Thankful Storytime

Books Shared or Recommended:
Gracias!  Thanks! by Mora
Bear Says Thanks! by Wilson

We find a turkey and his feathers in the story time apron this month!  Why do we have a turkey?  Because of Thanksgiving!  That's when we think of all of the things that make us happy, things that we are thankful for.

 

What's missing?  The turkey doesn't have any feathers!  Let's dress him.

 (To the tune of "Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?")

 

Have you ever seen a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,

Have you ever seen a turkey, with feathers so bright?

WIth red ones, and orange ones, and green ones and yellow ones!

Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers so bright?

 

Then sing this again and get the other four feathers onto that naked bird.  AHA!  Now he's dressed for Thanksgiving.  We count his feathers.  Eight!  Then, to be tricky, we count backwards when we take them off of the flannel board.  What great counters!

We read Gracias!  Thanks!  The children really seem to enjoy this book where a boy lists all of the things that make him happy.

 

Then we read Bear Says Thanks!  At first I thought that this wasn't up there with the best of Wilson's books, but I'm warming to it.  The key to reading it is to sigh or moan when bear sighs or moans.  Also, explain that bear has a really deep voice and ask the children to say 'thanks' with you when "Bear says thanks".  Sometimes when you slow down and emphasize the words, they are more interesting.

Then it's time for pie.  Here is a fun Flannel that the kids just eat up!

 

One Whole Pie
One whole pie set by the door.
Let's count the pieces:  one, two, three, four!
Four pieces of pie, just for me!
I ate one piece and now there are...three!
Three pieces of pie, there's one for you,
You ate one and now there are...two!
Two pieces of pie!  Oh, what fun!
Let's eat another and then there's...one!
One piece of pie!  I can't wait!
I eat it up! And then there's an empty plate!

Next is a flannel set to Raffi's song, "Thanks A Lot".  I got this idea from the wonderful website, Mel's Desk.  I add the flannel pieces as Raffi sings about them.

 

After the song, I say that Raffi was thankful for:  the sun, the clouds, and say the pieces as I pick them up off of the flannel board to get them into the correct order for the next go-round.

Then it's time for Ted, the Turkey!  He's not a puppet, but he works just as well.  So, note to self, if you don't have a puppet, a stuffed animal works pretty well as a substitute.  I borrowed him from Technical Services and they don't seemed to have missed him yet.

 

Here's his song:

I'm a little Turkey!  My name is Ted.

Here are my feathers, here is my head!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, is what I say!

I run and hide on Thanksgiving Day!

 

Then Ted gets to sing the goodbye song...

"Now it's time to say good-bye, say good-bye, say good-bye

Now it's time to say goodbye, You can pet me in the bookmobile!"

 

 

STEM Uni Visits our Library

We are all into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) here at our library.  We have received a grant to look into STEM for birth to three year-olds.  To that end, we were lucky enough to get a travelling STEM UNI.

Here are some photos of the thing.  It was rather large.  I snapped pictures of the cubbies that seemed like they'd be easy to implement in a Children's Library setting. 

 

 

A child would get a prize when she completed one cubbie from each of the four STEM areas.

 

 The box that says equations held craft sticks which said, "2 + 4", "8-2", etc.  The idea is to put the craft stick into the correct answer.  This was, obviously, a math cubbie.

 

This was a very popular bell cubbie which qualified as Science.  You would line the bells up in numerical order and then be able to play a song on them.  Winner!

 

This Magnet cubbie was also a big hit.  It was a Technology cubbie.

And here is an example of an Engineering cubbie.  "Balance the Bears."  One big bear equaled two medium or three small. 

 

It made for a very busy and fun filled time at the library!

I was sorry to see the STEM Uni go.