Fall: Pirate Storytime

 When storytime day falls on Talk Like a Pirate Day, you have to share pirate stories! I tried to use new books instead of my usual standards and according to my GoodReads shelves, it was a success.

Here's how we celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day at family storytime this year ...

Welcome

Good morning! Let's count down from 7 and do that again ... 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-GoodMorning!!
SONG: Hello Song
Storytime Reminders: Be Ready, Be Seated, Be Involved, Be Respectful
 
Flannel: Bookworm, bookworm where should we look? Are you behind the COLOR book?

Behind the books: one bookworm and four clipart pirates in different colors ... that happened to match the book they were underneath 
 
BOOK: Sea Sheep by Eric Seltzer, illustrated by Tom Disbury (Ready-to-Read Simon Spotlight, 2020)
 
SONG: The Ocean Song
Oh the ocean is great and the ocean is grand.
There are lots of tall ships and very little land.
And we sleep down deep in a hammock near the floor
And this is what we do when we go out the door:
We ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
We ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
We ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
And we turn around.

This is a fun song and we did it multiple times in a row. I did start each time with a "warm-up" - shake your arms, shake your legs, practice turn around, and a deep breath. The different speeds were learning speed, a little faster, very slow, and super fast.
After we sat down we did a "cool down", little hand shake, little foot shake, spin your hands around each other, and two deep breaths.

 
BOOK: Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989)
 
SONG: Goldfish Song by Laurie Berkner
This is a storytime classic and a lot of fun. A song that you can follow the lyrics to for movement - swim, sleep, shower, brush teeth, and ride bikes. 

BOOK: What Pirates Really Do by Melanie Joyce, illustrated by Alex Paterson (Little Bee Books, 2015)
 
SONG: Pirates Zoom!
Zoom, zoom, zoom We’re hunting for doubloons
Zoom, zoom, zoom We’re hunting for doubloons
If you want to take a trip
Climb aboard my pirate ship and
Zoom, zoom, zoom We’re hunting for doubloons
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… AHOY!
 Since we did Zoom, Zoom, Zoom last week, this was a fun addition this week. We did it a couple times before finishing storytime and moving onto our last three "activities".
 
1 - Announcements
2 - Craft Instructions: pirate maps with watercolor then crumple it up to keep in your pocket
3 - SONG: Goodbye So Long Farewell Toodle-oo by Hap Palmer

Fall: Light Storytime

Today kicked off the Fall season of my family storytime series. We focused on light today - sun, moon, stars, lights outside and inside. 

Welcome to storytime at the library. My name is Miss Pippi and I'm so glad you're here!

SONG: Hello Song
Storytime Reminders: Be Ready, Be Seated, Be Involved, Be Respectful
 
Snowbie, our storytime puppet friends
Flannel: Bookworm, Bookworm, we'll find you soon! Are you behind the (color) Moon?
Three fireflies, one star, one bookworm - ASL for the colors (green, white, yellow, purple, blue)
 
BOOK: Living Things Need Light by Karen Aleo (Little Pebble [Capstone], 2020) 
 
FINGERPLAY: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

American Sign Language: twinkle, stars, world, diamond (shape)
 
BOOK: Night Lights by Susan Gal (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)
 
Two Little Fireflies from https://thelionisabookworm.blogspot.com/2014/08/storytime-light.html
Two little fireflies land on my hand
One named Sally. One named Sam.
Lights ON Sally! Lights ON Sam!
Lights off Sally. Lights off Sam.

Fingerplay: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
Zoom, zoom, zoom We're going to the moon.
Zoom, zoom, zoom We're going to the moon.
Climb aboard my rocketship, we will take a little trip.
Zoom, zoom, zoom We're going to the moon.
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blast off!
            Far, far, far, we're going to the stars (x 2)

            Fun, fun, fun, we’re going to the sun (x 2) 
 
BOOK: When the Sky Glows by Nell Cross Beckerman, illustrated by David Litchfield (Beach Lane Books, 2022)

"The sky glows" is a repeated phrase in the book and I invited everyone to say it with me (with a sweeping hand gesture). A beautiful book but I could feel the autdience getting antsy so this was the last readaloud today.
 
SONG: Rocketship Run by Laurie Berkner
 
BOOK: Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World by Sue Fliess, illustrated by Khoa Le (Millbrook Press, 2020) We didn't read this one today, but it's an excellent light book that covers indoor and outdoor lights with minimal text.
 
Announcements: 
Craft Instructions: Construction Paper Suns - process over product
SONG: Goodbye So-Long Farewell Toodle-oo by Hap Palmer

This was a fun session of storytime. We did sign moon, stars, and sun throughout storytime. I did share the sign for light as well. My resource for ASL is www.handspeak.com.