Celebrating Libraries, Books, and Reading–When Classes Visit the Library or for National Library Week

A program for when K-4th grade classes visit – usually paired with a library tour -- adapted for Summer Reading Visits for the theme "Every Hero Has a Story" (2015)
Also a Pre-School Storytime below for National Library Week or National Book Week.

 

 

Play as they arrive:  “We’re going down to the Library” from Tom Chapin’s  album  MoonBoat

 

Read: Library Lil – Suzanne Williams (a librarian with superhero strength revitalizes the towns library even convincing the head of the town’s motorcycle gang to become an avid reader) or Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair – Patricia Polacco (modern fable about a town which forgets what books are for)

 

 

Sing: Joe Scrugg’s “Read a Book”  (lyrics below)

 

Ask whether the first book read was true or fiction – then show the following title and ask the same question – kids astonished, this one is true!

 

Read: Librarian on the Roof: a TRUE story – M. G. King (librarian spends a week on the roof of the library to raise funds for a children’s room - now that is my kind of hero!)

 

Sing/flannel: “Throw it Out the Window” (lyrics below)

 

 

 

If time, can read any or all:

 

Jack Prelutsky Poem: “I Met a Dragon” or “Books Fall Open” (both in Good Books, Good Times! -811.5 GOO) or  “Please Bury Me in the Library” (from the book by that title by J. Patrick Lewis 811.54 LEW) or “Reading for Pleasure” (from Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines 811.54 HIN)

 

Sing: R.E.A.D. (lyrics below) (can do the letters in sign language alphabet or with full bodies – similar to Y.M.C.A.)

Tour the library or tell the details of  the Summer Reading Program (feel free to email  me if you want my script).

 

(Could use: Winners 2015 Reader's Theater of A Library Book for Bear by Bonny Becker.)

5.2015

SRC 2015 "Every Hero Has a Story" School Visits:

Visited schools  dressed in red "Be Super" T-shirt, introduced myself as "SuperLibrarian," showed "Superdog" sidekick and SRC mascot (stuffed dalmatian in red mask and cape)

Introduced Summer Reading Clubs -- 3 Components: Reading, Prizes, Programs
All reading counts -- books (ink & paper), comic books, magazines, ebooks, audiobooks (CDs & e-audio)...can check out e-books/e-audio and download to your electronic devices -- great if you are away.

Speaking of electronic devices, new this year, record your minutes online anywhere you have an internet connection...even if you travel to India, China, or Iowa!    Bookmark with details.

Prizes -- grand prizes, reading minutes prizes, weekly contests (Find Buddy, Trivia)

Programs (showed flyers) -- hero themed, plus dance parties, Lego, retro games, carnival
Showed sample hero books -- famous heroes (MLK, kid heroes -Malala, superheroes, animal heroes, nursery rhyme heroes - Gingerbread Man Superhero by Dottie Enderly*, and, my favorite superheroes: Librarians!

Showed Library Lil -- asked fiction or non-fiction?  (fiction -- cover pix Lil is holding a motorcycle over her head!), then asked same about Librarian on the Roof -- kids astonished to find out non-fiction.  Read or told (depending on time available).  Substituted Gingerbread Man Superhero with classes that had visited the library this Spring and heard this book already.

Ended with Queen rap "We Will We Will Read Books" -- lyrics below.

