Robot Preschool Storytime

My manager had shown me a really cute robot book by David Carter a couple of months ago that I have been waiting for the right time to use, and since I already had robots on my mind because of the DoodleBot program I would be doing with a group of school-aged kids the same day, I decided I might as well do a Robot storytime as well.

We started with our welcome song, then I introduced the topic and the kids seemed really excited about it. We then sang our story song and started on our first book, Boy + Bot by Amy Dyckman and Dan Yaccarino. This is a really cute story about a boy and a robot who meet by chance and start playing together. 

But the robot's power switch accidentally gets turned off, and the boy thinks he is sick and takes him home and tries to take care of him. Later, the robot's switch gets turned back on, and when he sees the sleeping boy he thinks there is something wrong with him! The illustrations have a nostalgic 50's sci-fi feel as well.

After that we did a rhyme about "Five Little Robots" with a magnet board and five robots cut from craft foam using an Ellison die cutter:

Five little robots in the toy shop.

Small and shiny with antennae on top.

Along came a boy (girl) with a dollar one day,

And bought a  (color)  robot and took it away!

Four little robots........ (repeat, counting down to none)

They really enjoyed this and asked to do it again.

Then it was time for the new book, David Carter's If You're A Robot And You Know It, which is obviously based on the traditional children's song, "If You're Happy and You Know It". 

This book has really fun pull-tabs that make the robots act out the various actions, including traditional ones such as clapping hands or stomping feet, as well as robot actions like "shoot laser beams out of your eyes". This book is very cute and a lot of fun, and the kids insisted on doing it twice as well.

(I've also used his If You're Happy And You Know It with animal characters, which the kids also loved.)

Then to finish off with our last story, Beep! Beep! Go To Sleep! by Todd Tarpley and John Rocco. This is a super cute and funny story that parents can definitely relate to! A boy is trying to put his three little robots to bed for the night, and just when you think they're asleep (and the rhyming text leads the kids to say "asleep"), you turn the page to hear "Beep! Beep!" and discover they are NOT asleep.

Instead they have all kinds of excuses like "my sensors ache", "my fan belt's loose", "I need more oil"... This happens over and over, with the boy becoming increasingly frustrated with them. Finally he agrees to a bedtime story, and in the end it is the boy that is asleep. Because, after all, robots are machines; they don't need sleep!

We ended with our story song, and passed out stickers.

How It Went
The kids were excited about the topic when I told them, and really seemed to have a lot of fun with it. They liked both stories, and really loved getting to pretend to be robots with If You're A Robot And You Know It. Several of them denied ever making excuses to get out of bed like the robots in Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep!, but a few did admit to asking for water or a night light. This was an outreach storytime, so no parents, but I think this book would really be great for a family storytime. I think all of us parents can relate to the many excuses to put off bedtime!

DoodleBots 2.0 - STEAM Program

Last summer I came across a great program idea, using the vibrating motor from a cheap DollarTree electric toothbrush (shown below) and a pool noodle to make a simple "robot" that doodles. The first time I did this program, it worked well and was a big hit. There was a little trouble-shooting involved, but nothing major.

However, when I repeated it earlier this summer, it did not go so well. We had major problems with the motor assembly not being able to maintain connections, thus the current would be interrupted and the motor wouldn't vwork. It was very frustrating for all of us, to say the least.

So this time, I modified the protocol. Instead of removing the motor, battery holder, and switch from the toothbrush and taping them up together as shown below:

I left them intact inside the toothbrush and just cut the toothbrush head off, leaving just the handle containing the motor, batter holder, battery, and switch, keeping everything nice and cozy so the circuit would stay intact. I used a bandsaw, but you could use heavy duty snippers or a handsaw, possible a router, as well. 

First, I did show them a disembodied motor and how it worked, and let them all see it up close and touch it if they wanted. Then, each child chose one 4.5" piece of pool noodle (we had several colors), one motor assembly (the toothbrushes came in various colors as well), and 3 markers. First, they inserted the motor into the center of the pool noodle. Then, they used 2-3 rubber bands to attach the markers to their bots, taking care to place evenly so the bot would not tip over. If desired, you could tape or hot glue the markers in place, but I think it's kind of neat to see how their movement changes as the markers shift, or they may want to change out colors.

