0 Preschool Story Time - Earth Day!

Earth Day can be a great theme!!  I was nervous about pulling this one off, but I received so many compliments on our songs and crafts that I just had to share.  I was slow to blog this one, but I wanted to put up this post to give everyone ideas for this year's celebration.

Recycling is Fun! - Ghigna

A sweet little book in a rhythmic verse, it introduces the concept of recycling and all the ways we can help the earth.  There is even a recyclable craft idea in the back!


Action Rhyme - Pick it up
I found lots of Spring Rhymes and Action Songs at http://www.preschooleducation.com/sspring.shtml

Pick it up!

(To London Bridge)

See the litter?  Pick it up!

Pick it up!  Pick it up!

See the litter?  Pick it up!

We’re not litterbugs!

The Big Bear Hug—Oldland

This is a darling book about a very loving bear and all of the creatures he loves to hug.  His favorites are the trees.  What will he do when he sees a forester ready to cut down one of trees?

The Garden Song:

This song was recorded by so many artists, but I found it recently on the album Peter, Paul and Mommy Too!  It's really quite lovely.  The hand motions make it easy to learn and fun for both the kids and their moms.  I learned the hand motions from my colleague overseas when I worked in a Kindergarten classroom, so I do not know where the original motions come from or if she make them up.

OK, to be honest, I was going to record a video of the hand motions but just never got around to it.  I think the stellar videologists at Jbrary need to do it because quite frankly, they rock!  First I taught the motions and then we sang this a few times.

Inch by Inch (make inch fingers with pointer and thumbs on the words inch)

Row by Row (make a line with each hand on the word row)

Gonna Make this Garden Grow (wiggle fingers from below palms up 'growing')

All I need is a rake and a hoe (make a rake with one hand-fingers spread...and a hoe with another-fingers together, and pull back like you are raking or hoeing)

And a piece of fertile ground (spread hands out palms down like you are smoothing a blanket)

Inch by inch (inch fingers)

Row by row (make lines)

Someone bless these seeds I sow (bring hands together)

Someone warm them from below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down (wiggle from below on the first part and then make it 'rain' on the second part).

The Earth Book—Parr

While not really a preschool book because there is only one sentence per page, this was a nice read with it's bright colorful artwork.  My kids grew up on Todd's World when we were living overseas, and I remember they loved them.  I read it slowly and allowed for discussion, and the kids seemed to like sharing their opinions.

Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see? - Carle

I think all children love the rhythm of this book, and all of the similar ones in print.  This one however, is special to the Earth Day theme because all of the animals portrayed in this book are endangered.  We talked about taking care of the animals just like the trees and earth.

Today's Craft - Recycling by making an I Spy bottle craft

As an Earth Day special, all of my crafts in April were made from recycled/recyclable materials. This was not lost on the moms who thought it was special that I did it that way.  This week's edition is the I Spy bottle for back seat entertainment.

This is simply a recycled water or soda bottle with rice and little interesting things hidden inside.  I glued the caps on so there was no chance of the rice getting out.  Some ideas for things inside are:

* Colored Sequin—round or shaped

* Colored or glitter bead

* Pipe Cleaner

* Foam Letter or Shape

* Fish

* Toy Ring

* Wood Bead

* Black Bean

* Colored Pasta

* Toothpick

* Colored Paper Clip

This is fun for a long ride or for a conversation piece.  Kids just like rolling it and looking at everything.  It was a fun craft to make and take!   Click HERE for the blog I took the idea from - although I am not sure anyone claims the original idea.

I hope you enjoyed this Earth Day special!  Thanks for stopping by!

Detail: Preschool Story Time - Earth Day!

0 Preschool Story Time - St. Patrick's Day!

I don't know about you, but the January-March holidays seem to be my rough months.  Mostly because the books for story time with a theme of an early year holiday (such as Chinese New Year, Easter, Valentine's Day, Groundhogs Day, President's Day, or St. Patrick's Day) aren't always plentiful or easy to read in a group.  I like to play homage to the holiday du jour though, so I try my best to work around the books and use more songs and dances or a great craft.  Being an Irish lass from Boston, I could not skip St. Patrick's Day no matter what, so here we go!

