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