awkward rambles from planet awkward

After more than two years, in-person storytimes have started back up again at my library system.  I have been excited, nervous as hell, and planning and practicing in most of my spare time. 

I decided to change a lot of things for my return to storytime.  Before the pandemic, I hauled an ancient TV to the storytime room each week so parents could see the lyrics, early literacy skills, and other storytime information.  It also helped me stay on track since I didn't memorize my entire plan.  

While doing virtual storytimes I was delightfully surprised to discover I could memorize an entire plan.  I also knew I could write out my lyrics on a giant paper pad or the white board for parents.  Plus I planned to make fewer changes each week.  My past storytimes involved one or two different songs and a new yoga pose/mediation activity and ASL sign each week. Too much!

I decided the first thing to go was the TV once I came back from the pandemic.

The second thing to go was recorded music.  Prior to the pandemic, I checked out a ukulele from the library (we used to have them for checkout!).  The day before we were told to go home and everything shut down, the ukulele arrived like some kind of sign.  So I learned how to play about twenty storytime songs during the pandemic.  I spent one year teaching myself and another taking lessons to make sure I was doing each song right and to my surprise, learn different ways to play each of them.  One instructor even helped me with my voice.  I have always had this wonderful sometimes on-key, sometimes off-key approach to singing, but with a ukulele, the need to sing on-key has become more important.  

I also decided I didn't want to deal with puppets this time around.  I spent so much time talking to myself during virtual storytimes, I can't look a puppet in the eye without feeling a little claustrophobic and angsty.  I know, I know.  Each puppet is their own character.  As you can see, I also still need a lot of practice, and I don't have time for that at the moment.  

So I spent a month creating what I thought was the most perfect family storytime plan.  I picked out most of my books for the entire season, found one new activity (usually a song) to introduce each week, figured out how to set up the room, and practiced my heart out.

My first storytime was a disaster.  Thankfully, we decided to do back-to-back storytimes at my branch, so I had another chance.  The second session went much better, but only because I made an uncharacteristic move to toss a lot of things from the first storytime and go with other things I still had mostly memorized from long ago.  

I struggled to engage the kids when we weren't reading books, and I remember it distinctly being the other way around prior to the pandemic.  Kids were running everywhere.  My large, A-Frame storytime felt/magnetic board suddenly sprouted a safety hazard (a tray that slightly shifts, therefore a pinching hazard) that hadn't been discovered the three years I used it prior to the pandemic.

And nobody really knew I existed unless I was reading the books.  

I also really struggled with nerves while playing the ukulele.  So much so that after bumbling through one song, a parent suggested a different one, which I thankfully played well.  That was a small, proud moment.

I played the ukulele some while we waited to walk to storytime, which is in the large meeting room on the opposite side of the library due to wanting to spread out some.  

So yea, thank goodness I memorized all those storytime songs.  Now, when I mess up the one I practice every day, and a parent asks for a different one, I can play it perfectly and win back their respect.  

I can't make this up!  I've been awkward since I was born, but with a blinding enthusiasm that propels me into really unusual situations awkward introverts don't normally find themselves in.  

After my first week, I looked at my family storytime plan and tossed most of it.  I also told myself that I needed to embrace the toddler enthusiasm.  If I was going to get mostly younger kids, I needed to not only prep my plan but be mentally prepared too.  This meant I needed to bring out my loud voice, which I unearthed during the second session of that first storytime.  

The second storytime (both sessions) were a success.  I still need to practice walking both forwards and backwards while playing the ukulele, and also spinning very slowly.  Who knew that playing the ukulele while moving was going to be difficult for someone who is neither graceful or musically-inclined?

Thank goodness I'm a sucker for growth and looking like a fool while I painfully and awkwardly evolve.    

This week there were smiles (so many smiles), kids who were mostly engaged in both books and activities.  They adored the first book, slogged through the second while the wiggles slowly crept in, and the third book just didn't happen.  We may never get to the third book this season, and that's ok.  

I also took time to really enjoy myself, and when things got hectic, I put to use some quieting down rhymes from long ago.  We stuck mostly to the plan, and I have more changes to make, but these changes feel more like the small changes I used to make after each storytime, and not ones that had me questioning everything I've done in life to lead up to this moment.  A little dramatic, maybe.  

