Down at the Bayou

I was looking back and found this post that I never finished.  I did a whole summer with themes where we "visited" different locales and this was my trip down South.

The books I used were:
BEDTIME AT THE SWAMP by Kristyn Crow
THE CAJUN CORNBREAD BOY by Dianne de Las Casas
THERE WAS AN OL' CAJUN by Deborah Ousley Kadair
BAYOU LULLABY by Kathi Appelt

While working on this theme, I found Dianne de Las Casas' website and her printable finger puppets for THE CAJUN CORNBREAD BOY.  I made copies with the website information so my kids could color and cut out their finger puppets at home and share the story with their parents.



For my flannelboard stories, I did "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" and "Five Hungry Alligators" (found as Five Hungry Crocodiles)

My fingerplays/action rhymes follow:

CHOMP, CHOMP WENT THE LITTLE GREEN ALLIGATOR

Chomp, chomp,
Went the little green alligator. (arms straight, clap hands together twice, then wiggle side to side)

Chomp, chomp,
Went the little green gator. (repeat actions)

Chomp, chomp,
Went the little green alligator. (repeat actions)

And its tail went, (clap palms together sideways, swish arms side to side)
Swish, swish, swish.




HUNGRY LITTLE ALLIGATOR


Hungry little alligator (clap hands together like an alligator snout)
Looking for its lunch. (wiggle hands side to side)

Sees a little fish,
Then munch, munch, munch! (arms straight, clap hands three times)


These two rhymes were found in SING! PLAY! CREATE! HANDS-ON-LEARNING FOR 3-TO 7-YEAR-OLDS by Lisa Boston

ALLIGATOR, ALLIGATOR, TURN AROUND

Alligator, alligator, turn around.
Alligator, alligator, touch the ground.
Alligator, alligator, dance on your toes.
Alligator, alligator, touch your nose.
Alligator, alligator, jump up now.
Alligator, alligator, take a bow.
Alligator, alligator, snap your jaws.
Alligator, alligator, show your claws.
Alligator, alligator, stomp your feet.
Alligator, alligator, take a seat.



ALLIGATORS IN THE SWAMP
(tune: London Bridge)

Alligators in the swamp,
In the swamp, in the swamp.
Alligators in the swamp,
Living in the water.

Alligators have sharp teeth,
Have sharp teeth, have sharp teeth.
Alligators have sharp teeth,
And chomp down very hard.

Alligators are very green,
Very green, very green.
Alligators are very green,
And good swimmers too.

Model T ride

My oldest brother and I took a Model T ride down a dirt road & I wanted to share the sights and sounds of it.

Fruits & Vegetables

I love all the sharing that goes on with Flannel Fridays and how ideas will move & morph between storytellers.  Since June is National Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Month, I decided to use that as my storytime theme this week.  I found "Picking Up the Fruit" at Mollie's blog--What Happens In Storytime and decided to adapt it for my groups.  She did it as a flannelboard (which is how we'll present it in Toddler Time), but I wanted to do a prop song for my preschoolers.  I used Melissa & Doug plastic fruit and vegetable sets as my props.  I wasn't able to get a picture up yet of my basket of fruit, but I hope to post it later.

 

Rather than doing just one fruit/vegetable at a time, I used three different ones for each refrain and changed the location to what fit my choices best  (farmer's market for items found there or grocery store for shipped in items)  The song can also be arranged to fit an orchard, a garden or a fruit stand.

PICKIN' UP FRUITS & VEGETABLES

(sing to "The Paw Paw Patch")

 

 

Pickin' up apples and puttin' 'em in my basket

Pickin' up carrots and puttin' 'em in my basket

Pickin' up pears and puttin' 'em in my basket

Way down yonder at the farmer's market.

 



 

 

 

 

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For resources on Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month, visit the USDA's website.  I found links to some great fact sheets and bulletin board materials. 

This week's Flannel Friday is being hosted by Amy at Catch the Possibilities 

 

Flag Day/Fourth of July

Last year I was inspired by Mel's post in 2011 on her Red, White, and Blue storytime.  I made a flannel board based on hers and then added two more of my own. 

I found small American flags 3 for $1 at Target last year & wanted to use them somehow.  (I've seen them there again this year if you want to try this).  Sue, who does our Toddler Time, likes the rhyme but her toddlers get  distracted with two many props so she's going to use some flag room decorations for a flannel board..  I found those at Dollar Tree last year.

 FIVE FLAGS

 

I hung my flag high outside in the sun,

It waved in the breeze as I counted one.

 

While my flag so proudly flew in a sky of blue,

Ann raised another & then there were two.

 

Two flags flying over the land of the free,

When Joe raised another & then there were three.

 

Three proud flags in the breeze did soar,

Tami raised another & then there were four.

 

Four flags fluttering as my friends arrive,

Bob raised another & then there were five.

 

Five flags whipping about as the wind blew,

And now we salute the red, white, and blue.

 

 

(the underlined names can be changed to children you choose to come up front & raise the flags with you or have place a flag cut out on the flannel board)

 

 

I always think of picnics when I think of the Fourth and what goes better with a picnic than ice cream?  I used patterns from one of the Carson-Dellosa pattern books to make my ice cream cones.I made more than one set so I could have several children building cones on the board at one time.

 

 

 

FOURTH OF JULY TREAT

 

We need a special treat for Independence Day.

Would something cool and sweet be okay?

 

Let's start with a munchy, crunchy cone,

Though it's not very special when it's all alone.

 

Red raspberry ice cream will add some zest,

Because it's so refreshing, some like it the best.

 

Vanilla white is what I would pick,

But we have to wait to take a lick.

 

Top it off with bright blueberry

For a treat that's colorful and merry.

 

So here it is--red, white, and blue;

A holiday treat for me and you.

