F is for Fall: Storytime Plan

Opening Song: "If You're Happy and You Know It" [standing up] with whispered added verse "If it's storytime and you know it, say Shhhh..."

Letter of the Day

Magnet Board Guessing Game: "Ladybug, ladybug, playing hide and seek. Are you behind the _______ leaf? Let's take a peek" (birch leaf, oak leaf, elm leaf, maple leaf--"How they are the same? How they are different?')

Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri

OR Book: Fall is not Easy by Marty Kelley




Action Rhyme: "Two Little Gray Squirrels" ("Blackbirds" variation. "Scamper away; scamper back" etc)

Song: “Dance, Freeze, Melt” by The Learning Groove from Rockin' Red

Book: Full of Fall by April Pulley Sayre (at least a few pages--emphasis on rare action words)

Action Rhyme with Scarves: 

Once I was a seed and I was small, small, small [begin on haunches]
I've grown into a tree and I am tall, tall, tall [tippytoes]
My branches sway in the breeze so soft--[wave scarf back and forth]
and then comes fall and they all fall off! [toss scarf in the air]

Song with Scarves: "Rock and Roll Freeze Dance" from Hap Palmer's So Big

Scarf rhyme: If group is small enough, invite kids to bring scarves into the middle, being careful of each others' bodies. Make a pile together, "raking" with hands:
"I like to rake the leaves into a great big clump.
Then I move back a bit, bend my legs, and jump!"
Everyone gets a turn to jump into the pile.

Closing Song: Laurie Berkner's "These Are My Glasses" a cappella. "Today, everything we find in our book will begin with F."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Alternatives to Swap or Add In 

Action Rhyme with or without Scarves: "If I Were a Leaf"

If I were a leaf,

I'd jump down from my tree [jump]

I'd dance in the wind [dance around]

I'd fly in the breeze [pretend to fly]

I'd turn bright colors [look at arms, down at self in wonder]

I'd spin in the air [spin around],

then I'd land on the ground [fall down gently]--

I just don't know where! [shrug]

Action Song [standing] : "The Roots of the Tree" (to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus")

The roots of the tree grow down, down, down,
down, down, down,
down, down, down;
the roots of the tree grow down, down, down
deep in the woods
(wiggle fingers, pointed downward, down your body from shoulders to toes)
The branches of the tree grow out-out-out
(arms up high)
The wind blows the branches back and forth
(wave arms back and forth over head)
The leaves on the tree come tumbling down
(wiggle fingers up high to down low)

Book: Leaves by David Ezra Stein

T is for Transportation (or V is for Vehicles/G is for Things That Go)

Opening Song: "If You're Happy and You Know It" [standing up] with whispered added verse "If it's storytime and you know it, say Shhhh..."

Letter of the Day

Today, all of our books will be about different forms of transportation. What is transportation? What forms of transportation can you think of?* There are many in our play space upstairs! [Side to parents about about early literacy value of play]

*If time, play a few vehicle sounds from I Hear Ewe app and ask if kids can identify them

Activity/Guessing Game: "Yellow Duck, Yellow Duck, Are You Behind the [BLUE] Truck?"

Book: Yellow Copter by Kersten Hamilton
[What form of transportation is "copter" short for? What can a helicopter do that an airplane can't?....NOTE: do helicopter "WHUP WHUP WHUPs together...Who sees the CRANE on this page? What color is it?]

Action Rhyme, seated: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as below:

Once through at standard tempo--

once SWAY SWAY SWAY your boat because there are big waves
once TWIST TWIST TWIST your boat between the rocks in the rapids

once REALLY QUICKLY, because a crocodile's behind us! 

Song: “Dance, Freeze, Melt” by The Learning Groove from Rockin’ Red OR "Drivin' in My Car" by Ralph Covert IF doing In the Driver's Seat as second book

Book: Duck on a Bike by David Shannon (OR In the Driver's Seat by Max Haynes)

Action Rhyme, standing: [Once slow, once fast or in alien/robot voice] "We're Going to the Moon"

Zoom, zoom, zoom---we're going to the moon.

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we'll get there very soon.

5...4...3...2...1--BLAST-OFF!

Song: "Driving In My Car" by Ralph Covert/Ralph's World from album Ralph's World OR "Green Means Go"  by Draza Jansky--with shaker eggs if possible--if already done "Driving in My Car"

Action Rhyme: (possibly, if time, before sitting back down): "I'm an Airplane" a la Jbrary

Book/Song: The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

Closing Song: Laurie Berkner's "These Are My Glasses" a cappella. "Today, everything we find in our book will begin with T. Possibles before opening to children....Tyrannosaurus Rex! Tarantula!]

----------------------------------------------------

Alternatives to swap in: 

Books:
Fire Engine No. 9 by Mike Austin
McToad Mows Tiny Island by Tom Angleberger
Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz
MOO! by David LaRochelle
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Song with Shaker Eggs: "Green Means Go" by Draza Jansky

[Practice going and stopping with shaker eggs first. "We shake and we shake and we STOP. We shake and we shake and we STOP"]

Song with Magnet Board "My Old Blue Truck"
[tune: Mulberry Bush or Wheels on the Bus, roughly]
[magnets, different vehicles with different characteristics:
my new red bike, my small black car]
"My old blue truck goes bumping along, bumping along, bumping along
My old blue truck goes bumping along, all day long...' [switch out vehicles and verbs]

Coach MacDonald Had a Team

Coach MacDonald had a team
(GO TEAM, GO TEAM, GO!)
and when they practiced they would STRETCH
(GO TEAM, GO TEAM, GO!)--
with a stretch stretch here
and a stretch stretch there,
here a stretch, there a stretch,
everywhere a stretch, stretch,
Coach MacDonald had a team
(GO TEAM, GO TEAM, GO!)

and when they practiced they would JUMP (JOG...SQUAT...BEND...others?)

The Roots of the Tree (to "Wheels On The Bus")

[via Monica]

The roots of the tree grow down, down, down,
down, down, down,
down, down, down;
the roots of the tree grow down, down, down
deep in the woods
(wiggle fingers, pointed downward, down your body from shoulders to toes)
The branches of the tree grow out-out-out
(arms up high)
The wind blows the branches back and forth
(wave arms back and forth over head)
The leaves on the tree come tumbling down
(wiggle fingers up high to down low)

[vary last line to adapt to other seasons]