My last virtual storytime fell on December 31st! We celebrated the end of 2020 at last with some of my favorite picture books that were published last year. Highlights below; full script available by clicking here.
Sing: Hi, Hello and How Are You?*
Welcome
During my welcome, I reminded the audience to grab something they could tap with, like pens or spoons. Then we sang a song to give everyone extra time to grab substitute rhythm sticks.
Sing: If You’re Happy and You Know It, Tap Your Sticks…
Once everyone had their tapping utensils handy, I asked them to pick just ONE stick to use as a wand.
Sing: I Wake Up My Wand…
I wake up my wand with a swish, swish, swish.
A swish, swish, swish.
A swish, swish, swish!
I wake up my wand with a swish, swish, swish,
And now I’m ready to… loop!
(repeat with loopty loop, tap tap tap)
_____
tune: I Wake Up My Hands (Rainbow Songs)
credit: original lyrics
Read: Hat Tricks by Satoshi Kitamura
Sing: This Is The Way We Tap Our Sticks… (Sticks)
Rhyme: Bread & Butter, Jelly & Jam (Sticks)
“All these stick songs remind me of marching bands and holiday parades! Have you ever seen a marching band? They wear tall hats with feathers, just like this… I wonder who’s hiding underneath?”
Play: Hat Guessing Game (Flannel)
A cat was hiding underneath the last hat we checked – which was the perfect segue to my next 2020 favorite storytime book!
Read: Do Cats Moo? by Salina Yoon
Lit Tip: Building Phonological Awareness with Animal Sounds
Grown-ups, I love books and songs with animal noises because they are full of so many vowel sounds! Vowels are notoriously tricky for beginning readers to sound out. The more your child hears and makes these sounds with you NOW, the better they’ll be able to recognize and sound them out when they are reading and writing LATER!
“There were so many pets in that book! That reminds me of a farmer I know whose favorite pet is his dog named Bingo…”
Sing: BINGO (Flannel)
Speaking of dogs… have you seen that the Lenny books are back in print?! 😍 We read my personal favorite from the series, Lenny and Wilbur.
Read: Lenny and Wilbur by Ken Wilson-Max
Sing: Old MacDonald (Puppets)
Then we sang more verses from Wilbur’s favorite song!
Sing: Goodbye, Goodbye, We’ll See You Soon*
What were your favorite 2020 picture books for storytime? Would love to learn more in the comments below!
Storytime in the Stacks 