Storytime: What’s In the Oven?

Includes the retelling of two traditional folktales and a variant,
the ECRR concepts of narrative skill/retelling and singing,
non-fiction elements of farming and bread-baking,
plus a dash of mathematics and multiculturalism!

(Pick and choose depending on ages in group.)

Book (folktale): The Little Red Hen -- Byron Barton (Alt. version: Paul Galdone)

Song: “Mulberry Bush” variant : This is the way we plant the seeds... Cut the stalks… Thresh the wheat.. Grind the wheat… Mix the batter…Knead the bread… Bake the bread… Eat our toast (Every Child Ready to Read skill (ECRR1)- narrative -- remembering sequence in book, vocabulary “thresh” “knead”; ECRR2 “singing”)

Book: Bread, Bread, Bread – Ann Morris (a multicultural look at breads around the world)

Book/Action Chant: Peanut Butter and Jelly – Nadine Bernard Westcott Silly action song depicting the sequence of sandwich making (with elephants!)

Storytelling with Flannelboard/Masks/Puppets (depending on size of group): The Gingerbread Man – Karen Chace has quite a few suggestions on her blog, including a link to Jan Brett’s beautiful printable masks:http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-gingerbread-man-stories-songs-and.html  Gingerbread script: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/pre-school-storytime-whats-in-oven.html

Mother Goose Action Rhyme: Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake Baker’s Man
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake Baker’s Man
Bake me a cake As fast as you can.
Roll it and pat it (Roll and clap hands)
And mark it with a B (Trace B on palm)
And put it in the oven (extend both hands)
For baby and me (point to Baby and Self)

or  Action: Make a Cake (source unknown)
Mix the batter, stir the batter (make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Shake some flour in (make a shaking motion with one arm/hand)
Mix the batter, stir the batter (make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Place it in a tin (pretend to pour)
Sprinkle in some raisins (pretend to sprinkle)
Pop it in to bake (open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)
Open wide the oven door (pretend to open door)
And out comes the cake! (open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)

Book & Flannel or Props: The Doorbell Rang – Pat Hutchins Used12 flannel (or real) children and 12 flannel/prop cookies to demonstrate the cookie “division” as I read this story – great numeracy exercise but best for groups age 4 & up

Action Song: Great Big Cookie (To the Tune of Linda Arnold’s “I am a Pizza”— these lyrics by Carol Simon Levin)
I am a cookie (circle hands over head)
Chocolately and round (extend hands out to sides)
Filled with lots of chocolate chips (point to chips)
The best that can be found (rub tummy)
I am a cookie (circle hands over head)
Take a bite of me (make chewing motions)
Tasty, sweet, delicious (extend hands out to sides)
I’m oh-so-yummy!  (rub tummy)
(gobble gobble gobble!)
(sing slowly, sadly)
I WAS a great big cookie (circle hands over head)
The very best around  (extend hands out to sides)
Now there’s nothing left of me (shake head)
Just crumbs upon the ground!  (sit down)

Shakey Eggs -- Chant: "Peanut Butter &  Jelly", Lithgow's: You've Gotta Have Pep (any lively tune would do)

Handed out take home bags of bread dough (flour, yeast, salt, water) and instructions for making "Teddy Bear Bread"  (below)

How to Make Teddy Bear Bread (can also use premade pizza dough)

Author: Jean Van't Hul

Prep Time: 3 hours   Cook Time: 20 minutes

https://artfulparent.com/mmm-teddy-bear-bread/

---

Ingredients

1.5 cups warm water (about 110–130 degrees Fahrenheit) 

1 packet active dry yeast

1–3 tablespoons honey (skip or use sugar for under 2 year olds)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 cups all purpose flour or bread flour

For glaze: 1 egg + 2 T water

---

Instructions

1. Mix the warm water, yeast, and honey in a large bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in half of the flour to the yeast mixture, then let it rest for 30 minutes.

3. Mix in the salt, oil, and rest of the flour. 

4. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for five minutes. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky. 

5. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until doubled in size (about 2 hours). 

6. Punch the dough down, then divide it into small balls and pieces to use it to make bread dough creations & fForm the bread dough into faces, animals, suns, snails, and other fun shapes.

7. Place your bread dough creations on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or greased) and let them rise until doubled in size (30 minutes or so) while preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg and water. Brush the tops of the bread shapes with the egg wash.
Bake! Place your bread shapes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Smaller shapes might need less time and the larger ones might need more time.
Let cool and enjoy!

Omitted:

Optional Book or Flannel (if time): The Cake that Mack Ate – from the book by Rose Robart – the cumulative tale of what happened to the cake baked by the farmer’s wife – with a surprise ending, this silly folktale variation is a version of The House that Jack Built.

More ideas: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Baking

CDPL 1/19/23

School Age Storytime: “Soup’s On”

School Age Storytime: “Soup’s On”   K-2 Bedminster School

Featuring soup stories and songs, incorporating fiction and non-fiction, concepts of alphabet, emotions, and months of the year, and participatory storytelling of a classic folk tale.

Kdg only: Book: Growing Vegetable Soup – Lois Ehlert (vocabulary, non-fiction concepts of gardening & food prep)

“Piggy Back” Song/Action: This is the Way we… make the Soup (lyrics for this and all other songs below) (reinforces sequencing)

All classes:  Interactive story with props (pot, puppets, & veggies): Stone Soup  (Participatory storytelling, mentioned old story many variants – I use the Ann McGovern version with old lady and young man - script and songs here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/02/school-age-storytime-soups-on.html)

Song/Flannel:  "Alphabet Soup" by Tom Chapin (reinforces alphabet) 

Book: Mean Soup – Betsy Everitt (A great idea for a difficult day – could also make "Mean Cheerios!") (Alternative: That is NOT a Good Idea -- Mo Willems)

Song:  "If you are happy and you know it…" .. sad, angry, excited, etc.

Book : Monkey Soup – Louis Sachar – author of Sideways Stories from Wayside School  (child makes her father a special kind of soup to help get him well – silly!)   Don't try this at home! 

Book/Cards/Song: Chicken Soup with Rice – Maurice Sendak, tune by Carole King from “Really Rosie” concept: the names of the months (Watch on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJ0FDplzjk , more tracks from the musical here: https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEB&search_query=really+rosie)

Book (1st & 2nd grade):  Armadilly Chili – Helen Ketterman (Armadillo fails to get help from her friends in chili preparation but when they return with "sackfulls of apologies plus apple cider, cornbread, and brownies, she finds sharing dinner with friends is best of all. This is a  folktale variant of "Little Red Hen" – which I challenged students to identify midway through the story.)

Song/Action: “Doing the Chocolate Shake” (chocolate soup)

1/20/2020

Pre-School Storytime: Farm Frolics

Farm Frolics -- Fun storytime geared for ages 2-6
Also suitable for presentation at County Fairs and other outreach locations.
Includes animal sounds, shape identification, classic folk tales and lots of songs and participatory activities.

Book: Morning by Maria Robbin Polushkin (this older title still makes a great participatory book – kids help make farm noises as each animal wakes the next, finally the boy’s breakfast (with messy kitchen) is a bit of a “rude awakening” to his parents.) 

Note: This and some other books I love might not be widely available – many other possibilities are listed below the program.

Song/puppets: “Cluck Cluck Red Hen” from Raffi’s Singable Songs Collection.(mention concept of a piggyback song.)
Lyrics here: http://lyrics.wikia.com/Raffi:Cluck,_Cluck,_Red_Hen

Book: A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson (variation of the old folktale, a woman complains that her house is too small until a wise old man suggests she bring in her chicken, goat, pig and cow! – great refrain to do with the kids, can also act this out with the kids holding puppets).  I chant this with the kids but there is also a musical version available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tI0bQ-A-H0

Singable Book: Sitting on the Farm by Bob King (another fun book with great repeating lines, kids love finding the unusual locations for the telephones)  A musical version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJyfzWrsxo (I use a slightly different tune.)

