0 Preschool Story Time - Pumpkin Patch

Themes abound in October.  This time I tackle pumpkins - fun stuff!  This was one where the kids absolutely surprised me with their interest level in some of the informational books over the picture books.

Delicious by Helen Cooper

All duck wants is pumpkin soup but there are none in the pumpkin patch!  How can his friends help him get a full belly?

Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

How could I possibly describe my love for this new book!  Ok, it's not a pumpkin but its a beautifully done story of a girl and her love for the squash she picked out at the farmer's market and named Berniece.  This opened a discussion about how squash and pumpkins were similar.  I even brought in my own butternut squash to show.  The kids were fascinated!  Our Squash chat filled up quite some time!

Today's finger play was 5 Little Pumpkins:
Five Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my!  It's getting late!"
The second one said "There's a frost in the air."
The third one said "But we don't care."
The fourth one said "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said "I'm ready for some fun!"
Then oooooo went the wind and OUT went the light
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

See my craft below that goes with this poem.

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

A funny rhyming story about an oversize pumpkin that escapes from it's field.  The family tries to corral it while dreaming of their granny's baked goods.

Pumpkin Circle by George Levinson

My non-fiction pick was really to show the life cycle of the pumpkin in pictures.  This book went over really well!  The kids enjoyed seeing what the pumpkins look like as a small tender plant all of the way through to pumpkin patch.  It was also a great Every Child Ready to Read lesson on informational books, and how they can be used to expand vocabulary and gain general knowledge.

Boo To You! by Lois Ehlert

I wasn't going to do this book but the kids all wanted one more.  It's short and has great illustrations, using pumpkin seeds and other gourds in the artwork so it was great for the topic. Maybe better for toddlers but we had just a few more minutes to share more great picture books!


My craft today was an extension to the "5 Little Pumpkins" finger play we did earlier.  The gate is just strips of brown paper.  The pumpkins were created by dipping pumpkin shaped sponges into orange paint and stamping them onto the paper.  Their finger print made the stem.  They could then color the rest of their picture if they chose.  I made little copies of the 5 little pumpkin poem for them to apply and recite at home.  I am not sure exactly where I found the poem, but it is from one of the many teacher resource websites online.

Because of limited space at the craft tables, and the messier craft this week, I decided to pull out duplos for free play, and I also made these "Mr. Pumpkin Head" felts for free exploration while the kids waited for a spot at the craft to open up.

Pumpkins don't make the most exciting theme, but the kids were really interested in learning about how they grow and what they look like before they see them at the store.  I will definitely be bringing in more 'show and tell' to story time.  YAY for non-fiction books!

Detail: Preschool Story Time - Pumpkin Patch

0 Baby Story Time - Welcome Fall!

Ok, so I jumped on the "Fall" bandwagon this week, not knowing how it would go over with the babies.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it!

Wake-Up Rhyme: "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" (from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time)
Way up high in the apple tree,
     (raise baby's arms over head)
Two little apples did I see.
     (hold up two fingers)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could,
     (jiggle baby in your lap)
And DOWN came the apples!
     (lower baby between legs)
YUM! They were good!
     (rub baby's tummy)

1st Book: Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson

 

I love all of Thompson's Mouse books! A little long for babies, but we made it through.  I love the last page where Mouse and Minka wear acorn crowns!

Action Song: "Five Green Apples"
(from Peter Allard's Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It! Volume 1)
*I sang this myself and shortened it from five to three green apples.

Farmer Brown had three green apples
Hanging on a tree.
Farmer Brown had three green apples
Hanging on a tree.
Then he plucked one apple
And he ate it hungrily!
Leaving two green apples a-hanging on a tree.
(Keep counting down until there are no apples left!)

I made this simple apple flannel board set a few years ago to go with this song:

I also taught the parents the ASL sign for apple:

(Picture found here)

Next, I passed out these little die-cut leaves, glued to popsicle sticks, which were a huge hit!  We waved them around while we did our next two activities.

Action Rhyme: "Fall" (I'm not sure where I found this originally, but you can find it here, along with some other great "fall" themed rhymes and songs.)  We did this rhyme twice!
Autumn winds begin to blow.
     (blow gently on baby's cheek)
Colored leaves fall fast and slow.
     (wiggle fingers downward)
Twirling, whirling all around.
     (roll hands)
Until, at last, they touch the ground.
     (lower baby between legs - they found this part hysterical!)

