Transcript Preschoolers in the Library

Preschoolers
in the Library
Help!
Presented by:
Susie Dinsmore – [email protected]
Librarian
Stone Spring Elementary School
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Susan Surratt – [email protected]
Librarian
Waterman Elementary School
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Entering the library…
I usually sing the following song – eventually they
sing along with me:
(To the tune of “Did You Ever See a Lassie”)
Let’s sit for a story, a story, a story.
Let’s sit for a story.
Please come sit with me!
Another Song
(To the tune of “Mama’s Little Baby Loves Shortnin’
Bread”)
Everybody sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down,
Everybody sit down on the rug.
Everybody sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down,
Everybody sit down on the rug.
Not on the ceiling, not on the ____________,
Everybody sit down on the rug.
Beginning of a Lesson
Choose one student to be the “helper” that day.
Allow the student to choose a hat and a wand.
The student leads the class in the chant,
“Zoom, zoom, take us away.
Where? Oh, where? Will you take us today?”
The student waves the wand over the magic book as
the class is chanting. And then the book
“magically” opens.
Magic book
Start of School Activities
Preschoolers love this story
about Chester Raccoon who
goes off to school for the
first time. Chester has all of
the same fears that most
young children have about
leaving home for the first
time to go to school!
Mommy helps calm his
fears by kissing Chester’s
hand so that he can hold on
to her love all day long!
I take each child’s picture before they leave the library. On
their second visit during the week, I give them a “hand” to take
home to their parents with their picture on it. On the back of
the hand is a note telling the parents what their child did in
library this week.
Another good beginning school
story is Owen by Kevin Henkes.
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Owen has a special blankie that
he calls “Fuzzy.” Fuzzy goes
everywhere with him! Owen’s
neighbor, Mrs. Tweezers,
doesn’t think Fuzzy should go
to school with Owen when he
starts preschool! She offers
suggestions to Owen’s parents
to separate Fuzzy from Owen.
None of them work! Finally,
Owen’s mother comes up with
the perfect solution!
Since children today are not familiar with a handkerchief
(or hanky) – I show them an old hanky from my
childhood. Then I give each of them a “Fuzzy” to take
with them. (I buy receiving blankets at yard sales to cut
up to make these “hankies!”)
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Girl’s Handkerchief
“Hanky” made from a receiving blanket.
Fall Themed Activities:
Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson
Young children are
delighted by this story of
Mouse and his friend
Minka who walk
through the leaves on a
fall day. This story lends
itself well to the teaching
of colors, shapes, and
sorting! (All of the
“Mouse’s First” books
are good ones to have!)
After reading the story, I have volunteers come
up to the flannel board to sort leaves by color
and shape. We also count as the leaves are put
up on the board.
Our preschoolers usually visit an apple
orchard and/or pumpkin patch. I usually tell
the story of “The Little Red House With No
Doors and No Windows With a Star Inside.”
They are always so fascinated by the “star!”
This leads into a discussion about the seeds…
I use the accucut die cut machine to make apple shapes
out of felt in colors of red, green, and yellow. After telling
“The Little Red House” – I put the felt apples on the
flannel board in a sequence of green, red, and yellow. I
have the children close their eyes as I remove an apple
from the flannel board. Then they have to guess which
apple is missing. This is an excellent sequencing activity.
Students can than come to the board and sort by color.
Fold and cut stories are fun with
preschool! A good fall story is
“The Little Orange House.”
These internet sites lead to some great
sequencing activities to follow up the story of
“The Little Orange House.”
Life Cycle Sequence cards
Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Photos
Before Thanksgiving, I read Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane
Mayr. This is a humorous story about a turkey who hides
from the farmer on the day before Thanksgiving.
Before reading the story of Run, Turkey, Run, I show my students a
cutout of a “bald” turkey. I ask them if they can guess what kind of
animal this is. Finally, with help, someone will guess. I ask them what is
he missing? – Feathers! We then go on a hunt through the library
looking for Turkey’s lost feathers. After we find most of them, we return
to the story area and the students take turns giving Turkey back his
feathers! (You can buy a package of feathers from WalMart or any
craft store – or you can make them from construction paper!)
We learn a new nursery rhyme almost every week
during library time. I send home a copy of the nursery
rhyme with a note about library on the back.
Here is the link I use to get my nursery rhyme posters firstschool.ws
I have several nursery rhyme posters and
cutouts that I purchased with my Scholastic
dollars at Scholastic Instructional Resources.
Mother Goose Rhyme Time: Night and Mother Goose
Rhyme Time: Animals by Kimberly K. Faurot are also
available at Scholastic Instructional Resources. These
books contain activities, extensions, and reproducibles
to go along with the nursery rhyme posters.
Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines is another good nursery rhyme
book to use with Preschool. This hardback copy was purchased at Green
Valley Book Fair for $5.25. It is very colorful and lends itself well to counting,
sort, and patterning activities. Using free clip art, I have made signs to use
when saying the rhyme after we read the story together.
This finger puppet book, Mother Goose Rhymes,
illustrated by Jill McDonald and produced by the ALEX
line of children’s products – was purchased at Food Lion
for $1.25! (Keep your eye on the bargain bin of books
there!) Similar products are available at Merry Hearts.
