Tag Archives: letter s books for preschoolers

S-ential Reading: A Storytime About the Letter S

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Early Literacy Tip: Ask your child to point out particular letters in the titles of the books you read (example: can you find the word that starts with S?). This is a great way to introduce the idea of how individual letters make up the words that they see every day.

This week, we had a great time celebrating the letter S in storytime. As usual, we started by drawing the letter S in the air together, and talking about the sound it makes. I asked the kids if they could think of any words that started with S. They suggested: sun, snake, sky, and slug. I also pulled out some items from a paper bag: a snake puppet, a straw, and a slide whistle (my favorite!).

Secret Words: I’ve been enjoying having the kids pick a slip of paper with a secret word featuring the letter of the day at the end of storytime. This week, we had the words strawberry, sun, star, shoe and snake.

Here’s the rest of what we did:

Books:

Sleepy Sheepy by Lucy Ruth Cummins; illustrated by Pete Oswald

The kids LOVED this book. I’m not sure if it was the name “Sleepy Sheepy” or the phrase “was not sleepy!” but they giggled almost every time I read that sentence. It’s a very simple story about a sheep who doesn’t want to go to bed, but the language and the illustrations are a lot of fun.

Smelly Peggy by Helen Stephens

I read this book at several preschools recently, and some of the kids were practically on the floor laughing. A little girl named Pie describes her naughty dog named Peggy, who likes to wake Mom up with a lick, and Dad up with dog butt! She also steals Mom’s frilly undies, and rolls in all kinds of poop. But the family loves Peggy anyway. This is an author who knows her audience!

How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers

Sweet, whimsical story about a little boy who wants a star of his very own. He tries every way he can think of to find one, until he finally discovers one at the edge of the sea. This book resonates with me particularly, because my family has always loved to visit the tide pools here along the California coast, and recently we’ve been so relieved to see the sea stars, which are finally coming back after a long struggle with wasting disease. I also love it because it reminds me of Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which is one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels. The kids at Family Storytimes seemed taken by the idea of having a star of their own.

Aarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks

I try really hard not to hoard books in my house, but I do have a small personal collection of favorite picture books. This is one of them. It’s an older title about an adorable spider who wants to be a family pet, but keeps getting put outside. The kids love joining in on the repeated “Aarrgghh, Spider!” line, and they love the page with the sparkly webs. The ending, where the spider invites all of her friends into the family’s house, always gets lots of laughs.

Kat Writes a Song by Greg Foley

This is another old favorite of mine: the story of a cat who writes a song to make everything better. She thinks her song is magic, because it seems to make the sun come out, and helps turtle find his missing sock, and keeps dog from barking at her. But when it doesn’t fix her friend Bunny’s broken skateboard, she begins to doubt that it’s magical after all. But then, her friend Bird comes to cheer her up with a bunch of friends singing her song. The kids enjoyed singing along with the song, which is simply “Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow.”

Songs & Rhymes:

Sleeping Bunnies Song

This is a repeat from last week, but it fit so well with Sleepy Sheepy that I couldn’t resist doing it again at Outdoor Musical Storytime. The version I use is closest to the one in this LittleBabyBum video.

See the little bunnies sleeping (crouch down and pretend to sleep)
‘Till it’s nearly noon.
Come, let us wake them with a merry tune?
They’re so still.
Are they ill?
NO! Wake up little bunnies! (jump up)
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop! (jump up and down)
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop and stop!

Little Bo Peep

I did this rhyme with the play scarves for Family Storytime. I had the kids stand up, and then we pretended the scarves were tails for the last line. Jbrary does a nice demo of the rhyme in the video below.

Little Bo Peep
Has lost her sheep, (hide scarf)
And doesn’t know where to find them.
Leave them alone,
And they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them. (wave scarf in front of you, or behind you like a tail)

Shake My Sillies Out

This old Raffi song was my opening song for years when I first started as a children’s librarian. For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we sang the first verse with the parachute. I put a few small stuffed animals on the parachute, so they would fly up and down as we shook the chute in time with the song.

I’m gonna shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out,
And wiggle my waggles away.

There’s a Spider on the Floor

To the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It. This is another Raffi song, although I usually change the lyrics a little. I acted it out with a spider puppet, and told the kids to pretend their hands were spiders.

