PreSchool Storytime: Earth Day

 

 

Earth Day: incorporates story and song, sign-language, non-fiction, sequences and kinesthetic learning in a storytime designed to build empathy and environmental awareness

Ages 2-6

 

Music when entering: Tom Chapin’s This Pretty Planet (start with track 1 –“Come Blow Your Horn”)  (or can use CD accompanying Joe Raposo’s book Sing)

Read: The Earth and I by Frank Asch (beautiful pictures, child’s eye view thanking the earth and making a difference)

Sing (with signs): “Walk the World Now Children” –  (track 8 of Some Assembly Required by Tom Chapin)  Used signs: walk, world, children, now, me, love(ingly), forever, day, drink, water, breathe, air, work, soil/land) (scanned, in sign language folder)

 

Read: I Love our Earth by Billl Martin Jr. (525 MAR -- non-fiction, multicultural, great pix, seasons)

Flannel: The Seed Story  (cumulative story, sequencing –storytelling pre-reading skill): “This is our garden, this is the seed that grew in our garden, …roots from seed, …rain that will fall, …sun that will shine, …stem that will grow, …bud that will form, …flower that will bloom

Action Song: “Digging Digging this is how we dig the soil, in our garden” (Raffi)

 

Interactive Book: Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Interactive Book (older groups): Earth dance ( 811.54 RYD Ryder) (acted this out as we read it -- kinesthetic) or Singable Book: What a Wonderful World – George David Weiss & Bob Thiele (several good illustrated versions of this song made famous by Louis Armstrong). Alt: Earthsong by Sally Rogers  (musical book -- can act out the motions)

Song/Puppets: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our hands”… (passed around Earth ball and animal puppets as we sang -- suit verses to puppets e.g. “We’ve got the lions in the plains,  …the kangaroos and their joeys,… the birds in the air,…the monkeys in the trees,  the whales in the seas, …the squirrels in our gardens, etc.)

Video:  Reading Rainbow: On the Day You Were Born (beginning with baby in hospital nursery through story sequence) – consider starting with this as kids arrive if doing as craft program.

Music/Action/ Parachute (or scarves or colored ribbons):  “This Pretty Planet” track  15 on Tom Chapin’s This Pretty Planet

Hand stamping to "What a Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong recording – The Fabulous Louis Armstrong 625 ARMS is a good version) and/or “This Pretty Planet”

Alts: no time: All the World – Scanlon, Earthsong – Rogers  (can act out the motions), Mother Earth – Luenn (figurative language), Wangari’s Trees of Peace -JBiog Maathai, The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families ( J577.698 ROTH),  Picture a Tree – Reid, Inch by Inch: The Garden Song -- Mallet

More earth day songs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html, more earth day ideas here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Earth%20Day%20%26%20Environment
For an "outer space" element and some other ideas, check out:  <!--[endif]-->http://storytimewithmisstara.blogspot.com/search?q=earth+day

Tidy – Emily Gravett (2017) good for K+

If You Plant a Seed – Kadir Nelson
Sidewalk Flowers – JonArno Larson
Mrs. Spitzer's Garden -- Edith Pattou -- beautiful book emphasizing metaphor of young students/garden

 

BWL 4.16 – didn’t do a separate Spring themed program.

http://phpearth.com/easy-earth-day-crafts-for-kids.html
(didn’t do this in 2017, consider for 2018)

http://krazee4kindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/04/earth-day-freebie-includes-headband.html
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/FreeDownload/Earth-Day-Freebie-Includes-Writing-Printables-Headband  (made headbands, “hands” (printed on blue) and double-strip (printed on green), along with B&T cardboards cut in 3” strips, markers, gluesticks, scissors, stickers)

4/18/17 BWL with craft above

School Age Storytime: Earth Day Heroes

Earth Day Heroes: A non-fiction “un-common core”  K-3rd grade storytime featuring inspiring stories of diverse people who have made a difference to our planet. Introduces American and global environmental history and issues, non-violent change agents, along with songs, and sign language and gorgeous images (visual and literary) of our planet,.

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks by Barb Rosenstock (The true story of how a camping trip in California with John Muir inspired Teddy Roosevelt to preserve America’s natural wilderness.)  Followed by showing the gorgeous illustrations from John Muir: America’s Naturalist by Thomas Locker and booktalking: Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers by Kathi Appelt (President’s wife’s advocacy led to the beautification of America’s highways.)  and  Redwoods by Jason Chin (A boy is transported through the pages of a book into a forest of these magnificent trees.)  (Mention they can see a sequoia/redwood tree in nearby Buck Gardens.)

