Dinosaurs Love Underpants Pre-K Storytime

Hello Internet!

A few weeks ago for Pre-K and PPCD storytime, we read Dinosaurs Love Underpants by Claire Freedman & Ben Cort.  This is a fun book about how dinosaurs became extinct and you would never guess, but it is ALL because of cavemen wearing underpants and dinosaurs wanting them.  So the dinos fight each other for them and then they all die.  The best part about this story are the colorful underpants everyone wears.  So I printed out a black and white underwear pic from google (shhhh...don't tell) and then colored them to match the patterns of the ones in the story.  You should have seen the look on my principal's face when she walked by and saw me coloring underwear.  Priceless!  Anyways, I pass out the undie pics before we start the story and as we are reading, if they see the one that matches in the story, they come up and tape it to the board.  Fun! :)

One Duck Stuck Pre K and Kinder Storytime

Hello Internet!

Last week for Pre K storytime, we read One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root.  I have done this with Kindergarten in the past and it has worked really well with them so I thought I'd give it a try with Pre-K.  It went...ok.  Not bad, just ok.  I made pictures of the animals in the story that try to help duck get unstuck from the muck and put them on popsicle sticks.  Then I make a "mud puddle" out of brown butcher paper to lay on the floor.  As I read, the kid with the duck stays up front on the mud puddle and each animal that tries to help comes up and pretend pulls on the duck to get him unstuck.  It is REALLY important that you tell them to pretend pull on them.  Otherwise you'll have broken arms and bloody noses and ducks that aren't stuck in the muck and your storytime will be an epic fail.  J/K.  But for reals, you do have to tell them to pretend pull or the duck gets unstuck every time and that is counter-productive.  My favorite part of this story is the chant on each page where duck says, "Help! Help! Who can help?" And I have the students say it with me.  If there is one thing I have learned about little kids, they love a good fun chant.  Anyways, this is just a really good read aloud even if you don't have all the props to go with it. 

Who Took The Cookies From the Cookie Jar Pre-K Storytime

Hello Internet!

This week for Pre-K, I have no idea what their theme is, so I just came up with something on my own.  We are going to read Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar by Bonnie Lass & Philemon Sturges.  Normally I would do some sort of story sequence and students would come up with pictures of the animals and just tape them to the board.  But I am really kind of tired of that and also of the kids that whine that they don't get a turn.  I like to be fair and I can't remember who I chose last time or the time before and so on and so forth, so this time, everyone gets to participate.  In the story, skunk goes around to about 9 different animals to see who took the cookies and in the end discovers it was the ants and they left a trail to a picnic.  I went into clipart and printed off pictures of all the animals and then a bunch of ants.  So if they don't get an animal, they get an ant.  Then I'll draw a T chart on the easel with "yes" on one side, and "no" on the other side.  As we read the story, when it gets to their animal, they will come up and put it under "yes" or "no" if that animal did or didn't take the cookies.  Ta-da!  Easy, fun, and EVERYONE gets a turn.

Marvin Redpost Kidnapped At Birth

Howdy Internet!

One thing I love to do with 2nd grade is introduce them to chapter books.  Some of them are already at that reading level by the time I get around to this lesson, but it is still fun and they enjoy it.  Also, I feel this intrinsic need to introduce students to beginning chapter books other than Junie B. Jones, Captain Underpants, and Wimpy Kid.  Each time they come to library, I read two chapters out loud to them and then we have a little discussion.  And this is also awesome because it is 5 weeks of lesson plans that I don't have to worry about... :) Here are the chapters and the discussion questions I ask:

Chapters 1 & 2 - Do you think Marvin is Prince Robert?  Why or why not?
Chapters 3 & 4 - If you were a prince or a princess, what would you have your servants do for you?
Chapters 5 & 6 - If you thought you were royalty, how and when would you tell your parents?  What do you think they would say?
Chapters 7 & 8 - What are some things you would not be able to do anymore if you were a prince or a princess?
Chapters 9 & 10 - What do you think now?  Could Marvin still be Prince Robert?  Why or why not?