Storytime

Storytime: Letter J

Books

“Jazzy in the Jungle” by Lucy Cousins
“Sheep in a Jeep” by Nancy Shaw
“Jump” by Scott M. Fischer

ABC Magnets

letter j

I like to start and end the Alphabet program by singing our ABCs. To start I put out all of the letter magnets and have the children tell me what letter is missing, that becomes our letter of the day. After we go through the letter and some words that start with it I invite each child up to take two letters off the board and put it into my bag. At first all the children like to swarm up and will grab as many letters as they possibly can, but after a few weeks they begin to understand that they must wait until they hear their name called. To help them stick with two letters only I count out loud (this program maxes out at 12 children so I know I will have enough letters). The children get very excited when it is their turn, plus this helps them learn patience and how to take turns!

Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree (hold up 5 fingers)
Teasing Mr. Alligator “You can’t catch me, no you can’t catch me” (shake finger)
Along comes Mr. Alligator, as quiet as can be (put hands together and move slowly)
And snatch that monkey right out of the tree (clamp down hands)

(count down)

Jungle Animal Box (Tune: The Muffin Man)

An hour before the program I realized I needed an activity for the kids, I quickly put this together. I must it is not my best work (clip art and a random box) but the kids loved coming up and putting their animal in the box. I will admit that some animals were harmed in the process, a few were torn and one was partially eaten.

If you have a lion, a lion, a lion
If you have a lion, put him in the jungle!

(repeat with other jungle animals)

Source: Abby the Librarian

Jumping Joey

The kids jumped during the rhyme, they were more focused on jumping up and down than the actual rhyme which is fine by me.

Jumping Joey went a jumping joyfully to town
Jumping Joey got so tired jumping up and down
Jumping Joey asking his mother, “Could I have a ride?”
Jumping Joey’s mother answered, “Sure, just jump inside”

Source: King County Library

Jumping and Counting by Jim Gill

Driving Round in My Little Red Jeep

Driving round in my little red jeep
Driving round in my little red jeep
Driving round in my little red jeep
Beep beep beep beep beep

(repeat with different colors)

Marching Around the Alphabet by Hap Palmer

This song has become a story time favorite! Every week the children line up on the outside of the alphabet rug and start to march with their adult. When the whistle blows the children stop, bend down and point out which letter they are standing on. I like to participate as well and sometimes I will ask a child what letter they stopped on and the color of the square.

Parachute

The children all grab on and we make some waves (fast, slow, big, small) then I ask the parents to hold on to the parachute. The adults lower the parachute and then pop it into the air, the children then go under (lots of happy squeals) and we gently shake the parachute over their heads. We do this 3 or 4 times, there is always one child that doesn’t want to come out but the parents are pretty good about it. Next I have the children hold on again and place foam letters on the parachute. We shake the parachute and watch the letters fly (again lots of happy squeals)!

ABCs

Craft

I always tell the parents to please do not do the craft for their child, feel free to help them use the glue stick but if they want to put an eye where the foot should be well then that’s just artistic license!

I had some issues trying to find a letter J craft that I liked, I stretched it a little this week and went with J is for Jaguar.

How it Went: This storytime was a lot of fun, kids had a blast jumping around. The letter J craft was a little of a stretch and I wish I could have thought of a different J craft but I like how they came out.

 

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