Green, Green, Green!

Last week I had a very successful story time with our visiting day care group, so I thought I’d share. The day care comes weekly to visit our library with a class of three-year-olds. This week the theme was all about green! We had a lot of fun with this one.

Opening Song: Open them, shut them. This same group of kids has been visiting the library for over 6 months now, so they love singing this song with me and doing the hand motions at the start of every visit.

Story: Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes. This is such a lovely and thoughtful story by one of my very favorite authors. There are a lot of lovely soft greens in the illustrations, and on one page the rabbit wonders what it would be like to be green. The children enjoyed the magical illustrations and wondered different things along with the rabbit.

Song: Five Fat Peas.

Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed. (show fist)

One grew, two grew, so did all the rest. (count with fingers)

They grew and they grew and they did not stop. (show growth with arms)

Until one day the pea pod POPPED! (clap hands)

Story: Green Wilma by Ted Arnold. This is an odd little story but the children thought it was hilarious! Wilma wakes up green one morning and only wants to eat flies! I really enjoyed making the group laugh with this story.

Rhyme: This is a Turtle. 

This is a turtle.

He lives in a shell. (show fist)

He pokes his head out (poke out thumb)

when he wants to eat.

And he pulls it back in (hide thumb in fist)

When he wants to sleep.

Story: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox. This is now one of my favorite books to read out loud! I haven’t had this much fun reading a story in a long time. The kids enjoyed this story so much. They participated after each time I asked, “But where is the green sheep?” and their answers were so cute! Usually, “We don’t know where he is?” And they really enjoyed following along to solve the mystery of the green sheep. Definitely going to read this one again soon.

Song: Shake your Wiggles Out!

Story: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Can’t go wrong with this classic. I love the shouts when I pull this book out: “I have this one at home!” I always tell them I am glad they are reading books at home.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this very green storytime. Come back soon for more!

Thoughts on Programming

One of the things I thought about before I decided to specialize in Children’s and Young Adult Services was programming. From my viewpoint as a circulation clerk, it looked like programming was about 75% of what the children’s librarian at my library did. Huge, complicated programs with hundreds of tiny details that all had to fall into place and it was a lot of planning and a lot of stress. I wasn’t so sure I wanted any part of that.

So I hesitated. Did I really have it in me to plan programs? Was it really how I wanted to spend a significant part of my time doing? In the end I decided to go forward with it, but it was still a worry in the back of my mind. So when I started my internship at my local public library this semester, I asked to get as much experience with programming as I could. I needed to make sure I really wanted to do this aspect of the life of a children’s librarian.

Now that I have observed and participated in a whole month’s worth of children’s programs, I can say with enthusiasm that I am convinced. Programming is great! It is not nearly as intimidating as I anticipated, tons of fun, and so rewarding too! I’ve observed a variety of programs, and I’m happy to think that every thing I’ve observed so far, I would be pretty comfortable doing in a future job too. Preschool storytimes, baby programs, first grade tours, storytimes in front of a full auditorium, read to a dog programs – they are all fun and they are all centered around the things I truly am passionate about – developing early literacy and sharing a love of reading with children. I’m so lucky that my internship coordinator is going to be giving me an opportunity to actually present a couple of these programs later on in the semester.