DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILLS:  Phonological Awareness

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
Count Down to Fall by Fran Hawk
Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett
Hooray for Fall! by Kazuo Iwamura
Fall Leaves Fall! by Zoe Hall
In November by Cynthia Rylant
Who Loves the Fall? by Bobb Raczk
Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Elizabeth Wallace
Ruby’s Falling Leaves by Rosemary Wells
Leaves by David Ezra Stein
Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelley

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Hello Song
3. Read-a-Loud Book
4. Action Rhyme
5. Read-a-Loud Book
6. Flannelboard
7. Action Rhyme
8. Read-a-Loud Book
9. ASL Goodbye Song
10. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson
The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

ACTIVITIES

Action Rhyme: “Falling Leaves” (via Perry Public Library)
Little leaves falling down (flutter fingers like falling leaves)
Red and yellow, orange and brown
Whirling, twirling, round and round (twirl hands in circles)
Falling softly to the ground (flutter fingers to floor)

Flannelboard: Five Little Leaves (via Library Storytime ABC’s)
Five little leaves in the tree next door,
One fell off and then there were four.
Four little leaves all over the tree,
A bird pulled off one and now there are three.
Three little leaves up where the wind blew,
One fell off and then there were two.
Two little leaves sitting in the sun,
A bug ate a leaf in the tree alone,
One little leaf in the tree alone,
The wind blew and blew and now there are none.

Action Rhyme:Counting Leaves (via Perry Public Library)
1 leaf, 2 leaves, 3 leaves today (count on fingers)
4 leaves, 5 leaves…
Whoosh! (blow on fingers)
Blow them all away! (fly fingers away)

CRAFT: Leaf Puppets!

I really liked the Leaf People on a stick that I found via Pinterest that are the brain child of Happy Home Fairy. Instead of using fake leaves to make my version, I made the mistake of creating a template and hand cutting DOZENS of oddly shaped maple leaves out of scrapbook paper. I recommend using a package of fake leaves if you can find them.

REVIEW:

FYI: I performed this storytime back in November as part of the interview process for my current gig as a Children’s Librarian. Storytime went well, if a bit awkward given the fact I was a complete stranger to the children and their parents. The read-a-loud stories went well (I love Lauren Thompson’s Mouse series), and The Busy Little Squirrel is adorable. Unfortunately, this group of preschoolers were not feeling the extension activity vibe, and instead of participating they pretty much stared at me like I was crazy. I was so used to performing for my old group of preschoolers that I had forgotten it takes awhile to build a rapport and sense of trust with new groups of children. Its been my experience that children are hesitant to participate without that sense of trust and comfort. This experience was a great reminder to NOT take that truth for granted.

Storytime autumn crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy fall home school leaves library phonological awareness