What's For Dinner? - Food Storytime

What to do on the Storytime Bus during the transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas? It isn't really winter yet, and we don't typically get much snow until January or February around here, so I usually save those themes until after the holidays. I decided to do "Food" since food does play a big part in the traditions of both holidays, and everyone has to eat, right?

We visited multiple facilities and saw many groups, for roughly 30 minutes each. We started each session with an introduction including the letter-of-the-day (Ff) and our "story song", followed by reading 2-3 books and doing a couple of other songs or activities, depending on time, with several of each to choose from.

The Books 

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague, kids love this series!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, a beloved classic, great artwork

Keisha Cane and her Very Sweet Tooth by Ashley Foxx & April Foxx, very cute

What's for Dinner? by Ann Garrett & Gene-Michael Higney; bold, simple illustrations, flaps

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli, written to teach babies and toddlers what should 

     not go in their mouth, but the older kids love it, too.

Everybody Loves Bacon by Kelly Dipucchio & Eric Wight, silly with lots of puns

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli, humorous, short & simple

Worms for Lunch? by Leonid Gore, lift a flap, guess what animals eat

Is That Wise, Pig? by Jan Thomas, funny, counting, bold, simple illustrations

The Activities  

I had this nice set of plush fruits and vegetables that we would hold up and see if the kids could name them. They had no problem with the fruit, but the green onion, garlic, and what could be either a poblano pepper or okra game them trouble. We talked about the ones we liked and didn't like, and how they were good for you. Sometime I used them with the song below, following a reading of Is That Wise, Pig? I would hold an item up and let the kids name them to put in the soup; other times I just let the kids taking turns saying what they would like to add to the soup.

Stir, Stir, Stir the Soup

(to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Stir, stir, stir the soup, 

Stir it all day long.

Add some ______,

Take a taste - SLURRP!

Soup will make us strong!

(repeat for as many verses/ingredients as desired, act out motions)

____________________

I also had a song that went with The Watermelon Seed perfectly, that helps to explain why you don't have to worry about a watermelon growing in your belly if you swallow a seed and provides the opportunity for a quick discussion about what seeds need to grow.

A Watermelon Seed

(to the tune of "London Bridges", call and response)

Oh, no! (Oh, no!)

I just swallowed, (I just swallowed)

A watermelon seed (A watermelon seed)

Will I grow a watermelon (Will I grow a watermelon)

Inside me? (Inside me?)

No, no. (No, no)

The seed won't grow (The seed won't grow)

In my tummy. (In my tummy.)

There's no rain or sunshine (There's no rain or sunshine)

Inside me. (Inside me)

________________________

The last activity provided an opportunity to discuss picky eaters, and why you should always try a bite of everything before you decide whether you like it or not. 

"Picky Paul"

There was an actual script for this, but I just winged it, telling the story with the felt pieces and acting our the motions.. This flannel set tells the story of Picky Paul, a little boy who didn't think he liked anything. One day his father was getting ready to cook dinner. He set the ingredients out one by one on the counter (let kids identify each), and each time Picky Paul would say, "I don't like ____". Then, Picky Paul's father got out a bowl and added some flour, yeast, water, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. He mixed them up (pretend to stir), then rolled it out (pretend to roll). Next he chops or slices each ingredient and sprinkles them on (imitate chopping/slicing and sprinkling). Then he puts the whole thing into the oven.

As it cooks, a wonderful aroma fills the air. Picky Paul sniffs, and comments on how good it smells. Finally the timer dings, and Picky Paul's father takes it out of the oven. "Pizza!" exclaims Picky Paul, "I LOVE pizza!" So even though Paul thought he didn't like the items individually, he loved them all together on a pizza! Then we discussed each of our favorite pizza toppings.

__________________________

I used this song when we needed just a little movement, replacing the English "jelly" and "biscuits" with the American "Jello" and "Cookies".

"Jello On The Plate"

(to the tune of "Farmer In The Dell)

Jello on the plate, jello on the plate.

Wibble, wobble; wibble, wobble.

