D is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta's Basket: "Diamond"

Echo song: "Dragon and ; Dream and Dessert"

Flannel Board/Sign Language: Five Little Dogs (sign for dog)

5 little dogs were playing in the sun.

This little dog saw a rabbit, and he began to run.

This little dog saw a butterfly, and he began to race.

This little dog saw a cat, and he began to chase.

This little dog tried to catch his tail, and he went round and round.

This little dog was so quiet, he never made a sound.

Each time "dog" was said we made the sign for "dog"

First Book: That Pesky Dragon

Stand-up Song: 5 little ducks

Rhyme Time Song

Nursery Rhyme: Diddle, diddle dumpling

Second Book: Drum City

Enrichment Activities: Dot-to-dot letter "D, d", Matching game (dogs), glue dots on a dinosaur, play with plastic dinosaurs, dance to music (with bandannas)--CD I used was Dancin' Music by Joanie Bartels

C is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: Crayons

Echo Song/Sign Language:
candy cane and cookies, corn and caterpillar

Flannel Board:
Five Little Cows

5 little cows ate grass all day.
Grazing in the fields of hay.
They ate and ate and ate and STILL
They ate and ate and ate until
One little cow had had enough that day…
And slowly, slowly walked away.
~ continue counting down ~

Book: Bunny Cakes

Song: If you’re happy and you know it CLAP your hands!

Rhyme Time Song

Nursery Rhyme and Sign Language (Cat)
Kitty-cat, Kitty-cat, where have you been?
"I've been to London to look at the queen."
Kitty-cat, Kitty-cat, what did you there?
"I frightened a little mouse under the chair."

Book: I don’t want a cool cat

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: crayons (and coloring page), ABC dot-to-dot, counting candy corn, cupcake file folder—size, sewing cards

B is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta's Basket: Blue Balloon (that I blew up then let go and it "flew" around the room)

Echo Song/Sign Language Letter: Bicycle and Bus; Button and Bumblebee

Flannel Board: 5 Little Brown Bears

This little brown bear was playing peek-a-boo
Here is another. Now there are two.
Two little brown bears said let's climb a tree.
Up came another. Now there are three.
Three little brown bears said I wish there were some more.
Along came another. Now there are four.
Four little brown bears said let's find a beehive.
Here comes another. Now there are five.

Story: Blueberries for Sal

Stand-up Song: The Beanbag Song

(tune: If you're happy and you know it)

Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair.

Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair.

Put your beanbag on your hair and leave it right up there.

Put your beanbag on your hair, on your hair.

*Ground--step and step around

*Toe--lift it high and lift it low

*Hand--toss it up and watch it land

Rhyme Time Song

Rhyme (with sign language):

A banana for you,

A banana for me,

A banana for monkey up in the tree.

Story: Jackson's Blanket

Enrichment: B dot-to-dot, Beads (large wooden ones), Bugs (plastic counter bugs), Blue Bubble Prints (see:

A is for...

Sorry I'm a week behind...what a way to start!

See my "basic outline" posted on July 7.

Welcome Song

Henrietta's Basket: Ant puppet

Echo Sound Song/sign language letter:

Flannel Board: 5 Little Astronauts
5 little astronauts floating in space,
Looking at the stars with a smile on their face.
When along came a space ship to beam one out
And the 4 little astronauts gave a little shout-- " HEY "
Continue counting down 4-3 3-2 2-1
(from http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/space/space.htm)

Sign Language: Apple

Book: An Apple Pie for Dinner

Stand-up song: 5 Little Monkeys swinging in the tree

Rhyme Time Song

Rhyme: An apple a day keep the doctor away; An apple a day that's what they say.

Book: Snip, Snap What's That?

Goodbyes

Enrichment: Apple dot-to-dot, Alphabit cereal (glue pieces onto construction paper--could make name or just use random letters), apple cut-outs counting, autumn mini-book (from http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/autumn-day-mini-book-coloring-page/ )

Soon...