Guessing Game Book: Color Farm by Lois Ehlert (colorful die-cut book which introduces kids to some of the more unusual shape names e.g. hexagon & oval)  Spots, Feathers & Curly Tales by Nancy Tafuri good for younger groups.

Singable Book: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming (I sing this to the tune “Skip to My Lou My Darling.”)

Flannel (or book): Very Busy Spider -- Eric Carle (one by one, the animals ask spider to join them but she is too busy…until she finally catches that fly.)

“Spider catches the fly in her web, but I know someone else who catches a fly a different way (opening my mouth very wide as a clue) – anyone know who that is?”

Song/Prop: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

DVD: Click Clack Moo (on Weston Woods 50^th Anniversary Collection (PPR)

Here are some other favorites:

The Mixed Up Rooster by Pamela Duncan Edwards (a rooster who has trouble waking up in the morning eventually finds his calling as a night watchman)

The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming (great artwork)

The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Nobel (school field trip goes haywire when a pet boa comes along!)

Rooster Can’t Cock a Doodle Doo by Karen Rostoker-Gruber (longer book, only good for older groups)

Serious Farm by Tim Egan (Farmer and his animals find work is more fun when you can laugh)
McGillycuddy Could! by Pamela Edwards (McGillicuddy the kangaroo cannot produce wool or milk or lay eggs, but finds he still can bring special skills to the farm.)

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood (Silly Sally is joined by many farm animals on her way to town, upside down!)

Farmer Duck by MartinWaddell (Farmer gets his comeuppance after he makes Duck do all the work!)

The Big Sneeze by Ruth Brown (A farmer causes general havoc when he sneezes a fly off his nose)

Punk Farm by Jarrett Krosoczka (The farm animals form a band to serenade the farmer at the end of the day.)

The Little Rabbit Who Liked to Say Moo by Jonathan Allen (cute title for younger groups)

Dooby Dooby Moo by Denise Cronin (While Farmer Brown is asleep, his animals practice for a talent show with the goal of winning a trampoline in this hilarious romp from the author of Click Clack Moo.)

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman (Enterprising chickens help out with mishaps on the farm)

Ragweed’s Farm Dog Handbook (Learn from the Best!) by Anne Vittur Kennedy (Ragweed the dog matter-of-factly explains a farm dog’s day in this deadpan story.)

The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet by Carmen Agra Deedy  

Lyrics:

Cluck Cluck Red Hen -- from Raffi’s album “The Corner Grocery Store”

Song on Raffi's album "The Corner Grocery Store"  (tune:  "Baa Baa Black Sheep") (fun to do with puppets or flannels) (animals, birds, farm, food)

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

One for your sweater and one for your rug,

And one for your blanket to keep you warm and snug.

 (repeat first two lines)

Cluck, Cluck, Red Hen, have you any eggs?

Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.

One for your breakfast and one for your lunch,

Come back tomorrow, I'll have another bunch.

(repeat first two lines)

Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, have you milk for me?

Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be.                   

Churn it into butter, make it into cheese,

Freeze it into ice-cream or drink it if you please.

(repeat first two lines)

 

 

Buzz, Buzz, Busy Bee, is your honey sweet?

Yes sir, yes sir, sweet enough to eat.

Honey on your muffin, honey on your cake,

Honey by the spoonful, as much as I can make.

(repeat first two lines)                       

                                                       

D-A-I-S-Y (sung to traditional song "BINGO") (Farm Frolics)

(Use magnet or feltboard letters and remove one each verse)

 

There was a farmer had a cow

And Daisy was her name-O

D-A-I-S-Y, D-A-I-S-Y, D-A-I-S-Y

And Daisy was her name-O(repeat verse, replacing one letter with a clap each time through)

 

Farm Sounds  (tune: “The Wheels on the Bus”)

 

The cow in the barn goes “moo moo moo”

“moo moo moo”, “moo moo moo”

The cow in the barn goes “moo moo moo”

All around the farm. 

