Heroes of History: Helen Martini, Zookeeper

 

BOOK: 

In "Cubs In The Tub" by Candace Fleming,  Helen Martini takes care of tiger cubs that her husband brings home. She cares for them as they grow and when officials come to collect them, Helen goes to the zoo with them. She became the first ever female zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. I really wanted to read this book and because Helen Martini is an obsure person, this was more of a zookeeper storytime.

In addition to this one, we also read "Pierre the Penguin" by Jean Marzollo.

It is a very short, rhyming book about a penguin who loses his feathers and the zookeeper who finds a way to help grow them back.

Songs:

You Can Hear The Lions Roaring At The Zoo (tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)

You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!

You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!

You can hear the lions roaring, you can hear the lions roaring

You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!

(elephants trumpeting, eagles screeching, monkeys eeking) 

and then because we read a book about penguins....

Did You Ever See a Penguin Come To Tea.

This is a really cute song about a penguin coming to tea party and then making fun motions. Click here for a run-down of this song. 

Activity: What animal is the most dangerous? 

Using a small list of the 10 most dangerous creatures, found on Science Focus, we played a quick guessing game of what animals were the most dangerous. 

We also flipped through our Life-Size Zoo books to see how some different animals compared to each other in size. Because it's a small group that comes to this program, we can sit in a circle in the floor and flip through books like this. 

 Activity: Pretend Zookeepers

Here and there, we kept discussing tasks of zookeepers and at the end we pretended to be zookeepers. Using our puppets, I set up 5 cages, copying the idea found here. Each deputized zookeeper was given a clipboard with a form to fill out about whichever animal they wanted.

Then of course, each cage had a informational sign posted next to it. 

Here are my signs. Unfortunately, no pictures of the set-up.

Facts come from Zookeepers by Tony Hyland.

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Breakfast Storytime

 

After our Good Morning songs, this is what we did for breakfast storytime!

RHYME: Bread and Butter, Marmalade and Jam

Bread and butter, marmalade and jam

Let's say "hello" as fast as we can.

Hello!

In this song we practice saying "hello" in different ways. Fast/slow, quiet/loud, mean/nice, high/low

Hidden Game: Find The Strawberry

Strawberry, Strawberry, let's take a look. 

Are you under the __color__ cookbook?

For this one I used pieces from our felt version of The Little Mouse, the Red Rip Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. At one point I had considered reading this story and/or retelling it with the felt pieces.

In Move, Play, Learn: Interactive Storytime with Music and Movement, Alyssa Jewell talks about story dramas as a good element to add into storytimes for  elementary ages. Often, our Saturday storytimes have a wide range of ages that include elementary students. 

To incorporate interactive play in this storytime, I considered reading The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear and then letting the group retell the story on their own with the felt pieces.

This would help with sequencing events and narration skills. However, I ended up writing this idea out of my program. 

BOOK: Foodie Faces by Bill & Claire Wurtzel

SONG: If You Like Scrambled Eggs Clap Your Hands (Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)

 

If you like scrambled eggs, clap your hands 

If you like scrambled eggs, clap your hands  

Cause they're yummy and they're yellow and you'll be a happy fellow

If you like scrambled eggs, clap your hand.

 

Other verses . . . 

If you like your eggs fried jump up high

If you like bacon with your eggs wiggle your legs

If you like toast instead nod your head.

RHYME: Let's Make A Pancake

Let's make a pancake. Pat, pat, pat (clap hands)

Do not make it fat, fat, fat (spread hands further apart with each "fat")

You must keep it flat, flat, flat (press hands together)

Make a pancake just like that (clap loudly)

Thank you thelibraryann

 

BOOK: Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finson

FELT ACTIVITY: Down Around the Corner In the Bakery Shop

RHYME: I'm Toast In A Toaster

I'm Toast In A Toaster

Getting Very Hot

Tick, Tock, 

Tick, Tock 

Up I Pop!

 

And that was that! 

 

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Keep Trying Storytime

Let me get this out of the way by saying: In no way is this my cutest story time to date. It was a theme that I inherited and I struggled finding the right material for it. So if you're trying to create a story time around this concept, maybe this will help! 

After our good morning songs, we talked about the word, "perseverance". We practiced saying it out loud and defined it.

SONG: Try Again (Tune: If You're Happy And You Know It)

If you make a big mistake, try again x2

If you make a big mistake, take a breath and show your strength

If you make a big mistake, try again

This was the only strongly themed song of the time. 

BOOK: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming

When it came time to pick out my main book, there were several that were considered but none of them were it. You know? This one wasn't it either but it's a cute story, nonetheless. Others considered were the 2 far right titles in the graphic. 

MUSIC SONG: Jump, Jump by Joanie Leeds

Because this was such a long book I knew I wanted to have a dance song directly following this book. 

To seat the kids down and get them ready for my next bit (talking about Walt Disney) we has a sitting rhyme.

RHYME: Point to a window

Point to a window

Point to a door

Point to the ceiling

Point to the floor. 

Between this rhyme and our next rhyme, I took a moment to talk about Walt Disney and a few of his failures. The main fact I shared with the kids was that he was once fired from  newspaper because he "lacked creativity", he had no imagination. This idea was tied back to the theme because he persevered and kept drawing/creating and if he had given up, where would Disney be now? 

Since Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, I felt like I could include the next rhyme . . . 

RHYME: Little Clapping Mouse

Except for this rhyme, I swapped 2 words and instead of being a clapping mouse, we sang about a tapping mouse and passed out rhythm sticks.Here are the words. Each asterisk * signals a tap with the sticks.

Behind the tree * *

And under the house * *

There lived a teeny * *

Tiny mouse * *

She loved to sing * *

She loved to clap * *

But most of all * *

She loved to tap * *

She tapped all night * *

She tapped all day * *

She tapped to frighten * *

The cat away * * * * * * * * * * * (lots of taps, meow)

BOOK: Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus

Then we ended with another music song because I felt like this was lacking in interactive elements.  

MUSIC SONG: If You're Happy and You Know It by Pancake Manor

Initially, I wasn't fond of this song but it's quickly become one of my go-to favorites to throw in if I need something on a moments notice.

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