I’m a little late but here is what I did for my Thanksgiving storytime this year:
Rhyme Cube: (click here for description)
Sign Language: word of the day is “Turkey”
I have the kids repeat the sign for turkey after each book we read.
Opening Rhyme: Open them, shut them…
First Book: I’m a Turkey by Jim Arnosky
Rhyme:
The turkey is a funny bird. [Hook thumbs together and spread fingers to create turkey tail.]
Its head goes wobble, wobble. [Wobble head back and forth.]
And all it knows is just one word, [Hold up one finger.]
“Gobble, gobble, gobble.” [Make mouth shape with hand, opening and closing it while sounding like a turkey.]
Flannel Board:
Five little turkeys by the barn door,
One waddled off, then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under a tree,
One waddled off, then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do.
One waddled off, then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled off, then there was one.
One little turkey – better run away!
Soon it will be Thanksgiving Day!
Second Book: Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim
Song:
If you’re thankful and you know It clap your hands!
If you’re thankful and you know it clap your hands!
If you’re thankful and you know it and you really want to show it,
If you’re thankful and you know it, clap your hands!
(Continue with: stomp your feet, shout “I am”, do all three)
Another song I like but didn’t use this year goes like this:
(to the tune of Frère Jacques)
We eat turkey, we eat turkey.
Yum, yum, yum.
Yum, yum, yum.
Always on Thanksgiving
Always on Thanksgiving
Yum, yum, yum.
Yum, yum, yum.
(continue with other Thanksgiving foods. You can ask the kids what they like to eat on Thanksgiving and use their suggestions!)
Flannel Board:
So this isn’t technically a flannel board but it’s still fun. One of my all time favorite Children’s Librarians, Amy J., told me about the Sunflower Storytime blog and the awesome “There was an old lady…” template she got from there. I recreated it but did a Thanksgiving version using Alison Jackson’s book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie.
As I told the story I added each item that she swallowed (velcro dots can be seen in the first pic if you look closely).
Third Book: Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell
iPad App: Feed the Animals by Curious Fingers
For more on my philosophy of using apps in storytime click here.
I told the kids that we eat lots of yummy food at Thanksgiving but that I need their help feeding animals because animals want to celebrate Thanksgiving too! The app shows you an animated image of an animal and three choices of what that animal might eat. When you drag the food over to the animal, it will either eat the food happily (if you choose correctly) or refuse the food (if you choose incorrectly). I held the iPad so the kids could see and then dragged food to the animal. This was fun because I played dumb and kept giving the animal the wrong food and the kids would get excited by my utter stupidity and yell out the correct answer.
Here’s a picture of the monkey from the app. I would say “we can feed the monkey some peanuts, a flower, or a banana. I know monkeys loooove to eat flowers so I’ll give him a flower.” The kids all shout out “No! Monkeys like bananas!” I did this with 5 or 6 animals and the kids had a lot of fun.
This app isn’t specific to Thanksgiving so you could use it at anytime of the year. I’m sure I’ll use it again!
AnnesLibraryLife 