Gardens!

Used and Recommended Books:

Flower Garden by Eve bunting

Isabella’s Garden by Millard
Jo MacDonald Had a Garden by Quattlebaum
My Garden by Henkes
Over in the Meadow by Langstaff
Pickin’ Peas by MacDonald
Planting a Rainbow by Ehlert
Swirl by Swirl by Sidman
Titch by Hutchins
Up, Down, and Around by Ayres

We found flowers and vegetables in the Storytime Apron's pockets this month.  I ask, "Where do you find these things?"  One response was, "Your pockets!"  Clever children.  One also said, "The grocery store!"  The answer I was looking for was, of course, the garden!

 

I start by reading Pickin' Peas by MacDonald.  This is a fun story about a little girl who grows peas in her garden and a rabbit visits.

 

Action Song:  Plant a Little Seed

I plant a little seed in the cold, cold ground.

Up comes the yellow sun, big and round.

Down comes the rain drops soft and slow.

Up comes the flowers, grow, grow, grow.

 

Flower Garden Action Rhyme:

One little flower growing just for you!

Up pops another and then there are:  two!

Two little flowers growing by a tree.

Up grows another and then there are:  three!

Three little flowers, growing more and more!

Up comes another and then there are:  four!

Four little flowers!  Look, they're alive!

Up grows another, and then there are five!

 

Then it's time for a pupet to visit!

I tell the story of Gail, the Snail.

Gail the Snail

This story is about Gail the Snail.  Can you say hi to gail?  Tha snail carries her house on her back and that’s one reason why they go so slow.  It’s a lot of weight.  Imagine if you had to carry your house on your backi?  Or even your bed…How heavy that would be!

Well, Gail was an ordinary snail.  She lived in the garden and she liked to look for things to eat like rotting flowers and green leaves.  Well, one day she wanted to go to the pond so she creeped along because that’s what snails do, they creep along.  Can you help her creep along?  Creep creep creep.

 

Well, along came her friend Chuck the Duck, who was waddling along.  Hi let’s go down to the pond.  Come waddling with me!  Gail says that she can't waddle!  Chuck likes waddling so much that he sings a song, waddling to the pnd:  "I'm waddling, I'm waddling, I'm waddling and singing my song!"

 

The Myrtle the Turtle walked along and the same thing happens (Let's walk!   I can't walk!  I'm walking... and believe it or not, Myrtle was faster than Gail the Snail!").



Then Lady the bug flew  by with the same story line.



All of gail’s friend were down at the pond. 

Then over head came a big shadow…It was Joe the Crow.  What a tasty snack!  But Gail went into her shell and Joe said…where’d she go?  All I see is a rock!

 

 Gail peeks out and asks the children, "Is he gone?"  "Oh good!  I guess I'm glad that I carry my house on my back!"  Then Gail sings, " I’m creeping!  I'm creeping!  I'm creeping and singing my song!"  She made it down to the pond and had a pond party with all of her friends!

 

 

Conejito!

Books Shared or Recommended:

Brown                    The Golden Egg Book

Brown                    Home For a Bunny
Brown                    The Runaway Bunny
Gag                         The ABC Bunny
Henkes                   The Little White Rabbit
MacDonald            Conejito
Wells                      Bunny Cakes
Willems                  Knuffle Bunny

 



We found bunny finger puppets in the storytime apron pockets during the month of April.  At first I just had five bunnies because that's all the fingers I have on one hand, but the children were bothered by the two empty apron pockets, so I added two more as the month went along.  I put the bunnies on my fingers and recited:

 

Five little bunnies sitting by the door,

One hopped away and then there were four.

Four little bunnies moved under a tree.

One hopped away and then there were three.

Three little rabbits drinking morning dew.

One hopped away and then there were two.

Two little rabbits resting in the sun.

One happed away and then there was one.

One little bunny alone isn't any fun.

He hopped to join the others and

then there were none!

Then, I read Conejito, a folktale from the country of Panama.  The children love the singing included in this story:  Oh lala!  And all of the hispanic children at my pre-schools loved hearing a story which included spanish words:  "Gordito!  Gordito!  Gordito!"
 

 

Little Peter Rabbit

Music:  Battle Hymn of the republic

Little Peter Rabbit has a fly upon his nose.