 

…pigs in the pen go oink, oink, oink…

… hens in the coop go cluck, cluck, cluck…

… rooster on the fence goes cock-a-doodle doo…

… ducks in the pond say quack, quack, quack…

… lambs on the hill go baa, baa, baa…

… bunnies in the hutch go (silently wiggle nose with finger), etc.

 

Farmer In The Dell 

 

The farmer in the dell,                                       

The farmer in the dell,       

Heigh-ho the cherry-o        

The farmer in the dell.       

The farmer takes a wife…

The wife takes a child…

The child takes a nurse…

The nurse takes a dog…

The dog takes a cat…

The cat takes a rat…                                         

The rat takes the cheese…

The cheese stands alone…

 

I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Lyrics by Rose Bonne, with music by Alan Mills *

Song on “Peter, Paul , and  Mommy, Too”

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why…

 

…bird / How absurd to swallow a bird…

…cat / Imagine that -- to swallow a cat!

…dog / What a hog, to swallow a dog!…

…goat / She opened her throat and in walked that goat…

…cow / I don't know how she swallowed a cow…

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse--(pause)  (spoken)  She's dead, of course!

 

 

Old MacDonald 

 

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O

With a moo-moo here and moo-moo there,

Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo,

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

…and so on with a duck,a pig, a cow, a horse, a donkey, and some chickens, etc.

 

Piglets Squealing Sung to: “Down by the Station”

 

Out in the barnyard,

Early in the morning,

You can hear the piglets

Squealing up a storm.

Here comes the momma pig,

She will feed her babies,

Oink, oink, oink, oink,

On the farm.

Continue with other farm animals.

 

The Squishy-Squooshy  Sung to: “The Hokey-Pokey”

Pretend that you are a pig and there is a big mud puddle in front of you. Oooo-ooo glorious mud!

 

You put your                                        in.

You take your                                      out.

You put your                                        in and you moosh it all about.

You do the squishy-squooshy and you turn your self around.

That’s what it’s all about!

 

1) left hoof            2) right hoof          3) pig foot 4) piggy snout  5) pig belly            6) curly tail

7) whole piggy self

 

4.15 BWL

School Age Storytime: Chinese New Year

 

2017: Year of the Rooster (Bedminster School)

Share fold-out book: The Dancing Dragon by Marcia Vaughan

Read: A New Year’s Reunion by Yu Li-Qiung (Maomao's father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him, but before long the family is happily making sticky rice balls, listening to firecrackers, and watching the dragon dance in the streets below. Papa gets a haircut, makes repairs to the house, and hides a lucky coin for Maomao to find. But all too soon it is time for Papa to go away again.)

Action: “The Chicken Dance” on 40 English Songs for Kids, disk 2, #14 (and other cds)

Read: The Rooster’s Antlers: A Story of the Chinese Zodiac retold by Eric A. Kimmel (shared Chinese horoscopes with some groups – you can find yours here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/01/chinese-new-year-celebration.html)

Read: The Chickens Build a Wall by Jean-Francois Dumont (Originally published in French in 2011 by Père Castor-Flammarion under the title: Une poule derriére un mur. When a hedgehog turns up in the farmyard, a pigeon stirs up suspicion of the stranger, and a rooster encourages the chickens to spend all wintering build an enormous wall to keep out "prickly invaders.” When the hedgehog emerges from hibernation inside the wall and can’t get out because there is no door, the chickens get to know him and discover he is a friendly guy.)

Action song: “I Know a Chicken” on Laurie Berkner’s Whaddaya Think of That. (track #11)

Read: Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn (Sam receives four bright red envelopes decorated with shiny gold emblems as part of the traditional Chinese New Year celebration, each containing a dollar. As he accompanies his mother through Chinatown, his anticipation of how to spend it diminishes when he realizes that the ``lucky money'' won't buy as much as he had hoped. Further sobered after an encounter with a man he stumbles upon in the street, he decides that his four dollars would be best spent on the barefoot stranger.)

