Dogs

This week I used another theme chosen by Ms. Martha: Dogs! Super easy and super fun.

I started us off with Hello Friends with signing again today. I did a brief demonstration of the signs for hello and friends and then we sang the song twice.

Hello friends

Hello friends

Hello friends

Its time to say hello

From Jbrary

I showed the kids the sign for Dog next.

After that I sang My Dog Rags and showed them the motions. The grown-ups kind of got into “Rags” while the kids were a bit stumped. Maybe it was my fab dance moves?

I have a dog.
His name is Rags.
He eats so much that his tummy sags,
His ears flip flop
and his tail wig wags.
And when he walks, he goes zig zag.

He goes flip flop, wig wag, zig zag.
He goes flip flop, wig wag, zig zag.
He goes flip flop, wig wag, zig zag.
I love Rags and he loves me.

From Jbrary

Also see this fab version by Sharon, Lois and Bram. Remember the Elephant Show?

Next I did this fingerplay, which I hadn’t memorized, quite. So I looked at the paper a lot and the second time through got the words all mixed up. Oh Katy…

Fingerplay: “Ten Little Doggies”
Ten little doggies went out one day, (hold up ten fingers)
To dig in the dirt and play, play, play. (dig, slap knees on each ‘play’)
Five were spotted, and five were not, (hold up one hand, then the other)
And at dinnertime they ate a lot! (pretend to eat)

From StorytimeKatie

Next we read Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont

This book is silly, fun and rhymey and I must confess, in one of the earlier parts I almost said G#@d@&# Dogs instead of Doggone!! I wonder if the parents noticed?!

Next we sang B-I-N-G-O, which was quite lively! The kids all knew the song.

Next I did a flannel board based on this fingerplay I found on Storytime Katie

Flannelboard “Five Little Puppies”
Five little puppies were playing in the sun.
This one saw a rabbit, and he began to run.
This one saw a butterfly, and he began to race.
This one saw a pussycat, and he began to chase.
This one tried to catch his tail, and he went round & round.

This one was so quiet, he never made a sound.

Here I got myself flustered yet again and got the words a bit wrong. I don’t think the kids noticed.

Next I sang If "You’re a Doggy and You Know it" with the kids. Of course being completely mixed up at this point I told them all it was just like “The Wheels on the Bus”  when in reality it is “If You’re Happy and You Know it”. I don’t know why preschoolers and flannel boards get me so flummoxed. Babies and slideshows were easy. I was always joking about my out of tune singing, but I didn’t wreck the words of everything so completely!

I got this song from Ms. Martha’s Resource File

If You’re a Doggie and You Know It

If you’re a doggie and you know it,

Say, “Woof, woof”.

If you’re a doggie and you know it,

Say, “Woof, woof”.

If you’re a doggie and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you’re a doggie and you know it,

Say, “Woof, woof”.

Repeat with Wag your tail, scratch your ears.

Next I did a flannel story: Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd. We had this gorgeous flannel set of Dog and his spots and some numerals. I was really excited to get to use it!

Only after storytime did I find the Orange and Purple spots in the envelope. So I could have skipped the numerals (we only have 1 through 8) and done all the colors instead.

The kids loved Dog as much as I did.

After this I had planned to sing “This Old Man”. I got really nervous because I hadn’t practiced, and I haven’t sung this one since I was a kid, I don’t think. So I kept things moving right along and read Bark, George by Jules Feiffer.

The kids recognized the book from school and were very excited to talk with me all about how George had “eaten” all those farm animals. They loved shouting out the farm animal noises. The grownups were laughing a lot during this story too.

The crowd was a bit rowdy at this point so we skipped movement and headed straight into craft.

Martha had provided the plans for this Dog puppet in her resource file. It can either be Dog (a la his colorful day) with colored spots, or just a Dalmatian or mutt if you only use neutrals. We did colorful Dog today.

The kids really enjoyed this craft and some of the older boys stayed behind at the craft area to color in the whole puppet while the little ones had playtime.

How it went:

Well, if I hadn't been a complete nervous wreck, it would have been just fine. Perhaps I need to just rehearse the whole storytime. I did baby storytime at my last post, and that amounted to me singing almost the entire program. Something about the variety of things AND the kids ability to respond, really throws me off. Since it is summer we have all ages from infant to elementary school. Those elementary school kids intimidate me! Knowing all the songs before I sing them!! BUT then it’s more fun, like during BINGO today.