There Was an Old Monster

In Kindergarten, we listened to the free audio on Scholastic's website of "There Was An Old Monster".  Last year, we explored many of Rebecca and Ed Emberley's books and I plan to take a look at them again with the addition of a few more this year, including the new "The Lion and the Mice".

Read It, Don't Eat It

Read It, Don't Eat It is a brief book for the Kindergarten set.  It goes over some essentials, such as not eating the books.  It is a humorous book care intro for our students who are focused more on just learning the routines of the library, but need some ground rules and reminders.

Going on A Book Hunt in Kindergarten

We're Going on a Book Hunt is one of my favorites for Kindergarten.  We read this to reinforce some of the ways we "hunt" for books in the library.  Similarly paced to "Going on a Bear Hunt", we "slippy slide" our shelf markers, tip toe through the library, and find just right books with the same five finger rule the first graders apply.  I like using the cards to accompany the motions of the verse.  It's fun to watch the students use their shelf markers so carefully.

Comin' Down to Storytime

Kindergarten students learn about some of the routines in our library as we read "Comin' Down to Storytime".  As we look at the pictures, we decide some of the activities that may be a part of a library lesson, like:

• Using puppets
• Reading funny stories
• Nursery Rhymes (our kindergarteners will have an entire Nursery Rhyme unit coming soon!)
• Fingerplays
• Songs
• Movement Activities
• Checking Out Books
• And, read, read, reading!

I enjoy reading books to our youngest students that involve a familiar tune.  "Comin' Down to Storytime" is sung to the tune of "She'll be Coming Round The Mountain". 

Book, Book, Book

In the book, "Book, Book, Book" by Deborah Bruss, the farm animals find themselves bored when the children return to the school in the fall and find their way to the library. Each animal goes into the library to ask the librarian for help, but only one communicates successfully. I think this is a great book to use to introduce kindergarten students to the school library. We see the librarian at the circulation desk, engaged in story time, shelving books, and helping patrons. We can also notice that the books are arranged in alphabetical order. I also use this book to introduce a few things. When I meet students at the door, I tell them there will be a duck in our story, and that we are going to practice walking like ducklings. How do ducks walk? Do they all walk in different directions or in a line? So, we walk in a line to the story tower and talk about our favorite animals and some of the animals we predict will be in the story. Following this story, I also introduce a procedure for our tables. Each table has a picture of a different farm animal. I have cards with matching pictures and distribute them to students. This is how students find their tables. In the beginning of the year, I call one table at a time to find books and check out. One table at a time is called to line up as well. I could sing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm," but instead I sing "Mrs. Zschunke Had A Library" using the animals to call each table, which works on listening skills while reinforcing a familiar tune and ties into our theme as well. Throughout the year, as we change our focus from library procedures to nursery rhymes and familiar folk tales in kindergarten, the pictures and table assignments change to correspond. Hopefully other school librarians can find these ideas helpful in their library. It is important for our youngest students to have consistent routines to rely on when they come to the school library in order to have a positive experience and meet the school librarian's behavior expectations as well.