Jello on the plate.

Cookies in the tin, cookies in the tin.

Shake them up, shake them up.

Cookies in the tin.

Candles on the cake, candles on the cake.

Blow them out, blow them out.

Candles on the cake.

How It Went

The kids loved talking about what their favorite (and least favorite) foods were. Even though Yummy, Yucky is written for toddlers, they all loved saying whether each item was "Yummy!" or "Yucky!". Worms for Lunch? was also a hit, and I had fun introducing it by saying it was about what they were having for lunch. A few clever kids did think of saying they would eat worms for lunch; gummy worms, that is! Jan Thomas' new book was a huge hit as expected, and Jane Yolen's dinosaur series is always well received.

Keisha Cane is a great book, and surprisingly self-published; unfortunately there are no more copies being made. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is of course a beloved classic, though there were more than I expected that didn't seem familiar with it. One little boy commented very enthusiastically about how much he liked the colorful collages on the endpapers and preliminary pages. Everybody Loves Bacon didn't fare as well as I would have liked; I think it needs an older audience to understand and appreciate the humor.

The kids were very interested in looking at the plush fruits and veggies, and did a good job of naming most of them. They had a lot of fun with the soup song, and we had some *very* creative ingredients in our soup! One boy complained we were making him hungry with all the talk about food 😄

One thing I would add, and I didn't really realize I had overlooked, is a couple of books/activities about pies and cookies to indirectly tie in with the holidays a little more.

Rough Week..... (or, Impromptu Holiday Dance Party!)

So, I think I jinxed myself last week by planning a "Germs" storytime 😡. Just a couple of days before that I ended up coming down with what I thought was just a cold, but on Friday I was really hoarse, and by Saturday I had lost my voice completely! When I was not really any better on Sunday, and had 6 back-to-back storytimes scheduled for Monday morning (with another 4 on Tuesday and 6 more on Wednesday), I knew I was in big trouble!

Most of the time I have a volunteer to help me with storytime, but as luck would have it, I had NO ONE sign up for December; everyone was too busy with the holidays I guess. I sent out an e-mail practically begging for someone to find the time to help, with no response, and I knew my boss would have a meeting and the one of the children's librarians was on maternity leave, so they were already spread too thin. I really didn't want to cancel because it was our last rotation before taking a two week break over the holidays, and we had planned a holiday theme and made packets of "reindeer food" to give to all the kids (for my thoughts on the whole holiday controversy please see my previous posts "And Here We Go Again" and "To Holiday Or Not To Holiday").

So, what do you do if you have a scheduled storytime but you have no voice? Turn it into an impromptu "Preschool Dance Party"! I already had Laurie Berkner's Christmas CD, and I quickly downloaded a few more songs to my phone as well after getting the OK from my boss to change the format and sending an e-mail to give the preschool a heads-up. I only needed enough songs til fill about 20 minutes, and I tried to choose ones that (1) the kids would know, and/or (2) had a fast tempo and good beat to dance to. Here's a list of songs that I ended up using:

• "Jingle Bells" (Laurie Berkner), with jingle bells, of course
• "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobbie Helms), also with the bells
• "Frosty the Snowman" (Laurie Berkner), with shaky eggs
• "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Laurie Berkner), with hand motions
• "Rocking' Around the Christmas Tree (Brenda Lee)
• "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (Frank Sinatra)
• "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" (Kidsongs)
• "Let It Go" (Idina Menzel)

I also offered movement scarves and/or ribbons with the songs that didn't have motions or bells. I also hoped that my voice would come back enough to at least be able to read 1 story to each class, but I wasn't very optimistic.

How It Went  

I won't sugar-coat it; the first day was pretty rough. I still had almost no voice, just barely enough to explain why we weren't having a regular storytime, and singing was impossible. I did manage to read 1 short book (Mouse's First Christmas) to three of the classes before my voice gave out completely. In one class the teacher read a couple of books from my selection, and the other two just did music. It went okay, except for whatever reason, the kids at this facility just never seem to get into the music as much, and only a few would dance. I managed to coax a couple of reluctant participants by pulling them up front to dance with me.

