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Friday, May 27, 2011

Flannel Fridays: Songs in Storytime

I didn't realize it is Flannel Fridays. I'm new to the twitter/blogoverse. I guess on Flannel Fridays, we talk about things we do in our storytimes, songs, flannelboards, stories etc? Well today I want to talk about what CDs (if you use any) in storytimes. Right now our library doesn't really have any money but I am sure that will change at some point (hopefully soon) and when we do, I'd love to get some new CDS for storytime. Any recommendations?

For school librarians, I'm very curious what kind of thing you do with the kindergarteners (and pre-k) if you have them for your lessons with them.

9 comments:

  1. I have to say, story time music is one of my favorite topics! Lately, I've been really into Laurie Berkner - Whaddaya Think of That? and Victor Vito are the CDs I use the most, but all of her albums are amazing. Elizabeth Mitchell is another singer I'm going to try soon. And of course there is Raffi, who I think is especially good for 4 and 5 year olds. My library associate also does a great song called Tooty Ta, by Dr. Jean and Friends, which is good for toddlers right up through elementary school.

    I have not yet done story time for Pre-K and K kids, but I will this summer, and I've been debating what to do music-wise. My tentative strategy is to really limit the songs to just a couple, and make them interactive, high-energy songs with a lot of actions and following directions. Whether that will actually work or not remains to be seen.

    I'm glad you're blogging - you've got a lot of really interesting posts already!

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  2. Thanks for your great comments. I'm going to copy your suggestions. I heard of Raffi and vaguely heard of Laurie Berkner. I haven't done too many storytimes with the older kids (Pre-K and up) so I'm not sure.

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  3. My suggestion: Jim Gill, Jim Gill, Jim Gill!

    http://www.jimgill.com/new/home.html

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  4. Anne, thanks for posting. I heard of him too.

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  5. Which Jim Gill songs do you guys use? I like listening to him at home but none of the songs feel like they'd resonate with getting a group to move.

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  6. Jim Gill: Alabama Mississippi is great with tambourines. List of Dances is *all* about getting groups to move. I love Knuckles Knees, but it goes fast. Silly Dance Contest... Jump Up, Turn Around

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  7. "Alabama, Mississippi" is also great with shaker eggs.

    I use "Jump Up, Turn Around" every week in preschool storytime and often throw "Silly Dance Contest" on as well. I have also used "May There Always be Sunshine" as a session closer to say goodbye to the kids for a few weeks.

    I know another librarian who uses "Can't Wait to Celebrate" as her opener. She uses the ASL sign for "wait" during that part of the lyrics as well.

    I should try "List of Dances" this summer. I bet the kids would love that one.

    Also I should have mentioned this earlier but Raffi's "Shake Your Sillies Out" is a great storytime opener.

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  8. my most favorite activity song is"The Bean Bag" #12 on "Can a jumbo jet sing the alphabet?" by Hap Palmer everyone gets a bean bag and it can get a little wild with older kids but the younger ones looooove it. Throw the bean bag and catch, turn around turn around stamp, stamp, stamp.

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  9. I heard of Hap Palmer. Don't know if we have that CD. Thanks for all the suggestions.

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