 

The books I used were PIPPA AT THE PARADE by Karen Roosa, MY AMERICA by Jan Spivey Gilchrist & Ashley Bryan, HATS OFF FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY by Harriet Ziefert, and I also had available some of the patriotic song picture books that Ann Owen illustrated that include YOU'RE A GRAND OLD FLAG, YANKEE DOODLE, & WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME.  There's a new title out that I want to use this year, RED, WHITE, AND BOOM! by Lee Wardlaw. 

 

Lisa at Story Time With the Library Lady is our hostess this week for Flannel Friday.

 

 

 

 



Treetop friends

A few months ago, I found a dog toy that was a plush tree stump with a chipmunk, a mouse & a hedgehog inside.  I knew I wanted to use it as a storytime prop but wasn't sure how until we were planning an Earth Day/Arbor Day storytime. 

 

 

We added some beanie babies we already had at the library & tucked all the creatures into the tree.

 

 

Another storyteller & I discussed our ideas and this was the finished project:

 

 

WHO IS HIDING IN THE TREE?

(tune: Frere Jacques)

 

 

Who is hiding

 

Who is hiding

In the tree

 

In the tree

 

I spy a hedgehog

 

I spy a hedgehog

 

Yes, indeed.

 

Yes, indeed.

 

 

Our other entries were mouse, chipmunk, ladybug, snake, frog, butterfly, lizard--basically anything you might find in a tree & have handy.

 

Our kids love "finding" hidden things during storytimes and this was a really big hit.  Another popular activity was "Five Bottles of Juice" that I found on What Happens in Storytime... and adapted a little bit.  We had five empty plastic bottles & a blue recycle tub that we used while we sang:

Five bottles of juice that we drank,

Five bottles of juice.

Put one in the recycle bin.

Four bottles of juice that we drank.

 

We continued until all the bottles were recycled.  Then you could end with:

 

 

No bottles of juice that we drank,

No bottles of juice.

They all are in the recycle bin,

All those bottles of juice that we drank.

 

Happy storytelling and for more ideas visit Andrea who is hosting Flannel Friday for April 26 on her blog, RovingFiddlehead KidLit  Check it out.  I always find something interesting when I do.  For more on Flannel Friday visit its homepage.

Dr. Seuss Storytime

Each year we do a Dr. Seuss program prior to Read Across America Day for our toddlers, preschoolers, and families.  Since we have a Cat in the Hat costume that we use, these tend to draw a crowd so I'm always looking for something a little different for the flannelboard that isn't too small and is colorful.  This year I found some Dr. Seuss fish cut outs at our local Michael's store.  There were 12 of each color in the packet.  I then found a rhyme "So Many Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea" at King County Library System's Tell Me A Story.  I adapted it to:

So Many Fish In the Deep Blue Sea

From Nany Stewart  (then adapted by Sandy Wallick)

 

There are so many fish in the deep blue sea.

What color fish do you see?

(Hold up one colored fish.)

 

Blue, blue, this one's blue. This little fish is blue

(Repeat first refrain)

 

Red, red, these are red. These two fish are red.

(Repeat first refrain)

 

Yellow, yellow, these are yellow. These three fish are yellow.

 

There are so many fish in the deep blue sea.

Can you count the fish with me?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

 

 

I laminated 3 of each color so I can change the color order if I want.  I added this to the flannelboard I made using Mel Depper's idea of GREEN EGGS (NO HAM) and fingerplays from Storytimes Online to some of my favorite Dr. Seuss books and plush Seuss creatures that I've collected (most recently from Kohl's).

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Storytime ABC's this week, so check out that site for lots of great ideas.

Pickup Trucks

My library added the big book LITTLE BLUE TRUCK LEADS THE WAY by Alice Schertle to our storytime collection recently.  I began planning a storytime around it and discovered that there were enough good pickup truck books to narrow my theme to that.  The next thing I needed was to find some flannel boards.  I found a great rhyme, "Five in the Truck" at King County Library System's Fingerplays, Rhymes and Songs page.  I also found a simple truck pattern at Honeybunch Boutique that was meant for quilters but which worked well for a flannel board pattern once I enlarged it.

 

 

The rhyme (based on "Five in the Bed") starts with Five in the Truck and the little hen clucked, "Move over, move over".  Instead of using five chickens, I used five wooden farm animals I had and just added some velcro to the back.  This fits in very well with the books FARMER DALE'S RED PICKUP TRUCK by Lisa Wheeler and MINERVA LOUISE AND THE RED TRUCK by Janet Morgan Stoeke. 

 

I used the same pattern, just not as big, to make several trucks in various colors.

 

 

 

I wrote two rhymes that I could use with these, one of which needs a duck and some other creatures that will fit behind the trucks.  This first rhyme can be used with different colored trucks or numbered trucks.

 

STUCK BEHIND THE TRUCK

 

My friend duck

Is hidden behind a truck.

 

Is my friend duck

Behind the _____ truck?

 

If no:

No, that's not duck

Behind the _____truck.

That's.....

 

If yes:

Yes, that's duck

Behind the ______truck!

But if duck is behind the _____truck

Who's behind the _____truck?

 

 

 

These trucks were made from card stock so I can also attach them to sticks for stick puppets if I want and have kids help with the second rhyme/song.

 

MY OLD TRUCK

tune:  "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"

 

 

My old blue truck goes bumping along, bumping along, bumping along.

My old blue truck goes bumping along, all the way to town.

 

 

Different colors & descriptive words can replace the underlined ones.  For example, bumping can become bouncing, zipping, speeding, rolling, cruising, or crawling.

 

 

For an action song, I adapted "Wheels on the Bus" to "Wheels on the Truck" and adjusted verses accordingly.