A Dip in the Pool

The second week of summer reading featured books about swimming and swimming pools. We started each storytime by guessing the theme. I brought out my towel, sunglasses, and water wings to let the kids guess what I was going to do that day.


For the 2's and 3's, the first book that we read was The Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell. This is to story of farmer Neligan's pig who doesn't want to go in the pond. But, when he sits near by on a hot day he just may change his mind.

Our second pool story was Duck Dunks by Lynne Berry. When the ducks pack up for a day at the beach they discover the joy of splashing away in the ocean water. This story could also be used for a beach theme as it describes some other activities that the ducks can do at the beach.

The final story for the 2's and 3's was Going Swimming by Sarah Garland. This book is a little on the small side for storytime, but our small crowds made it usable. In this book a mother takes her two children swimming. While the older child is excited for the pool, the baby is a little more aprehensive. The book details the whole outing in very simple language.


For songs we sang 'This is the way we swim.' It goes to the tune of Here we go round the Mullberry bush:

This is the way jump in the pool,
Jump in the pool, jump in the pool.
This is the way we jump in the pool,
When we go for a swim.

Repeat with:
Use our arms
Kick our legs
Plug our nose
Swim like a dog

We also dance along to Surfin' in My Imagination by Ralph's World on the album Welcome to Ralph's World. We passed out scarves to wave along to this Beach Boys-esque song. In the song the kids get onto the surfboard and ride until they wipeout.

We repeated our 'summer songs' of The Goldfish and All the Fish that were used in the previous programs, but swapped the group that they were used for.

We ended storytime with a video. It was a bit difficult to find a pool related activiy that did not involve an actual pool (other than fishing in a wading pool which we already did). Instead we watched a 'movie.' Our movie was a clip from Seasame Street's Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures. When Bert is afraid of the water, Ernie offers to help. In the end it is Ernie's Rubber Duckie who helps Bert to overcome his fear of swimming.

The 4's and 5's read the following books:

Swim, Little Wombat, swim! by Charles Fuge. When Little Wombat makes a new friend in Platypus, he also discovers a new skill, swimming. But, Little Wombat learns that as with all skills, this takes some practice.

Rhinos who surf by Julie Mammano is a totally rad story about surfing Rhinos. This book actually can be a bit confusing as many surfer terms are mixed into the text, but it was a great oppotunity to text some new volcabulary as well as seguey into the song Surfin' in My Imagination.

The final book for the 4's and 5's was Hey frog! by Piet Grobler. This book was a bit of a strecth as far as a swimming theme goes, but it is the story of a frog who drinks all of the water out of the watering hole (great opportunity to discuss not drinking pool water right?) The other hot and thirsty animals are outraged and need to figure a way to get all that water out of frog and back into the waterhole. Regardless of fitting with the theme, it is a cute story.

Gone Fishing!

This year's summer reading program was 'Make a Splash, Read!' I fully embraced this theme and planned storytimes that were everything water related. I'll post some of the ones from earlier in the summer later, but for now I'll post the last week, a fishing theme (as we were getting a bit sick of all the fish). This story time was for the 2 and 3 year olds (4 and 5 year olds got Shark stories, I'll post them next).

Generally in my storytimes go as follows:
Hello song
Book 1
Song / Rhyme / Fingerplay
Book 2
Song / Rhyme / Fingerplay
Book 3
Song
Goodbye Song
Craft / Activity

Especially for the little ones I try to let them get up and move between stories and then calm down before the book. It tends to work well, though we still get the occasional 'runner.' Hello and Goodbye songs don't change during each session. Other songs and rhymes do, though we often repeat many of the same rhymes and fingerplays week to week.

As every other week we started with our 'hello' songs:

Hello, hello, hello how are you?
I'm fine, I'm fine.
I hope that you are too!

And Wake up toes, by Joanie Bartels from her Morning Magic album.

Then we read the book A Fishing Surprise by Rae McDonald. This is a cute book about some children who go fishing to catch some fish for dinner but come back with something else instead. The illustrations are a bit fall like, but the story isn't and the kids don't seem to care.

The second book we read was Stanley goes fishing by Craig Frazier. Stanley sets off on a fishing trip and ends up finding the fish in an unexpected place. I really like the ending to this story and the simple text and bright illustrations were great for the younger kids.

Our final book for the day was Click, clack, splish, splash: a counting adventure by Doreen Cronin. Doreen Cronin's books are usually a hit and this one was no exception. The barn animals are up to something once again. They leave a note that says 'gone fishing,' but their definition of fishing doesn't quite match up with the farmer's. This book is also great for a little audience participation as you can count the fish - you know, just in case duck missed a few!

Songs in between the books were:
Goldie Rock by Debbie Clement (they each had a shaker egg to play along)
Row, row, row your boat by the Old Town School of Folk Music

We ended with Tooty Ta by Dr. Jean (always a crowd pleaser) and our 'Goodbye' song:

Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye to you.
We're done, we're done.
We hope to see you soon!

The craft for the day was a fishing pole. It was fairly simple. I gave each kid a straw, a piece of yarn, a paperclip, and a cardstock cut out of a fish. Before hand I punched a small hole near the fishes mouth as well as punched a hole through the straw and tied one end of the yarn. Then I placed lots of stickers and crayons on the table and let the kids sticker and color the fish before 'hooking' it with the paperclip which thier cargiver tied to the other end of the yarn.