Also did at Bedminster School 40 min each group so read all three of the books above & added variously:
songs: "Throw it Out the Window" and "R*E*A*D*
books: Wedgieman to the Rescue by Charise Mericle Harper and/or  The Book with No Pictures by B.J.Novak

6/15

Preschool Storytime Celebrating Children’s Book Week

 

 

 

Play as they arrive:  “We’re going down to the Library” from Tom Chapin’s  album  MoonBoat

Read: Book, Book Book – Deborah Bruss  (Wild about Books didn’t hold their attention.)
Singable Book: Wheels on the Bus – Paul O. Zelinsky
Read: Dinosaur vs. Library  - Bob Shea
Flannel: Throw it out the window (lyrics below)
Read: Otto the Book Bear – Katie Clemenson
Sing: Joe Scrugg’s “Read a Book”  (lyrics below)
Read: The Extraordinary Gift – Florence Langlois
Flannel: “Just use imagination” (lyrics below)
DVD:  Reading Rainbow: Alistair in Outer Space
Optional:  Sing/sign: R.E.A.D. (lyrics below)

5.12 BWL

next time add: A Library Book for Bear -- Bonny Becker

Celebrating One Million Minutes Read at Bedminster School 5/2016
a fun and funny storytime celebrating reading!
(only a few classes because 2nd grade had their Meadow display)

How to Read a Story by Kate Messner -- Reader's Theater scripts in Judy Freeman’s 2016 Winners.

It's a Book by Lane Smith -- You mean you don't need to plug it in?

The Book with No Pictures by B.J Novak --  Always brings down the house!

Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland  When the teacher is late for school one day, all the storybook characters escape from their book!

Flannel: Throw it Out the Window -- an action riff on nursery rhymes (lyrics to this and other songs below)

Free Fall by David Wiesner -- a boy's quilt morphs into a magical kingdom in Wiesner's Caldecott-Honor winning magnificent wordless fantasy

Booktalk if no time to read: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce (gorgeous video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3CMri3hOs)

Warning: Do Not Open this Book by Adam Lehrhaupt -- or the monkeys may get you!

Action Song: I'm Being Swallowed by a Big Alligator

Pirate Treasure Hunt by Jan Peck -- pajama-wearing pirates follow their captain in this rollicking action book

Song: R.E.A.D.

Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr

Other good read-alouds celebrating books & reading & libraries:

 

It’s A Book – Lane Smith

Walter’s Magic Wand-Houghton

Bats at the Library – Lies (M. Draghi favorite –esp storytime scene)

Wolf – Bloom

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book -- Lauren Child

Stella Louella's Runaway Book -- Lisa Campbell Ernst

Beverly Billingsley Borrows a Book -- Alexander Stadler

Our Library – Bunting (library is due to be closed, lots of challenges to overcome)

Born to Read – Judy Sierra

What Happened to Marion's Book? - Brooke Berg

D.W.'s Library Card - Marc Brown

Book!Book!Book! - Deborah Bruss

The Library Dragon - Carmen Deedy

I Took My Frog to the Library - Eric Kimmel

Edward and the Pirates - David McPhail

Edward in the Jungle - David McPhail

Richard Wright and the Library Card - William Miller

Tomas and the Library Lady - Pat Mora

Wild About Books - Judy Sierra

The Book with No Pictures – B.J. Novak

Charlie Cook’s Favorite Book – Donaldson

Walter’s Magic Wand – Houghton

The Library – Steward (also DVD)

Maybe a Bear Knows

Read It, Don’t Eat It – Schoenher

Best Book to Read – Bloom

Maybe a Bear Ate It – Robbie Harris

Reading Makes You Feel Good – Parr

Ron’s Big Mission  – Rose Blue (Ron Aldar, astronaut, denied library card initially as kid)

Library Mouse – Kirk (mouse author leaves clues – great for meet the author day)

Chloe & the Library – Barnett (Winners 2013 p.6 – lots of ideas)

Gift Days – Kari-Lynn Winters (a girl in Uganda desperately wants to learn to read)
Amanda and her Alligator – Willems

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile – Houston

That Book Woman - Henson

Hands around the library – (how the libry of Alexandria was protected during Egyptian revolution)

Can I Bring Wooly to the Library Ms. Reader – Grambling

Biblioburro: a true story from Columbia – Winter

My Librarian Is a Camel – Ruurs

A Book --Mordecai Gerstein  (the tale of one little girl's search for her own story)Redwoods --Jason Chin (After a boy opens an abandoned book about redwoods, he finds himself in the very forest described in the book)

Miss Brooks Loves Books  (& I don’t )  Bottner (for book week, every kid presents a book – Shrek references!)