There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor?
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.

Now the spider’s on my leg, on my leg.
Now the spider’s on my leg, on my leg.
Oh, he’s really, really big, this old spider on my leg.
There’s a spider on my leg, on my leg.

Now the spider’s on my tummy, on my tummy…
Oh, I feel so very funny with this spider on my tummy!…

Now the spider’s on my neck, on my neck…
Oh, I’m gonna’ be a wreck, I’ve got a spider on my neck!…

Now the spider’s on my face, on my face…
Oh, I’m such a big disgrace. I’ve got a spider on my face!…

Now the spider’s on my head, on my head…
Oh, it fills my heart with dread to have this spider on my head!…

Spoken: But it jumps off!

Now the spider’s on the floor, on the floor…

Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor?…

Sing a Song by Joe Raposo

We sang this as our instrument play-along at the end. It’s an old song from Sesame Street that I have always loved. I really like the version by The Carpenters in the video below.

[G] Sing, sing a [Am7] song [D7],
Sing out [G] loud, sing out [Dm7] strong [G7].
[Cmaj7] Sing of good things, not [G] bad,
[Em7] Sing of [A7] happy, not [Am7] sad [D7].

[G] Sing, sing a [Am7] song,
Make it [G] simple to [Gmaj7] last your whole life [Dm7] long [G7].
Don’t [Cmaj7] worry that it’s not [B7] good enough,
For [Em7] anyone else to [A7] hear.
Just [Am7] sing, [D7] sing a [G] song.

[G] La la do la da, [Gmaj7] la da la do la da,
[Cmaj7] La da da la do la da.
[G] La la do la da, [Gmaj7] la da la do la da,
[Cmaj7] La da da la do la da.

Stay & Play: DIY Stickers

This was really simple, but a lot of fun. Before storytime, I cut some large shipping labels into squares about 2″ x 2.” For the Stay & Play, I just put out the squares, along with markers and some small stamps. The kids really enjoyed making multiple stickers and then wearing them home. If I had time, I would have loved to use the circle cutter that came with our button machine to make round stickers too.

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the letter S? Please share them in the comments below.

S is for Slug: A Storytime About the Letter S

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Letter S may be my favorite storytime letter so far (and not just because Storytime starts with S). One of our regular families who comes to Outdoor Musical Storytime, always comes early to see how many banana slugs she can find in the park (today she found 27!). In her honor, I ordered a banana slug puppet, and featured banana slugs in our Stay & Play activity, and our instrument play-along song at the end.

I started the storytime by asking the kids if they knew any words that started with the letter S. They suggested seal, snake, and sand. I also demonstrated a slide whistle (one of my favorite instruments!), and held up my slug puppet, and a large spider that one of our library staff made on our 3D printer. Then we drew the letter S in the air together.

Here are the books and songs I used in either Outdoor Musical Storytime, Family Storytime, or both:

Books:

Shake the Tree by Chiara Vignocchi, Paulo Chiarinotti, and Silvia Borando

I read this one for Family Storytime, and it was a big hit. A mouse tries to shake a nut out of tree, but accidentally shakes down a hungry fox. The mouse escapes into the tree branches, and when the fox shakes the tree, he shakes down an angry warthog, who ends up shaking down a big bear. The bear shakes down all the animals, and the nut, which he eats. The kids enjoyed pretending to shake the tree along with the story. The book opens vertically, which is also fun.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

When I held this one up, a number of the older kids yelled, “I have that book!” It’s such a classic, simple story about a boy’s adventures in the snow. I had the kids try walking with their toes pointing outward, and then inward along with the story. They were very engaged all the way through.

Aaaarrgghh, Spider! by Lydia Monks

One of my favorite read-alouds! An adorable spider wants to be a family pet, but keeps getting put outside. The kids loved joining in on the “Aarrgh, Spider!” line, which is written in large enough text that the older preschoolers could pick it out whenever I got to that page. It made me really happy to see that they were paying attention to the written words.

Slug in Love by Rachel Bright and Nadia Shireen

This is such a cute, rhyming book about a slug named Doug who really wants a hug, but no one wants to hug him.

Songs & Rhymes

Way Up High in the Apple Tree

I did this one in Family Storytime to go along with Shake the Tree. I asked the kids to suggest other fruits, and we did the rhyme again with an orange tree and a banana tree.

Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up)
Two little apples smiled at me. (make circles with the thumb and fingers of each hand)
I shook that tree as hard as I could! (shake imaginary tree)
Down came the apples (lower arms quickly)
Mmmm! They were good! (rub stomach)

Five Little Snowmen

This is one of my favorite winter-time songs. The kids LOVE pretending to melt to the floor, and then pop up again.

Five little snowmen standing in a row, (hold up five fingers)
Each with a hat (touch head), and a brightly colored bow (adjust imaginary bowtie).
Five little snowmen dressed up all for show.
Now they are ready,`
Where will they go?

Wait! (hold out hands in a “Stop!” motion) Till the sun shines. (move hands in a circle)
Wait! Till the sun shines.
Then they will go
Down through the fields
With the melting, melting snow (“melt” all the way down to the floor, then pop up for the next four snowmen).

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

We sang this with the parachute, lifting it up and down along with the song. I put a large 3D-printed spider in the middle of the parachute, and kids thought it was hilarious to see the spider bouncing up and down.

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Spider on the Floor

To the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It. This is an old Raffi song (video below) although I usually change the lyrics a little. I used the 3D printed spider to act out the words, while the kids made pretend spiders out of their hands. (In Family Storytime, I had the kids pretend their play scarves were spiders).

There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor?
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.

Now the spider’s on my leg, on my leg.
Now the spider’s on my leg, on my leg.
Oh, he’s really, really big, this old spider on my leg.
There’s a spider on my leg, on my leg.

Now the spider’s on my tummy, on my tummy…
Oh, I feel so very funny with this spider on my tummy!…

Now the spider’s on my neck, on my neck…
Oh, I’m gonna’ be a wreck, I’ve got a spider on my neck!…

Now the spider’s on my face, on my face…
Oh, I’m such a big disgrace. I’ve got a spider on my face!…

Now the spider’s on my head, on my head…
Oh, it fills my heart with dread to have this spider on my head!…

Spoken: But it jumps off!

Now the spider’s on the floor, on the floor…

Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor?…


Banana Slug Song by Bungee Jumpin’ Cows

I was happy to see that this song has been used in our local Outdoor Ed program, where every fifth grader in the public schools spends a week at a camp learning about nature. We did it as our instrument play-along at the end. The kids loved the BA-NA-NA Slug, Slug, Slug, Slug! part (the motions are in the video below). Here’s a link to the original song recording by Bungee Jumpin’ Cows, in case that’s easier to follow for the tune: https://bungeejumpincows.bandcamp.com/track/the-banana-slug-song

To the tune of Twist and Shout.

BA (pat legs)
NA (pat shoulders)
NA (pat head)
SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! (Pump hands up and down in the air).

You know I love my [G] baby
([C] Love my [D] baby).
I like the [C] way that she [G] hugs
(The [C] way that she [D] hugs).
People [C] don’t [G] understand
([C] Don’t [D] understand).
She’s a [C] banana [G] slug.
([C]Banana [D] slug).

BA (pat legs)
NA (pat shoulders)
NA (pat head)
SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! (Pump hands up and down in the air).

She’s got just one foot
(Just one foot).
But she ain’t got no toes
(Ain’t got no toes)
She just hangs out in the forest
(In the forest).
Helpin’ it decompose
(Decompose).

BA (pat legs)
NA (pat shoulders)
NA (pat head)
SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! (Pump hands up and down in the air).

The way you shake your antenna
(Shake your antenna).
You know it gives me such bliss
(Gives me such bliss).
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon banana slug
(Banana slug).
And let me give you a kiss
(Give you a kiss).

BA (pat legs)
NA (pat shoulders)
NA (pat head)
SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! SLUG! (Pump hands up and down in the air).

Stay & Play: Liquid Chalk Marker Painted Slugs

These was a super simple Stay & Play activity, but the kids were really into it.

Before storytime, I printed out the slug templates from LearnCreateLove on white cardstock and cut them out. For the Stay & Play, I put out the printed templates, along with googly eyes, and liquid chalk markers, paint brush pens, and dot markers. The kids were having such a great time decorating their slugs that some of them didn’t want to leave.

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the letter S? Please share them in the comments below.