I had a lot of fun focusing on the Letter E in both my Outdoor Musical Storytime and Family Storytime this week. We started by talking about the sounds that E makes, and I asked the kids if they knew any words that started with E. They came up with Elephant, Eagle, Eye, Ear, and Egg. I wrote those on my portable whiteboard, and then we drew the letter E in the air together.

Here’s a summary of the books and songs I used in both storytimes:

Books:

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

My family storytime on Wednesday nights has been bringing in some older preschoolers and early elementary school students, and this book was a big hit with them. It’s an hilarious story about Penelope the T-Rex who can’t help but eat her human classmates, even though her teacher always makes her spit them out again. But when Walter, the class goldfish, bites her finger, she realizes what it’s like to be someone’s snack, and finally learns to enjoy her classmates as friends, instead of meals.

Elephants Cannot Dance by Mo Willems

In this Elephant and Piggie book, Piggie tries to teach Gerald to dance, even though he tells her that elephants can’t dance. Although he struggles and eventually gives up trying to follow her instructions, some squirrels ask him to teach them to dance “The Elephant.” In my Outdoor Musical Storytime, I had the kids stand up and try to follow Piggie’s instructions along with the book.

Do Your Ears Hang Low? by Jenny Cooper

Adorable version of the classic song. For both of my storytimes, I handed out play scarves, and had the kids pretend that the scarves were long ears as I read the book. The last page features a mirror, which I carried around so that each of the kids could see themselves “in the book.” They all loved it!

The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett

Very cute, simple story about a duck who finds an huge egg. He thinks it’s the most amazing egg in the world, but the other birds, who each have their own eggs, disagree. Gradually all of the eggs hatch into baby birds, except for duck’s, which hatches into an alligator. The kids all laughed at the alligator calling duck “mama.”

Songs:

I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas

We sang this in Family Storytime after We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. It was a great fit, because it not only featured the E word “Eat,” but also emphasizes the long E sound. I started by teaching the kids the ASL signs for Apple, Banana, and Eat, so they could sign along with the song while I played it on the ukulele. Each time you sing the song, you change the vowels to A, E, I, O, or U, using the long sound of each (the one that sounds like the name of the letter).

I like to [C] eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[G]nanas.
I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[C]nanas.
I like to [C] eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[G]nanas.
I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[C]nanas.

Ay lake to ate, ate, ate, ayples and baynaynays…

Ee leek to eat, eat, eat, eeples and beeneenees…

I like to īte, īte, īte, īpples, and bīnīnīs… (the ī symbol is for the long “i” sound, which sounds like “eye”)

Oh, loke to oh-te, oh-te, ohte, oh-pples and boh-noh-nohs…

 Ū lūk to ūte, ūte, ūte, ūpples and būnūnūs… (the ū symbol is for the long “u” sound, which sounds like “ooh)

Elephants Have Wrinkles

There are different versions of this song, but this is the one that I use. As we sang each verse, I asked the kids for suggestions of where elephants have wrinkles (they came up with eyes, ears, mouth, legs, ears, tails, and bellies), and we sang the song faster each time.  Click on the triangle for the tune:

Elephants have (pat legs on each syllable)
Wrinkles, Wrinkles, Wrinkles (clap hands on each syllable)
Elephants have (pat legs on each syllable)
Wrinkles (clap hands on each syllable)
Everywhere! (stomp feet on each syllable)
On their nose! Oh-oh! (touch your nose, and mime a trunk)

Repeat

Elephants have wrinkles…

On their legs! On their nose! Oh-oh!

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

I did one to go along with Do Your Ears Hang Low. We sang it three times, getting faster and faster each time. I always start by asking the kids if they remembered to bring their heads, which usually gets a laugh.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
And eyes and ears, and mouth and nose.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes.

I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner

We did this as our instrument play-along at the end. Laurie Berkner’s video is below:

[C7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
Oh [F7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she [C7] laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
[G7] Oh my goodness! (Oh, my goodness)
It’s a [C7] shaky egg! (It’s a shaky egg!)

Now shake them [C7] fast!
Shake them [F7] fast!
Shake them [C7] fast!
[G7] Shake your eggs!
[C7] Shake them [G7] fast!

[C7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
Oh [F7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she [C7] laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
[G7] Oh my goodness! (Oh, my goodness)
It’s a [C7] shaky egg! (It’s a shaky egg!)

Now shake them [C7] slow!
You know how it [F7] goes.
Shake them [C7] slow,
[G7] Because you know how it goes.
[C7] Shake them [G7] fast! Oh, shake those eggs!

[C7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
Oh [F7] I know a chicken, (I know a chicken)
And she [C7] laid an egg. (And she laid an egg)
[G7] Oh my goodness! (Oh, my goodness)
It’s a [C7] shaky egg! (It’s a shaky egg!)

Now shake them [C7] in a circle.
Shake them [F7] round and round.
Don’t let them touch the [C7] ground.
[G7] Now shake them up and down.
[C7] You’ve got to shake them up and [G7] down.

Stay & Play: Googly Eye Monsters

Super simple, but fun. I just put out large and small pom-poms, glow-in-the-dark googly eyes, and glue sticks for the kids to make their own monsters. The kids were especially excited about the glow-in-the-dark eyes, and it was a good activity since it’s close to Halloween.

What are your favorite Letter E books, songs, or activities? Please share them in the comments below.