Welcome Week: Stirring Up Stories! (Piscataway Public Library)

 

"Soup's On": Participatory Stories & Songs to Celebrate Community

As children arrived, talked to them about favorite kinds of soup...
 favorite family recipes

Who had a garden this summer, what did they grow? --> Book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert 

Followed by a "Mulberry Bush" song variant acting out how,  lyrics here: Soup's On

Participatory storytelling with props (pot, puppets, & veggies): Stone Soup  
Old story many variants – I use my version of the Ann McGovern version with a family who has been traveling a long time in place of the young man - idea of welcoming people into the community - script here: Soup's On)

Soup is good year round!

Song (children each held up cards with enlarged images from the pages of this little book):
Chicken Soup with Rice – Maurice Sendak, tune by Carole King from “Really Rosie”  
Reinforces concept: the names of the months, lyrics here: Soup's On

Who started school this week? Some days are good, sometimes not so good...

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

Song: If you're happy & you know it, sad, mad, etc. 

Being sick can make you sad, but this little girl has an idea makes her father a special kind of soup to help him get better – silly! -- Don't try this at home!  Book: Monkey Soup by Louis Sachar 

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

Finished with:

Book: Hot Pot Night by Vincent Chen (people in apartment house come together to make the traditional Chinese "hot pot" soup and make community at the same time)

Puppets : Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos (reinforces idea that we all have come from different places but celebrate together; enumeration practice, learn/reinforce Spanish language numbers)
Diez Amigos "10 Friends" Tune: “10 Little Indians”
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Quatro, cinco, seis amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve amigos,
Diez amigos son.
One, two, three friends,
Four, five, six friends,
Seven, Eight, Nine friends,
Ten friends are we.

Craft: Used model magic to make and fill soup bowls!  

This child made her bowl heart-shaped!

Other possibilities:

Community-based soup books: Thank you, Omu! by Oge Mora, Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena but they were a little long for the primarily preschool-aged audience.

Books supporting the idea of welcoming community include: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting, Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora, I'm New Here & Someone New both by Anne Sibley O'Brien, Earthdance by Joanne Ryder

Song based books: This Little Light of Mine, illustrated by E.B.Lewis, What a Wonderful World, illustrated by Ashley Bryan, This Land is My Land by Woody Guthrie

9/2026  Piscataway Public Library "Welcome Week" 

Jurassic Mary: Fossil Girl

 

Jurassic Mary: Fossil Girl — Carol Simon Levin portrayed Mary Anning, the self-taught fossil hunter from England’s Jurassic Coast, who braved bitter storms and rock slides to unearth some of the first complete dinosaur-era skeletons. Now considered "The Greatest Fossil Hunter Ever Known," her pioneering paleontological discoveries fundamentally reshaped our understanding of prehistoric life and laid the foundation for modern paleontology and Darwin's theory of evolution.  "Mary" showed them some of the fossils she mentioned and plastic models of what the creatures looked like while alive.

Before and after the presentation, families explored different kinds of prehistoric creatures & fossils. After the presentation, each child excavated their own fossil to take home. 

As children arrived, had them sort, explore & identify fossils from this kit:

Costumed as Mary Anning, shared her story via a PowerPoint slide show, emphasizing the size & age of the fossils she found & the way the fossils changed the way people thought about the world.

Then had children move to stations where they could excavate fossils (or plastic dinosaurs) from plaster casts then match their finds to the cards provided, learn to draw dinosaurs, or further explore fossils. 

Materials: Fossil sorting kit, plastic prehistoric models, fossils/plastic dinosaurs to excavate (purchased from Amazon), paper plates (to contain the sand from the excavation), how to draw dinosaur printouts, book display on dinosaurs & fossils.

Some sites had families sitting on the floor to excavate (we put out plastic sheets), others had tables & chairs. There is a little sand created but it isn't particularly messy (as long as kids don't wet the plaster). It is good to have wet paper towels for cleanup and a sink allows kids to wash their finds and find more details.

Numerous libraries across NJ for Summer Reading Club 2026: UnEarth a Story

Read Across America Day - 2026 - Bedminster School Kindergarten - An Unusual Day at School!

 

The "Cat in the Hat" came to Bedminster School to read to the kindergarten classes at Bedminster School to celebrate Read Across America on Dr. Seuss's birthday. 

Read: The Wrong Side of the Bed by Wallace E. Keller. Opened by asking what does it mean to say that you woke up "on the wrong side of the bed," then read this splendid story of a day that went completely upside down! (Also discussed gravity.)

Shared the poem "Eight-oh-Three" about racing for the school bus from the collection Lunch Money & Other Poems about School by Carol Diggory Shields.

Sang (with props): By the Way by Joe Scruggs - lyrics here  (video with tune here)

Read: Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement. Read the first two pages without showing the pictures, then showed them so the children could see that Amanda's ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, having lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at library, and riding home on an elephant!

Got the wiggles out by reading and acting out: Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood

And looking toward their futures, read: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama - sharing this inspiring tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans whose the ideals that have shaped our nation - from the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington.

(I was reading to three classes but if the group had been smaller and I'd had more time, I would have loved to follow this up with a discussion of what these kindergarteners would want to do for the world when they grew up).

Closed with the poem "Clock-Watching" from Lunch Money & Other Poems about the agonizing slow clock movement - with the surprise twist that it is the TEACHER waiting for the school day to end!

Sang "The Wheels on the Bus" as the kids lined up to leave.

More ideas here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=school+daze

Bedm 3/2/2026 25 minute time slog

Literacy Volunteers - Middle Earth "Chinese New Year" Storytime/Craft

 

Plans here: S.T.E.A.M. Storytime - Chinese New Year - Year of the Horse

"Middle Earth" kids & families celebrated with Chinese food:

Stories:

Opened with "This Next New Year" followed by a video version of "Sam & the Lucky Money"

Read "The Race for the Chinese Zodiac" then found everyone's Chinese Horoscopes

And shared "The Dancing Dragon" fold out book which got longer & longer

then flipped over to depict the whole parade...

Crafts -- paper lanterns & walk-through paper magic trick (details here)

coloring dragons and lucky Chinese symbols

Everyone had fun Making Noise-makers....

 & Creating a Giant Dragon!

And taking it on a parade around the cafeteria!!

Video of the Dragon Parade

2/25/26 Bound Brook