Seattle Story Time Tour - Central Library

Continuing the series, I visited Ms. Lauren at the Central library today to enjoy a penguin themed story time.

Branch: Central

Storyteller: Ms. Lauren

Age/Type: Preschool

Three or four different preschool groups and several caregivers with children crowd into the story time room at the Central library this morning. They do a head count to make sure they don't go over the 170 something capacity for the fire code. This is a popular program! 

Ms. Lauren starts out with a new welcome song for the season. Sung to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell", the song goes like this:

"We clap and sing hello, we clap and sing hello. With our friends at storytime, we clap and sing hello." This is repeated with "stomp and sing" and "nod and sign" (she teaches them the ASL sign for 'hello'). 

Today we learn about... Penguins! Ms. Lauren points out the letter P on her dry erase board and has the audience try out the 'puh' sound. 

To get the kids ready for a book, she has them do the "Open, shut them" song and tells them the first fact about penguins (did you know that, although penguins are birds, they don't fly?).

The first book she reads is "Sergio Makes a Splash" by Edel Rodriguez. 

After this book, she asks everyone to get out their flippers and they sing this song:

"Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin? Did you ever see a penguin, waddle this way and that? Waddle this way and that way, waddle this way and that way. Did you ever see a penguin, waddle this way and that?"

Fact #2: Did you know that there are 17 different types of penguins? She points to a stuffed animal penguin behind her and points out that that penguin in an Emperor Penguin. She points to a globe and shows the crowd where they come from- the south pole.

The next book is a big book called "Tacky the Penguin" by Helen Lester.

When Ms. Lauren finishes this book, it is time for a dance party. She puts on a song form Seaseme Street called "Doing the Penguin." 

The last book is by one of my favorite picture book authors Oliver Jeffers. She reads "Lost and Found."

Ms. Lauren then uses the ASL sign for 'goodbye' in her goodbye song to the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies."

"Goodbye, friends. Goodbye, friends. Goodbye, friends. It's time to say goodbye."

She ends her story time by stamping the hands of the children with a penguin stamp. 

This was great fun. Thanks for letting me watch! And kudos to whoever made this sweet tree for the fantasy books display.

Best,

Amanda