Read: This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong (A Chinese-Korean boy relates how he and his friends celebrate the "lunar new year, the day of the first new moon." One child celebrates the holiday with "Thai food to go," while a non-Asian child likes to get "red envelopes stuffed with money from her neighbor who came from Singapore." The narrator talks about how their family’s luck hasn’t been good lately but through the traditions of house cleaning, lighting firecrackers, and vowing not to “say one awful thing, none of that can’t do, don’t have, why me, ” tomorrow will be a fresh start because he has “so many dreams I’m ready now to make come true.”)

Entering/Leaving Music for classes “Chinese New Year” track #11 on Kimbo’s MultiCultural Movement Fun.

Left Reader’s Theater Chinese New Year’s scripts.

Another good rooster book for K+: The Rooster's Gift by Pam Conrad. (Rooster thinks his Gift is making the sun rise, until one morning when the sun rises without him.)

2.2017

General plans:

Talk about different kinds of New Years (January 1^st, 1^st day of school year, Rosh Hashonah), then introduce the holiday “Chinese” or “Asian” New Year:

Read: This Next New Year – Janet S. Wong (Lovely multicultural book in which a young Chinese child talks about how the new year offers a chance for a fresh start, compare clean dust with Passover.) or A New Year’s Reunion – Yu Li-Qiong (Young child celebrates the new year with her father who works far away and can only return home once a year) or Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn (a boy in Chinatown eventually decides to spend his lucky money to help a homeless man – also available as a DVD/video from Weston Woods)

Share fold-out book: The Dancing Dragon by Marcia Vaughan (action/sounds) booktalk: Lion Dancer (394.268 WAT)

Read a Chinese New Year’s folktale variant: The Runaway Rice Cake (Gingerbread Man) or The Runaway Wok (Magic Pot) both by Ying Chang Compestine or Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim (Goldilocks) or One Grain of Rice by Demi (Chinese mathematical folktale on the power of exponents!) or Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth 398.2 MUT

Introduce Chinese Zodiac – comes from a legend – read one of the variations:

The Race for the Chinese Zodiac by Gabrielle Wang or The Rooster's Antlers* (398.20951 KIM) or The Animals of the Chinese Zodiac (J133.5 WHI) or Cat and Rat (J133.5 YOU) or The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac (398.20951 CASEY)

*Rooster doesn't say the usual "cock-a-doodle-doo" -- remarked that different languages hear animal sounds differently - here (as promised) are some websites that explore this:
http://foundintranslation.berkeley.edu/?p=2440
http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/animal.html

Figure out animal signs for children in your group – share their Chinese horoscopes from one of the Zodiac books above, or use longer versions in Animals in the Stars (133.5 Crawford)

Other possible read-alouds:
The Paper Dragon – Marguerite Davol (beautiful but LONG)
The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend – Bouchard
The Seven Chinese Sisters – Tucker
The Last Dragon – Nunes
The Wishing Tree – Thong
Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth
The Runaway Wok by Ying Chang Compestine
BeeBim Bop! by Linda Sue Park

Bedm 1.11

School Age Storytime: Giving Thanks: Celebrating Native Americans at Thanksgiving

A storytime for K-4 students celebrating the first Americans – Helping students gain an understanding of the Native Americans’ reverence for the natural world through their words & pourquoi stories. 

Can be used with Core Standards relating to folk tales. (R.L. 2.3, 3.3.- details below).

Opened with track #1 (flute solo) from  Beneath the Raven Moon (any Native American flute CD would do) -- asked kids to identify instrument -- any sense of where it was from?   Talked about the First Americans – for many generations (hundreds  of years before before the Pilgrims), many different people had lived in what we now call America. Some of them (a people called the Wampanoag) helped the Pilgrims survive that first terrible winter.  Two weeks before Thanksgiving, we’ll share some of their old stories “folktales” (get kids to help define)
Before science came up with the idea of the Big Bang…Native American pourqoui tales of how the world came to be…


Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest – Gerald McDermott (398.208997 MCD)
A beautifully illustrated (Caldecott honor) retelling of the tale of how Raven stole the sun from the Sky God and gave it to the People.

