looking forward to thursday

Invigorated by last week's ups and not-quite-as-ups, I have been busy planning out this week's Head Start storytime. And because this is what I do here, here's my plan:

First, we start every storytime (of course) by putting on our magic storytime hats. Doesn't everyone? OK, maybe not.

1.  Opening:  Hello Song [we sing this with Gareth the Turtle, pictured below]

2.  Song/Activity:  Open Them, Shut Them

3.  STORY: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus / Mo Willems
4.  Fingerplay: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

5.  Stretch: A Sailor Went to Sea

Thanks to Miss Amy for this one. I was looking for a stretch that gets everyone up and having fun, but also keeps the rumpus to a relatively manageable level. This looks to do this trick.

6.  STORY: Go Away, Big Green Monster! / Ed Emberly

7.  Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (quiet)

This is an old favorite we have been singing all year. Thanks again to Miss Amy for suggesting the strategy of repurposing it as a "quiet down" song; we are going to try and sing as absolutely positively quietly as possible. Yay!

8.  Fingerplay: Hot Chocolate

There are a couple of versions of this fingerplay/rhyme, but we're using a shorter one. The original version is called Chocolate, and we are going to work up to alternating the verses in English and original Spanish. For this week and at least one more, we'll just stick with the English version to build up familiarity.

9. STORY: How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? / Jane Yolen [almost certainly omitting a few pages]

10. Song/Activity: The Wheels on the Bus 

11.  Closing:  The More We Get Together [Gareth the Turtle comes back out to help us sing]

At the end of storytime, we take off our magic storytime hats, put them in our pockets, and keep them ready for next week.