Halloween Hootenanny - Participatory Stories & Songs

 

Halloween Hootenanny - Participatory Stories & Songs

Details at: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/halloween-hootenany-interactive-program.html

Perth Amboy Free Public Library 10/31/26

Halloween 2022 -- Bedminster Library/Nicole Paolino's class

Song: I am the Great Pumpkin (lyrics and many other ideas at: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/halloween-hootenany-interactive-program.html)

Participatory Storytelling/Props: Big Pumpkin – from the book by Erica Silverman -- In this variant on the folktale, “The Great Big Enormous Turnip,” the witch, ghost, skeleton, and vampire are unable to pull up the pumpkin until a tiny bat ignores their derisive laughter and suggests they all work together.  I sing/chant this to a tune from an old Scholastic recording – feel free to contact me if you want to learn the tune.

Finger Puppets:  Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

Storytelling (props for children to use - shoes, pants, shirt, hat, gloves, pumpkin head, scarecrow): The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

Action Song; Scarecrow, Scarecrow Turn Around

Storytelling (puppets or hanging signs): One Dark Night by Edna Mitchell Preston

Action Song: Two Little Ghosts

Participatory Pop-Up Book: In a Dark Dark Wood by David A. Carter

Song: How to Make a Ghost Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Song/Movement: Hookey Spooky (Tune: Hokey Pokey”)

Song/Flannel: Old McDonald had a Haunted House

Action Song: The Witch on Halloween

Close with "Sing" 

skipped: 

Shakey Eggs to “Dem Bones” (track #16 on Spooky Favorites) & Monster Mash (recording unavailable)

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Nicole Paolino's class (Pumpkins/Halloween) (virtual special needs):

Book (K-2): Bear’s Bargain – Frank Asch (also published as Moonbear’s Bargain)  (“have you ever wished you were big, or could fly?”..we tried flying with bear in the book -- clever problem solving).

Song: I am the Great Pumpkin (lyrics and many other ideas at: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/halloween-hootenany-interactive-program.html)

Participatory Storytelling (Puppets/Props): Big Pumpkin

Participatory Storytelling/Props: Big Pumpkin – from the book by Erica Silverman -- In this variant on the folktale, “The Great Big Enormous Turnip,” the witch, ghost, skeleton, and vampire are unable to pull up the pumpkin until a tiny bat ignores their derisive laughter and suggests they all work together.  I sing/chant this to a tune from an old Scholastic recording – feel free to contact me if you want to learn the tune.

Finger Puppets:  Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

Book: Pumpkins: A Story for a Field by Mary Lyn Ray – A splendid modern environmental myth in which a man, saddened by the thought that the field across from his house is about to be sold, sells everything he has, buys seeds, grows pumpkins, and then sends them all around the world (by planes, trucks, ships, and even flying carpets) to get enough money to buy the field and save it.  (10.14 – omitted in kindergarten, did action song “Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate” instead.)

Participatory Pop-Up Book: In a Dark Dark Wood by David A. Carter

Storytelling (props for children to use - shoes, pants, shirt, hat, gloves, pumpkin head, scarecrow): The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

Song/Movement: Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around (Scarecrow puppet)

Singable Book: There was an Old Monster by Ed Emberley (prefer If You Are a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca & Ed Emberley) -- great art inspiration idea!

 

Action Song: "Horns, Fangs, Knees and Paws...Eyes and Ears and Tail and Claws" (Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes variation)

Fold Out Prop: 10 Trick or Treaters (tune: “10 Little Indians”)

Book: Pumpkin Heads – Wendell Minor – clever and unusual ways to carve a pumpkin

More pumpkin ideas:https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Pumpkins
More monster ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Monsters

STEAM Storytime Surprise -- Youth Services Forum Oct. 29, 2018 Presentation

See the slides from the presentation

Rebranding storytime as a S.T.E.A.M. Storytime Surprise allows librarians to use the ECRR2 format for early literacy and combine that with the interest and excitement that STEAM brings – not just elements of Science and Technology and Engineering, but also Arts and Mathematics. This format emphasizes process during craft and play times; examples of successful programs for children ages 3-10 years will be shared. 