So here I am, two weeks into storytime season, and I think I'm finally ready and now I just need to turn all my enthusiasm into storytime gold.  And scare my dogs practicing to talk really LOUDLY while playing the ukulele and walking backwards.  I was born for this.

I will share the most current copy of my plan, which is very floppy for lack of a better word. I'm pretty much doing this storytime thing with an organic approach, which is something my favorite storytimers do and I have admired since the very beginning.  You know the storytimers who walk into storytime with a bag of books and based on their audience, they just wing it?  I think I'm one step closer and only about 1,000 storytimes way from doing that.  

Excuse my wonky formatting.  The highlighted portions are things to do when the kids are really engaged and all they’ve gotten all their wiggles out. 

09/23 Birthdays

Hello song: You Are Here Today (tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

You are here today X2

Let’s give a cheer for all to hear

‘Cause you are here today

 

I am here today...

We are here today...

Names?

Leaf Song (tune: Are You Sleeping)

Leaves are twirling,
Leaves are twirling,
all around, all around.

They are falling softly,
very, very softly,
to the ground, to the ground.

Quiet Song: Read With Me (tune: Are You Sleeping)

are you ready

for a story

let’s sit down

quietly

with our listening ears

and our eyes that see

read with me

Book #1: The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle

Chant: Show me a one

 

Show me a one

One

You got your one you got your one

 

2-10

Magnetic Board Activity: Counting Cake Layers

OR 

Rhyme : Pat-a-Cake

Pat-a-Cake

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake (clap hands and tap thighs)

Baker’s man

Bake me a cake as fast as you can

Roll it (roll arms)

Pat it (tap thighs)

And mark it with a B (draw B on child’s stomach or hand)

And put it in the oven for you and me

Mindful Moment: Finger Fiddle

Take a few deep breaths (hot chocolate breaths)

Breathe in through nose

Breathe out through mouth and roar like a lion

Press the fingertips of both hands together

in front of your chest

Tap your thumbs together five times

 

Pointer
Middle

Ring

Pinkie

 

Shake out your hands and wiggle your fingers

Book #2: Bears and a Birthday by Shirley Parenteau and illustrated by David Walker

Song: Passing Shaker Eggs (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell)

It’s time to take an egg X2
          it’s time to take an egg today.
          It's time to take an egg.

Shaker Eggs Intro:

soft or loud

right hand then left hand

count to ten with our shaker eggs

up down right left

shake our eggs behind our backs

jump up and down and shake them at the same time

Puzzle Song (tune: Hush Little Baby) (incorporate shaker eggs)

Rainbow purple

Rainbow blue

Rainbow green and yellow too

Rainbow orange rainbow red

Rainbow smiles we will spread

Song: Roly Poly to the tune of “Are You Sleeping”

Roly Poly Roly Poly

Up Up Up

Up Up Up

Roly Roly Poly Roly Roly Poly

Down Down Down

Down Down Down

Roly Poly Roly Poly

Out Out Out

Out Out Out

Roly Roly Poly Roly Roly Poly

In In In

In In In

Roly Poly Roly Poly

Fast Fast Fast

Fast Fast Fast

Roly Roly Poly Roly Roly Poly

Slow Slow Slow

Slow Slow Slow

Quiet Song: Open Shut Them

 

Open shut them

Open shut them give a little clap

Open shut them

Open shut them, lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them

Creep them, creep them, right up to your chin

Open wide your little mouth, but do not let them in

Now this time let's sing it a little bit faster

Here we go

Open shut them

Open shut them give a little clap

Open shut them

Open shut them, lay them in your lap

Creep them, creep them

Creep them, creep them, right up to your chin

Open wide your little mouth, but do not let them in 

Book #3: When’s My Birthday by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Christian Robinson

Vote for favorite book

Goodbye Rhyme:

See you later, alligator

Gotta go, buffalo

See you soon, raccoon

Take care, polar bear

Bye bye, butterfly

Toodle-loo, kangaroo

Give a hug, ladybug

Blow a kiss, goldfish 

Goodbye Song

 

We clap our hands like this. X2

We clap our hands 

for all our friends. 

We clap our hands like this. 

 

We stomp our feet like this. X2

We stomp our feet 

for all our friends.

We stomp our feet like this. 

 

We wave goodbye like this. X2

We wave our hands 

for all our friends.

We wave goodbye like this.