There was an Old Woman

There are many, many variations of the old story “There was Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly'.

At Valentines I came across this blog that has a free printable for the items for "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Rose".

At the same time that I found those I also saw this idea to use an old baby wipes container for the woman.   Mine looks a bit different.
                      
                        The children love this interactive version. 
     The pictures mounted into milk jug caps fit nicely through the opening.
             
          Since that was a success I decided to use the same container for
                 There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Clover.
               
Before beginning I handed out the pictures and asked the children to look at
   their picture and I told them to listen carefully for when it is mentioned.
            
             When they heard their item, they fed the old woman. 
           
And tucked inside the container waiting for the very end is the rainbow.  The children are surprised when it comes out every time.  I guess I have great slight of hand.

Sticking to the St.Patrick’s theme I made another version of the game Little Mouse.
                   
                       A clover hiding behind a coloured pot.

Our Grandfriends Visit

This morning our grandfriends visited us at our school.

                 
Playing with play dough was a comfortable activity for our little ones who may be nervous meeting someone new.  It also provided time for them to chat together and learn about each other.

We also shared some of our songs with our grandfriends, like; Roly Poly,
Icky Sticky Bubble Gum and If You’re Happy and You Know It.

We listened to a story about going on a Lion Hunt and played with scarves. 
Our grandfriends like a lot of the same things as we do.
                       
Then it was time to say good-bye.   See you again next month.

Fall and School have Started

Today was our first day of school and it is also the first day of fall. 
We enjoyed a couple of books to celebrate the day.
 
When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger is a great story with many animals.  When I have a large group of multi-age children telling a story about animals keeps them involved longer.
    
I printed off pictures of all the animals in the story and before reading the book I handed them out to the children (not everyone got one but it still worked).  As I read the story and introduced the next animal, the child with that animal would bring it up and put it on the board. 
        
The pictures give a glue as to the next animal and as we waited for the little one to bring their animal picture up we would guess the next animal and make its sound. 

At the art table I used the book “Leaf Jumper” by Carole Gerber as inspiration for making leaf prints.
         
The book has images of several different leaves.  They are colourful and detailed.  So I decided to make prints for some of the trees that grow around here.
              
                  There was maple, oak, birch and willow.
 
The children used paint rollers to cover the image with paint. 
Then turning it over on to paper and pressing it flat.
            
Lifting the styrofoam image they found a print of their leaf on their paper.
    
Their art looked similar to the book, leaves floating around in the blue sky.
 

Book–Frog’s Lunch

Our tadpoles arrived last week. 

With that our books about frogs were put out on the shelves. 
A fun frog book and an easy read is “Frog’s Lunch” by Dee Lillegard.
          
The puppet came with another book but it worked great for telling this story.  It was a small group for circle time so I quickly made up ‘flies’. Black pom poms on straws, one for each child.
     
Frog is hungry and it’s lunch time.  The children buzz their flies.
      
He sits quietly and waits and watches.  Along buzzes a fly.  Closer to the frog.
       
Snap, gulp, lunch time!  The children's flies are eaten by the frog.

Penguin Shuffle

                  
Story time today started with the book Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice by Steve Metzger.  It’s a version of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.
         
After the story I handed each child ‘penguin feet’ (paper plates, the cheap kind) and we waddled around.  The paper plates allow us to slide easier on the carpet.
  
I introduced a short little song that I found on CanTeach, called Penguin Shuffle.
           
“Penguins shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the left, left, left.  
Penguins shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the right, right, right.  
They give a little wiggle, 
they give a little hop.  
Then they waddle around the iceberg till its time to stop.”

Here’s a little video showing us doing the Penguin Shuffle.

I also put together this version to use on the felt board.
      
The penguins are attached with velcro so they can come off as we say it.

Old St. Nicholas Had a Tree

Looking for new to me holiday songs or story and I found this one
on Let the Wild Rumpus Start.  I modified it slightly and made it
for the magnetic board instead of out of felt.  My tree was a bit
big for my magnetic board but it still works.
           
Old St. Nicholas had a Tree is a version of Old MacDonald had a Farm.


The decorations and actions that I chose for each are…
stars – twinkle, twinkle
bells – ding dong
ball ornament – jazz hands
candy cane – lick, lick
ginger bread man – yum, yum

When using a familiar song and changing words can be a challenge.  In the following video you will hear several parents sing Old MacDonald before correcting themselves.  I managed to make it through that story time singing the correct words but the following day I slipped up.  We just need to laugh and continue on.

Here are the words...

Old St. Nicholas had a tree
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho
And on his tree he had a candy cane
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho
With a lick, lick here and a lick, lick there
here a lick, there a lick,
everywhere a lick, lick.
Old St. Nicholas had a tree
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho.

Enjoy!

Bark, George – A Story for Retelling

One of my favourite stories to share, at the moment, is by Jules Feiffer called Bark, George.
              
It’s a very simple story and the illustrations in the book are wonderful for showing the mother's feelings. 

Last year I read the book and told the story as a felt story.  You can find the pictures at Making Learning Fun.
                      

But last month, at our Storytellers group, one of our members shared the story by telling it with stuffies. 
                   
After our members left I remembered that a parent had given me a dog stuffie, which had a mouth/stomach that you could put things in.  I found it and quickly found some small animal stuffies.  I decided it wouldn’t matter which animals I used so they could be different that in the book.

Then I told the story.  This video shows the first time I did. 
What I've learned from watching my video...
1) I needed to have George more interactive rather than just sitting on my lap.  I've improved on that.  I move his head more when talking to him or when he makes each sound. 
2) I'm more aware of how it looks from the audience's perspective.  And because of that I'm gentler when I'm sticking my hand down George's throat.
3) I've also added a rubber glove that the vet wears.

                                
What I've enjoyed about this story is that the children enjoy retelling it.  The video above shows a three year old telling her version of the story. 

 Each time I tell this story, and I've told it many times in the past few weeks, the children giggle and are very engaged.  I've even changed the animals to a horse, cow and lamb to keep them guessing.

A Used Book Swap

It’s summer holidays here and the centre has been closed for a couple of weeks now.  But before we closed a parent suggested we start a group email list for anyone interested in getting together during the summer break.  I included myself on that list, knowing that I would be around for part of the time. 
Families have been getting together at the beach and the park, staying in touch and getting to know each other better.

Today I invited the families to participate in a used book swap at a park.  I brought a box of books I’ve been collecting from thrift stores and library book sales.  The families brought a book, added it to the collection and then chose a new one.
       
We made our own books using a single piece of paper and no staples.
 
Here’s a good tutorial of how to fold the book.
 
We spent sometime on the playground then shared some songs and stories.

This activity worked to encourage the children's interest in books and stories.
          
I'm sure there will more get togethers this summer.