Sheep/Lamb Storytime

March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, so what better theme to kick off our spring storytime session with than lambs?  (I took the liberty of extending the theme to sheep in general, not just those of the baby variety.)

I presented this storytime three times this week with alterations to each group: once to my regular preschool storytime crowd at the library, and twice at a local preschool as part of our outreach program. At the preschool, I presented to a group of two year olds and to a group of three and four year olds.

With both preschool groups, I opened (as I always do) with my Mystery Bag. I shamelessly stole this concept from the a post on the ALSC Blog last fall, and have been using it to great success this year. (The Mystery Bag deserves an entire post of its own!)  The Mystery Bag gets filled with items that start with the same letter as the theme for that week. I show the kids the letter and demonstrate the sound it makes and ask them to guess what might be in my bag that starts with that sound.  I decided to get a little bit tricky this week and go with things that started with the sound "SH" for sheep. In my bag, I had a shirt, a shoe, a shovel, a pair of shorts, and, of course, a sheep.  This one was a little bit tricky for the kids: the abundance of clothes threw them off and made them think of other items of clothing, and I think the consonant blend may have been a bit too sophisticated. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed it for sure.

Books I used for this storytime were:

Sneaky Sheep by Chris Monroe
I read this to both groups of preschoolers, and they really loved it. Two sheep want to explore a dangerous meadow high atop a mountain, but are thwarted at every turn by the loyal sheepdog who guards their flock.Not only was it hilarious, but it turned out to be a great one for dialogic reading. I asked the kids before the book started why the thought the sheep would be sneaky, or what the dangers to sheep might be, or how the sheep might get out of an especially tough situation.

The Sheep Fairy: When Wishes Have Wings by Ruth Louise Symes
I also read this to both groups of preschoolers. A sheep rescues a fairy, who grants her one wish as thanks. Sweet and funny.

Three Bags Full by Ragnhild Scamell

A generous sheep gives her woolly coat away to help other animals stay warm, but what is she to do when winter comes to the farm? Mrs. Farmer come to the rescue! I thought this book was very sweet, but it wasn't a smash hit with my first group of preschoolers, so I didn't read it to my second. I think this would be better in a smaller group or one on one.

Where Is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox

A classic for a reason. I read this to all three groups, who all adored it and really engaged with it. I don't think any of the adults were familiar with it, so I was pleased to introduce it to everyone. It was a lot of fun to read the book to different groups on the same day and see how they became more sophisticated at guessing some of the sheep ("brave sheep," "clown sheep") as they got older.

Wee Little Lamb by Lauren Thompson

The two-year-old group I read this to was perhaps the quietest and best-behaved group of twos I've ever presented to, and boy, did they love this sweet book about a little lamb who is too shy to go play with the other creatures in the field but instead wants to stay close to his mama. It was adorable and would be great for one year olds as well.

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

A hit with the two-year-old group as well. We had a lot of fun continuing to say "Beep beep!" throughout the story, even though it was only written on the first page. A nice introduction to rhyming words.

We sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep," of course, and my other main storytime activity this week was my color lambs.  I cribbed the idea from 1234 More Storytimes.

I put up a white lamb and had everyone sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with its fleece as white as snow, but then I said, "You probably didn't know that Mary had a lot of other lambs, too, who were all sorts of colors!" With my younger kids, who were just learning their colors, I put up the lambs one by one, named the color, and put up the object that was that color. Then we sang the song again, e.g. "Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was as red as an apple."  With my older kids, I put all the lambs out at once at the top half of the board, and all my objects at the bottom of the board, and asked them to match them up. We also named different things that were each color.  This was a huge hit with all groups. It took a very long time, so I didn't get to a lot of my other flannels or songs this week. I had an idea of doing baby animal vocabulary -- sheep/lamb, horse/foal, cow/calf -- which I still think would be great, but I just ran out of time. I'll have to save it for another storytime...

For the craft, the kids made a lamb puppet out of a brown paper bag, some paper cut-outs, and a cotton ball.

