat? by Sarah Weeks and David A. Carter (lift-the-flap)
New Socks by Bob Shea
Whose Shoe? by Margaret Miller
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet.):
Silly Hat Song
Animals on the Bus
Ten Little Fingers
If You’re Wearing Red Today
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Music:
Carole Peterson: Sticky Bubble Gum and Other Tasty Tunes (I am a Fine Musician)

It’s almost trick-or-treating time!

Stories Shared:
In a Dark, Dark Wood pop-up version by David Carter
Pumpkin Heads! By Wendell Minor
Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach
Brooms are for Flying by Michael Rex
Sweets and Treats by Toni Trent Parker

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet.):
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Once there was a Pumpkin
Fun with Hands
If You’re Happy and You Know It
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Bonus Rhyme:
Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat
Turned into a jack-o-lantern just like that!
(Two-sided flannel pieces can be purchased here.)

Music:
Wee Sing: For Halloween
Me and My Bean Bag (Take that Bean Bag)

Rawr! This storytime about Monsters did not scare ME! We had a lot of fun over at BV today. I am leaving town on Friday to go to Savannah for the weekend, so Miss Cathleen will be filling in for me over at Central. See you all next week!

Stories Shared:
Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski (pop-up)
Five Ugly Monsters by Tedd Arnold
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (Puppet available here.)

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Tales Rhymes sheet. Extra copies available at the Library.):
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Silly Hat Song
Apples
Five Little Sausages
Tommy Thumb
If You’re Wearing Red Today

Nursery Rhyme of the Week:
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
There came a big spider,
He sat down beside her.
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

Music:
Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes (Silly Dance Contest)

Halloween is coming up soon! Today, we read stories about the Moon (and bats, too!), and we did extra rhymes and songs.

Stories Shared:
Moon Glowing by Elizabeth Partridge
Moonlight: the Halloween Cat by Cynthia Rylant
Peekaboo Bedtime by Rachel Isadora

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet.):
Autumn Leaves
Once there was a Pumpkin
Fun with Hands
Tommy Thumb
Twinle Twinkle Little Star
Ten Little Fingers
If You’re Happy and You Know It

Nursery Rhyme of the Week:
Hey Diddle Diddle
Hey diddle diddle,
The cat sat on the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such a fun
And the dish ran away with spoon.

Bonus Rhyme:
Two Little Bats
Two little bats hanging in a cave
One named Dan, one named Dave
Fly away Dan
Fly away Dave
Come back Dan, come back Dave!

Bonus Flannel Song:
Aiken Drum
There was a man lived in the moon,
lived in the moon, lived in the moon,
There was a man lived in the moon,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle,
He played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his eyes were made of gum drops…
And his nose was a banana…
And his mouth was a watermelon…
And is hair was made of green beans…
(Templates can be found in the book 52 Programs for Preschoolers: The Librarian’s Year-Round Planner by Diane Briggs.)

Music:
Raffi: More Singable Songs (Shake My Sillies Out)

Today’s storytime was all about two favorite furry pets: cats and dogs!

Books Shared:
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Where’s Spot? By Eric Hill (Patterns can be found here.)
What Will Fat Cat Sit On? By Jan Thomas
The Three Little Kittens by Lorianne Siomades

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet.):
If You’re Happy and You Know It
Animals on the Bus
Fun with Hands
Apples
Once there was a Pumpkin

Bonus Song:
Do Your Ears Hang Low? (Lyrics and Melody can be found here. Miss Jennifer made the song extra silly by wearing pantyhose on her head and pretending the “legs” were her ears! We only sang the first verse.)

Music:
Greg and Steve’s Kids in Motion (Animal Action)

Welcome back to storytime, everybody! Today, we had a fun fall-themed storytime over at Buena Vista. I will be doing a “rerun” of my program on Friday over at Central (10 and 11 am). So good to see my friends’ smiling faces again! P.S. I added a new page onto this blog: Favorite Toddler Books!

Stories Shared:
The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri
Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet.):
Ten Little Fingers
Autumn Leaves
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Apples
Five Little Sausages

Nursery Rhyme:
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

Flannel:
Little Mouse, Little Mouse, Are you in the [insert color] house?
(Underneath different colored flannel houses, I place different flannel animals. Using a “mama” mouse puppet, we go in search of the “baby” mouse flannel…)

Flannel:
(Chanted to Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile)
Five little apples hanging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Slinky Worm “you can’t eat me”,
Along comes Mr. Slinky Worm quiet as can be…
and…CRUNCH!
(Chant with 4,3,2,1)
(Used tree flannel, 5 apple flannels and a worm finger puppet)

Music:
Carole Peterson: Sticky Bubble Gum and Other Tasty Tunes (The Wiggle Song)

Our flyers aren’t out yet, but here is the toddler tales storytime schedule for the Burbank Public Library for 2009-2010:

Fall Program: Sept 28-Nov 20 (Signups begin Sept 16)
Winter Program: Jan 18-March 12 (Signups begin Jan 6)
Spring Program: March 29-May 21 (Signups begin March 17)

Central will continue to do storytimes on Friday mornings (10 and 11 am) (That’s my regular time!) No registration will be required.