The second day was a little better (and mercifully shorter); I still only read 1 book to each class, but my voice was slightly better. These kids really got into the music and dancing, so it was a lot of fun. Then today I managed to make it almost like our usual storytime, and was able to read two books, or do 1 book and 1 flannel activity, to each class, then finished up with 2 or 3 songs. Some of the classes got into dancing, some just wanted to sit and listen/sing along, and one class got SO into it, we decided it was best to sit after the first song 😉.

The kids really liked "Rudolph" and "Frosty the Snowman", which I expected as they were the most familiar, and of course loved doing "Jingle Bells" with actual bells. Some recognized "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" from the movie "Home Alone" and a few knew "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". One word of caution, "Let It Go" (the song from "Frozen") did NOT get a good reception, much to my surprise! I guess the kids are finally as sick of it as everyone else. When it started playing, I immediately heard several choruses of "Awwww", "Not 'Frozen'", and "I hate this song!"; I didn't dare to try it again after that as I had plenty of others.

While not ideal, I think everything went okay, and no one seemed to mind the change in format. We did end on a positive note, though, when one of the classes today gave me a Thanksgiving Day card that they had not been able to give me before Thanksgiving, full of handprint turkeys made by each of the kids, and a little Christmas notepad. Things like that just make my day! 

Don't Share Your Germs!

Now that we are between holidays and already into cold and flu season, I decided this was a good time to talk to the kids about germs, and how to keep from spreading them so that they don't get themselves, their family, friends, or Miss Jennifer sick!

We began storytime with our usual welcome song, and introduced the topic of germs. I was a little surprised that several were already familiar with the word and knew it was what makes us sick. We talked a little about how they are everywhere, but they are so tiny we can't even see them. 

After we sang our story song, we read our first book, Germs Are Not For Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick and Marieka Heinlen. This is a great non-fiction picture book that works well for storytime. The text is short and simple, and the illustrations are high-contrast, so it is not as dry and boring as some non-fiction. 

This book explains what germs are, how they are spread, and what to do to prevent spreading them in clear, simple terms, and it also shows children of various ethnicities. It also mentions singing the "ABC's" to time handwashing, so we paused and practiced that. There are many other books in this series that address other issues, like hitting, kicking, biting, hurtful words, and another one that would go well with this theme, Noses Are Not For Picking.

After that we did a fun flannel activity about hand-washing to get rid of germs, based on one from Library Quine using free clipart as a pattern for the hand. Of course, since I have a master's degree in microbiology I had to take it a step further and instead of generic "blob" -looking germs, I made mine somewhat representative of actual germs, though obviously not to scale. And of course they had to have faces and googly-eyes even though real germs don't, because, well, just because! 

[In case your wondering, the germs shown (starting with the left column) are: Streptococcus (strep throat, pneumonia, scarlet fever), Staphylococcus (skin and wound infections), Rhinovirus (common cold), Vibrio (cholera, foodborne illnesses), E. coli (diarrhea), Neisseria (meningitis), Enterovirus (polio; hand, foot & mouth disease), Salmonella (gastroenteritis), Enterococcus (UTI, meningitis), and Influenza virus (flu).]

First we talked about the hands, how one was a grown-up and one was a kid, and how one was palm-up and the other was the back of the hand (and yes, I realize it would have been better to have varied skin tones, but unfortunately we were all out of varied shades of brown. I will make additional hands in different tones as soon as I get more felt!) I told them in generic terms what each germ caused (cold, flu, stomach ache, rash, fever, etc.) and talked about where they hide as I placed them on the hands, then we did the rhyme.

All The Little Germs

All the little germs, dirty and mean (make disgusted face)

Hiding on your palms (point), where they cannot be seen (shake head).

Wash them, Scrub them, (pretend to wash & scrub hands)

Rinse them away. (wipe hand across each other)

Then we'll have clean hands, (hold hands up)

Hip, hip, hooray! (jazz hands)

Other verses:  ...Hiding between your fingers....                     

