Toddler Time - Singing About Pond Animals

I did something a little different for today's Toddler Time. We sang the whole program. It was a lot of fun, and the only thing the kids missed was some of the movement. The day before my program I had a doctor's appointment for some lovely hip and leg pain I've been having and discovered that I have sciatic nerve issues from a fall on my way into work one day. I can move, but a lot of movement leaves my hip, tucas, and leg in agony. It's been steadily getting worse, and this week just sitting has left me wanting to break down and cry. So for this week (hopefully only this week) I nixed much of the movement. I did encourage the kids to dance and move while we sang though. Something they LOVED. The interpretative dance to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star was a riot.

Stories We Shared

I only shared one story today, and while I was planning on singing it, the kids INSISTED it was a book so I had to read it. It was very hard to read it, and I ended up doing it in a sing-song. We read an old favorite of mine, that I wish wasn't out of print. Little White Duck illustrated by Jean Paley.
(I also have a flannel for this when I use it as a song, but since we didn't sing it I didn't pull out the flannel. Because I love it, I'm sharing it below as well.)

Songs and Flannels We Shared
We sang lots of songs today! But singing is FUN! And since most of the songs had flannels, I'm combining this category into one today.
We sang:
     3(5) Little Ducks
     Three little ducks went out one day Over the hill and far away
     Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,” but only two little ducks came back…
     Two little ducks went out one day Over the hill and far away
     Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,” but only one little duck came swimming back…
     One little duck went out one day Over the hill and far away
     Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,” but no little ducks came back…
     Sad Mama duck went out one day, Over the hill and far away
     Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack,” and all of the ducks came back.

     6 Little Ducks
     Six little ducks That I once knew
     Fat ones, skinny ones, Fair ones, too
     But the one little duck With the feather on his back
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack
     Quack, quack, quack, Quack, quack, quack
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack
     Down to the river They would go
     Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble, To and fro
     But the one little duck With the feather on his back
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack
     Quack, quack, quack, Quack, quack, quack
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack
     Back from the river They would come
     Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble, Ho, hum, ho
     But the one little duck With the feather on his back
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack
     Quack, quack, quack, Quack, quack, quack
     He led the others With a quack, quack, quack

 (We used this flannel for both duck songs!)

     5 Green and Speckled Frogs
     Five green and speckled frogs
     Sat on a speckled log,
     Eating some most delicious bugs  (yum yum!)
     One jumped into the pool
     Where it was nice and cool,
     Then there were four green speckled frogs  (gulp gulp!)
     4...3...2...1
     Then there were no green speckled frogs!

     Tiny Tim
     I had a little Turtle,
     His name was Tiny Tim.
     I put him in the bathtub,
     To see if he could swim.
     He drank up all the water
     He ate up all the soap.
     And now he's sick in bed,
     With bubbles in his throat.
     Bubble, Bubble, Bubble,
     Bubble, Bubble, Bubble,
     Bubble, Bubble, Bubble
     Bubble, Bubble, Pop!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Itsy Bitsy Spider

And we didn't use this flannel, but I love it so much that I am sharing it. :)

Early Literacy Tips We Shared

• Aside from being fun, singing songs with your child helps them hear  words being broken up into smaller sounds.
• Singing is a good way for children to become aware of the different sounds that make up words. This is called phonological awareness.

Toddler Time - Space

This week's Toddler Time is all about SPACE! No particular reason why, I just thought a space program would be fun. :)

Stories We Shared

Today we shared two books. Over the summer I've started to get a slightly older crowd, and that means I can sometimes share a slightly more detailed book. Our first book was an older one, but one I think is a lot of fun. Dogs in Space still has Pluto listed as a planet (sadface), but I just changed the title to "dwarf planet." This was a fun book (better for the older kids than the younger) and had a ton of good talking points. We talked about why Mercury might be hot and Pluto cold, what an asteroid is, and the red spot on Jupiter.
Next up we read I Want to be an Astronaut. Super fun and simple. This is definitely a good story for the younger kids.

Flannels We Shared
I did two magnet rhymes today (the magnet board seemed more fitting than the flannel board). The first was based off the 5 Elephants Went Out to Play (hard to sing with astronauts, but we managed) and the second was a super simple Rocket poem. (pictures to come)

     Three Little Astronauts
     One little astronaut went out to play
     Over the moon and far away.
     He had such enormous fun
     That he called for another astronaut to come!

     Two little astronauts went out to play
     Over the moon and far away.
     They had such enormous fun
     That they called for another astronaut to come!

     Three little astronauts went out to play
     Over the moon and far away.
     They had such enormous fun
     That they called for everyone to come!

     I'm a Little Rocket

     I'm a little rocket,

     Pointing to the moon!

     5, 4, 3, 2, 1... 

     Blast off, zoom!

Songs We Shared

Today we sang our shaker song (of course) and sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. 

Early Literacy Tips We Shared

• Having a large vocabulary, knowing the names of things, is one of the skills children need when they later learn to sound out words. 
• When you come to a word that is not familiar to your child, use that word and explain it in a way your child can understand. Books give us different words than those we use in conversation. Knowing many words helps children with reading when they try to sound out words. 

Toddler Time - Fruits and Berrries

Today's Toddler Time was all about fruits and berries! With strawberry and raspberry season upon us and blueberry season coming soon it seemed a perfect theme. :)

Stories We Shared
Our first story of the day was a classic - Jamberry by Bruce Degen. I'm sure I don't need to talk about how fun this story is.
Next up I read a favorite of mine, and one I've read before (and will read again) The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. There are no words to explain how much I love this story. It's an all time favorite. (I even have it memorized, lol).

Flannels We Shared

Today I shared a flannel adapted from one I found at Mel's Desk, which in turn was adapted from one she found on Abby the Librarian's blog. If I had had time I think it would have been more fun to make 5 different types of berries/fruits to use with the flannel, but since I'm moonlighting in Adult and Teen services this summer my flannel making time is limited. So I just went with strawberries this week. I used animals from various other flannels I've made (the Giant Carrot and my farm animals- I love that cow) and they worked wonderfully. The mouse also made the perfect segue into reading The Little Mouse.

Rhymes We Shared
Today's rhyme was one that a fellow librarian shared on Facebook. Emily Lloyd wrote and shared this fun scarf activity poem and it was a huge hit.

     Things we can do with our Scarves
     We can wave them way up high
     We can pretend they're capes and fly [like a superhero]
     We can make believe they're hair [drape scarf on head, looking silly]
     We can throw them in the air
     We can swish them side to side
     We can use our scarves to hide [drape scarf entirely over head, like ghost]
     We can make them very small [ball up scarf]
     We can let them gently fall [drop scarf to ground]

We also sang our shaker song, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Itsy Bitsy. :)

Early Literacy Tips Shared

• Rhyming is one of the things that children learn that lets them hear that words are made of smaller parts. By reading rhyming books or singing rhyming songs with your child, you are helping to build their phonological awareness. Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words.
• Counting is one the of learning concepts which support your child's background knowledge.
• Singing slows down language and helps children hear the different sounds that make up words. Singing also develops an awareness of rhythm and syllables