Flannel Friday: That's How Much I Love You

Right before Valentine storytime, I happened to see this book in the board book bin. Kirkus trashed it, but the kids loved it. I knew instantly that it needed to be flannelized.
I can't wait to use it for Mother's Day.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I do....
If you were a sock, I'd be your shoe.

The pairs continue until finally...

I love you, I love you, I love you, you see...

But the best pair of all is by far you and me!

The pieces can also be used for a "What goes together?" game.

Lisa at Thrive After Three is hosting the roundup this week. Find all things Flannel Friday on the blog or find us on Pinterest.

Flannel Friday: Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar

I love Judith Moffatt's version of Who Stole the Cookies?. The favorite chant becomes a story with a little girl and a host of animals accused of the crime. I love to do a similar story with our Folkmanis Sequoia Tree set. Each animal in the tree claims their innocence until bear finally confesses and I show the cookies hiding in bear's hole in the tree. I flannelized the story for our fall flannelboard workshop. The animal patterns are from the Totline (Mix and Match Series) Animal Patterns book.

Who Stole the Cookies?
(I believe I made up this particular ending)

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Owl stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

Who me?

Yes, you.

Couldn't be.

Then who?

Squirrel stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

(Continue for each animal. Leave Bear for last.)

Bear stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

Who me?

Yes, you.

It was me. It’s true.

I stole the cookies from the cookie jar.

(show cookies hiding behind bear)

Sarah at Miss Sarah's Storytime is hosting the roundup this week. Find all things Flannel Friday on the blog or find us on Pinterest.

Flannel Friday: The Lonely Bus Driver

I have been meaning to do this one for a while. After I made the people for The Doorbell Rang, all I had to do was make a bus (and a hat for the driver).

Lonely Bus Driver

One lonely bus driver all alone and blue,

He picked up a passenger and then there were two.

Two people riding, they stopped by a tree,

They picked up a passenger, and then there were three.

Three people riding, they stopped by a store,

They picked up a passenger, and then there were four.

Four people riding, happy and alive,

They picked up a passenger, and then there were five.

Five people riding open swung the door,

Four passengers got off the bus,

The driver's alone once more.

Bridget at What is Bridget Reading? is hosting the roundup this week. Find all things Flannel Friday on the blog or find us on Pinterest.

Flannel Friday: The Doorbell Rang

We are getting ready for our fall flannel board workshop for early childhood educators. We are doing cookies, so I'm excited to share one of my favorites--The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins. I chose the cookie theme because it's one of those general themes that can be used around the holidays without celebrating any one particular tradition.

Like the book, the pieces here are beautifully ethnically diverse. I love doing it as a flannel because it is mathematical gymnastics for preschoolers. I use it at story time, but I really love using it in our early literacy center and at the preschool because the kids can get their hands on it. I love watching them figure out how to distribute the cookies. And, of course, a set of bells next to the flannel board make the whole story come to life.

Lisa at Story Time with the Library Lady is hosting the roundup this week. Find all things Flannel Friday on the blog or find us on Pinterest.

Flannel Friday--Little Ball, Big Ball

I do toddler storytime, so anything with a ball is always a hit. I get some extra mileage out of this favorite fingerplay with new verses and some flannelboard pieces.

Little Ball, Big Ball 

A little ball, a bigger ball, a great big ball I see. 

Can you count the green balls? One, two, three.

Repeat for blue and orange. 
Add the red ball and say:

Little balls, big balls, another ball I see. 

Can you count all the balls? 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10!

This week's Flannel Friday round up is hosted by Kay Leigh at Storytime ABC's. Find more Flannel Friday on the blog and on Pinterest.

This Week at Toddler Storytime--Constuction

At toddler storytime, everything is better if it involves moving those little bodies. For Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia, everybody tapped their legs on the repetetive words--"lift, lift, lift". Next, we built a shape house with a story and patterns from A Treasury of Flannelboard Stories by Jeanette Graham Bay.

Some of the pieces from Shapes and More Shapes

After reading I Love Tools! by Philomen Sturges, we put out Johnny's hammers inspired by Miss Meg's Storytime. I had the kids help me count the hammers and name the colors, and I asked them if they could work with 5 hammers. I demonstrated how to do it, and we sang the traditional song using the lyrics on Songs for Teaching.

Pop-ups are another sure thing with toddlers. We read Truck Jam by Paul Strickland and practiced driving with I'm Gonna Drive My Car by Laurie Berkner. We always hang out and play for a little while after storytime. We have these awesome musical hammers, so I put them out along with some blocks. Those little cuties could have hammered those blocks all day. Have fun reading to your little ones this week!

