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It was a weird week in story time! I had a performer call out sick just two hours before a very special Fairy Tales program, and then I had a group from a ballet school in town come to perform a program for my regular preschool story time - but I didn't even know they were coming!!! They only stayed for the first story time, though, and I didn't want to use my already planned story time (because it was super exciting, and wanted to use it for BOTH groups). So, I scrambled again and picked out a couple of my favorite story time books.

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems


Rhyme: Hey Diddle, Diddle

Book: Dinosaur vs. The Library by Bob Shea (LOVE this series!!!)



Dance: The Freeze - Greg and Steve (from Greg and Steve We All Live Together Vol.2)

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Craft: Since I still had lots of supplies, I decided to make the crowns again!! I LOVE paper plates!!!


It's another edition of FMRNS!!! The feature this week was The Crow, a drama from 1994 starring Brandon Lee and Rochelle Davis. I remember thinking this movie looked really weird when it came out, and didn't really have a desire to see it. But, I trust my friend A wholeheartedly when it comes to what is on The List, so we watched it. I was NOT disappointed!!

Sharing the love, and some hugs

I came up with Hug story time because of a super cute and totally perfect for story time book came across my desk. I also found out that Hug a Bear day was coming up, so I thought we'd combine the two and have a fabulous story time.

Hug a Bear day also brought out the song writer in me (I say 'song writer' very loosely). This new song is to the tune of "Rock the Boat" by Hues Corporation.

Hug the bear, don't hug the bear, baby!
Hug the bear, don't hug him, he'll eat you!!

A couple of the moms appreciated it! Hahaha!! Anyway, back to story time...

Book: One More Hug for Madison by Caroline Church



Song: A Hug from You (To the tune of Mary had a Little Lamb. Taken from Preschool Education Music and Songs: Valentines Day)
It's nice to get a hug from you, hug from you, hug from you,
It's nice to get a hug from you,
So, let's give one right now!

Book: How to Hug by Maryann Macdonald


Rhyme: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (traditional, with my own interpretation)
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Turn Around
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch the Ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch your Nose
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch your Toes
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Dance on the Rug
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Give a Big Hug!

Book: How Do You Hug a Porcupine by Laurie Isop


Craft: Since this theme was based on Hug a Bear day, we made Bear CD magnets!


And, as usual, it's FMRNS!!! Two for the Road, a romance from 1967 with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn was the feature for this week. This movie follows a married couple through the ups and downs in the journey of their marriage. They go through so much and they really need to decide what is important. It was very sentimental, and of course, listworthy!!

Veggies!! My favorite!!

Just because I've been on a huge veggie kick this summer because we have the BEST Farmers Market ever!!! So, I decided to spread the veggie love a little with my preschoolers!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements


Song: Good Food Song (taken from the Vegetable Activity Theme page from Child Fun)
To the tune of Old McDonald

Vegetables are good for me EE I EE I O
And so I eat them happily EE I EE I O
with a carrot here and a carrot there,
here a carrot, there a carrot, everywhere a carrot, carrot
Vegetables are good for me EE I EE I O!!

Book: Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (this is one of my most favorite story time books!)


Rhyme: 5 Big Tomatoes (adapted from a song found on the Vegetable Songs and Music page from Everything Preschool). I also made my own flannel board pieces for this song!

5 big tomatoes in a bowl
One fell out and it started to roll
It bumped the table, and it hit my toe,
Now how many tomatoes in the bowl?

and so on...and so forth...


Book: Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks


Craft: Vegetable Baskets taken from First School.



For this weeks FMRNS. we decided to go with a drama with some feel good vibes!! Resurrection, a 1980 drama, stars Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, and Richard Farnsworth. This was definitely a fabulous movie!!!

Growing a garden

Outside the window of my story room, they are about to start building a garden. I thought it would be the perfect time to read a couple stories about flowers and veggie gardens!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: My Garden by Kevin Henkes

Song: There's Something in My Garden (from SurLaLune Garden story time page)

There's something in my garden, now what can it be?

There's something in my garden that I can't really see.

Hear it's funny sound...ribbit ribbit

It must be a ....... FROG!!!

thump,thump

squeak, squeak

Book: What Does Bunny See? by Linda Sue Park

Pretend: Farmer plants a seed. (pretend to dig a hole, plant the seed, cover the seed, etc.)

Book: Lenny in the Garden by Ken Wilson-Max

Craft: Flower gardens

I passed out a white sheet of paper, crayons, and 4-5 flowers each. Then they got to be creative with their gardens!!

I'm excited to say that FMRNS is back!!!! We had taken a couple weeks off for various reasons, but we are back on track!! Now that Shoobie is over, we will have to figure out what else we can watch in addition to our movie!!

This week, we watched Coma, a mystery/thriller from 1978 with Michael Douglas, Genevieve Bujold, and Rip Torn. Fabulous, as always!!

And we are back to using Netflix!! I had cancelled my subscription for a while during the move, and just hadn't started back up again. But, the number of movies that the library has left is starting to dwindle. So, we had to look at getting Netflix again. Coma was the first in what is sure to be many movies!! We have a couple library movies lined up after this one, though... Guess we'll just have to catch up on our Project Runway!!!