After that, it was time to personalize their robot with miscellaneous craft supplies. We have found that hot glue works the best, so we had several low-melt glue guns and had adults man them. Glue dots work okay for some things, like eyes or jewels, and pipe cleaners and feathers can be inserted right into the foam. You can see some of the creations the group made today below:

Once finished, take the caps off, make sure markers are level, turn the motor on, and let it go! I strongly recommend washable markers, and large pieces of paper, as the bots do tend to have a mind of their own. We covered the tables with paper from a big roll of art paper, and then gave each kid an 11x17 sheet.

Here is a video of my prototype in action:

At the beginning of the program I did a demonstration to show how electricity flows through a circuit, and how important is that all connection be maintained using these cool gadgets from Lakeshore called: 'Light and Sound Touch Circuits" It is kind of like a short light sabre with handles at each end. One person can complete the circuit by holding both handles, or two people can complete the circuit by each hold a handle, then touching their free hands together. I called up a volunteer to demonstrate, then we tested to see if it would work if we made a circuit with ALL of the kids holding hands. 

The kids really liked these gadgets and were very impressed it worked with all of us. After they finished with their bots, we let them have free time to play with the Touch Circuits. They experimented with all kinds of crazy circuits, and liked them so much they didn't want to give them up! (They actually produced multicolored lights, but it just photographed as white light, and you can switch off the sounds).

This program was much more successful than the last time, no frustrations, and the kids and adults all seemed to really enjoy it.

DNA Extraction STEAM Program

This week I got to re-visit my former career as a research microbiologist and introduce kids to molecular biology with a crude DNA extraction experiment. DNA extraction is something I used to do routinely in my work which involved sequencing, cloning, and engineering DNA as a part of HIV research and vaccine development in my previous life.

While the procedures I used were a little bit more complicated and required sterile conditions in order to have DNA of the purity required for further use and analysis, this procedure is simple, uses ordinary household materials, and yields impressive amounts of DNA due to the unique octoploid nature of commercially-grown stawberries. As a result of hydbridization, this variety of strawberry has eight copies of each chromosome, rather that the usual two. I combined this experiment with a simple DNA model construction activity, viewing strawberry cells, stained human chromosomes, and our extracted DNA under the microscope, as well as extension activities to try later in the classroom or at home. 

I began with a very brief explanation of what DNA was and how the 4 bases create 3-letter "words" and that this code controls everything that goes on in the cell, and thus your body, much like code controls what a computer does. I also showed a diagram of the cell, explaining how the DNA is inside the nucleus, and that we were going to use detergent to break down the lipid cell & nuclear membranes to release the DNA, and then precipitate it with alcohol so that we could see it.

Recommended Ages: 8 to 16

Recommended Group Size: No more than 20

Time: 1-1/4 hour for all activities (allow more time for a larger group)

Budget: TBD, but low if you disregard the microscope & prepared slides

Materials

• Strawberries (other soft fruits can work, but strawberries yield the most DNA)
• Zip-lock bags (sandwich or pint sized)
• Water (I just used tap water)
• Dawn dish detergent (original)
• Salt, not iodized
• Small plastic cup
• 4-Cup coffee filter
• Rubber band
• Cold isopropyl alcohol (either 70% or 91% will work)
• Clear plastic test tube, vial, medicine cup, or shot “glass” (optional)
• Coffee stirrer or bamboo skewer (not pictured)
• Graduated cylinders or measuring cup & spoons

Procedure 

1. Prepare Lysis Buffer. For every 100 ml of buffer (about 3 oz), mix 90 ml of water with 10 ml (1 Tbsp) of detergent, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Let sit at room temperature until bubbles subside.

2. Place 1 large strawberry (or 2 small-medium) in a zip-lock bag, squeeze all the air out and seal. Then start squishing the strawberry with your hands and fingers until no large chunks remain.