Info from other programs at the presentation is here: https://www.njstatelib.org/services_for_libraries/consulting_services/youth_services/2018-youth-services-forum/

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Previous Workshops for Librarians & Educators:

Slides & Resources at: Storytime Shake Up -- Jazzing Up Storytime Programs

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Slides: Books Alive! Storytelling Workshop

Around the year thematic bibliography: Using Storytelling Skills and Interactive Books to Create Excitement and Empathy in Your Students 

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Slides here: UnCommon Core -- Youth Services Forum 2014 –Slides

Bibliography:  “UnCommon-Core” -- Outstanding Informational Read-Alouds for PreSchool & Primary Students

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Picture This: Adventures in Art & Imagination
Interested in taking your school-age programing in another direction? Want some ideas for this summer’s Summer Reading Club “Be Creative @ Your Library?” Carol Simon Levin (Somerset County Library - Bridgewater) will share ideas from a program she created that merges literature, art, and creativity. She'll present her program plans for everything from prehistoric cave paintings to Pointillism, Cubism to Chagall, Escher, O'Keefe, Matisse, and many more. It is a program suitable for both public libraries and school settings.

NJLA 2009 “Picture This” Slides and  Program Notes 
(a revised version of my 2007 Youth Services Forum program)

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Carol Simon Levin is a retired youth services librarian, author, storyteller and program presenter for audiences of all ages based in Somerset County, NJ. Whether she is impersonating the woman who helped to build the Brooklyn Bridge, engaging families in a rousing Halloween Hootenanny of songs and stories, expanding on the mathematical and artistic possibilities of a simple square, or sharing the story of a dolphin who learned to swim with an artificial tail (along with activities to help children understand what it is like to live with a disability), Carol always strives to create exciting programs that engage her audience’s interests and expand their horizons.  Librarians are welcome to replicate or use portions of any of these programs. If you have questions or need more details (including providing song tunes), contact her at cslevin59 (at) gmail.com or 908-361-6519.

Maker Program: Emily Roebling Builds a Bridge–A Hands-On Program for Exploring Bridge Building and Encouraging Women in Engineering

"Emily Roebling" tells the story of her role in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge then assists children & tweens as they experiment with bridge designs & construction.

 

Carol Simon Levin portraying “Emily Warren Roebling”

STEAM Storytime–Rotten Pumpkin

S.T.E.A.M. Storytime (ages 3-6 & grades K-4) Problem solving, creative dramatics, and the  cycle of life – all celebrated with the orange icon of the fall season! 

Book: Bear’s Bargain – Frank Asch (also published as Moonbear’s Bargain)  (“have you ever wished you were big, or could fly?”..we tried flying with bear in the book -- clever problem solving).

Participatory Storytelling/Props: Big Pumpkin – from the book by Erica Silverman -- In this variant on the folktale, “The Great Big Enormous Turnip,” the witch, ghost, skeleton, and vampire are unable to pull up the pumpkin until a tiny bat ignores their derisive laughter and suggests they all work together.  I sing/chant this to a tune from an old Scholastic recording – feel free to contact me if you want to learn the tune.

Non-Fiction Book: Rotten Pumpkin: A Rotten Tale in 15 Voices* – 577.16 SCHWARTZ – “UnCommon Core” at its best!  -- Told in the first person by the pumpkin, mouse, squirrel, slug, fly, black rot, bread mold, sow bug, Penicillium, earthworm, yeast cell, slime mold, soil, and seed, this is science “on the hoof.”  Wonderful writing & delightfully yucky photographs complete this unforgettable tour through the life cycle of a pumpkin that kids will find completely enGROSSing!

Book: Pumpkin Heads – Wendell Minor – great inspiration for unusual jack-o-lanterns.

Craft: Create either cute or gross pumpkins inspired by the books above.  Materials: orange construction paper, scrap construction paper, goggly eyes, markers, stamp pads & cotton balls (to create simulated “rot”)

Music playing: Andrew Gold’s Halloween Howls

BWL 10.17

Ideas for Halloween engineering projects: http://leftbraincraftbrain.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=0a09c8844ba8f0936c20bd791130d6b6.195

Maker Monday / STEAM Storytime Surprise: B.Y.O.M. (Build Your Own Monster!) (Ages 4-11)

 

 

Combine eeks and engineering and create your own moving monster! 

 

Display books on monsters as kids arrive.

 

Book: Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak 

 

Song/Flannel: “It’s Monster Day” (From Linda Arnold's album "Peppermint Wings")

 
Book: Leonardo the Terrible Monster – Mo Willems

 

Singable Book: If you are a Monster and You Know it – Rebecca & Ed Emberley

 

Make 3D Monsters -- 12x18 cardboards, pipe cleaners, scrap construction paper, googly eyes, pom poms, fancy scissors, gluesticks, tape, hole punches, paper fasteners. Older kids were given the challenge to make a monster that could stand up and be stable but also could move.

Halloween music playing throughout program.

 

Finished by having our monsters dance to “Dem Bones.”

 

 

10.2016 afterschool program

More “monster mania” at: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/10/preschool-storytime-monsters.html

 

10/17 STEAM Storytime Surprise