Song: Mr. Sun (Raffi) (Kindergarten only) 


Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale (California area) retold by Jonathon London  -- All the animals work together to steal fire from the Yellow Jacket sisters so that the People will be able to make fire for cooking and warmth.

Song: “This Little Light of Mine”  lyrics


The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story (Georgia) retold by Joseph Bruchac (398.208997 BRU) – To prevent a war, the Animals & the Birds decide to determine which is superior by way of a ball game. Animals have teeth, birds have wings but bat has both – which side will he play on?  Little creatures can make a big difference in this tale that tells why birds have to fly south every winter.


Frog Girl – Paul Owen Lewis (398.208997 BRU)  After all the frogs are carried away from a nearby lake, the Chief’s Daughter ventures under the lake to save her people’s village.

Puppets/Storytelling:  The Frog: A Rainstick Story (adapted from a Hopi Indian tale – source unknown.)  (pupppets: frog, owl, coyote/wolf, prop: rainstick)

Many years ago, there was a drought. No rain had fallen for many weeks. The rivers were dry. The animals had no water to drink. A little frog sitting on the bank of the dry river bed thought to himself.
“I wonder if the rain clouds have fallen asleep and forgotten to make it rain. Perhaps if I make a lot of noise I could wake him up.” He began to croak: “Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.”
The other frogs heard him. “Why are making so much noise?” The little frog answered, “I think the rain clouds have fallen asleep and forgotten to make it rain. I’m making a lot of noise so that they will wake up.”
“We would like to help,” said the other frogs. And they began to croak. {Children in audience} “Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.”
An owl flew over the dry river bed and heard the frogs croaking. “Why are you making so much noise?” the owl called to them. After the frogs explained the owl said, “I would like to help.” He began to hoot “Hoot. Hoot. Hoot.”
Other owls said they would help too. They all began to hoot. {Children in audience} “Hoot. Hoot. Hoot.”
A wolf in the desert heard the noise and called to the owls, “Why are you making so much noise?” The owls explained the situation.
The wolf said, “I would like to help.” He began to howl, “Ow-oo, Ow-oo, Ow-oo.” Other wolves said they would like to help. {children in audience} “Ow-oo, Ow-oo, Ow-oo.”
Soon it began to rain. {Use rain stick} It rained, and rained and rained.
One little frog can make a big difference. “Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.”

optional craft: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/music/rainstick/

Song: “We’ve got the Whole World in Our Hands” (traditional) lyrics  -- used “frogs in the lake” “birds in the air” “animals in the woods” “mountains and seas” “flowers and trees” “you and me” “whole world”
Discussed how Native Americans cared about the environment, didn’t think people could own the land, the trees, or the wild animals anymore than they owned the sky…

Read selected pages from Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message from Chief Seattle, paintings by Susan Jeffers (811.3 SEA)
(Alternative: Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp (299 SWA) – also available as a Reading Rainbow episode)

Song: “Thanks a Lot” (Raffi) lyrics

Common Core Connections:
2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

Related titles:
Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving – Joseph Bruchac (398.208997 BRU)
Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters (974.4 WAT) a photo-essay exploring the life of a Wampanoag boy in the 1620s.
Giving Thanks: the 1621 Harvest Feast by Kate Waters (394.2649 WAT) a photo-essay reenactment as a 6 year old English boy and a 14 year old Wampanoag boy share their stories of what might have happened at that first feast.
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving – Catherine 0’Neill Grace & Margaret M. Bruchac – illustrated with photographs from the Plimoth Plantation.  Great background info but not a read-aloud.
Eagle Boy: A Pacific Northwest Native Tale retold by Richard Lee Vaughan (Picture Vaughan) – the story of how an abandoned orphan boy is saved by bald eagles and comes to save his people as well.
Maiden of the Mist: A Legend of Niagara Falls – Veronika Martenova Charles (398.208997 CHA)
Owl Eyes –Frieda Gates (398.208997 GAT)
Dancing With the Indians – Angela Shelf Medearis (Picture Medearis)
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush – Tomie dePaola (398.208997 DEP)
& many of the Paul Goble titles ((398.208997 GOB)
Bedm 11.14


Reading Rainbow: Knots on a Counting Rope -- Native American boy overcomes blindness
Reading Rainbow: Legend of the Indian Paintbrush 

Pre-School Storytime: Mousing Around!

