Program: Family Storytime

As I think I've mentioned a time or two, I find myself very busy these days. So I'm not as on top of writing the blog entries as I should be. Here is what I did for my fish family storytime in April.

Welcome, introductions and reminders: No one cares at this point, but I do it anyway!

Opening: Open Shut Them - I'm getting a little tired of this one. Maybe I'll come up with something else before summer storytimes start.

Book: The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen - our storytime theme was fish and I couldn't help but include one of my favorite picture books (maybe it shouldn't have surprised me to discover the author was a librarian!). I prepped the kids for this one by having them practice their "blubs" and then cued them during the story to help out the poor pout-pout fish. They loved this one and they were excellent at blubbing.

Flannel: Sea Life - this was a pretty basic flannel, sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." It introduces a variety of sea life and a short description of their actions. The kids really enjoyed this one. I think it has an octopus, shark, clam, fish, and whale.

Book: I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean! by Kevin Sherry - perhaps I need to practice my "giant squid" voice because the kids didn't love this one as much at the beginning. They were incredibly excited when the squid got eaten by the whale, though, and loved his newest declaration.

Song: "Silly Dance Contest" by Jim Gill - this has become my default storytime song because it's fun and easy. The kids are getting used to it, I think, and really love trying to dance in slow-motion.

Book: Swim! Swim! by Lerch (James Proimos) - this is a very simple picture book about Lerch. He desperately wants to find a friend but isn't having much luck. The kids loved Lerch's attempts at making friends with the limited options he finds in his tank and especially loved the ending.

Book: Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet by Kelly DiPucchio - looking back, I probably shouldn't have used both of these last two books because they're really pretty similar (and this one is a little text-heavy). But, the kids were thrilled when they thought they had the end of this book figured out and they turned out to be wrong. Lots of giggling ensued.

Closing: Wave Goodbye by Rob Reid - the giggles over shaking their booties just get to me every time.

And that was my fish family storytime!