School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Very Special Trees

 

A seasonal storytime incorporating history & empathy, fantasy, gratefulness & giving back

Ask who’s seen the Rockefeller Tree?

Book: The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree by David Rubel (Construction workers at the Rockefeller Center site help a a boy and his family in need—then many years the boy, now grown to an old man, donates his enormous tree after learning that it will not only give pleasure but will also be used to help another family.  Afterward talks about the tradition and logistics involved with the Rockefeller Center Trees and notes that since 2007 the wood from the tree has been milled and used for Habitat for Humanity houses.) 

Book- talked: Night Tree by Eve Bunting (Every year a family decorates a tree in the woods with edible ornaments for the animals),

Book:  The Night Gardener by Terry and Eric Fan. (A boy in an orphanage and a rundown town are transformed by the magical topiary creations of the night gardener. Fascinating parallel story to compare with The Carpenter’s Gift – both have boys lives transformed by a generous stranger and the metaphor of the tool passing from generation to generation.) 

Singable Book: The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton (hand-me-down toy has special meaning; performed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjslf_a11c)

 

Book: Thankful by Elaine Vickers (A child creates a paper chain listing all the things she is thankful for - a great way to cultivate gratitude - and maybe make a nightly tradition to cultivate resiliance.)

Craft: Make our own "thankful paper chains," also trees and other paper ornaments (supplies: construction paper, scissors, markers, glue sticks, stamps & stamp pads, various things to decorate with)

Afterwards, finished with an indoor snowball fight 

Activity: Snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson (on album Season’s Greetings)
Making snowballs for the program:
1) Gather a white plastic grocery bag into a long, skinny tube-like length with the handles on one end.
2) Fold the length in half, then in half again.
3) Wind a rubber band around the middle until it is tight.
4) Cut open both ends to remove any folded areas.
5) Then fluff out pieces

Idea courtesy of:  Susan Dailey, librarian, speaker and author of "A Storytime Year"-  

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/01/let-it-snow-winter-storytimecraft-ages.html

More ideas at: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/school-age-storytime-very-special-trees.html and https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/school-age-storytime-gifts-and-giving.html

Clarence Dillon Library 12/10/2025

Family Storytime/Craft "All Presents Accounted For" - Clarence Dillon Library

 

Family Storytime/Craft "All Presents Accounted For" - Clarence Dillon Library

Come join us for a STEM Story & Craft ---  Saturday 12/21  10:30

                         Ages 4 and up (siblings welcomed). Saturday, Dec. 21, 10:30 am

Join Carol Levin for a great story plus a fun wrapping paper & card craft afterwards!

Booktalked: Rabbit's Gift (A Fable from China) by George Shannon, Silver Packages (An Appalachian Story) by Cynthia Rylant, and Boxes for Katje (a story of American packages to Europe after WW2) - had kids vote for which one I should read. 

Read: Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant

Song/Flannel pieces: He'll be coming round the mountain when he comes

Read (silly story): The Gift by Gabriela Keselman (a child's parents try to figure out what kind of gift could be big, strong, soft, sweet and other qualities...)

Song (silly verses): I had a little driedel, I made it out of clay... soap, ice, straw, etc.

Booktalked: Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart (a grandmother brings her granddaughter gifts from all over the world - illustrations created from plasticine), The Carpenter's Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Christmas Tree by David Rubin, Night Tree by Cynthia Rylant (a family decorates a tree  with edibles for the forest animals), December by Eve Bunting (a homeless mother and child experience a Christmas miracle), The Extraordinary Gift by Florence Langlois (celebrates all the marvelous imaginary things a kid can find in the pages of a book)

Singable Book: The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton

and, in celebration of today's snowfall:

Song/Flannel: In the Freezer by Joe Scruggs

Action Song: I'm a little snowman 

Plastic bag snowball fight to the song Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson 

Crafts: making wrapping paper with stamps & stamp pads, cards with stickers and markers

Lyrics: 

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/01/singalong-winters-day.html

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/singalong-keep-spiritwinter-holiday.html

More info on these books & themes: 

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Gifts%20and%20Giving

Storytime: Gifts & Giving - Bedminster School/Nicole's Special Ed Class/Bedminster Library

A storytime featuring tangible & intangible giving, with a nod to geography, interactive songs, and create your own verses. Great lead-in for holiday toy, coat & food drives.

Book: Rabbit’s Gift – George Shannon (Chinese folktale in which each animal tries to share the turnip left at his doorstep.)

