Preschoolers in the Library Help Presented by

Preschoolers in the Library Help!

Presented by: Susie Dinsmore – sdinsmore@harrisonburg. k 12. va. us Librarian Stone Spring Elementary School Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Susan Surratt – ssurratt@harrisonburg. k 12. va. us 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. 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, 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. • 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!”) • 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 Wal. Mart 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 Mc. Donald 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, Always Bag” and if they are not appropriate to use with a library book – we put them in the “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, 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. 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? • • 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! sdinsmore@harrisonburg. k 12. va. us ssurratt@harrisonburg. k 12. va. us