Squirrel Songs & Fingerplays

A Squirrel Song
Sung: "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain"
I'll be gathering all  the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns, gathering all the acorns.
Gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
(make collecting motion with their hands)

And I'll put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside, put them all inside.
Put them all inside my little home.
(pretend to place nuts in tree house)

And I'll eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until, eat the nuts until,
Eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
(pretend to eat acorns)

Then I'll do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again, do it all again,
Do it all again come next fall.
(make gathering  motion with hands and arms again.)

Five Little Squirrels
Five little squirrels with acorns to store
One went to sleep and then there were four!
Four little squirrels hunting acorns in a tree.
One fell down, and now there are three!
Three little squirrels wondering  what to do.
One got lost and now there are two!
Two little squirrels tossing acorns for fun.
One got tired, and now there is one!
One little squirrel playing in the sun,
He ran away, now there are none.

Frisky Squirrel
Sung to: "The Grand Old Duke of York"
Oh, the frisky little squirrel
He gathers nuts and seeds.
He hides them for the winter months
So he'll have all he needs.

Refrain:
Oh, up-up-up he goes
And down-down-down he comes.
He runs around - goes up and down.
His work is never done. (repeat refrain)

Grey Squirrel
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your busy tail!
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your busy tail!
Wrinkle up your funny nose
Hold a nut between your toes
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your busy tail.

See the Squirrels
Sung to: "Brother John"
See the squirrels,
See the squirrels,
Climb the tree
Climb the tree.
Hiding nuts for winter
Hiding nuts for winter.
In the tree
In the tree.

Squirrels
Five little squirrels sitting in a tree
The 1st one said, "What do I see?"
The 2nd one said, "Some nuts on the ground."
The 3rd one said, "Those are nuts that I found."
The 4th one said, "I'll beat you there."
The 5th one said, "All right, that's fair."
So they shook their tails and ran with glee!
To the nuts that lay at the foot of the tree!

So bad at this, but trying........................

This blogging thing seemed like a good idea, but I should have known that when I got busy that it would be the first thing to fall to the wayside.  So sorry I haven't been keeping up with posting the story times.  I actually started doing a second storytime here in April...in addition to our standard Thursday evening storytime for families, we have added, just in April, four weeks of Tuesday morning storytimes.  We've had a really good attendance for the first two weeks.  I can see us possibly trying to add something in the fall permanently, we'll see.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday (March 2) - February 28, 2013

I love Dr. Seuss books, I truly do. I think there is no other author who catered and aimed many of his books towards beginning readers than Dr. Seuss.  However, this year I was not planning to dedicate a story time to Dr. Seuss books. I figured that to a certain degree there is Dr. Seuss all over the place around March 2, the anniversary of his birthday, right?  Well, I caved.  Yes, I admit it...I caved, and I did go ahead and have a Dr. Seuss theme.

We also had a Kiwanis guest reader again Thursday evening.  Note to self:  Dr. Seuss books do not always lend themselves quite so well to guest readers who do not frequently read to young children, but it did go 'okay'.

Books:

Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss




My Many Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss



Songs/Fingerplays:

Cat in the Hat Fingerplay
Author Unknown

One little cat on a sunny day
Put on his hat and went out to play.

Two little cats when it started getting dark
Put on their hats and went to the park.

Three little cats when the sky was blue
Put on their hats and went to the zoo.

Four little cats by the kitchen door
Put on their hats and went to the store.

Five little cats on a sunny day
Put on their hats and they all ran away

Have You Ever Seen a Fishy
Traditional Song

Have you ever seen a fishy on a hot summer day?
palms up in questioning gesture
Have you ever seen a fishy, a swimmin' in the bay?
With its hands in its pockets, and its pockets in its pants,
hands on top of front pants pockets
Have you ever seen a fishy do the Hoochy Coochy Dance?
dramatically move hands to on top of back pockets
You never did!
clap, clap
You never will!
clap, clap

Sing repeating above actions but pretend to have arms frozen to your side.
Have you ever seen a fishy on a cold winter day?
Have you ever seen a fishy, a swimmin' in the bay?
With its hands in its pockets, and its pockets in its pants,
Have you ever seen a fishy do the Hoochy Coochy Dance?
You never did!
You never will!

Crafts:



Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet:  Because Dr. Seuss is the "king" of fun, interesting, creative creatures, our craft this evening was a finger type puppet made out of pipe cleaner and googly eyes.  It was a very simple craft, even for the youngest ones.