3. Add 15 ml (or 1 Tbsp) of the Lysis Buffer (we pre-measured it and gave it to them in small cups) to the smashed strawberry in bag and mix gently; do not create foam. Let sit for 2-3 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the cup and filter. Push the coffee filter partially into the cup, folding the top inch or so over the side and securing with a rubber band. Then pour contents of zip-lock bag into the filter and let drip for 15-20 minutes. [It may need a little "help" by VERY gently stirring with a plastic spoon, but you must be very careful not to tear or puncture the filter!]

4. Once you have enough liquid to cover the bottom of the cup, carefully remove and discard the filter and remaining contents. This is the step we had the most accidents as the kids would tip the cups over or spill the contents of the filter. The remaining liquid is your filtrate. Optional (but recommended): transfer filtrate to a smaller, clear container for better observation.

5. Measure out 10-15 ml (1 Tbsp) of alcohol and carefully pour down the side of the cup so that it forms a separate layer on top of the filtrate, and observe over the next 10 minutes or so as the DNA comes out of solution and is pulled into the alcohol layer as it precipitates. (We measure the alcohol and helped them pour it properly.) Remind the kids not to breathe directly over the cup once the alcohol has been added.

6. At first, a cloudy layer and a few tiny bubbles will form at the interface of the alcohol and filtrate, then as the DNA precipitates, it floats higher up in the alcohol layer and pulls more DNA filaments with it. It first appears as a somewhat gelatinous stringy mass.

7. As the DNA preciptates, it become white, condenses, and floats towards the top of the alcohol layer and is very visible. If desired, spool out some of the DNA with a stirrer or skewer. You can make a wet mount and look at it under the microscope, but there really isn't much to see, especially without a stain; it will just look like a clear, beige stringy mass.

(Click on any image to view larger version)

DNA Model

While we were waiting for the strawberry mush to filter, we moved to another table and made models of DNA using Twizzlers, mini-marshmallows in 4 different colors, and toothpicks. The Twizzlers represent the ribophosphate backbone, or sides of the ladder, and each color of marshmallow represents one of the bases that make up the rungs: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. Remember to designate which base each color of marshmallow corresponds to, and that A always pairs with T, and G always pairs with C on the rungs.

As they worked on the models, I talked a little more about how the 4 bases made up the genetic code, in 3-letter words called codons, and that these "words" are what tell the cell what to do and determine all of our physical characteristics. First they constructed the ladder, then simply grabbed each end and twisted to form the double helix. It does not hold the twist very long, however. We gave them zip-lock bags to put them in to take home.

Microscopy

We also introduced them to the microscope. I sliced a very thin sliver of a strawberry and mounted it on a slide so that they could see the strawberry cells. These are unstained, so many of the organelles are not visible, but if you look closely you can see the nucleus (where the DNA is contained) and vacuoles. I also bought a prepared slide of stained animal (not sure if it's human or not) cells, showing one with an intact nucleus next to one that is getting ready to divide. The nucleus has broken down and the DNA condensed into chromosomes, which are visible when stained (the photo is blurry because it is very hard to take a picture through the microscope with a phone!

Extension Activities

I had originally planned to have them do this origami DNA model that was developed by Dr. Alex Bateman, one of the researchers at the Sanger Institute, because I thought it turned out really well and wasn't that difficult (and I generally don't have the patience for origami). But, in the end we decided it might be too hard for kids to do, and substituted the candy model instead, which we knew they could do and knew they would enjoy. 

So, I sent the origami home with them instead. It comes in two versions, one already colored in with corresponding bases, or a blank one to color yourself, plus instructions. Links to the files are below:

• Colored Template
• Colored Instructions 
• Blank Template 
• Blank Instructions 

There is also a video corresponding to the folding directions above by Dr. Bateman:

And another that shows a slightly different approach to doing the same thing (ignore the inaccurate rainbow coloration). It is in Spanish, but you really don't need the narrative, just watch the video:

I also gave them the written protocol for the extraction experiment so they could repeat it at home, with suggestions to try other soft fruits and compare the DNA yield to that of the strawberries [Spoiler: it will be less].