Book/Song: This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
or Song: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” (traditional – optional props/puppets: world globe ball, brothers/sisters, bird, fish – lyrics below.)

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (The inspiring story of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner who spear-headed the reforestation of Kenya despite threats and jail time.)  (Mention “biography” – non-fiction about a person)

Book: I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson (Dan Lipow’s photographs are “eye candy” – a splendid look at the earth’s gorgeous diversity.)
Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children” from Tom Chapin’s Album Some Assembly Required.  Lyrics here: http://www.tomchapin.com/docs/lwtw.html

Book: Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers by Sarah Warren (Earth Day goes beyond caring for the planet to caring for the people who harvest the food we eat…wonderfully-written story of a teacher who became an activist who followed Martin Luther King’s non-violent ideals and organized real change.)  Booktalk: Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Song: “Monday’s Child” by Fred Penner (song on his album “Happy Feet," lyrics below) (I had the lyrics printed out and we sang it through three times – the first all together, the second with the boys singing the first half of each line and the girls the second half, the third with the boys’ & girls’ parts reversed.)

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder (Kids stood up and acted out this poetic tribute to our earth. Touches on the ideas of earth science, gravity, seasons, and planetary rotation)
Lyrics:
We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands – traditional

We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got our mamas and our daddies…
We've got our brothers and our sisters…
We've got a little bitty baby…
We've got the birds in the air…
We've got whales in the sea…
We’ve got you and we’ve got me…
Monday’s Child / Help Me to Grow  (UNICEF SONG)
Song on Fred Penner’s album “Happy Feet”

(boys)                       (girls)
Help me to grow… One drop of water
Healthy and Strong …One piece of bread
Teach me to read …One life of learning
Take me along … The long road ahead
I have a mind – I’m full of questions
I have a voice -- I love to sing
(together)
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything.
(girls)                     (boys)
Help me to grow… One drop of water
Healthy and Strong …One piece of bread
Teach me to read …One life of learning
Take me along … The long road ahead
I have a mind – I’m full of questions
I have a voice -- I love to sing
(together)
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything
Give me one day to work and play as a part of everything!

Bedm. 4/15

School Age Storytime – Earth Day & Celebrating Spring

Appreciating our Earth and the People Who Work to Save It (Also good for Arbor Day)
Stories, songs, and crafts encouraging understanding of and appreciation for nature and our planet.   (Includes creative non-fiction, an introduction to photosynthesis, inspiring biography, poetry, music and movement, sign language, and a song in multiple languages.  Ages K+)

Played “Someone’s Gonna Use It After You” and “Family Tree”  from Tom Chapin’s album “Family Tree” as kids arrived. (2016)
Read (Interactive Book): Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson (2014 – omitted 2016)
“Trees don’t grow by magic, does anyone know how they do grow? Anyone know the word “photosynthesis”?

Read (Creative Non-Fiction Book): Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm (572.46 BANG) --a splendid example of what I call “Uncommon Core” (sunlight converted by plant through photosynthesis breaking up water -- H20 -- breathing out oxygen for us to breathe in -- breathing in CO2 and building sugars (leaves, stems, juices, seeds, fruit) for us to eat -- we are living sunlight!) this creative and memorable explanation of photosynthesis will stick with kids for a long time.

"Now let's turn into the earth -- everyone stand up and act this out with me..."


Act Out (Interactive Book): Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder (811.54 RYD) – we acted out this poetic celebration of the earth as we read it (splendid language, imagination, poetry, images, kinesthetic learning.)

Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children” from Tom Chapin’s Album Some Assembly Required. Find signs here: http://www.signingsavvy.com/

"Here's a story about a real person who made a big difference..."  (brief discussion of “non-fiction” Living Sunlight (572.46 in the library) and true books about people = biography section)

Read (Non-Fiction Biography): Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeannette Winter (Inspiring true story of Wangari Maathai, courageous environmentalist and winner of the Nobel Peace prize, whose passion & determination inspired hundreds of thousands of women across Africa to reforest their continent.)

(Some classes) Book/Song: There Was a Tree by Rachel Isadora

2016 Read: Bloom by Doreen Cronin. (A mud fairy shows an extraordinary ordinary girl how she can save her crumbling kingdom of glass by making solid mud brick structures.)   Booktalked: Sidewalk Flowers by (little girl in a black & white world, walks alongside oblivious dad with cellphone picking sidewalk flowers. As she gives them away, the neighborhood gradually goes full-color.)