 ...On the backs of your hands....

...Hiding on your thumbs....

...Hiding under your nails....

...Hiding on your wrists....

As we say the rhyme, I remove the germs that are located in the corresponding place. The kids love pointing out that the hands aren't really clean until all the germs are gone.

Next we read Wash Your Hands! by Tony Ross, which at first glance you might think is a non-fiction book, but it actually does have a story featuring a fun-loving Princess who just wants a piece of cake. But everyone keeps taking it away and telling her to wash her hands (because she's been playing in the mud, with the dogs, using the potty, etc.) first. She doesn't understand why she has to wash her hands again and again, until her maid explains about the germs that live in the "dirties and nasties" that could make her sick. After washing her hands one last time and before she finally eats the cake, she asks the maid if she has washed her hands.

I decided to proceed straight to the last book, Felicity Floo Visits The Zoo by E. S. Redmond, and save our activity for the end. All of the animals in the zoo are sick, but the staff has no idea why. The story then unfolds of a little girl who visits the zoo even though she's sick. She wipes her nose with her hand, then proceeds to touch many animals and surfaces in the zoo, spreading her germs everywhere. This is made obvious to the kids as a series of yucky green handprints all over everything. I again reminded them about using tissues, washing hands, and keeping hands away from faces.

Then we did a fun, and only slightly messy, activity that really helps demonstrate to the kids how easily germs are spread. I put some colored glitter (I only had blue, but a mixture of colors could represent different types of germs) in a paper plate, then pressed my hand into it. I then showed the kids how there were "germs" all over my hand now. Then I shook hands with a few of the kids, and had them shake hands with other kids, and so on, until almost everyone had germs!

(I forgot to take pictures of the kids' hands, so I re-created the chain of transmission later)

I asked the kids to think about what would happen if they picked up food with those hands, or if they touched their faces or eyes. They all realized glitter would get in their foods, then in their stomachs, and in their eyes and faces. I reminded them that is exactly what happens with germs; we just can't see them. Then we all washed our hands really well.

I've also heard of this activity done with chalk or flour, and there is a special spray you can buy that glows under black light. Depending on your setting and time frame, instead of having kids shake hands, you could just let it spread naturally over a longer period of time. Another activity is to put confetti inside a balloon and pop it to simulate how a sneeze or cough spreads germs.

How It Went

Ironically, I came down with a nasty head cold just a couple of days before, so my voice and hearing were not in the greatest shape, which made wrangling 14 three-year olds a little more difficult. I could not speak very loudly, my voice was terribly hoarse and kept cracking, and I could not sing at all. I guess I was a little too late with my message of not sharing your germs with Miss Jennifer!

For the most part the kids seemed to follow along pretty well and could at least verbalize the talking points, even if they aren't very good at putting them into practice all the time. But every little bit helps. They loved the flannel activity and asked to do it again, which I was very pleased with (especially after my mentor teased me for being a big nerd and having to make the germs somewhat biologically accurate). They really loved pointing out at the end of each verse that our hands were NOT clean because there were still germs left! At first some of them were a little hesitant with the glitter activity, but once we got going, they were all clamoring for germs! 😏 

I think it went pretty well, considering how difficult it was for me to talk. If my voice had been normal, I don't think I would have had any trouble keeping them engaged. It was nice to actually use my degree for a change! I really hope to have the opportunity to do some serious science programs with slightly older kids in the future.

Remember, share your toys, not your germs!

And Here We Go Again....

Every year about this time it starts. I'm not talking about shopping, baking, eating, or family bickering, but the endless debates, lectures, and arguments in online library groups about the holidays and whether or not they should be recognized in any way in the library building or programming.

Some people feel very strongly that in the effort to be inclusive, there should be no trace of holidays in the library. No holiday decorating, no holiday displays, and above all, no holiday programming. I personally don't share this extreme view, but if someone else feels that is what is best for their community, I have no problem with it.

