DOWN ON THE FARM 1-5-2015

I received and early Christmas present in December...and that was to be Storytime lady on Monday's mornings at our branch library location. I was (and still am) beyond ecstatic and over the moon with the opportunity. My hope is to have my entire Storytime Program (that I will do each and every Monday) available for all .  That way you all can re-visit, re-read and sing away to your hearts content with the programing.

DOWN ON THE FARM:

I grew up on a farm...well a very unconventional farm at that.  See my parents are from the city of Chicago and they had a grand idea to move to the country.  We became "farmers" when I was about 12 yrs old and raised sheep (Corriedale's to be exact). We named every single one of them, put diapers on little lambs that were not loved by their mothers and took them into our house (just like James Herriot). Most of my summers were prepping/showing sheep at local county fairs along with State fair venues.  Some of my fondest memories were from the farm so I needed to plan a FARM storytime.


OPENING SONG: 

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP YOUR HANDS
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP YOUR HANDS
CLAP, CLAP CLAP YOUR HANDS
IT IS STORYTIME

CLAP THEM HIGH, CLAP THEM LOW
CLAP THEM FAST, CLAP THEM SLOW
CLAP TO THE LEFT, CLP TO THE RIGHT
CLAP THEM WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP YOUR FEET
STOMP, STOMP, STOMP YOUR FEET
STOMP, STOMP, STOMP YOUR FEET
IT IS STORYTIME

STOMP THEM HIGH, STOMP THEM LOW
STOMP THEM FAST, STOMP THEM SLOW
STOMP TO THE LEFT, STOMP TO THE RIGHT
STOMP THEM WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP YOUR FEET
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP YOUR HANDS
STOMP YOUR FEET, CLAP YOUR HANDS
IT IS STORYTIME

SIT, SIT, SIT RIGHT DOWN
RIGHT HEAR UPON THE GROUND
EARS ARE OPEN
QUIET FOR NOW
IT IS STORYTIME


Simpson's Sheep Won't Go To Sleep by Bruce Arnt was the perfect opening story.  Poor Farmer Simpson...all of his animals on the farm have no problem going to sleep, except for the sheep.
Great illustrations and simple storyline kept the attention of the little ones.

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We next moved into a rendition of "Down on the Farm" that was taken from a similar song and melody to  "Down by the Bay" by Raffi. (complete with shakers)

Down on the farm, where the green grass grows, back to my home I love to go, and when I do,
my mother will say:

Did you ever see a sheep, driving a jeep.....down on the farm
Did you ever see a cow, using a plow.....down on the farm.
Did you ever see a goat, rowing a boat......down on the farm.
Did you ever see a pig dancing a jig.......down on the farm.


Duck on a Bike by David Shannon was our next story.  I absolutely love this story.  It is extra special when you use different voices for all of the animals.  I think I have read this story about 5 thousand times to my own kids and it just oozes excitement. The kids loved seeing the fantastic outcome to this story and all of the silly things that might happen on a farm.



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"On our Way to Grandpa's Farm" was our next song. I had utilized all of the farm puppets at our library for this song. You can also choose to do a felt board of all of the animals instead.  I had the kids shout out the sound the animal makes and we used our egg shakers again. 

REFRAIN :We're on our way, we're on our way, on our way to Grampa's farm. X2

Down on Grandpa's there is a black and white cow x2
                                                    the cow she makes a sound like this...Moo
                                                    the cow she makes a sound like this...Moo (refrain)

Down on Grandpa's farm there is a yellow fuzzy duck x2
                                                    the duck she makes a sound like this...quack QUACK
                                                    the duck she makes a sound like this...quack QuaCk (refrain)

Down on Grandpa's farm there is sweet pink pig x2
                                                    the pig she makes a sound like this...Oink Oink
                                                    the pig she makes a sound like this...Oink Oink (refrain)

Down on Grandpa's farm there is a strong brown horse x2
                                                    the horse, he makes a sound like this...Neigh Neigh
                                                    the horse, he makes a sound like this...NEigh Neigh (refrain)





When No One's Looking On the Farm By Zana Fraillon was our last story.  This story is one filled with anticipation for our little viewers.  We read the rollicking story with what our farm animal friends do, but......when no one's looking it is a hoot to see what they "really" do.  This kids anticipated every one and laughed and giggled with excitement.  Imagination is a wonderful thing.


We wound up this storytime with a song called Old MacDonald Had a Band by Raffi.
 http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=Raffi+Old+Macdonald+Had+A+Band

Great song to end with. The kids loved  pretending to play all different types of instruments in our farm yard band.