Buena Vista will continue to do storytimes on Wednesday and Friday mornings (10 and 11 am) AND will now be offering two additional storytimes on Thursday mornings (10 and 11 am). (Right now, it looks like I will be presenting the Wednesday morning storytimes.) Registration will absolutely be required, and it is likely that the storytimes will be limited to Burbank residents only.

Toddler Tales runs about 20-30 minutes.

I am also looking into doing monthly PJ evening family storytimes at BV.

That’s all I have for now… Stay tuned!

I am going through storytime withdrawal during our summer break. Lucky for me, I was able to visit Bright Horizons this week to share stories with their preschool and school age children. We had fun with my favorite theme: Chickens!

Opening Song: Let Everyone Clap Hands with Me (Pete Seeger)
Read-aloud #1: The Most Wonderful Egg in the World by Helme Heine
Storytell: “The Little Red Hen” (used a singing refrain from storyteller Heather Forest’s sound recording Sing Me a Story, children wore headbands and participated)
Read-aloud #2: Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds
Song: The Barnyard Gate (kids wore headbands and participated in making animal noises)
Read-aloud #3: Hungry Hen by Richard Waring
Storytell: “Chickens!” (based on Priscilla Howe’s audio recording)

We’re still working on figuring out this upcoming year’s storytime schedule! Stay tuned for more details…

For our last storytime of the year (sniff sniff), I chose some of my favorite stories and songs. We hope to see everyone at our “Get Creative at Your Library” summer program. We have all sorts of fun performers coming to do shows: music, petting zoo, puppets and more. Flyers with more information are available at the library, and registration starts Monday, June 8th. Our schedule and registration dates for our fall storytimes are still being determined. I’ll make sure to post more as soon as I know! I’ll probably do some blog postings and restructuring over the summer, too. Thanks, everyone for another wonderful storytime year!

Stories Shared:
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. (Flannel patterns can be purchased through Artfelt.)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Do You Love Me? by Joost Elffers

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet):
Open, Shut Them
Five Little Sausages
I’m a Little Teapot
Tony Chestnut

Bonus Song:
Silly Hat Song
(Tune: This Old Man)
On my head, I wear my hat.
It is such a silly hat
That my head will wiggle waggle to and fro
Where else can my silly hat go?
[Repeat using foot, elbow and knee.]

Flannel:
Little Mouse, Little Mouse, Are you in the [insert color] house?
(Underneath different colored flannel houses, I place different flannel animals. Using a cat puppet, we go in search of the mouse flannel…)

Music:
Carole Peterson: Sticky Bubble Gum and Other Tasty Tunes (I am a Fine Musician)

Who will help me tell these chicken stories??? Last Saturday, I did some traditional storytelling for a family audience over at our Buena Vista Library. The kids had a blast helping me act out and participate in various chicken stories. I have a special partiality to chicken stories, so this was an “egg-cellent” treat for me as well. And, I got to exercise my “oral storytelling” muscle! There are a couple of pictures from the event posted on my flickr page (Programs for Older Kids).

Intro Music: Chicken Dance

Opening Song: Let Everyone Clap Hands with Me (Pete Seeger)

Story #1: “Book! Book! Book!” (This is a well-loved librarian anecdote about a chicken that comes into the library. One version, “The Well-Read Frog” can be found in Margaret Read MacDonald’s Three Minute Tales. There is also a picture book, Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss that expands this tale.)

Story #2: “The Little Red Hen” (This is a traditional folktale, possibly of Russian-origin. Children dressed up and acted out the parts. I used a singing refrain from storyteller Heather Forest’s sound recording Sing Me a Story.)

Story #3: “Poule and Roach” (This is a Louisiana French tale about a chicken who marries a cockroach. One version can be found in Margaret Read MacDonald’s Celebrate the World. I was also inspired by storyteller Priscilla Howe’s recording “Poule and Blatt” on her cd Chickens! and Other Stories for Young Children.)

Song: “Barnyard Gate” (This is a traditional song that I learned by listening to Pete Seeger recordings. The children used puppets and made the appropriate animal sounds.)

Story #4: “Henny Penny” (This is an old fable with African origins, also known as “Chicken Little” or “The Sky is Falling”. Children dressed up and acted out the parts. I was partially inspired by a version I watched on You Tube from the TV-series Golden Girls.)

Movie: “The Wise Little Hen” (Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club—Week One)