What I do have a big problem with is how some of the people who hold this view believe that their way is the one and only right way of doing things, and will lecture, criticize, and belittle other librarians who do have holiday decor and/or programs, without knowing anything at all about the communities they serve. It is shocking and very disconcerting that a group that is supposedly all about inclusion, equality, tolerance, and kindness seems to have no problem bullying others within its ranks who have different views. If you are only "tolerant" of those who agree with you, then you aren't inclusive or tolerant at all!

My personal view is sanitizing all libraries in the name of inclusiveness is at best misguided and unrealistic, and at worst, a form of censorship and promoting a personal agenda. It is unrealistic to expect all programs to appeal to and include everyone; it is an impossible goal. That's why we offer a wide variety of programs. Second, the only time I hear this unattainable standard applied is in relation to holiday programs. Just like every book will not appeal to every patron, it is unreasonable to expect every program to appeal to everyone. 

I think each library has to decide what is right for their community. I don't know your community, and you don't know mine. I agree we need to be inclusive overall, but I don't think that means one cannot have ANY holiday programs, nor do I think anyone HAS to have holiday programs. I think a good compromise is to keep regular programs, like weekly storytimes, neutral, but having a separate holiday program is okay if you have patrons that want it. Above all, I think we all need to realize that there is not one right way of doing things because every community is different, and we need to leave it to the people and librarians in each community to decide what is right for them.

This reminds me so much of all the tiresome "mommy wars".... Some people have such a need to be "right" they cannot recognize that others' viewpoints are just as valid as their own; every family/community is different and what works for one may not be good for another. So how about we start showing more respect for different opinions, have rational discussions and recognize that there is in fact some gray area here, and that we may have to just agree to disagree in the end?

[And yes, as you can see from my blog I do holiday storytimes, because the daycares I go to request them. If I were doing regular storytimes in the library, I would keep with a neutral theme and have a separate holiday program.]

Oh, My Gosh! It's Thanksgiving!

I decided not to write up my 2-weeks of Thanksgiving storytimes with the Storytime-To-Go program, since it was mostly the same as last year. I did try out a few other books, and used the ones that worked the best of those today in my regular storytime.

I walked in with my turkey puppet, and they were all intrigued. I told them we would talk about it after our welcome song. After the song, I first tried to see if anyone knew the puppet was a turkey, and after getting guesses of chicken, rooster, and eagle, someone finally said turkey. That led into talking about Thanksgiving, being thankful, and Thanksgiving dinner. 

I used talking about different foods we have at Thanksgiving dinner as an opportunity to introduce them to squash, which would relate to one of our books. Most children don't know what squash is, so I brought three different varieties (butternut, zucchini, and golden acorn) with varying shapes and colors to show how squash can have all kinds of funny shapes and can be orange like pumpkins.

(The butternut squash actually grew in my backyard, courtesy of my neighbor's 

vine that wandered through the fence. 

We sang our story song, incorporating a couple of turkey

gobbling and wing flapping verses for fun, then read our first book, Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Merkes and Doris Barrette. 

This is a short, sweet story about all kinds of things that kids might be thankful for and can relate to, like playgrounds and playdates, puppies and kittens, and family. After I read each page, I asked them to raise their hands if they were thankful for that, too, and we talked a little more about various things we were thankful for afterward. The whimsical watercolor illustrations are bright and detailed.

Next, I used my turkeys from the "Five Nervous Turkeys" flannel set to do a "Five Silly Turkeys" rhyme, based on the book of the same name by Salina Yoon. I wasn't able to get a copy of the book, but I was able to find a video of it on YouTube to get the words. Due to copyright, I can't include them here, but it has turkeys twirling away, being stung by a bee, falling asleep, and getting sunburned, then regrouping for a Thanksgiving feast.

Our second book was The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz, an absolutely adorable retelling of The Ugly Duckling that works well for both Halloween and Thanksgiving themes. Our protagonist is an oddly shaped pumpkin that nobody wants and everyone is being mean to. He feels ugly and lonely and starts to cry. 