Little Peter Rabbit has a fly upon his nose.

Little Peter Rabbit has a fly upon his nose

And he PHHTH and it flew away.

Ask children to name other body parts

Of the rabbit and repeat the song.

We sang this song with our rabbit ears up on our head (two hands) and used 'conejito' instead of 'Peter Rabbit'.  The kids liked picking where the fly lands on conejito...his tail, his nose, his shoulder.

 

Then, it's time for our visitor:  a bunny puppet.

I use the bunny to tell the story of the Golden Egg:

 

 

 

Once there was a little bunny.  He was all alone.  One day he found an egg.  He could hear something moving inside the egg.  What was it?

 

Maybe it was a little boy, maybe another bunny, maybe an elephant, maybe a mouse.

The bunny pushed the egg with his foot.  He jumped on top of the egg.  He climbed a tree and threw nuts at it.

Pick.  Pick.  Pick.  Something was trying to get out of that egg.  The bunny sat very still and watched through his shining eyes.  He sat very still and listened with his big soft ears…Pick.  Pick.  Pick.

Then the little bunny began to yawn.  And he yawned.  And he yawned.  The egg was very quiet.  He curled up all sleepy and warm close to the egg and went to sleep.  He went to sleep because he was so sleepy.

Pick.  Pick.  Pick.  And Peek!  Peek!  Peek!   And crackety CRACK!  Out jumped a little yellow duck!

“Well, what is this?”  said the little duck when he saw the bunny.   “What could this little fur thing be?”

The bunny was very sleepy, so he was still asleep and didn’t’ wake up.

“Inside the egg,” said the duck,” I thought I was all alone in a small dark world.  Now I find myself alone with a bunny in a big bright world.  And the bunny won’t wake up.”

So the duck pushed the bunny with his foot.  And jumped on top of him.  And threw a little rock at him.  And rolled him down a hill.

And the bunny woke up.  “Where is my egg?” said the bunny.  “And where did you some from?” 

“Never mind that,” said the duck.  “Here I am.”  So the bunny and the duck were friends.  And no one was ever alone again.



Shapes, Shapes, Shapes!

 Books recommended or used:

Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

It Looked like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

Not a Box by Antionette Portis

Peek in My Pocket by David Carter

Swirl by Swirl by Joyce Sidman

We found shapes in the storytime pockets.  They made a snowman!

 



 

 

Here's a great shape song to sing!

Song:  Make a Circle, Draw a Square

(Tune:  Oh, My Darling Clementine)

Make a circle, Make a circle, draw it in the sky

Use your finger, use your finger, make it round as a pie

Make a square, make a square, make the lines straight

Draw a square, draw a square, draw one or draw eight

Draw a triangle, draw a triangle, always start at the top

Make a tent, make a tent, use three lines and then stop!

 

 



Houses Flannel Story

Some house are wood and some are stone.

But let’s build one with shapes alone.

Start with a square, but we won’t stop!

Add a triangle up on top.

Then a rectangle for the door.

Now square windows 1, 2, 3, 4!

A little circle just for fun.

Now our shape house is all done!

 

Here's a fun flannel board game:  "Stump the Kids"...

Start by placing the boat on the flannel board in the upper left corner and say, "A sailboat has triangle shapes."  Then add a christmas tree and say, "A christmas tree can be triangle shaped."  Then add a piece of pizza and say, "Pissa can be triangle shaped."  Then add the bubble and say, "A bubble is triangle shaped."  When all of the children protest, you say, "Oh, Okay!  We'd better make another shape line because a bubble is circle shaped."  Continue on to the end.  They love it!

 

 

 

 

Then it's time for a puppet:  Tommy Turtle comes out of the bag and he's brought a lot of shapes with him today.  He gives one to each child.  Then we sing the shape song and each child brings up their shape as it is sung.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Shape Song

Who has a shape today?

Who has a shape today?

Who has a red triangle?

Who has a shape today?

Sing through with each of the shapes you have passed out to the children.

Then as I gather the shapes up off of the flannel board, I sing:

Song:  Where is Triangle

(Tune:  Where is Thumbkin?)

Where is triangle?  Where is triangle?

Here I am!  Here I am!

How are you today sir?  Very well I thank you!

Run away!  Run away!

(Circle, rectangle, square, diamond)