WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
It's fall! The cold weather has dashed in, causing everyone to frantically scramble the semi-annual wardrobe switch. Coats have to be dug out and brushed off, and remembered after storytime!
The fall session of preschool storytimes have started, and I'm trying to mix things up a little bit this time, partly out of defense for myself--I'm getting weary... The age groups are all still the same, and the format is mostly the same, but the content is a little more up-to-date, especially technologically. For example, this week has been a visit to the circus. I actually only read one book. We did quite a few songs/fingerplays, I had a drawing story (as I tell the story I draw a picture), there was a flannel board story/song (The Twelve Circus Rings--my throat hurt a bit after that one) and then we watched a clip from Mr. Rogers. It worked really well, as the kids could feel like they really were at the circus by watching Fred enjoy the acrobats and aerialists and elephants. The inclusion of video is exciting--now I'll be able to use some of those fabulous books-on-DVD that are out there to give me a little bit of a break.
Something new we're going to try this year is a once-a-month evening family program. For September it was a storytime especially for grandparents and their grandkids. I asked a teen friend to do about 15 minutes of music at the beginning, then my librarian friend Rhonda helped me with the rest of the program. She read books while I did storytelling and fingerplays. It was fun, and I suggested to other staff members that we keep it up, even though only 18 people came (remember Burlington serves over 10,000 people). October will be a 50's party, and Judy and Carole will do that one. In November, I hope to do a pajama storytime and December will be a Christmas party.
In other professional news, I've been asked to be a judge for the Letters for Literature contest. I won't actually do any judging until January 2007, but this should be fun. Kids and teens write letters to their favorite authors, so I'll be interested to see who constitutes the favorites.
poetry courtesy of James Whitcomb Riley
Book recommendation: The Last Chance Texaco by Brent Hartinger
Recipe recommendation: Chip's homemade spaghetti sauce
New product recommendation: Fruity Cheerios
1 comment:
Your evening storytime sounds like it is a lot of fun! I'm glad to see that you weren't sad about the number in attendance too much. It's a new idea and it may take a little while to catch on. And if it were me, I think I would rather have a few QUALITY people who enjoy it as opposed to a hundred people who really don't care too much. (kind of like your philosophy of doing tea with only a small group because it's more enjoyable for everyone--especially you who has to prepare!)
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