But, upon taking shelter in a nearby garden, he discovers, "O my gosh! I'm a squash!" and finds were he fits in. The kids don't always get the ending, but they understand that he's happy, no longer sad and alone. This story provides a good opportunity to talk about appreciating everyone's differences and being kind.

After that it was time for a little fun and movement with "If You're a Turkey":

If You're a Turkey

If you're a turkey and you know it, flap your wings!

If you're a turkey and you know it, flap your wings!

If you're a turkey and you know it, and you really want to show it,

If you're a turkey and you know it, flap your wings!

Additional Verses:  wobble your head, shake your tail, say "Gobble, gobble," do them all...

I saved the best for last with Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr and Laura Rader. This one is similar to Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, but is much shorter, so it is great for the younger kids! Plus it has the repeated "Run, turkey, run!" that the kids can say with you. 

It's the day before Thanksgiving, and Turkey sees the large roasting pan in the kitchen, and knows what the farmer intends to put in it, so he must "Run, turkey, run!" He tries to disguise himself as a pig, a duck, and a horse, to no avail, before finally escaping to the forest. Is Turkey safe at last? Yes!......Or is he??

Afterwards, we ended with our closing song, and passed out stickers.

How It Went  

When I got there, I was greeted with lots of hugs and the teacher warned that the kids were pretty wound up, which I could see for myself. It took a little longer than usual to get them settled on the rug, but after that they were okay for the most part. After we got going I noticed one little girl was sitting nicely, but with a mad, sulky look on her face. I decided to just ignore it and hoped she perked up eventually. Then when we sang the verse in our story song that goes "If you're ready for a story, nod your head," she would shake her head "No" each time, being quietly passive-aggressive. I'm not sure what her issue was, maybe just in a bad mood or maybe I interrupted something she was invested in, but I figured it was best just to ignore it as long as she was not being disruptive.

Previous groups have enjoyed Thanks For Thanksgiving, but this class seemed a little bored with it. They were very empathetic with the poor Ugly Pumpkin, though, to the point I was afraid one little girl was going to tear up. Introducing them to squash earlier seemed to help them follow the ending a little better than previous groups have; kids that age aren't very familiar with squash. One boy had a hard time accepting that the golden acorn squash was not a pumpkin though. They all loved Run, Turkey, Run! Both the "Five Silly Turkeys" flannel board and "If You're a Turkey" song & dance went over well and were enjoyed by all.

And I got more hugs as I left :)  

Flannel Friday - Five Nervous Turkeys

This is my first "Flannel Friday" post in quite a while! I just haven't had the time or inspiration lately, but I did manage to finish this one finally.

I was inspired to create this set by a post I saw on the slc book boy blog. I've seen this rhyme done before, but with all five turkeys disguising themselves as ducks. I loved how he changed it and had each one put on a different animal costume, and made up corresponding verses of the song. I modified it a bit and replaced his lion with a horse as I preferred to have all farm animals, and added another verse at the end as it seemed to need some closure.

Five Nervous Turkeys

(to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean")

Five turkeys were getting quite nervous,

Thanksgiving soon would be back.

So one turkey put on a DUCK suit,

And now he says, "Gobble, quack, quack!"

Four turkeys were getting quite nervous,

Thanksgiving was coming, not going.

So one turkey put on a PIG suit,

And now he says, "Gobble, oink, oink!"

Three turkeys were getting quite nervous,

Thanksgiving was in just a week.

So one turkey put on a MOUSE suit,

And now he says, "Gobble, squeak, squeak!"

Two turkeys were getting quite nervous,

So one of them knew just what to do.

That turkey put on a COW suit,

And now he says, "Gobble, moo, moo!"

One turkey was getting quite nervous,

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!

So he put on a HORSE suit,

And now he says, "Gobble, neigh, neigh!"

The farmer was getting quite nervous,

Today is Thanksgiving Day!

But he can find no turkeys,

Only hears "Quack, oink, squeak, moo, and neigh!"