This Week at Toddler Storytime: Kittens and Mittens

I posted my version of Mitten Matching last year, but this year I added something new. I made three kittens to go with the mittens, and the kids are having a lot more fun with them. We started off reading The Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone. Then I passed out one mitten from each pair to all the kids (I have a a lot of mittens). I say, "These little kittens have lost their mittens." I put one mitten on a kitten and say, "Did you find this kitten's other mitten?" I repeat until all the kittens have mittens, then take them all off and start again.

When I do this in my three year old preschool class, I put the pieces out during centers so the kids can practice retelling the story and matching mittens.

"These little kittens have lost their mittens. Did you find this kitten's other mitten?"

Flannel Friday: Cookie Monster

I have only used this with two-year-olds in a Mommy and Me class I teach, so I don't have much in way of a rhyme to use with Cookie--yet. The two's just love bringing up their cookie to put is in his mouth (Love with a dash of fear. He is a monster, and that is a big mouth). After each child added a cookie, we all said, "Yummy, yummy in my tummy!"

Cookie is about 20 inches in diameter, so we had some more fun with him after circle time. I put him on the floor on top of a large piece of felt with cookie sheets on either side. The kids threw round felt cookie bean bags at the assortment of targets. I can't sew, so I just hot glued two beige circles together, filled with beans, and drew on chocolate chips. It was all super simple and very fun.

See the original post if you are interested in a craft to go along.

This Week at Toddler Storytime

We did colors and shapes this week in storytime--always a great opportunity to pull out a few favorites. I read Pete the Cat (of course!), we played a round of Little Bear- "Little Bear, Little Bear, are you under the red square?", and we mixed up a batch of Magical Rainbow Stew ala Storytime ABC's.

I was later reminded by a co-worker that I had written this shoe rhyme (even before I ever read Pete the Cat). She had a whole cat/shoes/color thing going on that was fabulous. Thank you, Donna Holmen.

I had to read through a few verses before I got the rhythm right again, but it is a fun one.

Shoes

By Shawn Wolf ©2008

*When you step in “something”, look at your feet and make a face like you stepped in something really disgusting. Start with orange shoe on the board. Tell the children this is a story about your favorite, fastest shoes.

I was walking along the street one day. (march)

With my knees up high, Can you walk this way?

But I stepped in something. Now what should I do?

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color blue!

I was hopping along the street one day. (hop)

On just one foot, Can you hop this way?

But I hopped in something. Now I’m filled with dread.

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color red!

I was twirling along the street one day. (turn in a circle)

Around and around, Can you twirl this way?

But I twirled into something, and I’m not a happy fellow.

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color yellow!

I tiptoed along the street one day. (tiptoe)

Way up on my toes, Can you tiptoe this way?

But I tiptoed in something. Now I’m about to make a scene!

For my favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color green!

I stood perfectly still on the street one day. (stand in place)
With my feet like this, Can you stand this way?
I stepped into nothing. But this isn’t very fun.
My favorite, fastest shoes are meant to run, run, run! (run in place)

Wondering what the kangaroo is for? "Kangaroo, Kangaroo, are you in the red shoe?"-- of course!

This Week at Mommy and Me: Cookie Monster

At circle time, I showed the connection between the flannel board, the book, the craft, and my shirt--all Cookie Monster. I knew most of them wouldn't know Cookie yet, but they loved him by the end of class. I only read part of the book to introduce some concepts. Everyone got one "cookie" to feed the monster. After each child placed their cookie on the flannel board, we all said, "Yummy, yummy in my tummy! "

Everyone painted a paper plate for our hungry Cookie Monster craft. They put brown dots ( and other assorted marks) on beige circles. These will be the cookies they feed their monsters after everything is assembled. I cut a semicircle mouth in the painted plate, and another half plate gets attached to the back to catch the cookies.

We threw cookie bean bags at the bean bag board and in buckets. We made play dough cookies and sorted cookie shapes. One little girl had egg shakers in her hand from the time she walked in the door, so we wrapped things up with a shaker mix :

Shake! by We Kids Rock

Shakeable You by Imagination Movers

I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner

Wonderful Winter Flannelboard Stories

Thanks to all who attended the workshop. Here are links to resources we discussed:

http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/

http://pinterest.com/flannelfriday/
(Over sixty boards including various themes as well as “how to’s”)

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/SnowSnowmen.htm

You can contact me at the library:
swolf@kenosha.lib.wi.us

Or visit my blog
http://readrhymesing.blogspot.com

Or find me on Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/shawnwolf/

My absolute favorite--can’t live without it—preschool blog:
http://www.teachpreschool.org/
 

How many books are on your shelf?

For this rhyme, the books are the props!

