One World, Many Stories - Australian Animals

Today, I took my preschoolers to Australia to show them a couple of animals. Granted, what I really wanted to do was a Wombat storytime, and this Summer Reading theme made that easy!! I couldn't find a good Wombat craft, though, so I added a Koala into the mix, and we ended up with a fabulous storytime!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Wombat Walkabout by Carol Shields


Rhyme: Humpty Dumpty

Book: Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill (this was the reason for the Wombat storytime - I LOVE this book!!!


Dance: The Freeze by Greg and Steve - We All Live Together Vol. 2

Book: Can you Cuddle Like a Koala? by John Butler


Craft: Toilet Paper Koalas from DLTK-Kids.



As you know, it's also WEDNESDAY!! WHOOT!! Usually, it would be FMRNS, complete with Shoobie(!!!), but we've had to reschedule. We'll be taping Shoobie (yes, I'm still using my VCR. As long as it works, right??), and probably watching it along with Thursday's results show (with NO COMMERCIAL BREAK!!). We've also decided on a movie that neither of us has seen yet, and we're going to decide if it is listworthy. I have a feeling it will be, we've both heard fabulous things about it.

We will be watching the 2010 drama, The King's Speech, with Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter. I've actually been dying to see this, so I'm really looking forward to it!

One World, Many Stories - Havin' some fun!

Ok, so this week's Toddler Storytime doesn't really fit in with the whole Summer Reading theme of One World, Many Stories. But, I gotta be honest - I found these books fun, so I decided to read them to my little ones!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: How Do You Make a Baby Smile? by Philemon Sturges

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly by Mo Willems


Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock

Interactive Playtime

I also have to say, one of my regular little boys (2.5 years old) had a major breakthrough at Toddler Time. He's always very good and very attentive, and you always know he is involved, but he never talks. This time, he actually participated, made faces and did actions with the books, and sang Itsy Bitsy Spider (just one of the reasons why I repeat some of the more popular rhymes and songs, to help them learn them!). It was AMAZING!!!

The other super cool thing that happened at Toddler Time was another one of my regular little boys (about 20 months old), grabbed me by the finger and led me into story time. It was the cutest thing, EVAH, and I seriously teared up a little.

Just gotta tell ya... BEST.JOB.EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One World, Many Stories - Traveling Adventure

In keeping up with the Summer Reading theme of "One World, Many Stories," I decided to take the kids traveling! It was a great story time with a bunch of fun books!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Dinos on the Go by Karma Wilson


Song: The Animals in the Jungle (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus) (Taken from The Perpetual Preschool - Jungle Songs)
The monkey in the jungle goes ooh, ooh, ahh, ooh, ooh, ahh, ooh, ooh, ahh!
The monkey in the jungle goes ooh, ooh, ahh, all day long!
continue with tiger (grr, grr, grr), snake (sss, sss, sss), etc.

Book: Way For Away on a Wild Safari by Valeria Petrone


Song: I'm a Little Teapot (just to get them up and moving!)

Book: Greetings from Kiwi and Pear by Joyce Wan


Craft: Jungle Safari



And can I get a WHOOT WHOOOT for FMRNS?!?!?! We were super excited because it was the first performance show of Shoobie (aka So You Think You Can Dance or SYTYCD). The performances were SO AWESOME!!! This is going to be a great season, for sure!!!

Then, we watched In the Valley of Elah, a mystery from 2007 with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron (who is A.MA.ZING!). It was a fabulous mystery!!!

You know, I should really update the list with everything we've watched since I got back. Maybe that'll be my next blog project (blog-ject?).

One World, Many Stories - Fishy Monday

For the second Toddler Story Time of Summer Reading (One World, Many Stories), I decided to take the little ones to the ocean!!! We found some great stories about fish, and I even got the kids to show me how to count to 5 on their fingers!!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood


Finger Play: Count to 5 with your fingers

Book: Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins


Song: ABC's

Interactive Playtime

One World, Many Stories - Whoever You Are

Hello, everybody!!!! Summer Reading just started on Monday, and it is already crazy!!! I can't say I'm sad about that, though - it's seriously way too much fun!!! I am SO HAPPY to be back in the Summer Reading saddle after being away from it for two years. I promise you, story time and summer reading crazyness is WAY MORE FUN than folding panties for 8 hours. Jus' sayin.'

Anyway, this year the Summer Reading Theme is One World, Many Stories. I thought I would bring a little multiculturalism to my preschoolers, and it was AWESOME!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Hello! Good-bye! by Aliki


Song: Twinkle, Twinkle. We first sang it in English, and then I had asked a nanny of one of the regular story time kids (before story time - I didn't TOTALLY spring it on her...well, kinda!) if she would be willing to say it in Spanish!!!

Book: Everybody Bonjours by Leslie Kimmelman (can I just tell you how cute it is to have a bunch of preschoolers say "Bonjour!")


Song: Frere Jaques

Book: Whoever You Are by Mem Fox (FABULOUS book about being different yet the same. LOVED it!!!)


Song: The Freeze by Greg and Steve

Book: Hello World: Greetings in 42 Languages Around the Globe by Manya Stojic (I selected a bunch for the kids to practice with me - this book was awesome because it also showed the words phonetically spelled out so I could say it the right way!! Again, how cute is it hearing little preschoolers say "Konnichiwa!!" and "Namaste!!")


Craft: We made "Multicultural Handprint Wreaths" with a little Earth in the center. I thought they looked a little dull with just "skin toned" colors, so I decided we would do all the colors I had. I told the parents we included Avatars and Aliens, hahaha!



WHOOT WHOOOT FMRNS!!!!! First, we watch Shoobie (LOVE IT!!!) Vegas week is upon us!!! After that, we watched an amazing documentary!!! Stonewall Uprising, a documentary from 2010 that tells about the massive 1969 police raid of Stonewall in New York City. I was just shocked to hear some of the things that were discussed in this film. The treatment of homosexual people in the 60's was appalling, and this film documents one of the events that helped forge the gay liberation movement. Very interesting!!!

Tuck me in!

Happy Summer Reading!!!!! Today is the first day of our Summer Reading program, and we've got some exciting programs coming up this summer. Of course, we are still having our regular story times!! Today, we read a couple of cute Bedtime Stories that were a hold over from our Pre-School Bedtime Stories program.

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea


Song: Twinkle Twinkle

Book: Tuck Me In by Dean Hacohen


Interactive Playtime