I thought this would be a great activity to follow reading either Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano & Lee Harper, or Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr & Laura Rader. Both books feature a desperate turkey trying to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner by pretending to be other animals. Turkey Trouble is longer and good for older kids, while Run, Turkey, Run! is shorter with more simple text and better for younger kids. It also has the repeating "Run, turkey, run!" that you can have the kids say. Both of these are usually big hits with the kids.

I will warn you, this set was pretty time-consuming to make; I started it last year and ran out of time, so saved it for this year. If I were to have to make it again, I'd be very tempted to just use laminated clip-art! To make a pattern for the turkeys, I just copied book boy's picture and enlarged it, then outlined in marker for patterns. For the animal costumes, I just free-handed it since they didn't have to be too realistic.

I took one shortcut and did not bother with trying to line up the heads and eyes and cut out eyeholes in the "costumes" as I thought that would be very tedious and frustrating, and I didn't want to have to worry about each costume only working with one specific turkey. So I just put more eyes on the costumes.


To see more Flannel Friday posts from other bloggers, go to this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up hosted by Anne at So Tomorrow. 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.

Do You Change The Words?

I was browsing an online group for youth services recently, and saw that someone had posed a question along the lines of "Do you ever shorten a story, or change the words?" This was in the context of wanting to read a story that had beautiful illustrations, but the text was believed to be too long and the vocabulary too sophisticated for the audience. 

I have to say, I was rather surprised at how many people responded that they did often change the stories that they read. I have very mixed feelings about changing an author's words, but it does depend on exactly what kind of change you mean. 

People sometimes see a word that they think is too sophisticated or too old-fashioned for their audience, and are tempted to substitute a more simple, familiar word. Please don't! This is the type of change I'm vehemently opposed to. Exposing kids to a rich vocabulary is one of the reasons we read out loud to them, and a very important part of developing early literacy skills! The more words and sounds that kids have been exposed to before they start learning to read, the easier it will be for them to sound out words as they are learning to read. 

Picture books are full of words we don't typically use in everyday conversation, and this rich vocabulary of rare words is one of the things that makes reading picture books together so special, and such an important part of early literacy and language development. Explain, don't substitute! When you read an unfamiliar word, just pause and explain what it means, then go on with the story.

Another reason I've heard people give for substituting words in a story is that they don't approve of certain words. For example, some are uncomfortable with the word "ain't" because it is colloquial slang and considered poor grammar, and they feel like they should be modeling proper grammar all of the time. Others don't approve of "unkind" words like "dumb", "stupid", or "hate", and still others disapprove of slang words like "heck", equating them with swear words (I confess, I don't quite follow the logic there), or the word "butt" (even though it's simply a shortened form of "buttock", the anatomically correct name for that body part). 

Substituting words simply because *you* don't approve of them smacks of censorship to me, and it seems like one is trying to impose their own values on the audience. It also feels a bit disrespectful to the author to decide we can tell his/her story better. Or maybe some presenters don't object, but fear the adults in the audience will. Personally, I feel like these could be used as a teachable moment instead. Talk about the words, and why *some* people might find them objectionable, or why it wasn't nice for the character to use them. Ask the kids what they might say instead.

Now, that being said, I do think exceptions are warranted. For example, if I can tell I'm loosing the audience, but would rather not just quit in the middle of the book because some are paying attention, I do sometimes shorten the story by paraphrasing, skipping sentences, or skipping pages in order to get through it. Or if I have a story that you know your audience will love, but it is just a bit too long, I do sometimes skip pages. I plan ahead and paper clip the pages together where I want to skip, being sure the story still flows well. 

I have maybe once or twice come across a book that had a really cute idea for a story, and seemed okay at first glance, but when I actually read it aloud to kids I realize it just does not flow well at all. On these rare occasions I have found myself doing some heavy editing and paraphrasing to make the story read better, but I have mixed feelings about it. Most of the time I just don't ever use them again.

So, how do you feel about substituting words or shortening and paraphrasing? 

Would any authors care to share how they feel about their words being changed?