How many books are on your shelf?
by Shawn Wolf
(give the clue, then ask the kids if they know what book it might be)

Five favorite books sitting on a shelf,
It wouldn’t be right to keep them all to myself.
I’ll take one down and give you a book,
About a big red dog. Won’t you take a look? (Clifford)

Four favorite books sitting on a shelf,
It wouldn’t be right to keep them all to myself.
I’ll take one down and give you a book,
About a cat in a hat. Won’t you take a look? (seuss)

Three favorite books sitting on a shelf,
It wouldn’t be right to keep them all to myself.
I’ll take one down and give you a book,
About letters in a tree. Won’t you take a look? (chicka)

Two favorite books sitting on a shelf,
It wouldn’t be right to keep them all to myself.
I’ll take one down and give you a book,
About a hungry caterpillar. Won’t you take a look? (carle)

One favorite books sitting on a shelf,
It wouldn’t be right to keep it to myself.
I’ll take it down and give it to you,
It’s about a room and the moon. Now we’re all through. (goodnight moon)



Flannel Friday Roundup for June 22nd!

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I felt like I was opening presents as I clicked on each link for this week's roundup. It was like they were all gifts given to me, and I was thrilled and delighted to open each one.Of course they aren't just for me, but they certainly are gifts--to all of us and all those we share them with. Enjoy!
  
See! It was like Lisa at Libraryland knew that I too LOVE Mo Willems. She flannelized Mo's The Pigeon Loves Things That Go and gives us tips for adding a literacy element to post-storytime play.

Farm livin' is the life for Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce. Check out her adaptation of Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack by Ivor Baddiel. (Yep. Sharon must know  I'm a HUGE Green Acres fan.)
 
Erin at Falling Flannelboards show us that the wordless book Where's Walrus? makes a great hiding flannel (Is that an official Flannel Friday phrase-"hiding flannel"? I think it deserves an official entry.) While I don't have any special affinity for Walruses, I do love wordless books.

Andrea at rovingfiddlehead added a button to her Little Mouse pieces to give us the Spanish language Debajo de un Botón.
 
Whooooooo loves owls? Yep, I do. Bridget has five little ones on What is Bridget Reading? 
  
Lucy In the Children's Room reminds us how to make a little board book work for storytime....flannelize it! She helps Skippyjon Jones flex his muscles with Shape Up.
 
Katie at Story Time Secrets made a beautiful silver moon she will be using throughout the summer for Dream Big-Read. She adapted Mr. Sun to bring us Mrs. Moon and shares several more moon songs and rhymes. 
 
Courtney over at Courtney Loves Bobo wrote an original rhyme to go with Miss Meredith's 10 Little Fireflies velcro story board. 
 
It's all good over at Read It Again! Sarah show us how to add special effects to our storytime with Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. The buttons actually pop off. You've got to see it!!
 
You'll find some festive felt ribbon rings at Mel's Desk. Melissa has step-by-step instructions on how to make your own along with lots of ideas on how to use them for your Fourth of July storytime.

Erin created a simply fabulous shape crown for her Princesses and Dragons storytime. See the entire storytime at Librerin.

This is not your everyday Little Mouse story. Jane at Piper Loves the Library shares the story of Daddy Mouse who is in search of his Father's Day cupcake. Sure, there's a green house and an orange house, but there is also a pirate house. How cool is that?

Kay at Storytime ABC's shares one of her favorite color stories The Crayon Box that Talked. See how she uses her magnet board and double-sided to tape to layer the illustrations as she tells the story. 

Miss Tara has gone bananas! She has flannelboard pieces to go with the book Beautiful Bananas. See her entire banana storytime at Storytime with Miss Tara.  

My contribution is of the non-flannel variety. We use the Melilssa and Doug cutting food for this one, but you could easily make flannel pieces. The kids love sharing my veggies! 
  
One for Me and One for You by Shawn Wolf 
 
I have a bright orange carrot,
I wish that I had two.
But if I cut this carefully,
There’s some for me.....and some for you!
(hand piece to a child)

 Repeat with:
Yummy cucumber,
Crunchy pepper,
Red tomato


Thank you for visiting this Flannel Friday Round-Up!  View previous and future round-ups at the new Flannel Friday website.  This website also contains information on how to get involved more involved with Flannel Friday.  For quick ideas check out the visual round-up of ALL postings at the Flannel Friday Pinterest page. Andrea at Rovingfiddlehead kidlit is hosting next week.

Flannel Friday

Just Like Daddy by Frank Asch
We are doing Teddy Bears this week, but I think I will save this one for Mothers' Day. Little Bear does everything just like daddy--puts on his shirt, eats a big bowl of cereal, gives his mom a flower. But there is one thing he does just like mommy.

Another favorite I like to do for Mothers' Day is Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack. We have a great older version of this Folkmanis two-handed bear that was made for giving big bear hugs.

What are your Mothers' Day storytime favorites?

Flannel Fundraising

We recently had a fundraiser at my preschool. In one area we raffled off a few small baskets that the kids could enter with an inexpensive ticket. I used up some odds and ends in my flannel bin and made a few of the kids' favorites. It was fast, simple, inexpensive, and a huge hit. Does the joy of flannel know no bounds?

