DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILL: Phonological Awareness

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Music & Movement Song
3. Read-a-Loud Book
4. Puppet Rhyme
5. Read-a-Loud Book
6. Music & Movement Song
7. Read-a-Loud Book
8. Craft

BREAK IT DOWN…

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band by Kwame Alexander   
What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson
Cock-a-Doodle Quack! Quack! by Ivor Baddiel
Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon
Cock-a-Doodle-Doo, Creak, Pop-Pop, Moo by Jim Aylesworth 
Oink-a-Doodle-Moo by Jef Czekaj
Mr. Duck Means Business by Tammi Sauer
The Noisy Noisy Farm by Stephanie Stansbie
No Sleep for the Sheep! by Karen Beaumont
Meow Said the Cow by Emma Dodd

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig
One Cow, Moo, Moo! by David Bennett & Andy Cooke  
Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting

ACTIVITIES

Music & Movement Song: Baa Baa Blacksheep (w/ Shakers & Eggs)

Music & Movement Song: 3 Little Ducks (w/ Shakers & Eggs)

Puppet Rhyme: Old MacDonald had a Farm (via PreschoolExpress.com)

CRAFT: Baby Chicks!

 

Based on this week’s farm animal theme, I thought it might be nice if the children were able to make baby chicks. That way they could continue to build upon their phonological awareness (post-storytime) by making a variety of baby chick sounds (i.e. tweet, cheap, and peep) at home. To accommodate the large number of children attending multiple storytimes, I purchased 4 sets of yellow paper plates from The Dollar Tree. I created a basic template, which was used for tracing purposes. Beaks and feet were created using left over scrapbook paper.  To make assembly easy as possible, all of the pieces were pre-cut prior to storytime. Googly eyes and crayons were provided too. The children that attended storytime at GBL2 went bananas coloring their baby chicks. On the other hand, none of the children at MCL (main branch) bothered to personalize their craft (at least the parent’s appreciated how simple it was to assemble). I added a polka dot border to mine. =)

REVIEW

I’ve been wanting to conduct an animal sound based storytime for a while now, so I was excited to finally get an opportunity to do so. As I predicted last week, I decided to focus on one storytime theme this week—which I performed for 3 storytimes at 2 libraries.

This was the first time I conducted storytime at GBL2, which resides in a learning center complex that is home to the Housing Authority Department. Local, low-income residents have access to a number of programs and services via a non-profit child development center, WIC, and the Health & Wellness office housed within the complex.   One class (made up of 15 2-5 year-olds) from the child development center attended this week’s storytime session. They were by far my favorite group of storytime attendees ever! They were so enthusiastic, and didn’t hesitate to participate. Together we created a discordant cacophony of animal sounds and lyrics. They loved the craft, and had a lot of fun coloring their baby chicks. I received a hug and “thank you” or “gracias” from almost every child. Based on this week’s session, I think I am going to really enjoy these outreach storytimes—which is a good thing because its possible all three child development center classes will begin attending storytime at GBL2.

The back-to-back storytimes I conducted at MCL (main branch) were slightly quieter affairs. I still have some children that are reluctant to participate. I’ve been working to change that by encouraging the adults to join me in rhyme and song.

Storytime baby chick crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy farm animals home school library paper plate crafts phonological awareness