Just like last week's storytime, I had a full house for my first storytime and a much smaller group for the second storytime. My original theme fell apart so there really wasn't a theme this week.
Books we read:
Bats in the Library by Brian Lies
The first storytime had too much energy to sit through this longer book, but my second storytime was more than ready for it. At one point while reading the book the room was so quiet you could hear a mouse fart. Bats in the Library is just that good. There was a small reference to Autumn in the book but I changed that to winter and no one noticed.
5 Little Ducks by Denise Fleming
Even though the first storytime was totally ready to run a marathon, they did stay engaged with this book. I had three older girls in the group due to school being out, and one of the girls kept trying to read the book with me. Finally she said, "I'm in second grade but I still love storytime." I'm sure all the younger kids were truly in awe of her ability to jump in and read with me here and there. 5 Little Ducks is a great way to talk about the days of the week while making delightful quacking sounds the entire time you're learning.
There's a Bear in My Chair by Ross Collins
This was the favorite book of both storytimes. The kids shrieked with laughter and the grownups were all delighted when the polar bear dressed up as Elvis. We had a good time with the rhyming and talking about the meanings of some of the crazier word choices like 'lair.'
Overall, all three books were giant successes and I didn't feel quite so weird having a storytime about so many different kinds of creatures.
Activities:
This week we did the seahorse yoga pose from the board book, Yoga Whale. Though I recognize this isn't technically a pose, it was too adorable to pass up and the kids really loved this pose. In the second storytime a little boy pointed out the seahorse's back fins and so we all flapped our back fins together.
The morning of the storytime I hurriedly looked up something to do with the socks I made over the winter break. I chose Singin' in the Stacks' idea of asking the kids to help sort the laundry she didn't finish over the weekend, and everyone had a blast matching the socks. I put up one of each sock on the magnetic board and passed out the rest of the socks to the kids, who matched them up. We then talked about the colors/patterns of each pair of socks, which was fun.
Songs we sang:
I asked both storytimes what they would like to sing. In the first storytime a kid requested a Mary Poppins song that just wasn't going to happen. She did sing a few lines, which we all enjoyed. Another kid asked for the Addams Family theme song, but wasn't able to help us learn it because he didn't know the lyrics. But a wonderful thing happened. A parent suggested we sing a song about the days of the week, which was sung to to the tune of the Addams Family theme song. We all loved it. I loved it so much I kept singing it the rest of the day.
In the second storytime something truly ghastly happened. I think we all know what ghastly thing I'm talking about. A boy asked to sing...The Hokey Pokey, so that's what we did. We put our ears, head, nose, arms and feet in. It was a strange mixture that left me a little dizzy. But everyone loved it, so I'll keep my thoughts about the hokey pokey to myself.
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