Tag Archives: Animal Sounds

Um, Why Do You Ask?

8 Sep

Yesterday, while participating in an animal sounds storytime, a child began asking me a series of questions that continued to escalate:

Question 1: “Do ducks bite?”

My answer: “I don’t know, but we don’t really get close to wild animals.”

After a bit, we had Question 2: “Do cows bite?”

My answer: “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

And later on, close to the end of storytime: “Do tigers live in New York?”

WINNER! My answer: “Only in zoos. Tigers mostly live in Asia, which is far away.”

I’m not sure if this little guy is taking a trip to New York and got concerned about encountering a tiger on the street, or if he’d recently heard something about New York (we WERE talking about tigers). But what he followed this question up with was a complete surprise:

Statement 1: “My daddy shot an alligator.”

My response: “…………..”

 

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Oink, Baa, Tweet, Moo! Animal Sounds Storytime

23 Aug

Animal sounds is one of my go-to storytime themes. SO MANY GREAT BOOKS, so much room for fun. I’m starting this school year off in a noisy way, and here’s what I’m planning:

My lovely duck puppet helps me start things off. She’s fluffy and expressive and vehemently quacks her displeasure when we talk about things we DON’T do with our books, like eat them, stand on them, color in them, or cut them – because I always do a little “book care” session at the beginning of the new storytime year.

  • McPhail, David. Duck on a Bike/Pato va en bici. Just right. We especially enjoy trying to find out where mouse is riding in the end – was there a bike his size?
  • Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George. I have recited this story, without the book, to a carful of adults and they LOVED it. It’s a new classic – so simple a story, yet comically genius.
  • Song: “When Ducks Get Up in the Morning” by Nancy Stewart. I pull various animal finger puppets out of a bag and we sing verses with each of them (including a triceratops, of course).
  • Davis, Katie. Who Hoots? I like this one because it’s got more than just the usual duck, cat, dog, cow, etc.
  • Flannelboard: Animal Sounds
  • Butler, Jon. Can You Growl Like a Bear? Again, more unusual animals. Like a snuffling panda! I don’t REALLY know what that sounds like, but I think I’ve come up with a good approximation.
Other books I might use:
What are your favorite animal sounds books? Please share! Mooooooooo!!!!

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Flannel Friday: Moo! Tweet! Meow! Animal Sounds

19 Aug

One of my go-to storytimes for the new school year is an animal sounds theme. There are a plethora of good books (I’ll post my storytime plan soon – can’t believe I haven’t done it yet!), and it’s a good topic for new preschoolers (who are on the younger, closer-to-3-years-old side). So when planning my storytimes for September, I naturally gravitated toward this tried-and-true theme. For flannelboards, I got out a set of felt animals I made several years ago. Thinking about how I could use them, I decided to incorporate some print awareness and make a “sign” with each animal’s sound on it. The kids could then help me figure out each animal’s sound, and I could show them how that sound is written in print:

This was super easy, obviously, but incorporates an extra element that just adds to the early literacy experience the kids are getting in storytime. I think that perhaps, later in the year, I will show them the words again, ask them about the first letter, make the letter sound, and then have them figure out the sound. It might work really well!

The question mark, by the way, is for the fish.

Visit Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup!

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Flannel Friday: Bark, George

1 Jul

I made this flannel years ago and often forget I have it because I really love reading the book so much. But I got it out this week for a Dog-themed storytime and realized how much I like it!

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer is a simple, but silly, story that’s super easy to memorize.  Here’s George; I made him by photocopying and enlarging an image of George from the book, cutting it out and sticking it on felt, and tracing.

I picked an open-mouthed image of George

I also color photocopied a picture of the doctor; cut him out and covered him with contact paper. A piece of felt is stuck to the back:

Giant George!

Finally, I made tiny felt animals that I pull out of George:

Cat, Duck, Pig and Cow

George is actually 2 layers of felt; the second layer is glued on around the edges but there are openings at his mouth (to pull the animals out) and along his back (to put them in):

The little animals layered inside George in the order in which they will be pulled out.

I adore this story; I have entertained family members by reciting it to them in the car. Who wouldn’t love George?

Visit Katie’s blog later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup!

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