How It Went

I was excited for this program, and having a chance to put my previous degree & career to use, and just hoped the kids would enjoy it. I imagine that much of the information about DNA was a little over their heads, but hopefully at least introducing them to it will make it easier for them to learn later. I wasn't sure if they were at all familiar with DNA yet, so I tested them by telling them my dress would give them a clue as to what our experiment was about. To my surprise, a couple of them did recognize the DNA pattern (yes, I was channeling Miss Frizzle!).

They did really seem to like it. You mix things together and something happens, and even if you don't quite understand everything going on, it is still cool to watch. Several of them wanted to know if they could touch their DNA after they spooled it out, though others were a little squeamish about it. The yield they got from this batch of strawberries was particularly high and quite impressive! Even my boss, who is not a science person, thought it was cool.

We had 11 kids between the ages of 6 and 10 (this would be even better for a slightly older group). Of course they loved making the candy model of DNA, and though they weren't allowed to eat any of the candy there (this facility has extremely strict rules about food being healthy, organic, and locally sourced), they were allowed to take it home and let their parents decide if they could eat it.

Some were really interested in looking through the microscope, and others couldn't quite get the hang of it, but again, it was a good introduction (and a brand new toy for me, courtesy of my awesome manager). Now I need to come up with some other programs to make use of my new toy. I'm thinking something along the lines of The Fungus Among Us, Life In A Pond, Germs & Hygiene....Blood looks really cool under the microscope, but I'm not sure how to incorporate that into a program yet.

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Trying Something Out - Changes Coming

When I first started this blog, it was focused solely on early literacy, storytime, and picture books. Then I decided I wanted to write posts about other topics, such as middle-grade and YA literature, STEAM programming, and more general topics like customer service, collection development, profession development, etc., so I started a separate blog called Jen's Library Tales. Unfortunately, that blog never really got any traction, and I'm finding it very hard to find time to keep up with two blogs.

I've been on the fence about what to do for the last year. Keep both blogs and continue limping along with the second one and hope it eventually gains readership, drop the second blog and just blog about early literacy and storytime, or somehow try to integrate the two? I hate to completely drop the second blog, because I really want to share my STEAM programs, and a few other things. I've gone back and forth, and I'm really wishing I had had a better vision of what I would eventually want to do at the beginning because now I have a very focused domain name, but now want to include more, but don't want to start all over with a new name, either.

I am going to experiment with keeping the name, but expanding the description and including some of the things I had been putting on the other blog, primarily STEAM programming and occasional commentary about various library-related topics and experiences, and switching to using Goodreads for most book reviews.

So, you may notice a bit more diversity in content, and some slight changes in menus and organization. I won't delete the old blog, but will probably stop posting new content, and if I think this integration is going to work, I will eventually copy some of the existing content back to this blog. 

So, does this sound like a good plan? Please comment! Will an expanded scope be confusing, distracting, or inspiring?

Unusual Things, or, A Hastily Planned Storytime Without an [Intentional] Theme

So the last two weeks have been really crazy with planning and conducting extra summer STEAM programs for the school-aged kids. I hate to admit it, but I had no chance to plan my storytime for today, and found myself at home on Thursday night with no plan, and no books pulled, so the theme was going to have to be "Whatever Books Miss Jennifer Happens to Own and Feels Like Doing"!

So I looked through my rather small collection of picture books, and pulled out an old favorite, Elizabite: Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant, and a more recent discovery, Hieronymus Betts and His Unusual Pets. My daughter loved Froggy, so we have several Froggy books, and I selected Froggy Learns To Swim since it was summer and some of the kids were likely taking lessons or had at least been to the pool. As I looked at them, I realized I had unintentionally created a loose theme of "Unusual Things", with a very unusual plant, unusual pets, and a frog who can't swim (that's unusual, right?).

We started with our welcome song and brief introduction, then sang our story song to help us get focused and ready for our first book, Elizabite: Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant. I have always loved this lesser known story by H. A. Rey, creator of Curious George, partly because I've always been fascinated by carnivorous plants. 