Monsters

I decided to continue the scary fun for the whole month of October on the Storytime Bus by following "Halloween" with "Monsters". There are so many cute monster books out there! I saw 25 groups over 2 weeks, reading 2-3 books and doing 1-2 activities each. I started each sessions with an introduction which included a discussion of monsters not being real and the letter-of-the-day ("Mm"), followed by our story song.

The Books

(Click image to enlarge)

Love Monster and the Scary Something by Rachel Bright; bold, colorful illustrations

My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck & Mark Buehner; cute

The Little Shop of Monsters by R. L. Stine & Marc Brown, little darker, interactive

Don't Play With Your Food by Bob Shea; little bunnies outsmart the monster

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley; very interactive, little text

Even Monsters... by A. J. Smith; interactive, funny, mentions underwear
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems; funny, friendship, pastel illustrations

Monster, Be Good! by Natalie Marshall; short & simple, interactive

Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberley & Anne Miranda; monsters have feelings

The Baby That Roared by Simon Puttock & Nadia Shireen, a mysterious, peculiar baby 

The Activities

We had a number of fun activities with this them:; songs, rhymes, sorting, and puppets! One of my favorites is a "Make Your Own Monster Puppet" set by Melissa & Doug (available from many vendors, but Amazon has the best price). It comes with  the puppet base, and something like 30 different parts (arms, eyes, horns, tails, noses, teeth, ears, etc) that velcro on. I give each child a part (or two if a really small group) and let them come up and put it on, wherever they want to (you may have to gently deflect grown-ups from trying to tell them the "right" place to put it). I love that everyone gets to participate and each groups monster creation is totally unique! Here are some of the ones we made:

"Make Your Own Monster Puppet" (click image to enlarge)

We also have a storytelling puppet for Go Away Big Green Monster. I use it either instead of the book, or to let the kids help re-tell the story following the book. Because the puppet is slightly different from the book (the face has to be the first thing to appear and the last to disappear), I don't try to get the kids to tell the story in any particular order. Due to the small number of pieces, how I do it it varies with the group size. For really small groups, each child gets  piece to put on, then I take them off. For most groups, half the class puts the pieces on, and the other half gets to take them off. For large groups, we may do it twice so everyone has a turn, or I put the pieces on and off and let the group direct the story.

Go Away, Big Green Monster 

The kids also had fun pretending to be monsters as we sang "If You're A Monster And You Know It" based on Ed Emberley's book of the same name:

If you're a monster and you know it, snort and growl!

If you're a monster and you know it, snort and growl!

If you're a monster and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you're a monster and you know it, snort and growl!

(Smack your claws, stomp your paws, twitch your tail, 

wiggle your warts, give a roar, do them all.)

And finally, we had this set of 12 laminated monsters with magnets on the back that we used for a variety of sorting activities. Sorting activities are great because they can be used to work on a variety of skills: observing various characteristics about their monsters such as color, number of eyes, arms, tails, spots, etc.; reasoning skills by deciding how they are alike or different and how to groups them, and language skills be describing their monster to the group and explaining how to groups them.  

We also sometimes did the following rhyme using 5 of the monsters:

"Five Hairy Monsters"

Five hairy monsters, howling out a roar,

One ran away, and then there were four.

Four hair monsters hiding in a tree,

One fell out and then there were three.

Three hairy monsters eating spider stew,

One got full, and then there were two.

Two hairy monsters having lots of fun,

One ran off, and then there was one.

One hair monster, afraid to be the hero,

He ran off, and then there were zero.

How It Went 

This theme was a lot of fun! Once again, Even Monsters... seemed to be the favorite of every group. It is funny, a little bit gross, and interactive with having the kids roar, snarl, grumble, growl, and howl like monsters. I always make sure they realize the monster is flossing his teeth with a snake instead of floss, and one kid pointed out the hole in the monster's tooth, saying "He has a cavity!". You can tell who's been stressing oral hygiene at home! All the other books worked well, too.

The kids all loved making their own monster puppets and then interacting with him. There are so many parts they come with it, I wish it came with two puppets! Some classes really had fun with "If You're A Monster And You Know It", but there were a few who were surprisingly lackluster about it.