no tails were harmed during this hokey pokey

Because Robert's surgery was during my storytime last week, I asked a coworker to sub for me.  This week I came back with a roar.  Literally.  This week's theme was dinosaurs.

Something I failed to mention in my last storytime post is that I am not changing my hello/goodbye songs and the fingerplays I use to quiet the toddlers down before reading a book.  These things will stay the same throughout the season. 

Dinosaurs!  There are simply too many awesome dinosaur books to choose from, but thanks to Robert, I was able to pick two special ones for this storytime - We Love Dinosaurs by Lucy Volpin and How Does a Dinosaur Choose a Pet? by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Mark Teague.

After we sang our hello song, we sang Raffi's "If You're Happy and You know It."  Each week I like to pick everyone's favorite thing and carry it over into the next week.  The Raffi song was such a hit during my second storytime last week it was obviously the keeper.  This week the first storytime liked it but the second storytime didn't care for it at all.  In fact, they looked at me like I was a lunatic when I made the ringing noises.  

After Raffi, we did one of our fingerplays to quiet everyone down and read We Love Dinosaurs.  The first storytime loved it more than the second.  At this point I should probably mention that my second storytime was a train wreck.  "Train Wrecks" would have been a much more appropriate theme this week.  More on that later.



After our first book, I brought out the shaker eggs and did three activities with them.  The first was the warm-up activity I mentioned last week.  The warm-up activity was not a hit.  The second activity, however, was absolutely adored by both storytimes.  

It's a little song that goes like this:

Everyone can shake shake shake X3
Everyone can shake shake shake
And now let’s make a stop

Everyone can tap tap tap X3
Everyone can tap tap tap
And now let’s make a stop

Everyone can clap clap clap X3
Everyone can clap clap clap
And now let’s make a stop

Everyone can wave wave wave X3
Everyone can wave wave wave
And now let’s make a stop

This second activity is the keeper for next week, which is going to be very very interesting because we are using scarves for the next storytime.  I know what you're thinking.  "How the heck are you going to pull that off?"  You will just have to wait and see.

The third shaker egg activity was a bust.  I won't even talk about it, because it's extinct to me.  Haha, how do you like that pun, dad?  (My dad is my biggest blog fan).

After we put the shaker eggs away, we did another fingerplay to settle everyone down before reading How Does a Dinosaur Choose a Pet.  Much to my surprise, both groups liked the first book better.  

When we finished the second book we sang this song, which is sung to the tune of  "I'm a Little Teapot":

I’m a mean old Dinosaur  

big and tall 

here is my tail

here is my claw.  

when I get all hungry 

I just growl

look out kids

I’m on the prowl.

This song was a bust so we did not sing it during the second storytime.

We finished up with the dinosaur hokey pokey, which was, surprise surprise, loved by all.  One grandma used her toddler as a tail when we were lifting our imaginary tails and "heaving" them in.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a toddler swinging into view, then out of view.  It took me a second to realize what grandma was doing.  Don't worry though, no tails were harmed during this hokey pokey.

Overall, the first storytime was a success.  And though the second storytime was a train wreck due to the near-constant crying of three out of seven toddlers, I had a small compliment that was nice to hear.  One of the parents commented about what a tough job it was (to facilitate a storytime) and I responded by saying it was a lot of fun.  She told me I had a great attitude, which was a sweet thing to say.

I did not do a flannel board this week because I lost the rhyme somewhere.  Seriously!  I can't help but wonder if I lost it on purpose somehow...

This week I also tried carpet squares.  I'm not sure how I feel about them yet.  It took a lot of reminding to keep the toddlers on their "islands."  And towards the end, when everyone was losing focus, they started twirling their "islands" around and wearing them on their heads.  So I'm not sure what to think just yet.  

Something I learned this week came from a librarian from another branch.  She said it usually helps to encourage everyone to take a few deep breaths if they're not quite settled down and ready to listen to a story.  I'm definitely going to try this next week even though I'll probably get the "what's that crazy lady doing" look again.

Next week's storytime will be all about food!