But it's also a cute, funny story told in a pleasant rhyming text that has a great rhythm for reading aloud, and it has some great vocabulary words, like: carnivorous, botanist, frankfurter, and laboratory.

I also showed them a picture of a real carnivorous plant, the Venus FlyTrap, then we talked about the ordinary flowers we see growing around the daycare, and did a cute little action rhyme about planting a rose:

Plant A Seed

Dig a little hole, plant a little seed.

Pour a little water, pull a little weed.

Chase a little bug. Look, there he goes!

Give a little sunshine, grow a little rose.

I told them to smell the rose, and one little girl said it would make you sneeze if you were allergic. I said that was true, but these are pretend roses, so they won't make you sneeze. And of course when we repeated it, about half the group sneezed after smelling their pretend rose, and thought they were soooo funny! 

Next we moved from unusual plants to unusual animals with Hieronymus Betts and his Unusual Pets by M. P. Robertson. I came across this book a couple of years ago, and I love it! Hieronymus Betts has some very ususual pets, like a slugapotamus, a sabre-toothed rhino-toad, a porcupython, and a whatchamacalit! 

But, guess what is even slimier, louder, greedier, scarier, fiercer, stinkier, and stranger than all of those?? Very funny with some fun nonsense words, imaginative illustrations, and an unexpected twist at the end.

Next, we talked about what kinds of pets (and little brothers) we all had, and since most of the kids had dogs, we followed up with singing a round of "B-I-N-G-O"; after the first verse substituting a clap for a letter, and repeating until we were clapping all five letters, and finishing by singing a final verse saying and clapping each letter.

B-I-N-G-O

There was a farmer who had a dog,

and BINGO was his name-oh.

B - I - N - G - O,

B - I - N - G - O,

B - I - N - G - O,

And BINGO was his name-oh!

Our final book was Froggy Learns To Swim by Jonathan London & Frank Remkiewicz. What could be more unusual that a frog who doesn't know how to swim and is afraid of the water?? This is a great summer-time read, as many of the kids are going to the pool or beach, and some are taking swimming lessions, so they can relate. It is also very interactive, as they can join in saying "Bubble, bubble; Toot, toot" and "Chicken, airplane, soldier" as well as doing the arm motions. And of course everyone will get a big laugh when Froggy looses his swimsuit!

We finished with our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went 
I'll be honest, I did feel a little guilty for putting so little thought into this week's storytime. But you know what? It ended up coming together amazingly well, and not only were the kids clueless about how quickly I threw it together, they really enjoyed it and listened very attentively to the stories! This is one skill for which I have my current position to thank. I also do a mobile storytime, with as many as 6 back-to-back storytimes a day, with ages ranging from 3 to 5. I have a bin full of books to use, and have to do everything on the fly, adjusting to each class, with no real planning. This job has really helped me to learn not to obsess and over-plan things, and how to go with the flow, making last minute changes when needed, which is a wonderful skill to have!

The kids really liked everything we did! They listened very well and were really engaged in everything. They were fascinated by the idea of carnivorous plants, and predictably laughed when Elizabite bit the maid's butt. The loved all of Hieronymus Betts' fantastic pets, and enjoyed sharing what pets they had. They sung along with "BINGO" and planted seeds with the rhyme, and really got into joining Froggy saying "Bubble, bubble; Toot, toot" and "Chicken, airplane, soldier" as well as doing the motions. And of course they thought it was hilarious when Froggy lost his swimsuit.

So it turned out to be a great storytime, after all.

Flannel Friday Round-up for 6-16-17

Here's the Round-Up for June 16th, such as it is. As of 10:00 PM EDT, there is still only one lonely submission. If anyone else has anything to add, go ahead and put your link in the comments on Saturday, and I'll add it!

Kate of "Felt Board Magic" has our lone submission for this week with a "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat" party hat hide-and-seek game, presumably inspired by the ever-popular "Little Mouse" game. This could be used to discuss colors and patterns, and would fit with a variety of themes, such as cats, birthdays, parties, hats, colors, etc. There is also a link to purchase the pattern if you need one. 

