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

Literacy Volunteers/Middle Earth "Soup's On"

 Participatory Stories & Songs: Soup & Thanksgiving

Asked about everyone's favorite kinds of soup, then opened with a very strange recipe:

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

Song/Flannel:  "Alphabet Soup" by Tom Chapin (another silly recipe, reinforces alphabet, lyrics here: Soup's On)

 

Book: Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt (how to handle a "bad day" - could also make "Mean Cheerios!")

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 here: Soup's On)

Book/Cards/Song: Chicken Soup with Rice – Maurice Sendak, tune by Carole King from “Really Rosie” (audio & video available, concept: the names of the months, lyrics here: Soup's On)

Craft: decorating potholders with fabric markers, then concluded with a "snowball fight" (details here) on this cold evening!

Winter Holiday Singalong: Bernardsville Library

 

Holiday Sing-Along (Need Easel, Promethean, Board and Musical Instruments)

Action Song:  You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song 

Flannelboards:  

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah 

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Candles

Action: Spin Little Dreidel, Turn Around

Flannelboards:  

I have a Little Dreidel

Flying on the North Wind

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Active Music Play (with videos - next time, use audio only, kids were too glued to video to participate very actively with instruments)

**Pass Out Musical Instruments**

Videos: 

Jingle Bells

Little drummer boy (omitted)

Feliz Navidad (omitted)

Deck the Halls

Singable book: The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton

Wish For Snow and a white holiday Break!

Videos: 

Frosty the Snowman (prefer singable book when I can get it)

Let it Go

Flannelboard: In the Freezer by Joe Scruggs

Snowball Fight Play – Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson

Goodbye/Wind Down - action songs

This Little Light of Mine 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Sing, Sing a Song (clasp hands and make a circle - go in and out - sing louder 2nd time)

Distribute Stickers

Lyrics for the songs can be found at: 

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

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

December 2024

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

Literacy Volunteers - Middle Earth "Snow" Storytime/Craft

 

Read: Snow by Uri Shulewitz (discussed Caldecott Medal – what it means)

Acted Out: The Mitten by Jan Brett (did with a large tablecloth mitten & sign/masks from janbrett.com details: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/12/winter-storytimetheatercraft-jan-bretts.html)

• Talked about folktale (story retold over generations/centuries (define), then read Jan Brett’s  book with kids holding tablecloth and masks from www.janbrett.com at the “aachoo”, I grabbed the tablecloth and the kids scattered. Another possibility is to have two kids (or grown ups) hold hands and become each side of the mitten, then let the kids crowd in between. (from http://lalalalibrary.blogspot.com/2014/12/flannel-friday-mitten.html)

Singable Book: Frosty
Booktalked: Raymond Brigg’s The Snowman (wonderful video available on Youtube) 

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian (talked about Caldecott Gold woodcut illustrations, true book – would find in the Biography (bio=life, graphy =writing,stories section)

Singable/flannel: “In the Freezer” by Joe Scruggs – lyrics here.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert (had kids look at the collage art –> art project)

Snow creatures (inspired by Ehlert’s book) – Materials: White & colored construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, pompoms, buttons, feathers, etc.

Finished with: Snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson (on album Season’s Greetings)
Making snowballs:
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"

Optional Additional Craft : Cut out paper snowflakes http://thechocolatemuffintree.blogspot.com/2012/12/making-giant-snowflakes.html (could use large tissue paper) (booktalked Snowflake Bentley – another Caldecott)

1/24/24

Storytime: Button Up for Winter Weather!

greenshot test froggy

 Bundle up with this program for warming up on a cold winter’s day

Fun interactive program of stories and songs 

incorporating early literacy and numeracy skills, sequencing,
vocabulary (unusual animals), following directions, 

plus an indoor snowball fight to use up some cooped-up energy!

 Entrance Music: “Belly Button” by Joe Scruggs on his album: Late Last Night

Book: Froggy Gets Dressed – Jonathon London (kids act out motions and shout out “FROGGY...Have you forgotten something?”) (Alt. for young kids: Bear Gets Dressed: A Guessing Game Story – Harriet Ziefert, Other great underwear-themed titles: Bear in Long Underwear -- Todd H. Doodler, Naked by Michael Ian Black (kids LOVE!)