Clever Jack takes the Cake – Fleming (bringing a cake for the princess, ends up with a story)

It’s a Book – Smith

Winston the Book Wolf / Marni McGee

Wonderful thing about hiccups – Meng b&t

Boy who was raised by librarians – Morris

Incredible book eating boy – Jeffers B&T

Dog Loves Books – Yates (charming!)

Please Bury Me in the Library Poems – Lewis

Incredible Book Eating Boys – Jeffers

We are in a Book – Willems (Elephant & Piggie, self-referential)

Calvin Can’t Fly – Bendis

Do Not Open This Book – Muntean

 

Dear Miss Breed – Oppenheim (letters to libn from Japanese Internment Camps)

 

 

 

 

SONGS:

Read A Book  from Joe Scrugg’ s album “Deep in the Jungle”

When you’re feeling kinda blue READ A BOOK
It’s the only thing to do READ A BOOK
When your mother’s gone to town
or the rain is coming down
READ A BOOK (3X)

When you’re all by yourself READ A BOOK
There’s a good one on the shelf TAKE A LOOK
When your friends have gone away
And there’s no one left to play
READ A BOOK (3X)

Feeling lonesome is a waste of time
Why don’t you read a book instead
You can be your own TV
With pictures in your head!

You can see a chimpanzee IN A BOOK
Sail across a shining sea IN A BOOK
On a map of foreign lands
Cross a desert?s burning sands
It?s all right there in a book!

There’s heroes from history
Royal Kings and Queens
Magic and mystery
And elephants with wings!

When you have some time to spare READ A BOOK
Just curl up in a chair WITH A BOOK
There’s puzzles and poems
Riddles games and jokes
Cowboys and Clowns
And other funny folks!

A world of fun and laughter
is waiting for you there
READ A BOOK (3X)!

 

Throw It Out the Window Song on Judy Freeman’s “Hi Ho Librario”

(Make up your own additional verses.)
Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone.
But when she got there, the cupboard was bare,
So she threw it out the window…
                The window, the window,
                The second story window,
                High, Low, Low, High
                And she threw it out the window
Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he,
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
And he threw them out the window…

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
But leave them alone-- when they come home
She'll throw them out the window...

OYankee Doodle went to town

A-riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his cap
And threw it out the window…
(Continue with other familiar nursery rhymes…Jack and Jill, Jack Be Nimble, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Humpty Dumpty, Twinkle Twinkle…)

R*E*A*D lyrics by Carol Levin, tune L*O*V*E from Linda Arnold’s album
Happiness Cake

Chorus:  R*E*A*D:  Reading a book is fun for you and me
                R*E*A*D": You’ll find them at the library!

Reading is a skill
That will take you where you will
No matter where you go...
You can read just for fun
Or to make your model run
And see how much you grow!

CHORUS

You can read about the sun
Or a battle lost or won
You can read about a bird who sings...
You can read about a car
Or a place that’s very far
Or a fairy’s magic ring!

CHORUS
So no matter where you go
Or what you do and know
Don’t forget to read and read...
No matter where you look
You’ll find knowledge in a book
And kids who read succeed!

FINAL CHORUS (do it twice through)

We Will, We Will Read Books (tune: Queen's “We will Rock You”)  found in Rob Reid's  Twenty Four Creative Programs for All Ages (page 105):
Use stomp, stomp, clap (stomp feet) or slap, slap, clap (slap knees) rhythm

Wha'cha gonna do? Wha'cha gonna do?Wha'cha gonna do when the school year's through?
Gonna hang around the place? Stuffin' your face?
Bein' a slob & takin' up space? NO!

