Early Literacy Tip: Encourage kids to make up their own verses to favorite songs that you sing together (for example, ask them to come up with different types of animals for Old MacDonald to have on his farm). Singing together is one of the best and easiest ways to help kids develop phonemic awareness, the knowledge of the different sounds that make up words. Having them choose the words to the song makes it an even more fun and memorable experience.

As I mentioned before, this is the second time I’ve done a series of storytimes based on the letters of the alphabet, and I’m enjoying it even more this time. Our library system has made it a goal for our storytimes to help caregivers learn ways to reinforce early literacy skills throughout the day. I’ve struggled a bit with how to incorporate this, since admittedly I tend to focus more on the kids than the caregivers, but building my storytimes around individual letters has made it easier to model ways of focusing kids’ attention on words and letter sounds.

This week we focused on the Letter E. As usual, I started by writing a capital and lowercase E on my whiteboard, and then asked the kids to draw them in the air with me. I then talked about the different sounds the letter makes (I even mentioned that sometimes E is silent, although I didn’t go into a lot of detail), and asking the kids if they knew any words that started with E. They came up with elephant, eel, and eagle. I also pulled some other objects out of a paper bag one at a time: an egg shaker, an envelope, and an eraser.

Here’s the rest of what we did:

Books:

Everybody Says Meow by Constance Lombardo

This book works well for a wide range of ages. A cat announces that now’s the time when everybody says, “Meow.” Except that one dog insists on saying, “Woof!” instead. When the cat decides to accommodate the dog, a frog suddenly shows up. Eventually the cat decides that everybody can just say whatever they want to, but then a lion’s roar scares everyone away. The kids always laugh at the unexpected animal sounds.

Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles; illustrated by Rod Clement

A classic, rhyming story about an emu who tries being other animals, because he thinks each one is “the best at the zoo.” He tries being a lion, a snake, and a seal, until finally he overhears a man saying the emu is by far the best. When he returns to his original enclosure though, he finds a new emu named Edwina, who thinks that he is the best thing she’s seen at the zoo. The large illustrations of each animal make this a great book for storytime.

Did You Eat the Parakeet? by Mark Iacolina

When her pet parakeet escapes from its cage, a girl accuses her cat of eating it. But she doesn’t realize that the parakeet is standing on her head the whole time. A funny, rhyming book with lots of visual irony.

The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett

All of the birds have laid eggs, except for Duck, who finds a large, mysterious one that everyone says is odd. Each bird’s egg hatches into their expected babies, but when Duck’s finally hatches, it turns out to contain an alligator, which scares all of the other birds away. The kids love the last page, which shows the alligator calling Duck “Mama.”

Songs:

Old MacDonald

We sang this song after reading Everybody Says Meow (it helps that the song has lots of E’s in it!). Each time we sang it, I asked the kids which animals they thought Old MacDonald should have and what sounds they would make.

[C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!
And on that farm he [F] had a [C] cow,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!
With an moo-moo here, and an moo-moo there,
Here a moo, there a moo,
Everywhere a moo-moo.
[C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!

Repeat with different animals…

The Elevator

This is an old standby of mine, which I especially love to use with babies and toddlers. For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we sang it with the parachute, lifting it up and down with the words of the song. It’s to the tune of Bumpin’ Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon (I have included a rough audio clip below so you can hear how it goes).

Riding up and down in an elevator (lift baby up and down, or have older kids stand up and crouch down)
Riding up and down in an elevator
Riding up and down in an elevator
First floor
Second floor (lift baby up, or have kids stand)
Third floor (lift baby higher, or have kids stretch up high)
DOWN! (lower baby, or have kids crouch back down)

Apples and Bananas

We sang this after reading Did You Eat the Parakeet? It’s a wonderful song for teaching vowel sounds, and for modeling different ways to play with words and sounds in general.

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.

I like to eat, eat, eat ayples and baynaynays…

I like to eat, eat, eat eeples and beeneenees…

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

I like to eat, eat, eat oh-pples and boh-noh-nohs…

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

I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner

A great song to do with egg shakers! I used it as my instrument play-along at the end of storytime.

[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: Fun With Googly Eyes

For the Stay & Play, I just put out white paper, markers, and a variety of Googly Eyes, which are always a big hit!

Do you have any favorite books, songs, or activities based on the letter E? Please share them in the comments below.