I used some scrap piece of foam board and fun felt for the board. 

It was an odd size, but it worked perfectly.

Happy Birthday, Five Little Ducks and Little Mouse....classic.

Things that Grow in the Spring

My Red Umbrella
We have a script typed up for this story. I have never seen the book, so I didn't know the umbrella grows. These are our pieces with the umbrella. When it is on the easel I can crouch down under the umbrella with everyone else.

Here are my magical umbrella triangles. It looks less like an umbrella as it grows, but I'm sure one of you fabulously creative flannelizers can make it work!

Mushroom in the Rain
Here is my growing mushroom. You will need a pair of pantyhose and a styrofoam or paper bowl. Cut a hole in the bottom-about 3/4 in. diameter. Pull the waist of the pantyhose from the inside of the bowl, through the bottom. Turn the waist inside out and pull down around rim of bowl. 

 I twist and knot the legs to make a stem. Little ant fits under it perfectly.

The loose extra nylon has been tucked under the inside of the bowl. Start to pull it down around the animals as you add them.

Just keep stuffing the animals in. I think in the story they don't let fox in, but it's more fun to just squeeze him in there with everyone else (he promises to be good).

I don't think there is a bear in the story, but the more the merrier. The BIGGER the better. The kids crack up.

 As you take out the animals,the mushroom shrinks right back down to size. And of course, frog shows up to explain the phenomenon.

Hope you have as much fun with it as I do!

Warm &Cozy
I wrote this rhyme to go with some random felt pieces we found. More pieces have appeared. Not sure where the patterns came from originally.

Warm & Cozy

by Shawn Wolf


When mommy wakes up on a cold snowy day,
She’ll shiver, and snuggle and then she’ll say,
“When it’s cold, and I want to warm up,
I drink hot coffee from my favorite cup.”

When daddy wakes up on a cold snowy day,
He’ll shiver, and snuggle and then he’ll say,
“When it’s cold, I don’t know about you,
But I warm up with a big bowl of soup.”

When sister wakes up on a cold snowy day,
She’ll shiver, and snuggle and then she’ll say,
“When it’s cold, and I want to feel better,
I put on my favorite sweater.”

When puppy wakes up on a cold snowy day,
He’ll shiver, and snuggle and then he’ll say,
“When it’s so cold, and I just can’t take it,
I snuggle up on my warm fleece blanket.”


When brother wakes up on a cold snowy day,
He’ll shiver, and snuggle and then he’ll say,
“When it’s cold, I won’t just be sittin’,
I’ll play out in the snow with my warm scarf and mittens.”


When I wake up on a cold snowy day,
I shiver, and snuggle and then I say,
“You might want to stay in, but I just won’t,
I’ll be sledding down the hill in my warm, woolly coat.”

More Mitten Matching
I couldn't resist making some mittens after seeing the fun on  Loons and Quines. Check out the blog for more samples and the pattern. They kept flipping over when clipped on a clothesline with clothes pins, so I found a new use for my pasta drying rack. I will use this at storytime and circle time in my three year old classroom. I will also leave them out for the three's to explore during centers.

Hot Cocoa
Another flannel based on someone's great craft/math activity. I will be able to use this in storytime and the classroom. First I will put a few marshmallows in the first cup, and we will all count together. I'll do the same with the second cup then ask, "How many marshmallows altogether?" After we count each total, we will say this rhyme with our answer (based on the rhyme Mrs. Wood used in her classroom activity):

Seven marshmallows in my cup.
Drink it up! Drink it up!
Yum! Yum! Yum!

The Tallest Smallest Snowman

I got this idea looking at a snowman craft project on Kindergarten Lessons. Snowmen were built to form a child's name-one ball per letter. John's snowman was built with four balls, etc.  The site suggests counting balls and comparing height. I am going to do a variation of that activity in my three-year-old classroom, but I am going to do this flannel at my library storytime:

The Tallest Smallest Snowman
by Shawn Wolf

Joey built a snowman that was very, very small.
But the snowman wished that he was very, very tall.
So Joey rolled some snow, and made a great big ball.
Then he gave it to the snowman, and hoped it wouldn’t fall.

“More!” said the snowman, and that wasn’t all,
“I want to be very, very, very tall!”
So Joey rolled some snow and made a great big ball.
Then he gave it to the snowman, and hoped it wouldn’t fall.


“More!” said the snowman, and that wasn’t all,
“I want to be the tallest snowman of them all!”
So Joey rolled some snow and made a great big ball.
Then he gave it to the snowman, and hoped it wouldn’t fall.


“More!” said the snowman, but Joey said, “That’s all,”
Then the tallest snowman’s parts began to slip and fall.
As the snowman crumbled, Joey heard him call,
“Now I am the very smallest snowman of them all.”