Can be used as finger puppets and the glove can be used as
an interactive felt board.
During the last few minutes of most library visits,
the children view the nursery rhyme we just
learned from one of the “Mother Goose Treasury’
videos. These are available from The Mother
Goose Treasury Series on DVD.
Our preschoolers start to check out books after the
first six weeks. (They keep them at school.) I read Mr.
Wiggle’s Book by Paula Craig and Bobbie Houser to
them during their first visit of that week. We talk
about how important it is to take good care of books.
(Another good title to use is What Happened to
Marion’s Book? By Brook Berg.
On their second visit of the week, we gather in a circle and look
at items from a plain bag. The children decide if these items are
ok to use with their library books. If so, we put them in the
“Yes, Yes, Always Bag” and if they are not appropriate to use
with a library book – we put them in the “No, No, Never Bag!”
Fairy Tales
We use a variety of objects to help us tell these
traditional tales. And then we tell them over and
over again – each time using a different technique.
Fairy Tales
We use masks to involve the children in acting
out the story.
For my preschoolers as well as my young
physically and intellectually challenged students, I
use these story dolls from Merry Hearts.
You don’t have to do anything elaborate.
Any tactile stimulation is good for the
physically-challenged students.
The Napping House
This is fun on a rainy,
sleepy day!
There Was an Old Lady Who
Swallowed a Fly
Also available from Scholastic Instructional Resources is the
“Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” from the books by
Lucille Colandro. This visual manipulative has worked very well
with my physically and intellectually challenged class as well as
my preschoolers. They love to help me “feed” the little old lady!
Robert Munsch books
Acting out “Thomas’
Snowsuit”
“This Old Man” was
purchased at a yard sale.
He even came with a
cassette of the song. The
pockets on his overalls
contain all of the items in
the song! Both my
physically challenged and
regular ed. Preschoolers
love to sing along and/or
place the items in the
correct pocket.
We celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday the week of March 2.
After reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue
Fish, by Dr. Seuss. I use a red and a blue hula hoop
(borrowed from the P.E. Staff) as a Venn diagram. The
students sort the fish by color and count by color.
This is a great story to use for shapes
and/or clouds.
After reading the story, we look at shapes (using
the overhead projector or document camera) – and
they decide what the shape is. (I use die cuts with
my accucut to come up with the shapes.)
Bear Snores On by Kharma Wilson
is great for introducing hibernation! (Follow the link
below to the author’s website for activities to go along
with all of her “Bear” books.
Other good hibernation titles for
preschool include Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep
by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple and Old
Bear by Kevin Henkes (on the primary list
for this year’s VA Readers Choice).
"Bear" titles by Kharma Wilson
This book is great to use when talking about the
swine flu with little ones. Try the “Hygiene Fun”
activity on the author’s website!
"Bear" titles by Kharma Wilson
Flannel board stories are always good to use to mix up storytime! You
can make your own or purchase them from vendors such as
Merry Hearts, Lakeshore Learning, or Highsmith.
Repetition is usually the name of the game with preschoolers. I will
read a story such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by
Bill Martin, Jr. Then, using the flannel board characters, the children
will say the story with me.
Finger plays are also a good way to start or end storytime. These are available in
books and are all over the internet! (Ex.: Preschool Fingerplays)
I bought an inexpensive pair of gloves from the Dollar Store and attached velcro
circles to the ends of the fingers and to the palm of the glove. Then I made very
simple felt characters to use with the glove. There are many rhymes that contain
the number 5 – “5 Little Apples,” “5 Little Clowns,” “5 Little Leprechauns,” etc.
You don’t need any real artistic talent – they like anything I come up with!
Preschoolers love music! They are very uninhibited and will sing and dance
right along with you! I have found many story books (from songs) with CDs or
cassettes from Ollie's Bargain Outlet. This is another good place to frequent!
The books below include: Six Little Ducks and The Wheels on the Bus by Kim
Mitzo Thompson, and from the series “Sing With Me” are 25 Silly Songs and 25
Nursery Songs illustrated by Krista Brauckmann-Townes, et. Al.
End of library time…
I usually sing this right before they line up to leave.
They eventually sing along…
(To the tune of London Bridges)
Now it’s time to say goodbye, say
goodbye, say goodbye.
Now it’s time to say goodbye;
I’ll see you all next time!
Leaving the library…
Our preschool and primary teachers usually use this song:
(To the tune of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”)
My hands are hanging by my side,
I’m standing straight and tall.
My eyes are looking straight ahead,
I’m ready for the hall!
Give me a bubble!
Where can you find great props and
ideas to use with preschoolers?
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Yard Sales
Auctions
Castoffs from your own children or grandchildren
Teacher swap - (at start or end of year have a swap in the library or foyer of things you no
longer use – one person’s trash is another’s treasure!)
• Food Lion
• Merry Hearts
• Evan-Moor
• Lakeshore Learning
• Highsmith
• Green Valley Book Fair (located near Harrisonburg, VA)
• Scholastic Instructional Resources
• Ollie's Bargain Outlet (this is a chain outlet and is located throughout VA)
Thanks for being
such a wonderful
audience! Please
feel free to contact
us!
[email protected]
[email protected]