Green Shamrocks - Eve Bunting

This one is cute and eye catching for the kids.  It's also an opportunity for counting, animal sounds, or general conversation. Sometimes holiday books are just too long for preschoolers, but this one seemed to do the trick.


Musical Interlude - The Unicorn Song
I have known The Unicorn Song and all of the hand movements ever since I was a little kid.  I understand it might not be familiar to you (as I have discovered while living in the mid-west by the blank expressions on some faces!).  The original poem is by Shel Silverstein and the song was made famous by the Irish Rovers in the 1960's.  It still makes the circuit in Irish Festivals around the country however.

Jim Cosgrove does an EXCELLENT version for kids.  At the end he gets faster and faster which was very fun in the Kindergarten classroom of the school where I once worked.

I sang the song A Capella so I could first teach it a couple times and sing it nice and slowly.  I'll let you Google the hand motions on Youtube, but here is what I do:

Song: Unicorn Song

Chorus:

There were green alligators (extend arms like long gator mouth)

And long neck geese (fluff your neck feathers)

Humpy back camels (put your hands on your back as humps)

And Chimpanzees (make chimp arms)

Cats (ears), and Rats (whiskers), and Elephants (one arm is trunk while the other arm supports the first arm)

As sure as you’re born (cradle baby)

But the Loveliest of all was the Unicorn. (Show your best horn!)

A long time ago when the earth was green, there were more kinds of animals than you’ve ever seen.  They would run around free while the Earth was being born, and the loveliest of all was the Unicorn!

Repeat Chorus.

The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever - Teddy Slater

I always enjoy Ethan Long's illustrations!  It also will open up the kids' vocabulary with words like leprechaun, luck, shamrock, etc....sort of like the next book.  My goal of holiday story times are to do just that, increase exposure and vocabulary and talk about culture (and of course make it fun!).


Finger Play Interlude

Leprechaun, Leprechaun

Leprechaun, Leprechaun Hiding in the hay. (cover one pointer finger with other hand)

Leprechaun, Leprechaun Don’t you run away. (hop pointer finger around)

Leprechaun, Leprechaun Let’s go out and play. (hop both pointer fingers around)

Leprechaun, Leprechaun It’s Saint Patrick’s Day! (hopping fingers together)

I’m a Little Leprechaun (Sing to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot)

I'm a little leprechaun
Dressed in green, (tug on your shirt)
The tiniest man
That you have seen. (make your index and pointer finger close together)
If you ever catch me,
so it's told, (make like both arms are catching something)
I'll give you my big pot of gold. (hold out hands as giving)

There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Clover - Lucille Colandro

Yet another Lucille Colandro "Old Lady" book making its way into my holiday-themed story times!  And once again I did it in felt!  Here is my set:

Did you notice my mistake?  Yep - I was in such a rush to finish this set, that my rainbow colors are screwed up.  Miss Kristie was so kind to notice and let me know right before my story time!  Oh well, it was just fine in the end.  There are also several sites that offer more classroom resources for this story.  The one I used was Crazy Speech World.  There are some templates that can be used for sequence and retelling.

Craft - Lucky Necklace

So in line with St. Patrick's Day, we made rainbow colored pasta necklaces.  The kids really love this activity and the parents do too!  I Googled how to make colored pasta - it was easy peasy.  Then I bundled the craft in snack size zippy bags so the kids would have the perfect amount of pasta for their craft.  The shamrock was die cut from green paper.  Here is a tip - tape one end of the yarn to make a 'needle' and tape the other end to the table so the pasta doesn't fly off the other end!

Bonus Craft! Pot of Gold

I snitched this one from the DLTK website where they had a template.  Click HERE for that. Some kids didn't want to do the necklace, and some preferred to take the craft home to do.  I used die cut circles (I have a 1 inch punch at home) and black paper which the kids could then use white crayon or chalk to decorate.


Luck of the Irish to ye!  Thanks for stopping by!

Detail: Preschool Story Time - St. Patrick's Day!