This book was on so many best of 2019 lists that I had to get it for our library. It shows the beautiful relationship between a father and daughter and between a family and a neighborhood. A beautiful immigrant story.
This book tells the story of a child in a refugee camp in a very sweet and child friendly way. It speaks mostly of the child’s loneliness as she decorates a pebble and it becomes her best friend. When she and her family have the opportunity to leave the camp she passes Pebble on to another child to help him through the loneliness.
This beautiful book follows 13 black boys as they go through their everyday life. Each page has a poem and art by a different author. In a culture where there are so many misconceptions about black men and boys this is a very important book.
Opening Songs and Activities
Dance Freeze
Tiny Tim
If You Want to Hear a Story
Books:
Both of my books today are by Emma Garcia. They have bold illustrations that really catch the kids attention and, of course, the sound words are so much fun and so interactive.
Flannel Story:
5 Noisy Robots in the Toy Shop:
Shiny and tall with antennae on top.
Along came a girl with a penny one day,
Bought a noisy robot and took it away.
(Continue with 4, 3, 2, 1 noisy robots)
Book:
After story time we’ll be making egg shakers that we’ll decorate with washi tape and stickers and fill with rice. I also have a collection of musical instruments (which I hope I don’t regret) that I’ll allow them to experiment with.
These simple biographies are a great way to teach kids about serious subjects. In this case the subject is Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. The text is interspersed with speech bubbles. The graphic novel approach might help hook reluctant readers. If you use this for a story time I would suggest school age kids and probably just the one book with some activities.
This might be the most intense children’s book I’ve ever read. The text is super easy but the content is not. This is about a family escaping from the South on the Underground Railroad. Each page has a simple one word sentence. Between the sparse text and the nearly scribbled illustrations this is poetry. It’s also simple enough to read to young children, but the conversation won’t be.
Mae Among the Stars by #OwnVoices Roda Ahmed is a simple picture book about Mae Jemison (the first African American woman to reach the stars) as a child. The text is simple and the story is true, making this a perfect book for Black History Month
Books:
Be A Star Wonder Woman by Michael Dahl and #OwnVoices Omar Lozano
Ten Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti
The Day I Lost My Superpower by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo
Inclusion:
In Be A Star Wonder Woman by Michael Dahl and #OwnVoices Omar Lozano the protagonist is of an unidentified ethnicity. There are other children of color in the background including a young girl in a a hijab.
Flannel Board
This little girl is a superhero,
But you would never know.
She needs a few accessories.
Let’s help her get ready to go.
What is missing? What should she
wear?
She needs a cape! Let’s put it right there.
What is missing? What should she
wear?
She needs a mask! Let’s put it right there.
What is missing? What should she
wear?
She needs some gloves! Let’s put them right there.
What is missing? What should she wear?
She needs a badge! Let’s put it right there.
Flannel Rhyme:
One little, two little, three little heroes
Four little, five little, six little heroes
Seven little, eight little, nine little heroes
Ten heroes ready to fly!
(count down)
Credit: Story Time Katie
Action Rhyme: “Superman”
Put your hands way up high (raise arms up in air)
Like Superman flying across the sky (assume flying position)
Fly to the left, now fly to the right (lean to your right, then left)
Now show me your muscles with all your might,(make arm muscles)
Now Superman’s putting his suit away (bring arms down slowly)
So he can go flying another day (rest hands in lap)
Credit: Story Time Katie
Action Song with Applesauce!: “Did You Ever See a Hero?”
Did you ever see a hero, a hero, a hero,
Did you ever see a hero, flying in the sky?
Fly this way and that way and this way and that way
Did you ever see a hero, flying in the sky?
(putting on their cape, saving the day, going home)
Credit: Modified from Childhood
Credit: Story Time Katie
February 2020 Repeating Songs and Rhymes:
Shake Your Shaker (to the tune of London Bridge)
Shake your shaker in the air,Shake it here, shake it there.Shake your shaker in the air,Shake your shaker.
Shake it high and shake it low,Shake it yes, shake it no.Shake it high and shake it low,Shake your shaker.
Shake it up and shake it down,Rub your shaker on the ground.Shake it up and shake it down,Shake your shaker.
Shake it near and shake it far,Drive your shaker like a car.Shake it near and shake it far,Shake your shaker.
Shake it fast and shake it slow,Shake it stop, shake it go.Shake it fast and shake it slow,Shake your shaker.
Credit: Jbrary
Scarf Song:
Wave Your Scarf
Wave your scarf up and down,
up and down, up and down.
Wave your scarf up and down, wave your scarf.
Verses: left and rigft…
fast and slow…
high and low…
around and around wave it goodbye
Credit: Jbrary
Craft: Super Hero Printable
Kashmira Sheth based this book upon her experience watching her children with their grandmother. The kids are fascinated with her sari and pepper her with questions and end up trying them on.
AR Book Level: 3.5
AR Pts: 0.5
This simple picture book is filled with the bright colors of Holi. Perfect for a story time about colors or a cultural story time about India.
“Holi is the Indian festival of colors, celebrated during spring, when new colors appear in nature. It symbolizes inclusiveness, new beginning, and the triumph of good over evil. The festivities begin with an evening bonfire. The next morning, family, friends, and neighbors throw dry and wet colored powders on each other.”
Excerpted from the afterword.
Holi is in March