DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILL(S): Narrative Skills

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

Olivia and the Butterfly Adventure adapted by Natalie Shaw
Bye, Bye, Butterflies! by Andrew Larsen
Bird, Butterfly, Eel by James Prosek
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly by Jane O’Connor
Uncle Monarch and the Day of the Dead by Judy Goldman
Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek
Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison
Butterfly Beach by Polly Caldwell Bookwalter   
Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine Ó Flatharta   
The Lamb and the Butterfly by Arnold Sundgaard

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Music & Movement
3. Read-a-Loud Book
4. Music & Movement
5. Flannelboard
6. Music & Movement
7. Music & Movement
8. Read-a-Loud Book
9. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

ACTIVITIES

Music & Movement: Shake Your Sillies Out (w/ shakers & eggs)

Music & Movement: What Are You Wearing? (w/ shakers & eggs)

Flannelboard: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Music & Movement: Wheels on the Bus (w/ shakers & eggs)

Music & Movement: Bean Bag Song (with bean bags)

CRAFT: Mixed Media Butterflies!

I was inspired by the cut-paper illustrations featured in Lois Ehlert’s Waiting for Wings (can you tell I got carried away?). So I browsed Google Images to find an appealing photo of a butterfly, which I enlarged and used to create a template. From there, the template was used for tracing purposes. I precut dozens of butterflies from different colored card stock.  For added detail, I cut different sized circles and random shapes out of the left over trimmings. Crayons and markers were also provided.

REVIEW

Once again, I was asked to fill in for the Children’s Librarian (at the main library) and present two Friday morning storytime sessions for preschoolers. I took it as an opportunity conduct my butterfly themed storytime, and just in time because California is going to freeze soon. After much discussion, I made some changes to avoid another disastrous storytime. Taking the children’s normal routine into account, I added a few of their regular songs to the session lineup in lieu of adding theme based rhymes. In order to avoid chaos and noisy disruptions, I made a brief announcement at the beginning of each session during which I requested parents and guardians stick close to their little ones. I told attendees they were permitted to take a “break and step outside to help their little one collect themselves should the need arise.” Overall, both sessions were much more successful than the previous two. Although, there was a minor issue with an audio cassette version of The Bean Bag Song. My advice: create and iTune’s playlist and use an iHome with remote control instead of dealing with the hassle of switching out CDs or audio cassettes.

Storytime butterflies crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy flannelboard narrative skill