Action Song: "Leaves are Falling Down" (adapted from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time - her song is called "Raining is Falling Down")
Leaves are falling down,
Leaves are falling down,
Slowly, slowly,
Leaves are falling down.

2) Quickly, quickly
3) Quietly, quietly

2nd Book: Apples, Apples! by Salina Yoon

This lift-the-flap book has really nice illustrations, but is a little wordy.  I didn't read the text under each flap, but we still really enjoyed the book.

Rhythm Time: Shakers!
We shook our shakers to these next two activities:

Action Song: "Gray Squirrel" (from The Learning Station's cd Where is Thumbkin?)
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.
(2x)

Wrinkle up your funny nose,
Hold an acorn in your toes,
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.

There is a really long musical break in the middle of this song, but I used it to go around to each child with my little squirrel friend from Folkmanis! He was a hit!

Action Rhyme: "Clap Your Hands" (adapted from Linda Ernst's Baby Rhyming Time)
Clap your hands, 1, 2, 3.
Clap your hands just like me!

(Shake your shaker, roll your hands, stomp your feet, etc.)

3rd Book: Welcome Fall by Jill Ackerman

Little Scholastic has one of these books for each season, and they're really cute.  The text is short and sweet, and each page has some kind of texture to feel or flap to lift.

Next, it was time for our goodbye songs and "thank you" rhyme.  (See my Baby Story Time page for these.)  During playtime, I got the squirrel back out for any babies who wanted to see him again!

How it went:
This story time went much better than I expected!  I had a slightly smaller group today (only 15 babies) and they were just so attentive and relaxed.  I think they really liked the little leaves on a stick (which they were welcome to take home, chew on, etc.) as well as the squirrel puppet.  We had a fun day today!  Happy Fall!

Detail: Baby Story Time - Welcome Fall!

0 Preschool Story Time - Hooray for Fall!

Right up there with themes like Back to School and Apples, September is the perfect time to create a Fall story time!  Without further adieu, here is the plan!

It's Fall by Linda Glaser

This one again was on the long side for story time.  It was easy to cut out a page here and there to move it along. Its written in rhyme and the pictures are lovely, it was just a little long for story time.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

Last year I made these felts to accompany the book.  Last year I also knew the book by heart so I didn't need the book to perform it!  This year I was rusty so we read the book and then we each pretended to sneeze and 'build' the scarecrow on the flannel board.  My felting technique has changed a little -this was all done with sharpies.  Now I use 3D paints, but I do love the shading that marker can provide too.

George Flies South by Simon James

Poor George hasn't learned how to fly, but it's time to migrate!  Oh dear what will happen when a gust of wind whisks George's nest right out of the tree?  The kids loved this one last year and this year as well.  There was a collective 'ahhh' at the end.

After halftime, I did this poem/fingerplay with the kids to get them ready for our craft:  Thanks to Debby Hill at preschoocrafts101.blogspot.com!

5 Little Acorns
Five little acorns, lying on the ground.
The first one said "Oh my I'm getting round!"
The second one said "I think I'm getting fat!"
The third one said "I have a nice hat!"
The fourth one said "There's a squirrel over there."
The fifth one said "But I don't care!"
Down came the squirrel and swept them all away,
up to his nest for a cold winter's day.

And then we talked about squirrels and nuts and how busy squirrels are this time of year.  They loved telling me about the gatherers in their yard!  Back to the stories!

Fall is Not Easy - Marty Kelley

This book has been immortalized in felt by MANY of my fellow bloggers.  Because my library doesn't own a copy of this book, I decided to make my own felt set so I could recite the poem.  The kids and parents loved this book and all wanted to check out a copy!  I wish this was one I had multiple copies to share.    Shout out to Melissa at Mel's Desk since I most closely copied her felt set.  I added grass/snow/leaves for the seasons.

Nuts by Paula Gerritsen

Little mouse has to cross the farm to get to her favorite nut tree, but a storm is coming in!  Can she get to the tree and fill her pockets before the storm sweeps them all away?  Even though this was technically my fifth book, my kids were really into hearing one more story!  It's really a sweet book.

And here's my craft!  I used a clip art of an acorn, and added the poem to the page and circles to the acorn using Microsoft Word.  I cut out the cap and pasted three copies to another page so I could copy the caps on to brown paper.  The kids glued on the acorn paper caps, then added 5 real acorn caps I picked in my yard to the circles on the page (this kept them from using more than 5 acorn caps).  They also decorated their page however they wanted.  They were ready to tell the 5 little acorn poem at home!

Detail: Preschool Story Time - Hooray for Fall!