Sharing a fun recent flow virtual storytime!
Sing: Hi, Hello and How Are You?*
Welcome
During my welcome and pre-storytime announcements, I reminded the grown-ups to stay nearby because we would need their laps to bounce in and their helping hands to type answers in the chat box!
Sing: If You’re Happy and You Know It…*
Sing: If You’re Ready for a Story…*
Read: Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen-Fletcher
There are SO FEW children’s books that feature disability (only 3.4% of main characters are disabled), and even less children’s books that feature PARENTS with disabilities! I came across this particular gem in a list of books with good disability representation and was lucky to find a very well-priced, gently used copy on eBay.
Mama Zooms is the perfect storytime book. Full of imagination, this sweet story shows a young child and his mother (who uses a wheelchair) as they zoom together through the day. The text is repetitious (in a good way) and there’s many opportunities to add sounds to the story, such as making a “choo-choo” train noise on this page:
Sing: Little Red Wagon
“Remember when Mama pretended to be a wagon? Take a seat in your grown-up’s lap and let’s go on our own wagon ride!”
Turn, Talk and Type: What else might you see on a farm?
The kiddos had lots of good suggestions: tractors, pigs, cows, etc.
Sing: The Wheels on the Tractor Go Round and Round…
Tune: The Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on the tractor go round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the tractor go round and round
All day long!
Sing: The Animals on the Farm Say…
Tune: The Wheels on the Bus
The pig on the farm says oink, oink, oink,
Oink, oink, oink.
Oink, oink, oink.
The pig on the farm says oink, oink, oink
All day long!
Repeat: other farm animal noises
I had fun using some Zoom filters during this song!
Rhyme: Hickety Pickety (Flannel)
I allowed the audience to briefly turn on their cameras and show me their fingers as we counted eggs.
Rhyme: 5 Eggs and 5 Eggs (Flannel)
Read: One Fox, A Counting Book Thriller by Kate Read
“Do you know what animal likes to steal hen eggs from the farm? Foxes!”
Sing: BINGO (Flannel)
“And that is why farmers have a guard dog! I know a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name-o…”
Before we launched into the song, I asked caregivers to write their child’s name on a piece of paper. I invited families to turn on their cameras and show me their names. Then, as I took letters off the board during the song, I held the letters up to the camera and asked if they had that letter in their name.
Literacy Tip: Learning Letters with Names
Grown-ups, the letters in your child’s name are a great place to start learning the alphabet. Science says that recognizing letters and knowing letter names is a strong predictor of reading success. When you talk about the special letters that make up your child’s name NOW, you help them get ready to read LATER.
“Sometimes, instead of a guard dog on the farm, you might see a guard llama or alpaca – like my friend Harold! Let’s turn our hands into llamas…”
(Harold is my alpaca storytime friend and a regular feature of our virtual storytimes).
Many thanks to Annamarie over at Book Cart Queens for showing me how to make the perfect llama with our fingers!
Rhyme: Two Little Llamas
Tune: Two Little Blackbirds
Two little llamas guarding the hill.
One named Jack, and one named Jill.
Run away Jack, run away Jill.
Come back Jack, come back Jill!
Additional verses:
Guarding the cows/Quiet and Loud
Guarding the pigs/Little and Big
Guarding the chicks/Slow and Quick
_____
CREDIT: PIGGYBACK
Sing: Our Storytime is Over, Wave Goodbye*
*Please visit this page to learn more about my regular storytime songs and routines.
I am LOVING using Zoom filters during virtual storytime. The kids seem to get a real kick out of them, too! How are you keeping your virtual storytimes fresh and fun lately? Would love to learn more in the comments below!
Storytime in the Stacks 