Visit the Flannel Friday Pinterest Board for past Round-Up's and tons of inspiration. For more information about Flannel Friday and how to participate, visit the Flannel Friday site.

The Ups and Downs of Library Programming

This week was a roller-coaster ride of successful and not-so-successful programs. There is nothing like the high you get from a successful program, but there is also nothing like the low from an unsuccessful one, and it's even worse when that same program was previously successful.

On Wednesday we repeated my "DoodleBot" program from last year. This program uses the motor from cheap electric toothbrushes, pool noodles, and markers to build a simple "robot" that creates art. When I did this program last year, it was a huge hit. There was a little bit of troubleshooting, but it was not a major issue, and it has been my most popular blogpost.

This time around, we had lots of problems. To start with, it was a much larger group (35 versus 10), probably too large for a program of this type, that is a little more complex and sophisticated, and prone to bugs. Second, we were expecting 35 kids, but they were supposed to have several teen aides to help, along with the camp director and the three of us from the library. So, we thought we would have enough help and supervision to handle a group this size. But, then the teen counselors decided they wanted to make their own DoodleBot, which brought our number of particpants up to 40, and reduced our "adult" help to 4, and stretched our very limited supplies past what we were prepared for.

Then, after the kids finished personalizing their bots and were ready for the motor, at least half the motors wouldn't work right! For some reason, the connections were being much more finicky that before, and were loosening or shifting just enough to break the flow of current through the circuit. This had happened before, but not to the extent it did this time. The motors would only work intermittently, and this particular group was not as good at problem-solving on their own as the previous, so were constantly getting upset and asking for help. It was a very frustrating experience for me, the kids, and my co-workers, and I felt completely defeated.

I still do not understand why we had so much more trouble this time around. The bot prototype I made that has been sitting on my desk for a year still works fine. So, I have a lot of trouble-shooting and creative problem solving ahead of me with this one.

Since we did not really have enough motors left because of the extra participants, and I didn't have enough time to get them all working again, I decided to change gears at the last minute for Friday's program at a different location and do my "Mirror, Mirror" program, which has the demonstration of a couple of cool special effects using mirrors and reflection, followed by making kaleidoscopes. For complete details, see my previous post.

I LOVE this program! It is very cheap, uses easily obtainable supplies, relatively easy, no complicated prep, it really can't go wrong, and the kids really like it! So yesterday I quickly got everything together, and the program was a big hit. At first I could tell the kids (16 kids around ages 8-10) weren't thrilled to have to put away their games and come sit at the tables for the program, and were thinking "this is going to be lame". But when I showed them the mirascope's holographic image projection and the infinity mirror, they started coming around.

By the end, we heard exclamations of "So cool!" over and over, and several asked how long we were staying and if we were coming back next week! They were trading back and forth, looking at each others' designs and patterns. I really like how all their kaleidoscopes looked different, and that no matter how much or little time they put in their designs, they still looked cool when you looked through the kaleidoscope. Here are some of their kaleidoscopes:

And here are some of the images they created (if you look closely at the second one on the bottom row you will see a dinosaur in the pattern):

I am so glad I got to end the week on a positive note, but I am still really bummed and frustrated that we had so much trouble with the Doodlebot program after it worked well the previous time. If you want more details and step-by-step of what we did, check out my previous "DoodleBot" and "Mirror, Mirror" posts.

Now, off to take a nap, then relax and read a book before I tackle trouble-shooting tomorrow...

We Love Dinosaurs!

I think almost everyone is fascinated by dinosaurs as a kid, and some of us never outgrow it. I had a serious interest in paleontology, but realized it wasn't the most practical career choice. But I still love dinosaurs, and do at least one round of dinosaur stories every year.

We started with our welcome song, then I introduced the topic, and quickly moved to our story song before they could get too worked up since they were all sitting so nicely when I got there.