2014 Read (Non Fiction Picture Book): Lucky Ducklings: A True Rescue Story by Eva Moore. (True story of people in a town on long island assisted in rescue of ducklings who had fallen into a grate – text to text connection: Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings (trivia note; McCloskey kept ducks in his Boston apartment while illustrating this story!)

(When there was time) Read: I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. (525 MAR) (Gorgeously photo-illustrated multi-cultural appreciation of our planet) 
2014 Song: “Springtime Is Here” (multiple languages) original source unknown—contact me for tune or make one up:
Springtime is here!  (2x)
Birds are singing (2x)
Springtime is here! (2x)
(Spanish)   ¡Primavera aqui!  (2x)  Pajaritos cantan   (2x)   ¡Primavera aqui!  (2x)   
(German)  Frühling ist da! (2x)   Die Vögelein singen (2x)  Frühling ist da!     (2x)  
(Japanese)   Haru ga kita! (2x)   Kotori ga naiteru  (2x)    Haru ga kita   (2x)  
(Zulu)  Entwasahlobo! (2x) Inyoni ukucula  (2x)   Entwasahlobo  (2x)   
Sign Language:  http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/spring.htm http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/h/here.htm http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/b/bird.htm
http://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/SING/766/1

2016 Book/Song: It’s a Wonderful World illustrated by Ashley Bryan – accompanied by CD of Louis Armstrong’s extraordinary vocals -- celebrating the wonderful world we live in and the plants, animals, and people of so many colors we share it with… 

“Happy Earth Day” – kids can do their part to make and keep this world wonderful

Exit music: This Pretty Planet from Tom Chapin’s album with the same name.

Great book for teachers! Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden by Edith Pattou. (Every September the principal at Mrs. Spitzer’s school gives her a new packet of “seeds.”  Mrs. Spitzer's "seeds" are duly planted and tenderly nurtured, and while some "grow quickly, pushing upward, eager, impatient," others "grow more slowly, unfolding themselves bit by bit." As the seasons progress, the little plants grow sturdier, until finally the school year comes to a close and Mrs. Spitzer's job is done in this tender metaphorical story.)

Bedm 4.14, 4.16

afterschool Adamsville w/craft 4.14 Craft:  Recycle scraps of construction paper/magazine pages into cut or torn paper collage art celebrating the earth (materials: assorted scrap papers, scissors, glue sticks)
Music: play album This Pretty Planet (730 CHAP) while children working on crafts.

Bedminster K-2  2017:

Tidy by Emily Gravett (Pete the badger tries to tidy up the forest but finds concrete doesn’t make a good place for anyone to live)  Mind-boggling math about how many leaves  on a typical big tree: http://bedtimemath.org/fun-math-leaf-explosion/)
Earthday by Joanne Ryder (acted out this figurative poem about the earth)
Sing: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands”
Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm
Song (sign language): “Walk the World Now Children” (track #8 from Tom Chapin’s album Some Assembly Required)
Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeannette Winter (one woman’s campaign to bring back trees to Kenya despite government opposition)
I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. (beautiful photo-essay)
Sidewalk Flowers by Jon Arno Lawson (wordless)
Beautiful Hands by Kathryn Otashi (gorgeous pictures made from handprints accompany great figurative ideas of what hands can do  (plant ideas, touch hearts, lift spirits, stretch imaginations, reach for love, peace, faith, truth, hope and dreams…) great art project idea.
Closed with Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World” (track #1 on album The Best of Louis Armstrong, showing pages from book illustrated by Ashley Bryan)

Links to Earth Day crown and other craft ideas: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/04/earth-day-preschool-storytime.html

School Age Storytime & Craft: Earth Day

 

Earth Day Heroes: A non-fiction “un-common core”  K-2nd grade storytime featuring inspiring stories of diverse people who have made a difference to our planet. Introduces American and global environmental history and issues, non-violent change agents, along with a book about photosynthesis and the interdependence of all life on earth. Also includes songs, sign language and gorgeous images (visual and literary) of our planet. Not all items used with all groups.

Spring finally arriving – flowers outside – opened with poem  “Spring Is” by Bobbi Katz from Sunflakes: Poems for Children.

