This is a sample handout for a preschool storytime for children ages 4, 5 and 6 years old.  Much of the wording and activities are borrowed from Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz's book Early Literacy Storytimes @ your library and the ALA Every Child Ready to Read @ your library training manual.  This sample was a handout from a preschool storytime at the Harrison County Public Library in Corydon, IN.  Parents are not required to stay during the library's storytime.  That is why the back of the double-sided handout is a take-home parent tip because most of the parents are not in the activity room during the storytime.  These tips let the parents know what early literacy skill was featured during the storytime and how to make a connection at home.  Most of the storytimes at HCPL include a craft or activity in addition to the stories, fingerplays and songs.  Not all of the books included are read during each storytime.  Books are selected based on the children present and their response to the material.  For more information contact Alisa Burch, Youth Services Manager, Harrison County Public Library at aburch@hcpl.lib.in.us  .

 
Down on the Farm


Barnyard Song by Rhonda Gowler Greene

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

The Cow who Clucked by Denise Fleming

Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm by Joy Cowley

Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Holly Berry

Old MacDonald Had a Farm by David A. Carter
 

Farmer in the Dell

The farmer in the dell

The farmer in the dell

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The farmer in the dell


The farmer takes a wife

The farmer takes a wife

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The farmer takes a wife


The wife takes a child

The wife takes a child

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The wife takes a child


The child takes a nurse

The child takes a nurse

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The child takes a nurse


The nurse takes a dog

The nurse takes a dog

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The nurse takes a dog


The dog takes a cat

The dog takes a cat

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The dog takes a cat


The cat takes a rat

The cat takes a rat

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The cat takes a rat


The rat takes the cheese

The rat takes the cheese

 


 

 

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The rat takes the cheese

 

The cheese stands alone

 

 

The cheese stands alone

Hi-ho, the derry-o

The cheese stands alone

 

I Went to Visit a Farm One Day

I went to visit a farm one day,

I saw a pig along the way,

And what do you think I heard it say?

Oink, oink, oink!


Verse 2: horse…neigh, neigh, neigh

Verse 3: cat… meow, meow, meow

Verse 4: duck… quack, quack, quack

Verse 5: sheep… baa, baa, baa

Verse 6: dog… bow wow wow


Down on Grandpa’s Farm

(chorus)We’re on our way, we’re on our way
On our way to Grandpa’s farm
We’re on our way, we’re on our way
On our way to Grandpa’s farm


Down on Grandpa’s farm there is a big brown cow
Down on Grandpa’s farm there is a big brown cow
The cow it sounds a lot like this: Moo!
The cow it sounds a lot like this: Moo! (repeat chorus)

Repeat chorus after each additional verse:

a big pink pig (oink)
a little red rooster (cock-a-doodle-doo)
a black and white skunk (it smells a lot like this Pee-yeu!)


Parent Tip Take-Home – Phonological Awareness


Research indicates that phonological awareness, or the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words, is an important skill for children to know before they go to school.

 

Today at the Library…


We read some books about farm animals. We also played the “Say it Slow, Say it Fast” game with the farm animals and sent cards for your child to play the game at home. Have you child show you how to play. If he or she doesn’t remember this is how to play: hold up the cards with the picture of the donkey. Say “this is a picture of a donkey. Say that word with me. Now we’ll say it slowly: don-key.” As you say it slowly, hold up one half of the card at a time. Then say it again fast and hold up both halves of the card together. For fun make up some silly words. Use the don from donkey and the ster from rooster. Put them together: don-ster, or roo-key. It is fun to play with the sounds in words.


We also did some rhyming riddles, like the ones below. Try to make some up with your child. It is fun to rhyme, and it will help the children later as they try to decode or sound out words once they are learning how to read.


I am thinking of an animal that lives on a farm…


It swims in a pond, and it rhymes with luck. duck

Its babies are called foals, and it rhymes with course. horse

It likes to eat bones, and it rhymes with log. dog

It likes milk, and it rhymes with hat. cat

Its coat is wool, and it rhymes with beep. sheep

It honks, and it rhymes with moose. Goose


Try making up rhyming riddles using people’s names, kinds of food or whatever else sounds like fun!


Thanks for keeping the learning going.


Created as part of the final project for S603 High Tech Learning taught by Professor Annette Lamb as part of the SLIS program at IUPUI.