Under the Sea! Sea Creatures...

Books Shared or Recommended:

Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Sherry

Commotion in the Ocean by Andreae

Deep Blue Sea by Wood
Hooray for Fish! By Cousins
Ocean Pop-Up Book
Surf War! by MacDonald

I start this storytime like any other:  with the Welcome Song:
Welcome, welcome, everyone!
Now we're here, let's have some fun!
First let's clap our hands just so.
Then we bend and touch our toes.
Welcome, welcome, everyone!
Now we're here, let's have some fun!

Then I pull out my storytime apron.  This month we find sea creatures.  These riddles that the children hear before they guess what is in each pocket come from the book,

Commotion in theOcean

Crab

He likes walking sideways And I think the reason why
Is to make himself look sneaky
And pretend that he’s a spy.
(If they need additional clues, say:  He's red and has pinchers and...)

I need to give this crab eyes!

 

Turtles
We crawl up the beach from the water To bury our eggs on dry land.
We lay a whole batch,
And then when they hatch,
They scamper about in the sand.
(More clues:  he's green and has a hard shell...)

 

Jellyfish

She just loves to jiggle Which other fish think is quite dumb.
She knows that it’s not all that useful
But jiggling’s lots of good fun!
(She has tenticles and jiggles just like jelly!)

 

Shark

I swim with a grin up to greet you, See how my jaws open wide.
Why don’t you come a bit closer?
Please, take a good look inside….
(He has sharp teeth and isn't your friend!)

 

Stingray

At the bottom of the ocean He flaps his wings.  (He's not a bird!)
But don’t you get too close to him,
His tail really stings!
(He's a sting...)

 

Walruses

Our bodies are covered with blubber And out tusks are incredibly long.
We’re grumpy and proud
And we bellow out loud
To show that we’re mighty and strong!
(He's like a giant seal...)

 

Penguins

We waddle around on our icebergs, Which makes our feet slither and slide.
And when we get close to the water,
We leap with a splash off the side!

As I place these animals on the flannel board, we categorize them by the ones who stay in the water and the others who can be in the water AND on the land!

Then we read Surf War! by Margaret Read MacDonald.  Super good story.

After that book, I ask the children if they know of another creature who can be on the land AND the sea?!  Them, of course!  Then we have fun singing The Pirate Song:

The Day I Went to Sea Song

When I was one (hold up your thumb)

I sucked my thumb (mock sucking it)

The day I went to sea. (Make waving motion with your arms)

I jclimbed aboard a pirate ship. (Climbing motion)

And the captain (Salute!) said to me (point to self)

We’re going this way (lean, sway, right)

And that way (lean, sway, point left)

And forward and backward

Across the deep blue sea. (spin in circle)

When I was two, I tied my shoe,

When I was three, I scraped my knee

When I was four, I shut the door,

And now I'm five, I learned to dive…

 

Then I present the flannalized version of The Deep Blue Sea by Wood:

Teasing Mr. Shark

I ask the children if they'll help with the puppet this time.  They can have five fingers be fish and the other hand can be a shark:  Let's see your fish swim.  (Just keep swimming!)  And now move your shark in circles.  Good!  Here we go!

 

Five little fishes

Swimming in the sea
Teasing Mr. Shark
You can't catch me
Along comes Mr. Shark
As quiet as can be...
and SNAP that fish right out of the sea!

Four little fishes

Swimming in the sea...

[Continue until there are no fish left. No little fishes swimming in the sea.](Or find them swimming in the seaweed!)

Let's all get out our sharks and have them sing the good-bye song!  Wow!  What great puppeteers!

Chickens....but not really!

Well, I tried to get a chicken storytime together.  I gave it a go twice, but it fell flat, so I reverted back to a garden storytime that I did last April (2013).  I don't know why the chickens failed me!  Perhaps I didn't have the right books.  More songs?  Better flannels? I don't know.  Perhaps you can tell me!

Here's what I planned:

Storytime Apron:  This actually worked very well.  I pulled out an egg, and then another.  One, two, buckle my shoe.  And on and on until I came to a big fat hen at the end.  So far so good!

The first book I tried to share was Little Rooster's Diamond Button by Margaret Read MacDonald.  I generally love her stories but this one is rather odd, don't you think?  Well, I put it aside and tried:

 

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman.  This is a fun book, but rather silly.  It went OK, but wasn't exactly the ticket either.

 

How about Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas?  This was really FUN, but still not exactly a perfect storytime read.

 

Then I tried Chicken Little by Emberley.  And I liked this one, but...

I tried using another librarian's flannel board, The Most Wonderful Egg in the World, but it fell very flat!  I didn't know it well enough since I hadn't created it or something. (?)
So, then I tried:

Ten Fluffy Chickens

Ten Fluffy Chickens
Five eggs and five eggs
And that makes ten
Sitting on top is Mother Hen
Cackle, cackle, cackle
And what do I see?
Ten fluffy chickens
Yellow as can be!

 

This didn't work as the chicks were way too heavy and fell down off of the flannel board.  I guess you could do it and just hold up the eggs, but...

The storytime wasn't a complete flop as I brought out the shaky eggs and, of course, we sang my shakey egg song:

 

Shake, shake, shake your egg!  Shake, shake, shake your egg!
Shake, shake, shake your egg!  Shake your egg and put it on your head!
Put it on your....(get suggestions from the children)
And then finally,
Shake your egg and put it in it's nest!  (the plastic container that I store them in.)

And then we sang Laurie Berkner's song, "Oh, I Know a Chicken!"  That was fun!  This one may be even better with technology.  Her band does a really fine job and there's no problem with forgetting words or a verse.

 

For a puppet, I used...a really cute idea from Future Librarian Superhero.  It was cute, but it didn't last very long!
"Come, little chickens," calls Mother Hen (Beckoning motion)
"It's time to take your nap again."
And under her feathers the small chicks creep.
(Chicks creep into the palm of your hand, the Mother Hen.)
And she clucks a song til they fall asleep.
(Fold fingers to cover chicks, and make a rocking motion while clucking a lullaby.)

All in all, I was very disappointed in my effort.
Maybe I was just having a rotten day.  Maybe I should have tried a second day, but I threw it all aside and went back to the good old garden storytime which I tweeked a little and it's been fine.  Problem is, a few pre-schoolers do remember it from last spring. A two year rotation of storytimes is good for this very reason.  I do the same storytime all month for about 41 times.  You gotta love it if you do it that much!

Well, maybe you can get this chicken theme up and running.  Please let me know if you do!