A cozy interactive storytime for a cold day!
Ages 3-6: This story and song program explores colors, shapes, numbers,
the days of the week, poetry, and even a bit of sign language.

Note: This is a long program, may choose to omit one or more segments.

Music as children enter: Selection of mouse songs -- options include: Alex Mitnick’s Animals We Dream (track #6), Steve Pullar’s ZooBoogie! (#4), More Songs from Bear in the Big Blue House (#18), Laurie Berkner’s Rocketship Run (#3), Blue Dog Record’s It’s A Small World (#6), Phil Rosenthal’s Animal Songs (#7)

Opening poem with puppet: “Oh, What Is in that Little Box?” (Adapted from: What I Like: Poems for the Very Young by Gervase Phin) (Prop: Present box with 3 mice inside puppet from Folkmanis)

Oh, what is in that little box, Whatever can it be?

Could it be a spider or a buzzing bumble bee,
A slimy snail or a slippery slug, or a tiny jumping flea?

Oh, what is in that little box, Whatever can it be?   
Oh, what is in that little box, Whatever can it be?

Could it be a wiggly worm, wriggling to be free,
A beetle or a spotted bug, or a tiny chimpanzee?

Oh, what is in that little box, Whatever can it be?     
Oh, what is in that little box, Whatever can it be?

I wish that I could open it,
    But I haven't got the key.
    But wait a minute, the lid is loose,
    I'll open it and see.

Oh, look what is in the little box:
Three white mice!   One, two, three!
For the first two verses, the lid is on, but I'm making it move a bit by moving my fingers. The third verse, you open the lid and show the mice.

Book: Mouse Mess – Linnea Riley (alternatives: What’s for Lunch? – John Schindel or Mice  -- Rose Fyleman/Lois Ehlert)

Song: Hickory Dickory Dock (props: grandfather clock with movable hands, finger puppet mouse) -- This is an awareness introduction to analog clocks -- I don’t actually talk about the minute hand but I put up numeral cards on the flannel board to emphasize numbers and clap out the time (“struck 2” clap twice, etc.)
Hickory-Dickory dock
The Mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
And down he runs
Hickory-Dickory dock (2- “the mouse said ‘boo’”, 3- “the mouse went ‘whee’”, 4- “no more” or “wants some more” if you want to continue with additional hours 5 - “took a dive” 6 - “he’s in a fix” etc.)

Flannel: Mouse House (Great for introducing/reviewing/practicing colors & shapes -- I pause as I take out each flannel piece (in bold below) to ask the kids to identify its color and shape)

MOUSE HOUSE (source unknown)
Mollie Mouse lived in the big house of the Swathmore family. But she wanted her own cozy little house. She looked around the playroom of the Swathmore children for a cozy little house.
First she tried the toybox, but it was way too big.
Next she tried the jack-in-the-box, but it was much too crowded.

Then she tried the music box, but it was too loud.
Finally Mollie Mouse said, "I'll have to build a cozy little house all by myself.


So she went to the toy box and found a red square block.
(Place red square on flannel board)
"Perfect," she said, "but it still doesn't feel like home."
So she went back to the toy box and found a...
Blue rectangle block, (door)
Green half-circle block, (door mat)
Orange triangle block, (roof)
One yellow round cheese, (window)
Another yellow round cheese, (window)
And two pink balloons (chimneys).
"Perfect," she said, "now it finally feels like home. A cozy little mouse house."