Froggy clearly had trouble wearing clothes – so do these animals…Flannel: Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing – Judi Barrett (Cut out from a book whose spine had broken -- made it easy for us to as a Q&A: animal identification, reasoning—why wearing clothing would be a problem for the animal, vocabulary development – animal names, “suspenders”)

Action Song: This is the Way… (sequencing: getting dressed) (Tune: “Mulberry Bush”)

This is the way we put on our coat,
Put on our coat, put on our coat,
This is the way we put on our coat,
To play outside in the snow.
Continue with other articles of clothing…
(Could also use: Action/Sign Language Song: When It’s Cold Outside from “Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning Signs”) 

Here’s another animal looking for something warm to wear…but she makes some mistakes...
Book: A Hat for Minerva Louse – Janet Morgan Stoeke  

Action Song: We Dress Like That (mention concept of "piggy-back songs" Source Unknown, Tune: “Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes”—repeated several times)
Boots, jacket, scarf and hat, scarf and hat.
Boots, jacket, scarf and hat, scarf and hat.
In wintertime we dress like that,
Boots, jacket, scarf and hat, scarf and hat.

Participatory Storytelling: The Mitten by Jan Brett

Act out story with puppets (old lady, boy) and masks from www.janbrett.com – you can draw an enormous mitten on a white plastic tablecloth with thick black marker, place it on the floor and have adults hold down the corners while the Iibrarian narrates the story and the children (holding laminated masks from the Jan Brett website), step on and huddled together, at the “aachoo” we all jumped off and threw the tablecloth into the air! 
Other versions here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/12/winter-storytimetheatercraft-jan-bretts.html

The Mitten Song

Thumbs in the thumb place
Fingers all together
This is the song we sing when it's mitten weather
It doesn't matter whether
They are made of wool or leather
Thumbs in the thumb place
Fingers all together

Singable Book: Frosty the Snowman – Steve Nelson
Snowmen don’t need coats to go outside, but people do!

Action Song: I’m a Little Snowman (Sung to: “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little snowman, short and fat
Here is my broomstick, here is my hat
When the sun comes out, I’ll melt away
Drip, drip, drip, I’m a puddle today!

Young group so skipped : Flannel/Song: In the Freezer (Song on Joe Scrugg’s “Traffic Jams”) lyrics to this and additional winter songs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/01/singalong-winters-day.html

Close with Activity: indoor snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride”, track #5 on album 20th Century Masters: Season's Greetings- The Millennium Collection
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) Trim both ends to remove any folded areas.
5) Make 2 or 3 vertical cuts in both ends.
6) Then fluff out pieces
Idea courtesy of:  Susan Dailey, librarian, speaker and author of "A Storytime Year" 

Other possibilities: 

Book: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat – Simms Tabeck (folk tale with great cut-out reveals; briefly mention Caldecott Award) (Optional, show another version of same tale: Something from Nothing – Phoebe Gilman)

Another Joe who has a problem with buttons...

Action: Hi, My Name is Joe & I work in a button Factory (traditional, left-right identification)
Hi my name is Joe & I work in a button factory.
One day, my boss said “Joe, are you busy?”
“I said “no”” – so he said “Turn this button with your right hand” (do this)
Repeat: left hand, right foot, left foot, head…finally
I said YES!!!!!!”

Or flannel/prop song (to tune: “Mary Had Little Lamb”) (memory-sequencing)
Joseph had an overcoat, overcoat, over coat…it got old and worn.
So he made a little jacket etc. ..continue thru button…lost button…then he made this little song….

1A few more buttons...
Book: Press Here – Herve Tullet (kids press the dots and are thrilled with the changes, cause & effect, numeracy, left-right identification, patterns)

along with a cat... YouTube Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons – Eric Litwin  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7va0beuK58

Hand Stamping Music: “Belly Button” by Joe Scruggs on his album: Late Last Night

Another great title (longer): The Trouble With Trolls - Eve Bunting

CDPL 1/2/2023

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