Preschool Outreach Storytime March 2013

As part of  my job, I do monthly or bimonthly storytimes at local preschools as part of our outreach efforts. Usually I do two storytimes at each school: one for a group of 2s and young 3s, and one for a group of 4s and 5s. The school I visit most often is theme-based and asked me to match my storytimes to the theme that was being presented that week.  These weren't generic preschool themes like "bears," either: these were things like "health and hygiene." At first, I was happy to oblige, but it started to get tricky.  In January, my theme was diversity. There are a few really great books for preschoolers on that topic...  and when I brought out my basket of materials to read to the older group, the teacher admitted that she'd read the class all the books I'd brought with me already.  I kicked myself for not bringing any back-up books, but the teacher handed me some books she hadn't read the class yet, and it was fine.

In February, the topic was "America." For some reason, I really struggled with finding books for this topic, especially for the younger kids. I think I would have had an easier time for "4th of July," but this was more "President's Day."  Anyway, I brought lots of books and created lots of activities to do in between the stories... and they all fell totally flat. I don't know if it was me, or the materials, or just a bad day for the kids, or a combination, but it was a disaster. Definitely the worst storytime experience I've had to date. The teacher spent most of the time yelling at the kids to sit down and be quiet, and I felt awful.  Storytime is supposed to be fun; I really am trying to teach kids to love books and words, and I don't want them to associate my visits with getting yelled at.

After that experience, I spoke with the director of the preschool and we mutually decided that it would be better if I just created my own storytimes and didn't try to work around their themes. This is a lot less work for me, since I can work from the storytimes I've planned for my in-house preschool group in the previous month, but more importantly, I can choose books and activities that I know will go over well with this age group, rather than ones that fit a theme.

This March was the first time I presented a "themeless" storytime for the preschool, and instead of presenting one of the storytimes I'd done previously, I decided to do a "greatest hits" storytime with some of my very favorite readalouds. I really wanted the kids to have fun.

Some of the books I read were:

Caps for Sale  by Esphyr Slobodkina

The kids LOVED this. I mean, I knew it would be a hit, but I was surprised at how immediately it held their attention. They really got into pretending to be the monkeys, saying Tsz, tsz, tsz! I sometimes feel like I have to drag out audience participation in my stories, but immediately the kids all chimed in. I love any story that provides an opportunity for some gross motor movement, and this one definitely does.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

I read this to the older kids, and again, it was a huge hit.  They had never read it before and had no idea what "it" was.  They really got into shouting out what each shape was, and I liked some of their suggestions better than what was in the book.  They thought the angel was a dragonfly, for instance.  A classic for a reason.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes  by Eric Litwin, ill. James Dean

This was the biggest hit of all, but no surprise there. Pete's just brilliant.  I read this to both groups, and it went over equally well with both.  I'd be happy to read this one to first graders, too -- honestly, is there any age that wouldn't love Pete?  The older group REALLY loved Pete, and at the end, instead of singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" (which is how I usually close out my storytimes), they wanted to sing the Pete song some more.  So we all got up and danced around and made up a song for the whole rainbow "Oh no! Pete stepped in a pumpkin patch. What color are his shoes now?") This was a TON of fun -- and totally organic and spontaneous.


My Car by Byron Barton

I read this to the younger kids; it's one of my favorite reads for younger kids. The illustrations are so vivid and simplistic, which makes it perfect to share with a group. The text is also simple, but there's a cute twist at the end, and what little kid doesn't love cars?

Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham

I shared this with the younger group, and it also went over well.  The kids enjoyed shaking their fingers and repeating Mr. Gumpy's admonitions to the riders on his boat.

I also brought our "Color Bears," which are die-cut bears in red, green, blue, and yellow cardstock glued onto craft sticks.  We use them in conjuction with the Hap Palmer song "Colors," which instructs the kids to stand up and sit down at various times depending on the color of their stick.  You can get the jist of this here:

Both groups really enjoyed it, although they both had trouble following directions. I wasn't so surprised that the younger group struggled a bit, although I was surprised that the older group didn't quite catch on either. I suspect that if I brought this with me several months in a row, they'd be old pros.

Anyway, this storytime was a ton, a ton of fun. The kids absolutely loved it, and I was so happy to share some really excellent books with them.