Moon Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

   

 

• Book #1 – Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

• Stand-up Activity – Blast Off to the Moon (action rhyme I found in many places)

Let's take a rocket to the moon
First we climb into our rocket ship
(pretend to climb ladder into rocket)
Next we buckle ourselves in
(crouch down and pretend to but a seat belt across your shoulder)
Now for the countdown... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Blast off!
(jump up)
We go flying around the earth and over to the moon
(airplane arms)
Now stop on the moon and look around
(look around with hand over eyes)
Now it's time to go back home so we climb back into our rocket ship
(pretend to climb ladder)
Buckle ourselves in
(pretend seat belt)
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Blast off!
(jump up)
We fly around the moon and fly around the earth
(airplane arms)
And finally come back home
(land on the ground)

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - Phases of the Moon 

I cut some paper plates to create four phases of the moon (full, gibbous, half, crescent). I introduced these phases to the children and then read a poem about the moon I found on the Guybrarian blog. 

• Letter of the Day - "M" is for moon

• Book #2 – Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino

• Activity – "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" from Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music

• Closing - Dance with scarves using the song "Milkshake" from Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music

 

 

• Art Experience – Using the plastic centers of receipt paper rolls and paint, stamp craters onto paper plates to make unique moons.

Balancing Big and Little Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

   

 

• Book #1 – Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• Stand-up Activity – "The Grand Old Duke of York" from More Tickles & Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - Balancing a Snake

I created a simple scale with pieces I found at home. I found something that worked as the fulcrum and a lid to a plastic container as the cross beam. I then placed a bean bag snake on one end of the scale. I found some woodland creatures from a counting game to act as the counter weight to the snake. The children helped me count how many animals it took to balance the weight of the snake. 

• Letter of the Day - "T" is for teeter-totter

• Book #2 – Charlie Chick by Nick Denchfield and Ant Parker (pop-up)

• Activity – This Is (fingerplay adapted by Carol Hopkins)

This is big, big, big

This is small, small, small

This is tall, tall, tall

This is short, short, short

This is fast, fast, fast

This is slow, slow, slow

This is yes, yes, yes

This is no, no, no

This is right, right, right

This is left, left, left

This is hide

(cover eyes with hands)

This is... Peekaboo!

• Closing - Dance with scarves using the song "Milkshake" from Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music

 

 

• Art Experience – Glue colorful small and large wallpaper squares onto a regular sheet of blue paper

Ozobot: Learn Basic Coding with this Little Robot

Thanks to a state library grant, I was able to offer a special program at my library using the little Ozobot robot. An Ozobot is a robot about the size of a ping-pong ball that can be used as a teaching tool for basic coding.

At the beginning of my lesson with Ozobot, we looked at how the robot follows lines. I showed the children the basics and then let them explore on their own. What we learned:

• The light sensors on the Ozobot follows lines, printed or drawn.
• The Ozobot needs to be calibrated regularly or when it is acting erratic.  
• It can see certain colors: blue, green, red. When drawing with these colors, the color on the Ozobot's dome will shine the same color as the line. 
• You can give Ozobot commands by using color codes. 
• The order of the colors in the color codes does matter.

I found this online Ozobot Basic Training lesson and this Programming with Colors lesson to be extremely helpful in teaching me what I needed to teach to the children.  

As the children became familiar with the color codes, I then handed out tablets to use with the OzoBlockly website. OzoBlockly uses a graphical drag and drop programming language (very similar to Scratch) to write code for the Ozobot robot. A line of graphical code is placed in a row and then uploaded into the robot by calibrating it on top of the tablet screen. OzoBlockly was rather easy to get started with since it has numbered difficulty.  Even the games start off easy and get harder. The kids with experience in Scratch caught on to this really fast.  

Overall, I thought the Ozobot robots offer a unique experience for a coding class. It is not something many children will have in the home. Since the coding can be done on paper or on the computer/tablet, it gives a multi-sensory opportunity.  

Constructing Tall Buildings Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

  

 

• Book #1 – Big Machines! Big Buildings! by Kevin Lewis, illustrated by Reg Cartwright

• Stand-up Activity – "Peter Hammers" from Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - Stacking blocks to create a high tower

Directions: Hand each child a colored wood block. As you call out the different colors, the children bring their blocks up to a table at the front of the room to stack them up into a high tower. When all the blocks are up, count how many blocks create the tower. 

• Transition activity - Come A' Look A' See (fingerplay song I first picked up at a workshop conducted by Jane Cobb but can also be found on the CD The Baby Record by Bob McGrath)

• Letter of the Day - "C" is for construction site

• Book #2 – One Big Building by Michael Dahl, illustrated by Todd Ouren

• Activity – Cranes Reach (action chant written by Carol Hopkins)

Cranes reach up high
(reach high)
Cranes reach down low
(touch ground)
Cranes reach really, really far picking up their load.
(stretch arms out)

Cranes turn to the right
(with arms out, turn to the right)
Cranes turn to the left
(with arms out, turn to the left)
Cranes reach up really, really high dropping off their load.
(reach high)

• Closing - Dance with scarves using the song "Milkshake" from Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music

 

• Art Experience – Color pens on construction truck tracing sheet