Song/Flannel: Helping  by Shel Silverstein from Free to Be, You and Me. Lyrics & tune: http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/helping-an-illustrated-song-by-shel-silverstein/

The Gift – Gabriela Keselman (Mickey's birthday is coming and his parents cannot figure out what to do when he tells them that he wants something big, strong, smooth, sweet, warm, funny, and long-lasting)  Alternatives:  The Gift of Nothing – Patrick McDonnell or Immi’s Gift – Karin Littlewood

The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton (sung) (Several book versions available. Hand-me-down toy has special meaning; performed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjslf_a11c)

(Stopped here at Clarence Dillon Library, had an indoor snowball fight - see details below -- to finish)

A gift for the animals... 

Book: Night Tree by Eve Bunting (Every year a family decorates a tree in the woods with edible ornaments for the animals)  

Who knows what a “family tree” is?

Sign Language Song: Family Tree  Song by Tom Chapin & John Forster, additional verses on their album “Family Tree”; video of their performance with signs: http://www.tomchapin.com/docs/lft.htmland and on their video “This Pretty Planet.” 
Signs handout:  http://www.tomchapin.com/docs/ftsigns.html 

Family Tree by John Forster & Tom Chapin © 1988 Limousine Music Co. & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)
Before the days of Jello
Lived a prehistoric fellow,
Who loved a maid and courted her
Beneath the banyan tree.
And they had lots of children.
And their children all had children.
And they kept on having children
Until one of them had me!
We're a family and we're a tree.
Our roots go deep down in history
From my great-great-granddaddy reaching up to me,
We're a green and growing family tree.

My grandpa came from Russia;
My grandma came from Prussia;
They met in Nova Scotia,
Had my dad in Tennessee.
Then they moved to Yokohama
Where Daddy met my Mama.
Her dad's from Alabama and her mom's part Cherokee.
We're a family and we're a tree.
Our roots go deep down in history
From my great-great-granddaddy reaching up to me,
We're a green and growing family tree.

Well one fine day I may go
To Tierra Del Fuego.
Perhaps I'll meet my wife there
And we'll move to Timbuktu.
And our kid will be bilingual,
And though she may stay single,
She could, of course, comingle with the
King of Kathmandu.
'Cause we're a family and we're a tree.
Our roots go deep down in history
From my great-great-granddaddy reaching up to me,
We're a green and growing family tree.

The folks in Madagascar
Aren't the same as in Alaskar;
They got different foods, different moods
And different colored skin.
You may have a different name,
But underneath we're much the same;
You're probably my cousin and the whole world is our kin.
We're a family and we're a tree.
Our roots go deep down in history
From my great-great-grandmother reaching up to me, (sign for “grandmother is the same hand as grandfather, but thumb touching the chin and bouncing 2x)
We're a green and growing family tree.
We're a green and growing family.

This song appears on Tom Chapin's Family Tree CD.  More very special tree stories here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/school-age-storytime-very-special-trees.html

Book: Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart (A grandmother travels the world bringing back gifts both real and fanciful in this lovely rhyming story illustrated with three dimensional pictures created from plasticine clay. The child grows to a young woman and the grandmother gets more frail until the last page shows the child grown up with a child of her own traveling the world and concludes "and everything she shared with me I'm going to share with you." Kids might identify geographic locations mentioned on maps on the endpapers.)

Speaking of clay... Song/Flannel:  I Had a Little Dreidel (with myriad variations --source unknown -- students encouraged to make up new verses!

Song: We Wish You a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year… (lyrics to this and many other holiday songs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/singalong-keep-spiritwinter-holiday.html)

If time, could add some of the materials from the programs here:  

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Gifts%20and%20Giving

Looking for additional special holiday titles?  Check out this bibliography: http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/kids/PDFs/holidays2011.pdf

Activity: Snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson (on album Season’s Greetings)
Making snowballs for the program:
1) Gather a white plastic grocery bag into a long, skinny tube-like length with the handles on one end.
2) Fold the length in half, then in half again.
3) Wind a rubber band around the middle until it is tight.
4) Cut open both ends to remove any folded areas.
5) Then fluff out pieces
Idea courtesy of:  Susan Dailey, librarian, speaker and author of "A Storytime Year"

Bedm., Dover Special Needs, CDPL 12/22

School Age Storytime : Gifts and Giving

A storytime for K-2 celebrating seasonal holidays. Featuring tangible & intangible giving, with a nod to geography and figurative writing. Great lead-in for holiday toy, coat & food drives.