For our first book I choose one that is kind of silly and always attention getting, Ten Little Dinosaurs by Pattie Schnetzler and Jim Harris. I love this book! It is fun to read, and has wonderful illustrations, and counts down from 10 to 0 with rhyming quatrains, but best of all, it is big spherical wiggly eyes that really bring the dinosaurs to life. Each page has die cut holes for the eyes to fit through, so each dinosaur has them. The kids love this! It is a bit of a pain when it comes to shelving or stacking this book, but so worth it! There are other versions without the wiggle eyes that would be more practical for shelving in a circulating collection, but for an office or personal collection, I would definitely want the eyes!

I followed that with the "Ten Big Dinosaurs" counting song to count up to 10, then back down, for extra counting and fine motor practice.

Ten BIG Dinosaurs

One big, two big, three big dinosaurs,

Four big, five big, six big dinosaurs,

Seven big, eight big, nine big dinosaurs,

Ten big dinosaurs!

They all lived a long, long time ago,

They all lived a long, long, time ago,

The all lived a long, long time ago.

Now there are no more.

Ten big, nine big, eight big dinosaurs,

Seven big, six big, five big dinosaurs,

Four big, three big, two big dinosaurs, 

One big dinosaur!

Next up was another fun book kids always love, Snappy Little Dinosaurs by Dugald Steer. If you don't already know, the Snappy Little... books are a great series of pop-up books on many different subjects. I think they are currently out of print, but you could try buying used copies, just look for sellers that have high ratings and clearly describe the condition of the pop-ups. 

This book has big, bright pop-ups, along with the scientific names for each dinosaur and a rhyming text. Sometimes I read the text, sometimes I just show the pictures, have them repeat the name, and talk about the type of dinosaur (which is what I did this time).

We followed that with a song, and then an action rhyme, that let us act like dinosaurs:

The Dinosaur Goes...

(to the tune of "Wheels On The Bus")

Tyrannosaurus rex goes roar, roar, roar;

Roar, roar, roar; roar, roar, raor

Tyrannsaurus rex goes roar, roar, roar;

All day long.

The pteranodon's wings go flap, flap, flap....

The velociraptor goes run, run, run....

The brontosaurus' feet go stomp, stomp, stomp....

The mosasaurus' tail goes splash, splash, splash....

The triceratops goes munch, munch, munch....

____________________

Long Ago

Dinosaurs lived long ago.

Some walked, 

Some swam, 

And some flew, you know.

Some were big,

Some were small.

Some were gigantic,

V-e-r-y tall!

Our last story was Dinosaurs After Dark by Jonathan Emmett and Curtis Jobling. Little Bobby is in bed when he hears a noise outside. When he looks outside, he sees a dinosaur walking by! Bobby rushes out and follows him downtown, where there are dinosaurs everywhere. First they want to eat him, but then decide to let him play for a while first.

 A cute story with bright, simple illustrations with black outlines, and a twist at the end. The kids may not get the twist at the end, or may not agree on what it means, but either way it is still a cute story that they will enjoy.

I finished up by re-iterating that dinosaurs are now extinct, and all we have left is their fossilized bones. I explained that "fossilized" meant the bones had been changed to stone, and went on to tell them that bones weren't the only fossils that dinosaurs left behind; there are also fossilized eggs, and fossilized dinosaur......POOP! I told them it even had a special name, "coprolite", and reminded them since it was fossilized that meant it had turned to stone, so it wasn't messy or stinky anymore.

Then we sang our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went

Today was an awesome storytime! Probably one of the best in a while. When I got there the kids were all seated and waiting for me, very calm and quiet, and they did a much better job listening today than the last couple of times. Of course with a theme of Dinosaurs, they did get a little loud out times, but were never out of control.

The LOVED the Ten Little Dinosaurs with the big googly eyes and all the sillyness, and cracking up laughing hysterically everytime I turned the page. The also laughed at how each dinosaur was called a silly name, like "bonehead" for Pachycephalosaurus and "nut brain" for Stegasaurus, and I paused to explain how those names were based on characteristics of each dinosaur. 

Snappy Little Dinosaurs was a big hit, too, with the pretending to be scared as each one popped out at them. They didn't really see the twist in the ending of Dinosaurs After Dark, but enjoyed the story anyway. And they had a lot of fun acting like dinosaurs with the songs and rhymes.