Cow day!!

This story time was super fun!! I found some fantastic cow books, and the kids just loved them!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier


Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm

Book: Too Many Pears by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley


Song: Cows on the Farm (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus)

Book: The Cow Loves Cookies - Karma Wilson

Craft: Paper Plate Cows from All Kids Network


And, of course, we have FMRNS!!!! The feature film was a very intense 2007 drama called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, starring Anna Paquin, Aidan Quinn, and August Schellenberg.

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!!!

Buggin' out

I don't know if y'all know about Cicadas, but they are out in full force here!! They are almost deafening with their song, and they are EVERYWHERE!!! It is because of this reason that I chose books about bugs for my Toddlers!!

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


Book: I Love Bugs by Emma Dodd


Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: I Love Bugs by Philemon Sturges


Rhyme: Bees in the Hive
This is the beehive, but where are the bees? They're hidden inside where nobody sees! One, two, three, four, five...BUZZZZZZZ!!!! (bring out fingers while counting to 5)
Taken from Perpetual Preschool - Bug Songs

Song: I'm a Big Cicada (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot) I have to admit, this one was more for the parents - they appreciated it!!
I'm a Big Cicada with eyes of red,
I fly around and hit you on the head.
I crawl up from the ground and climb a tree,
I make a funny noise that's just for me!
Taken from Perpetual Preschool - Bug Songs

A special treat for the Monday post - A and I decided to reschedule FMRNS and had it on Monday night instead! It was an amazing movie - a deep foreign drama from 2004 called The Sea Inside, starring Javier Bardem.
This week is full of excitement on TV!!! First, the season finale of Glee (which was awesome - I mean, come on...you can't get any better than Brittany's original song "My Cup!!"), then the season finale of AI (**spoiler alert!! I'm kinda surprised Scotty won, but Lauren is gonna do great things anyway!!).
But, the thing I am MOST excited about... The Season Premier of SHOOBIE!!! (Also known as So You Think You Can Dance). Shoobie is what A and I have called it for seasons. This is actually a little more exciting that American Idol - gotta be honest!!! That's tonight, and I can't EVEN WAIT!!!!!!!

Mind your Manners!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!!! It's been an interesting week so far - did y'all read about Gabby? Also, we've got a little bit of a patron personal hygiene problem happening around these parts. Man, it's great to be the person in charge!!

Anyway, back to the fact that it's FABULOUS WEDNESDAY!!! WHOOOOT!!!! I decided to do some books about manners, and they were a hit!! I got lots and lots of "please" and "thank you" and man those kids are cute!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Say Please by Virginia Austin


Song: If You Have Manners and You Know It
If you have manners and you know it, just say please
If you have manners and you know it, just say please
If you have manners and you know it, then don't be afraid to show it,
If you have manners and you know it, just say please
Say thank you
Say You're welcome
Say excuse me (etc)
(Taken from The Perpetual Preschool - Manners theme)

Book: Yes, Please! No, Thank You! by Valerie Wheeler


Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock

Counting and Alphabet: Count to 5, Sing alphabet song

Book: Excuse Me! A Little Book of Manners by Karen Katz


Craft: Cover Your Cough!


And, of course, it's FMRNS!!! I look forward to this every week!!! Last week, we watched The Name of the Rose, and while it was kinda looooooong in parts, the content was (of course) fabulous. Go Sean Connery (mmmmm, Sean Connery), and Christian Slater!!

This week is gonna be good too!! We're watching the season finale of ANTM!!! And then next week, it'll be the season finale of AI!!! I'm kinda surprised that James left last week. I think out of the three that are left, the winner will probably be Lauren... but who knows - I never expected Hailey to get this far!

Anyway, tonight's FMRNS feature is a documentary from 2003 called The Corporation. This documentary "looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance." It'll be interesting, I'm sure!!!

Yum! Yum!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!! Seriously, best day of the week!!!

This week, I decided to do a food theme, because my friend A came up with a perfectly awesome craft that I just HAD to do!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Yum! Yum! What fun! by Mara Bergman


Rhyme: 5 Sticky Lollipops
5 sticky lollipops fixed on sticks,
Take a sticky lollipop, and you lick, lick, lick! (continue countdown)
(Taken from The Perpetual Preschool)


Book: Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott


Song: I wish I were a (type) pizza. (We sang pepperoni first, then marshmallow by request!)
I wish I were a pepperoni pizza.
That is what I truly want to be!
'Cuz if I were a pepperoni pizza,
Then everyone would be in love with me!
(Taken from Everything Preschool)

Book: "Hi, Pizza Man!" by Virginia Walter


Craft: Spaghetti and Meatballs


And, of course, how could anyone forget!!! Tonight is FMRNS!!! WHOOOT!!!! After we watch the season finale of ANTM, we'll be watching a period drama from 1986 called The Name of the Rose. This film stars the GREAT Sean Connery and Christian Slater.