Book: Rabbit’s Gift – George Shannon (Chinese folktale in which each animal tries to share the turnip left at his doorstep.)

Storytelling with props/flannel: The Great Big Enormous Turnip (heading to the country north of China with another tale of turnips & cooperation -- based on the Russian book by Alexsey Nikolayevich Tolstoy)

 

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant (Loosely-based on a true story. A rich man rides a train through Appalachia every year at Christmas tossing gifts to the poor children who are waiting in order to repay a debt he owes the people who live there  the young boy waiting for gifts each year who grows up and also gives back to the community.)

The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton (sung) (Several book versions available. Hand-me-down toy has special meaning; performed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjslf_a11c)

 

Book: The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes --Linda Glaser (When unexpected guests are due, a girl borrows more potatoes and eggs from Mrs. Greenberg, the lonely but stubborn older woman next door, and finally figures out a way to convince her to join in the celebration.  This book has delicious examples of figurative language, e.g. "Mrs. Greenberg's house was always clean and tidy, like its face was just scrubbed and its blouse was tucked in, while Rachel's house always looked like it was still in its pajamas and needed to brush its hair yet.")

 

Song/Flannel: Helping  by Shel Silverstein from Free to Be, You and Me. Lyrics & tune: http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/helping-an-illustrated-song-by-shel-silverstein/  (no time today but could also have sung Song/Flannel:  I Had a Little Dreidel (with myriad variations --source unknown -- students encouraged to make up new verses!)

More song lyrics: carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/singalong-keep-spiritwinter-holiday.html

Book: Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart (A grandmother travels the world bringing back gifts both real and fanciful in this lovely rhyming story illustrated with three dimensional pictures created from plasticine clay. The child grows to a young woman and the grandmother gets more frail until the last page shows the child grown up with a child of her own traveling the world and concludes "and everything she shared with me I'm going to share with you." Had kids identify geographic locations mentioned on maps on the endpapers.)

 

The Extraordinary Gift – Florence Langlois (Imaginative fold out book which says that the best gift is a book!)

Song: We Wish You a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year… (lyrics to this and many other holiday songs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/singalong-keep-spiritwinter-holiday.html)

If time, could add some of the materials from the programs below:
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/school-age-storytime-gifts-and-giving.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/pre-school-storytime-gifts-and-giving.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/chanukah-divali-storiesschool-age.html

 

Looking for additional special holiday titles?  Check out this bibliography: http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/kids/PDFs/holidays2011.pdf

Bedm. 12/2017

It’s a Wrap (Story/Craft program Ages 3-10)

It’s a Wrap (Story/Craft program Ages 3-10)

  

“We'll share stories & songs about gifts and giving, then create our own wrapping paper and cards. Please wear old clothes or bring a smock as we will be using paint.”

Opening music & craft music: Season’s Greetings (could have used Beethoven’s Wig if secular preferred)  
Book: Giving – Shirley Hughes
Flannel: “Helping”
Book: Silver Packages – Cynthia Rylant (if the kids had been on the younger side, would have substituted Immi's Gift – Karin Littlewood)
Prop/Story: The Surprise – George Shannon (skipped 2016 – saved for Gifts & Giving program)
Book/Song: The Marvelous Toy – Tom Paxton

Book:  The Extraordinary Gift – Florence Langlois (skipped 2016)
Details about the above can be found at:
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/pre-school-storytime-gifts-and-giving.html

Crafts:
· Wrapping Paper supplies: large paper (used packing paper bought at UPS store, could have also used bulletin board paper), plastic tablecloths, tempera paint and Styrofoam trays and brushes, Ellison die cutout stencils, bottle caps to make circles.)
· Holiday Cards supplies: construction paper for cards, seasonal Ellison die cut outs, markers, glue, scissors, hole punches, feathers, sequins, pompoms etc.

12.13, 12.16


Gifts & Giving: Story and Craft (Ages 3-9) Get an early "wrap" on your holidays with seasonal stories and songs plus a chance to make your very own wrapping paper!



Opening music & craft music: Goin’ to the Zoo – Tom Paxton and A Child’s Celebration of Song 2
Book: Rabbit’s Gift: A Fable from China – George Shannon
Prop/Story: The Surprise – George Shannon
Book: Immi's Gift – Karin Littlewood)
Book/Song: The Marvelous Toy – Tom Paxton
Book:  The Extraordinary Gift – Florence Langlois

Craft:  wrapping paper – Supplies: large sheets of white paper, markers, stamps & stamp pads

12.14