"Ready or Not, Here I Come!" - February 21, 2013

Cancelled due to library being closed -  Snow Storm Blizzard 2013 - that never really occurred, but we still had icky weather this day.... :)

"We Are Fam-i-ly" - February 14, 2013

The Family Book, by Todd Parr


I Wish My Brother Was A Dog, by Carol Shields

Here Is My Family
(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Grandma, Mom, & Dad,
I love them all, you see,
Each and every one of them,
They are my family.

*Substitute  family members' names for the three members in the first line.

With My Family
(Tune: The Muffin Man)
Tell me what you like to do
Like to do, Like to do,
Tell me what you like to do
With your family.
Edward likes to rake the leaves
Rake the leaves, rake the leaves.
Edward likes to rake the leaves
With his family.

Substitute things you like to do.

My Family
Here is Daddy (thumb)
Here is Mommy. (index)
Here I am for three. (pinky)
Together we're a family,
As happy as can be! (clap!)

I Love Mommy
(or Daddy, Brother, Sister, etc.)
(tune: Frere Jacques)

I love Mommy, I love Mommy,
Yes I do, yes I do.
And my mommy loves me.
Yes, my mommy loves me,
Loves me too, loves me too.

"Can I Keep Him?" - February 7, 2013

There are TONS of pet books that are just wonderful.  I must admit though that I was really bad about remembering which books we used for this storytime, as we had visitors from our local Kiwanis Club come and read the books, so I was busy doing other 'housekeeping' items when they were reading, so I didn't burn the image in my mind :(

Here is the list of books that our library has that I pulled to have available for the kids, so the books that we read are in here somewhere :)

My Rhinoceros, by Agee
About Pets - McKay
Can I Keep Him? - Kellogg
Children Make Terrible Pets - Brown
The Prince's New Pet - Anderson
The Birthday Pet - Javernick
The New Girl - Robbins
The Pet Wash - Hooks
Guinea Pigs - Cuyler
Duck & Cover - Urbanovic
Don't Take Your Snake - Ireland
Me and My Dragon - Biedrzcki
Gilbert Goldfish wants a Pet - DiPucchio
Little Pink Pup - Kirby
The Pet Dragon - Niemann
What Pet to Get? - Dodd
Before You Were Mine - Boelts
The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash - Noble
Mrs. Crump's Cat - Smith
10-Step Guide to Living with Your Monster - Numeroff
Pinky & Rex and the Just Right Pet - Howe
Hondo & Fabian - McCarty
Dear Mrs. LaRue - Teague
Who Wants a Cheap Rhinocerous - Silverstein



Dog Envelope Craft

The Pets Go...
(Tune: The Ants Go Marching...)

The dogs go running one by one,
hurrah, hurrah
The dogs go running one by one,
hurrah, hurrah
The dogs go running one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go running round and round
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Love Your Pets
(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Love, love
Love your pets,
Love them
Every day.
Give them food
and water, too.
Then let them
Run and play.

Jack Frost/Hibernation/Groundhog Day - January 31, 2013

Hibernation Station, by Michelle Meadows & Kurt Cyrus




Bear Has a Story to Tell, by Phillip Stead


Five Little Groundhogs  (template for flannel board figures)

The first little groundhog digs a home in the fall,
And curls up all winter rolled up like a ball.

The second little groundhog comes out of his lair,
On February second to get some fresh air.

The third little groundhog looks up at the sun,
He then sees his shadow and goes on the run.

The fourth little groundhog at his dark shadow peeks,
He goes back to his burrow for six more weeks.

The fifth little groundhog hopes that skies will be gray,
So that he will know that spring is on its way.

Hibernation Song
(tune: Frere Jacques)

Bear is sleeping,
Bear is sleeping.
In a cave,
In a cave.
I wonder when he'll come out,
I wonder when he'll come out.
In the spring,
In the spring.

Mr. Groundhog
(tune: Frere Jacques)

Mr. Groundhog, Mr. Groundhog
Are you there?  Are you there?
Will you see your shadow?
We all want to know.
On this day, Groundhog Day.

I See a Little Groundhog
(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I see a little groundhog, furry and brown,
He's popping up to look around.
If he sees his shadow, down he'll go,
Six more weeks of winter -- oh no!

Shadows Big and Shadows Small
(tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Shadows big and shadows small
I see shadows on the wall.
Shadows here and shadows there
Lots of shadows everywhere
All the shadows that I see
Big or small they don't scare me.
Shadows, shadows -- oh what fun,
I can make them in the sun
I will make soem big and small
I make shadows by the light
In my room so late at night.