We will, we will read books! We will, we will read books!
Wha'cha gonna do? Wha'cha gonna do?
Wha'cha gonna do when the school year's through?
Gonna check out a book, Take a good look,
It's free, fast, fun, & easy to do.

SING IT! We will, we will read books! We will, we will read books!
Wha'cha gonna do? Wha'cha gonna do? Wha'cha gonna do when the school year's through?
WE WILL, WE WILL READ BOOKS!  (or substitute "Summer Reading Rocks You!)

Variation:Start by setting up a three beat rhythm (slap thighs twice - clap hands once, repeat throughout)

Slap slap CLAP
Slap slap CLAP
Slap slap CLAP
Slap slap CLAP

Chorus:  Books and Reading rock you...HUH!  (repeat)

(Notes:  When you grunt "HUH" pull elbow down across body toward opposite knee for emphasis.   If you want to get fancy, you can do the part which follows.  Keep the rhythm going throughout.)

Everybody gather 'round
Because you know the time has come
To have a really wonderful story time!
So find your space
Sit in your place
I'm gonna put a smile on your face

Chorus:  Books and Reading rock you.....HUH!  (repeat)

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW AN ANSWER...   (tune: "If You're
Happy")
If you want to know an answer, read a book! (2 times)
If you're wondering where the moon goes;
If you're wondering how the grass grows;
If you want to know an answer, read a book!

If you'd like to learn to draw, read a book! (2 times)
If you'd like to draw a dog,
Or a frog sitting on a log;
If you'd like to learn to draw, read a book!

If you'd like to learn to bake, read a book! (2 times)
If you'd like to make some candy,
Or a pizza that is dandy;
If you'd like to learn to bake, read a book!

JUST USE IMAGINATION (possible flannel, tune: "Yankee Doodle")

Reading can be lots of fun Just use imagination,
I'm jumping with a parachute
I'm king of all creation!
I'm swimming cross the ocean wide
I'm riding on a turtle,
I'm flying high with butterflies
I'm jumping o'er a hurdle.
I'm dancing with a million stars
I'm painting my own rainbow;
I'm playing music on a harp,
A fiddle, and a banjo.
Reading can be lots of fun
Just use imagination,
I'm up in a hot air balloon
I'm king of all creation!



------------------------------------------------

Reading Cheers: (unless otherwise noted, source unknown)

L-I-B-R-A-R-Y (by Caroline Bauer)Where do you go for the poetry? L-I-B-R-A-R-Y
Where do you go for the history? L-I-B-R-A-R-Y
Where do you go if you're old and shy?
Where do you go to learn how to fly?
L-I-B-R-A-R-Y
That's how you spell it,
Whatcha gonna tell it?
It's been in your town for a hundred years.
Let's give the library three big cheers:
Hip-hip-hurray!
Hip-hip-hurray!
Hip-hip-hurray!
When I say 'library', you say "card":
Library (card) library (card)
I got one today, and it wasn't too hard.
Library (card) library (card)
Big brick building, how sweet it looks,
Takes me on to the land of books.
LET’S READ! R-E-A-D   R-E-A-D (spell it out) You learn to read by going to school
Once you can read you're nobody's fool
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D
If you need to know it,
A book is gonna show it.
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D
Give me a R
Give me an E
Give me an A
Give me a D
What's that spell?
READ
What's that spell?
READ
Go to the library and get a book
Become a magician or a gourmet cook.
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D
Reading books is really great
It helps you to communicate
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D
Read poetry all day long
And perhaps one day you'll write a song
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D
Fairy tales, scary tales, joke books, too.
What you read is up to you.
Now do it!
Go to it.
R-E-A-D  R-E-A-D

LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE LIBRARY
Clap your hands,
Stamp your feet,
The Public Library
Can't be beat!

Judy Freeman's book & CD "Hi Ho Librario" includes more songs, chants and stories.

See Also: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/12/school-age-storytime-celebrating-books.html

Flannel: Storybook Friends