Program: Family Storytime

Here is the last plan for my spring storytime session - I promise I'll try to be better about posting these things in a timely fashion!

Welcome, introductions and reminders - this week we were talking about bugs!

Opening: Open Shut Them - yeah, I definitely think I need to find something new for this; I'm starting to find this one boring.

Book: Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks - I didn't know about this book until it was introduced to me by my internship supervisor in 2010 but she was very passionate about it and I have remembered it since then. I really think my storytime voices need work, though - the kids didn't seem all that excited about this one, though I did get them to scream with me throughout the book.

Song/rhyme: "Itsy-Bitsy Spider/Big, Humongous Spider" - basically what it sounds like, we did the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" rhyme and then followed it up by using our entire arms to make big, humongous spiders to climb up the waterspouts. They thought this was funny.

Book: Bugs Galore by Peter Stein - this was a new book that came in shortly before storytime and I thought the illustrations were bright and bold. In rhyming text, Stein talks about all the kinds of bugs we might encounter. Unfortunately, I don't think the beautiful illustrations were enough for the kids to connect with and this one seemed to drag on.

Flannel: The Very Hungry Caterpillar - okay, this being the last storytime of the spring, it would also, of course, have to be the first storytime where I encountered a problem child with an oblivious parent. This was most obvious as I prepared to start this flannel story (based, of course, on Eric Carle's beloved book). PC (that's problem child) would not sit down. In fact, PC stood directly in front of the flannel board, causing other children to cry out, "I CAN'T SEE!" I repeatedly told PC to sit down because other children needed to be able to see the board. I actually paused the story to try to deal with PC. PC completely ignored me; in fact, it was like I was speaking a foreign language (which I know was not the case as PC's parent was speaking English). OP (oblivious parent - try to keep up) was not exactly oblivious - OP also repeatedly told PC to sit down. But PC ignored OP as well - and OP just sat there, content to simply keep repeating "PC, you need to sit down for storytime." Just when I was about to ask OP to take PC out of the room (or at least into a stranglehold hug position), PC finally sat down. I don't think PC actually understood that this was what was desired and was simply sitting down after being tired of standing. This was an incredibly frustrating but valuable interaction for my last spring storytime. Yes, I am in charge during storytime - but that still does not make me your child's parent. Please don't let it get to the point where I need to ask you to leave because that's fun for no one involved.

Okay, now that's over with - the kids loved the flannel. I had them name each piece as we put it on the board.

Song: "Silly Dance Contest" by Jim Gill - I tried to be as silly as possible for our last spring hurrah.

Book: Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas - believe it or not, I had never really heard of Jan Thomas until late last year. This was my first time using one of her books in storytime and it was definitely a huge hit - the kids loved acting it out!

Closing: Wave Goodbye by Rob Reid - Still love it.

I got 4 hugs after storytime from enthusiastic attendees, which made the trouble with PC seem like a minor setback. And that was my bug family storytime! Any thoughts?