Fingerplay: Quiet Mouse (optional prop: mouse finger puppet, encourage kids to use their finger - then repeat)

Once there lived a quiet mouse
(hold out fist with index finger extended)
In a quiet little house.
(insert index finger into other fist)
(whisper) When all was quiet as can be
Out Popped He!! (push finger out top of fist)



Book: Mouse Paint - Ellen Stoll Walsh (explores primary & secondary colors, color mixing)


Flannel: Mouse Paint (tune: Three Blind Mice, lyrics Carol Simon Levin) - reinforces color mixing idea -- cut 3 Ellison die-cut flannel white mice, + 1 of blue, red, and yellow, 3 jars of paint, 3 puddles, and 3 mouse bottoms (green, purple, and orange) to place on the bottom half of each colored mouse to show what colors are mixed.)


Three white mice, three white mice.
Three jars of paint, three jars of paint.
One steps in the yellow, one steps in the red,
One steps in the blue, “Look!” they all said.
“Once we were white, Now we’re colored instead!”
No white mice. No white mice.

Three colored mice, three colored mice.
Three puddles of paint, three puddles of paint.
Red Mouse stirs the yellow, Blue Mouse stirs the red,
Yellow Mouse stirs the blue, She dances there too.
They dance and they mix -- What new colors are seen?
Orange, Purple, Green! Orange, Purple, Green!

Action: Little Mouse, Little Mouse Turn Around
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Turn Around
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Touch the Ground
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Wave Your Tail
Little Mouse, Little Mouse, Climb a Pail
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Eat Some Cheese
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Don’t forget to say “Please”
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Twitch your nose
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Touch your toes
Little Mouse, Little Mouse Scamper away
Little Mouse, Little Mouse The Cat is here to stay!



Book: Seven Blind Mice – 398.2 Ed Young (traditional folktale, reinforces colors, days of the week, and is a guessing game)


Glove puppet: 5 Little Mice (tune: 5 Little Ducks, source unknown, can either use a cat puppet or teach kids the sign language sign: http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/c/cat.htm) (Similar musical version on Liz Buchanan’s Once Upon a Tune (track #9), songs for learning signs on Music with Mar’s Singing and Signing Animals. I also use numeral cards and have kids hold up their fingers to emphasize numeracy.)

Five little mice came out to play
Gathering crumbs along the way
Out came the pussycat, big and fat
One little mouse goes scampering back.
Continue with Four, Three, Two, One... until there are no more mice. Optional codicil by Carol Simon Levin:
No more mice came out to play
Until that cat did go away
When that cat was truly gone
Five little mice came back along.



Book: The Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear – Don and Audrey Wood (We always chant the “big hungry bear” together in our big bear voices, sometimes I also teach the signs for “bear” (http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/b/bear.htm), “strawberry” (http://www.babysignlanguagedictionary-mysmarthands.com/strawberry_-_ASL_sign_for_strawberry.html) and “mouse” (http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/m/mouse.htm)

Alternate Book: Who Sank the Boat? – Pamela Allen
Alternate Action Songs: The Farmer in the Dell (traditional: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_in_the_Dell) or The Mouse Ran Around the Room (Hi-Ho-the Derry Oh) cat, bear, kids – optional puppets)



DVD: Picnic (Emily Arnold McCully, Weston Woods, Public Performance Rights – "I can’t give you all tickets to go to the Caribbean right now so great to fantasize about a summer’s day!" ) (Afterwards briefly talked about value of wordless narrative (ECRR2 “talking” -- kids articulating the story themselves, booktalked 2014 Caldecott Honors -- all wordless books.) Alternative: Reading Rainbow -- If you give a mouse a cookie.

Hand stamping music: Buckwheat Zydeco’s Bayou Boogie (track “The Mice ate my Rice”) -- kids got up and danced.

Display other books by Ellen Stoll Walsh and Emily Arnold McCully, folktale versions of “City Mouse, Country Mouse” plus additional “mice” titles.

2.14