DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILL: Letter Knowledge, Vocabulary & Narrative Skill

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton     
The  Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle
The House of 12 Bunnies by Caroline Stills & Sarcia Stills-Bolt
The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle   
The Hungry Hen by Caroline Jayne Church
Fritz and the Beautiful Horses by Jan Brett
A Second is a Hiccup: A Child’s Book of Time by Hazel Hutchins
Humpty Dumpty and Friends: Nursery Rhymes for the Young at Heart by Oleg Lipchenko     
Hug by Jez Alborough
The Book with a Hole by Hervé Tullet
10 Little Hot Dogs by John Himmelman
Can You Hop? by Lisa Lawston

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Read-a-Loud Book
3. Rhyme
4. Flannelboard
5. Read-a-Loud Book
6. Fingerplay
7. Action Rhyme
8. Read-a-Loud Book
9. Action Rhyme
10. Flannelboard
11. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

A New House for Mouse by Petr Horacek  
Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora
But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton 
Horns to Toes and In Between by Sandra Boynton 

ACTIVITIES

Rhyme: 8th portion of Animal Alphabet Rhyme

Flannelboard: The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Fingerplay: This Little Horse (modified) (via Canton Public Library)
This little horse eats grass,
This little horse  eats hay.
This little horse drinks water.
This little horse runs away.
And this little horse does nothing,
But lie and sleep all day.
Neighhhh!

Action Rhyme: “How Do You Say Hi?”  (via Online Learning Library Initiative: Georgia’s CARE)
Hey! Hi! Howdy! Yo!
There are many ways to say hello!
Wave your hand. Nod your head.
Smile big or wink instead.
Blow a kiss. Tip your hat.
Shake your hands. Give a pat.
Of all the ways to say hello,
Here’s the way I like to go…HELLO!

Action Rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (via Scoutsongs.com)
Head and shoulders knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head and shoulders knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears
And mouth and nose
Head and shoulders knees and toes
Knees and toes

Flannelboard: Five Hippopotamus in the Bathtub (modified) (via Artfelt.net)
One Hippo in the bathtub going for a swim.
Knock, Knock, (Clap twice with “Knock, Knock.”)
Splash, Splash, (Slap knees twice with “Splash, Splash.”)
Come on in! (Motion with both hands to come in.)

Two Hippos in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock,
Splash, Splash,
Come on in!

Three Hippos in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock,
Splash, Splash,
Come on in!

Four Hippos in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock,
Splash, Splash,
Come on in!

Five Hippos in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock,
Splash, Splash,
It all fell in!

CRAFT: Letter “Hh” Horse!

This week’s alphabet craft was inspired by Totally Tots Blog. In order to create a simpler version, I began by sketching a lower-case “h” and added the necessary horse-related features. I scanned the original, and printed multiple copies, which I cut out prior to storytime.  Colored construction paper, crayons and markers were provided. Overall, these alphabet crafts have been a bit simpler than I like. Unfortunately, the large number of attendees and skewed ratio of children to adults makes paste heavy and intricate crafts prohibitive. Fortunately, the children do not seem to mind. They are always so excited to color their craft, and this week was no exception. I was very pleased to see a rainbow colored herd of horses.

REVIEW:

This Thursday, I presented 2 back-to-back storytime sessions at GBL2 for 3 preschool classes from the child development center. Due to space constraints, the 2 smaller classes attended the first storytime session together. The larger class of 3-4 year-olds attended the second session. There were some absences, so I had a total of 36 children split between both storytime sessions. Aside from some hesitation on the part of the new storytime attendees, this week’s storytime theme went over like gangbusters. The kids loved A New House for Mouse and Say Hello! I loved hearing a chorus of children chanting, “Jambo” and “Ni Hao” along with other foreign greetings. As always, the flannelboard version of The Hungry Caterpillar, the action rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and this week’s version of 5 [Hippos] in the Bathtub were big hits.

Storytime crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy home school horse letter H letter knowledge library narrative skill vocabulary