Just two weeks before preschool storytime starts again at the Bellevue Public Library. It has been a nice break since summer reading. I have been busy writing a grant proposal, brainstorming for SRP 2011(!!!), and preparing for our annual Eastern Library System's Youth Services Retreat , but I am anxious to begin storytime again later this month.

Since this is my 2nd year of doing an ABC themed storytime I will be "tweaking" a few things and trying some new things.

"A" Day will be September 22 and 23.

Basic Outline

My basic outline for all preschool storytimes is as follows:

Welcome Song (words by Miss Tammy)
(sung to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Welcome all to storytime
We will sing and we will rhyme
Read a book and then we'll play
Time for storytime, hip, hip, hooray!
Now we'll sing our ABCs
We'll do them all just wait and see

(As the children sing the alphabet I use a pointer to point to each letter on a laminated chart)

Now I've sung my ABCs
Let's start storytime, yes, siree!

Puppet
I have a raccoon puppet from Folkmanis named Henrietta. Each week she "hides" in her basket, but I always look in her treehouse first. Each week Henrietta brings an object to show the children that begins with the "letter of the day". First I just let the kids guess random things (cookie, dinosaur, etc.) They often guess what she had brought the week before. Henrietta then gives "clues" about the object--the first being the letter it starts with and the sound of the letter. Other clues include it's color, shape, size, how you use it, etc. After a child guesses Henrietta takes it of her basket to show the children then Henrietta gets in her treehouse to watch storytime.

Flannel Board
Next I do a flannel board, often counting up or counting down rhymes, but also colors and animals and so forth. One book that I've found that has many counting rhymes is ABC Read to Me:Teaching Letter of the Week in the Library and Classroom by Toni Buzzeo. I usually just print out pictures of the object from Word, cut it out and use tape on the flannel board since I don't have the time or the patience to make real flannel board pieces.

First Book
The first book is usually a longer, more complex story

Stand-up Song
Sometimes this song goes with the letter of the day, sometimes it's just a fun song like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Rhyme Time Chant
I do this chant right after the song before the children sit down (adapted from a chant in Totline)
I'm so happy that you've come to storytime
Now listen very carefully to my rhyme
Stand up straight and stomp your feet
Clap twice and take your seat
We'll begin when I ring the rhyme chime.

Nursery Rhyme
I then bring out the bell, ring it, then begin to recite a Nursery Rhyme or short poem. I repeat it again, explaining words if needed, then have the children say it with me and I let the children fill in the words they know or the last word of the line.

Second Book
This book is usually a shorter, rhyming book.

Good-byes
See ya later, Alligator
Blow a kiss, Goldfish
Be sweet, Parakeet
Take care, Polar Bear
Give a hug, Ladybug
Tootaloo, Kangaroo
See you soon, Raccoon
Bye-bye, Butterfly
Out the door, Dinosaur!

Enrichment
I try to have 3 or 4 different activities the children can do. They may choose to do any or all of them. There is one activity that is physical (like throwing beanbags or playing musical instruments), a coloring or craft activity, and a connect the dot page or practice writing letter page. More on this aspect later.

Introductions

I am "Miss Tammy", the Children's Librarian Assistant at the Bellevue Public Library in Bellevue, Nebraska. I have a degree in Elementary Education from Idaho State University and I am currently working on my MLS from Univeristy of Missouri-Columbia. I develop all the preschool storytimes at our library and I wanted a place to keep my ideas online, as well as share ideas with others.

Last school year I developed 26 storytimes for preschoolers--one for each letter of the alphabet. I felt this was very successful in introducing many early literacy skills to the children and it gave me the opportunity to model for and share ideas with parents regarding the importance of early literacy.

One thing about me is that I can never have the same storytime twice...so even the storytimes that go really well I will still "tweak" it before I use it again. There are always new books, different finger plays or rhymes, or activities that target a different literacy area. So I will be updating often with different ideas. I will, however, only post ideas that I have actually used in storytime...if it didn't turn out I will confess and probably explain how I would do it different in the future.

I hope you enjoy some of the ideas I have put together.