DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILL: Print Awareness, Narrative Skill & Vocabulary

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day by Natasha Wing  
Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick’s Day Symbols by Edna Barth
St. Patrick’s Day Alphabet by Beverly Barras Vidrine
Crafts for St. Patrick’s Day by Kathy Ross
The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow by Sean Callahan   
That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting   
The Leprechaun’s Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards   
Silly Goose and Dizzy Duck Hunt for a Rainbow by Sally Grindley
The Rainbow and You by Edwin C. Krupp  
What Makes a Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
Over the Rainbow (Book & CD) by E.Y. Harburg, Judy Collins & Harold Arlen
Daniel O’Rouke: An Irish Tale by Gerald McDermott

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Read-a-Loud Book
3. Finger Puppet Rhyme
4. Read-a-Loud Book
5. Action Rhyme
6. Flannelboard
7. Read-a-Loud Book
8. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover by Lucille Colandro
Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee
Green Shamrocks by Eve Bunting

ACTIVITIES

Finger Puppet Rhyme: Two Little Leprechauns (modified Two Little Blackbirds)

Two little leprechauns, sitting on a hill.
One named Jack, one named Jill.
Run away Jack, run away Jill.
Come back Jack, come back Jill.

Flannelboard: Make a Rainbow (via Artfelt.net)

Take an apple; put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest RED you ever did see!

Take a tangerine; put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest ORANGE you ever did see!

Take a lemon; put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest YELLOW you ever did see!

Take a pear; put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest GREEN you ever did see!

Take some berries; put them in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest BLUE you ever did see!

Take some grapes; put them in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot!
Take it out now; what will it be?
The prettiest PURPLE you ever did see!

RED and ORANGE and YELLOW and GREEN
BLUE and PURPLE colors are seen!
Put them together; what will they be?
The prettiest RAINBOW you ever did see!

Action Rhyme: Leprechaun, Leprechaun (via theholidayzone.com)

Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
Reach up high.
Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
Touch the sky.

Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
Turn around.
Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
Touch the ground.

Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
Touch your shoe.
Leprechaun, Leprechaun,
That will do.

CRAFT: Rainbow, Shamrock & Pot of Gold!

 

This paste heavy, storytime craft features all of the symbolic elements representative of St. Patrick’s Day (minus the leprechauns). I used PowerPoint to create a quick rainbow template, and printed copies on some unattractive, off-white cardstrock that came with my re-gifted, 3-lbs bag of scrapbook paper. I cut up an old file folder, and used the pieces to create free-hand templates for the other elements (gold, clover, pot, sun, cloud, raindrops). I used the templates for tracing purposes and cut out everything prior to storytime using appropriately colored scrapbook paper. Given the number of children in attendance, I decided to forgo using colored glitter stricks. Markers, color pencils and crayons were provided.

REVIEW:

Storytime attendance at GBL has been extremely low during the last few months. Average attendance has been limited to 3-5 children. So instead of wasting time and supplies to create craft for a dozen children, I decided to prepare less craft. This is the third GBL storytime in a row that I have prepared enough craft for a maximum of 7 children. Jokes on me, as there were 14 children who attended storytime on Saturday.

I used the few minutes prior to storytime to quickly locate a rainbow template and printed multiple copies.  Thankfully, the GBL Branch Manager has the same scrapbook paper I do. So after storytime was over, I had the children work on coloring their rainbows, while the Branch Manager and I hurriedly cut out enough craft pieces for everyone. Fortunately, the parents and children were very understanding.

Lesson learned. In the future, I’ll create backup coloring sheets to use in case attendance exceeds my expectation. Likewise, I’ll go back to preparing enough craft for a dozen children. Aside from the craft issue, storytime went fairly well. I was a somewhat discombobulated due to my initial panic over my lack of craft, so my reading of Elmer and the Rainbow was less than stellar. Luckily, I was able to relax and I did a much better job with the other read-a-loud books.

Storytime clover crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy home school library narrative skill pot of gold print awareness rainbow shamrock St. Patrick's Day vocabulary