Today I’m sharing my favorite storytime so far from this year!
Rhyme: Bread & Butter*
Welcome/Intro
Sing: Roll the Ball (Name Song)*
Sing: If You’re Ready for a Story…*
Read: Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty & David Roberts
In this new picture book, a multi-racial family frantically scrambles to get ready for Grandma’s visit. One of the two dads has a list of chores on the fridge, but cat isn’t too happy about getting a bath…
Book Excerpt: An orange cat paw scrambles magnetic letters on the fridge, making new words.
Book Excerpt: Dad reads the list of chores from the fridge, including “mow the floor” and “rock the dishes.”
The scrambled letters result in increasingly silly tasks that had my storytime kids rolling on the floor with laughter!
Lit Tip: Everyday Opportunities for Learning Letters
Grown-ups, making lists together is a great way to help your little one learn their letters! Letter knowledge is an important predictor of reading success. The next time you’re getting ready to go the grocery store, ask your child to help you make a list! Talk about the letters you’re using to make words. You can also play and look for the longest word with the most letters… you could look for letters that are in your child’s name and on the list… the possibilities are endless!
Sing: The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner
The family in Bathe the Cat has two pets: a cat and some goldfish. You know what that means… THE GOLDFISH SONG!
Mindful Moment: Jellyfish Breaths
We swam back to our rocks and did a little breathing exercise (from Peaceful Like a Panda by Kira Willey) before diving into our next book.
Read: Cats are Cats by Valeri Gorbachev
The plot (in which the old lady’s little kitty cat growing up to be a big tiger) set the stage perfectly for…
Sing: T-I-G-E-R
There is a big cat that we know
And Tiger is its name-o!
T-I-G-E-R
T-I-G-E-R
T-I-G-E-R
And Tiger is its name-o!
We used alphabet magnets (like the ones featured in our first story) and some cute cat sticky notes to help us keep track of the claps. Every so often, I stopped to ask if there were more letters, or more cats?
Whiteboard: Magnetic letters spelling out “TIGER”
Read: It’s a Tiger! by David LaRochelle
You can’t talk about tigers without reading this storytime classic!
Sing: We Are Clapping, Clapping, Clapping (Goodbye Song)*
Bonus Book: See the Dog OR See the Cat by David LaRochelle (Vote)
Some of my Monday night storytime kiddos are reading in school. They LOVE sitting on the storytime bench and helping me buddy read books with two characters! Tonight the crowd voted to read See the Cat. My storytime friend Emily was the narrator and I was the dog. So many giggles!
*Please visit this page to learn more about my regular storytime songs and routines.
Storytime in the Stacks 
Hi Jessica. I absolutely love your posts. They are so helpful and creative. I especially love your EL tips and how your website lists the components and how to use them!
Question about how you use Laurie Berkner’s song (another of my favorites!) – do you have the music playing and sing along? Do you use video? Do you just sing? Curious how you incorporate her awesome songs.
Thanks for sharing all of your hard work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Jessica. I absolutely love your posts. They are so helpful and creative. I especially love your EL tips and how your website lists the components and how to use them!
Question about how you use Laurie Berkner’s song (another of my favorites!) – do you have the music playing and sing along? Do you use video? Do you just sing? Curious how you incorporate her awesome songs.
Thanks for sharing all of your hard work.
LikeLiked by 1 person