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks by Barb Rosenstock (The true story of how a camping trip in California with John Muir inspired Teddy Roosevelt to preserve America’s natural wilderness – long but the kids enjoyed.)  Could also booktalk John Muir: America’s Naturalist by Thomas Locker (gorgeous illustrations)  Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers by Kathi Appelt (President’s wife’s advocacy led to the beautification of America’s highways.)  and  Redwoods by Jason Chin (A boy is transported through the pages of a book into a forest of these magnificent trees.)  (Mentioned they can see a sequoia/redwood tree in nearby Buck Gardens.)


Book/Song: This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
or Song: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” (traditional – optional props/puppets: world globe ball, brothers/sisters, bird, fish – lyrics http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html.)

Book: Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm (572.46 BANG) -- this creative and memorable explanation of photosynthesis will stick with kids for a long time.

And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel) – lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html Song on Rachel Buchman’s “Sing a Song of Seasons” (Children echo words in italics)

 

Take a Walk Outside (from Pick Me Up, Fun Songs for Learning Signs – played the song from the album as we “danced with our hands”)

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (The inspiring story of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner who spear-headed the reforestation of Kenya despite threats and jail time.)  (Mentioned “biography” – non-fiction about a person)

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder (Kids stood up and acted out this poetic tribute to our earth. Touches on the ideas of earth science, gravity, seasons, and planetary rotation)

Finished with:

(Younger classes) Book: I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson (Dan Lipow’s photographs are “eye candy” – a splendid look at the earth’s gorgeous diversity.)

(Older classes) Book: Mother Earth by Nancy Luenn ( personification of the earth “The ground is her skin, Mountains her bones, Trees and plants her living hair, Birds are her songs, And the listening stones her ears…”  remind listeners that we must use her gifts well, and return them with respect and love. Gentle watercolor illustrations by Neil Waldman)
Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children” from Tom Chapin’s Album Some Assembly Required. Find signs here: http://www.signingsavvy.com/ – skipped at Bedminster 2018 because didn’t get album in time.  Used at Milltown.

 

Milltown afterschool program:

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America

Book/Song: This Land is Your Land

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa

Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children”

Booktalked and read selections from other titles.

Craft – torn construction paper collage – earth, environmental, spring scenes (some kids asked, could they use “random”? – I responded “Sure” and introduced the concept “abstract art”)

(Played music from Tom Chapin’s album This Pretty Planet playing as kids made crafts.)  Didn’t remember to use Earth Ball with song “We’ve got the whole world in our hands. Could use next time.)

More Earth Day programs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Earth%20Day%20%26%20Environment

Bedminster K-2, Milltown Afterschool 4/2018

School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Earth Day & Arbor Day

Clarence Dillon Public Library

STEAM Story Time & Craft with Miss Carol Levin

Wednesday, Apr. 16, 4:30 pm

        Wednesday, April 16th @ 4:30 pm

This month's theme:  Arbor Day & Earth Day

Join us as we share stories about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM)!

 Ages 5-9 (siblings welcomed)
 

I Love Our Earth - Bill Martin Jr. - photographic celebration (or could use Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn instead)

Song (earth ball, optional puppets): We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands – traditional

We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got our mamas and our daddies…
We've got our brothers and our sisters…
We've got a little bitty baby…
We've got the birds in the air…
We've got whales in the sea…
We’ve got you and we’ve got me…

Spring is Here - Taro Gomi  "Spring is here. / The snow melts. / The earth is fresh. / The grass sprouts." Taro Gomi's clever picture book about the change of seasons couldn't be simpler. The first spread shows a white calf against a hot-pink background. "Spring is here," it says. In the next spread "the snow melts." And indeed, the once snow-white calf is now spotted black and white! 

Song (action) This is the way... tune "Mulberry Bush": This is the way we plant a seed, plant a seed, plant a seed. This is the way we plant a seed so early in the morning...This is the way the sun will shine... This is the way the rain will fall...This is the way the seed will grow... This is the way the flower will bloom...

Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life - Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm  (572.46 BANG) -- this creative and memorable explanation of photosynthesis will stick with kids for a long time.

Song: And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel) – lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html 

The Great Kapok Tree  - Lynne Cherry -- The many different animals that live in a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rainforest try to convince a man with an ax of the importance of not cutting down their home.

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder

Didn't get in time: 

Singable book: What a Wonderful World - Ashley Bryan  E Thiele

Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn Gorgeous watercolors accompany this extended metaphorical exploration of our planet (could use instead of  I Love Our Earth

This pretty Planet

skipped Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children”

Craft – construction & tissue paper collages – trees, earth, environmental, spring scenes 

Optional:  music from Tom Chapin’s album This Pretty Planet as kids make crafts