wearing o' the green...

Yup... it's another St. Patrick's Day storytime post. My last post was about the storytime I presented for the monthly Evening Storytime group... this one has been tweaked a bit for my weekly drop-in (more books, no craft) and 2-3/4-5 year-old groups.

I complained a bit about how much I dislike St. Patrick's Day storytime... and my main complaint is basically, "How many leprechaun stories can I possibly read and STILL keep the interest of a group of children?" Well, this time around I decided to sorta half-sies the storytime - yes, I would read St. Patrick's Day/Irish/leprechaun stories... but I would also read plain ol' "green" stories, too - which gives me a lot more freedom in picking out stories! I just finished the drop-in and I was really happy with how it went!

Here's the (tweaked) setlist*:

'Hello, Everybody'

Welcome: As is my custom, I asked the kids if they had any guesses about what storytime was about today. The daycare group that comes once a month was in today and those kids are a little older, so the guessing went well. ;) I had five shamrocks up on the flannel board, so they guessed green right away... and when I asked what holiday was coming up this weekend, they got that one, too. I explained that St. Patrick's Day is a holiday when lots of people celebrate their Irish hertiage... so I asked what the kids knew about Ireland? No answers here, so I told them that Ireland was an island - and they told me that islands are in oceans and they have sand. :D I told them that Ireland is a very GREEN island, which is why the tiny creatures - called leprechauns - that we read about like to dress in green... so they can hide! When I asked what leprechauns were hiding, the kids knew the answer was gold - and I got my jumping off point for my leprechaun stories.

Wiggles

Lucky Leprechaun by Dawn Bentley
This is a sparkly board book, but I chose to start out with it because a) the illustrations are sweet and b) it's a pretty simple text for introducing/recalling the leprechaun concept. Lucky Leprechaun has a few more coins to add to his pot of gold... but he can't recall where he put it! Ultimately, it's right where you'd expect it to be... but half the fun is getting there.

Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute
I used this one in my Evening Storytime - it's a bit long and I changed some of the words as I read it ('spade' to 'shovel', 'boliauns' to 'weeds') but it turns out that is is an adaptation of a traditional Irish story called 'The Field of Boliauns' and so I am very happy to have shared it with my groups.

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I love love LOVE Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I just adore the way she thinks - and so did the kids in today's drop-in. While Little Pea is like those kids in so many ways, there is one big comical difference: it turns out that veggies eat CANDY for dinner. And Little Pea can't stand it! Lots of good chuckles here.

Lizette's Green Sock by Catharina Valckx
This story is translated from French really is a heartwarmer. I was really taken with the illustrations and I think the children enjoyed them, too. Lizette is out on a walk when she finds a beautiful green sock - and puts it on. It's not long before some mean boys (cats, really) point out that socks come in PAIRS... and Lizette sets out to find her match. There's a subtle humor in this story that had parents in the room smiling and chuckling, too - this one's a winner.

Song: "I'm a Little Leprechaun" (to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a little leprechaun (gesture to self)
dressed in green (drag hands - palms up - down body)
Tiniest man that you've ever seen (hold thumb and forefinger "small" gesture in front of eye)

If you can catch me it is told (grasp air, trying to 'catch' something)
I will give you all my gold! (gesture to self, then extend hands, palm up)

Flannel: Five Little Shamrocks
(I used our shamrock Ellison die to make five felt shamrocks, which we 'planted' on the flannel board.)

Five little shamrocks growing outdoors,
If (child's name) picks one, now there are

Four little shamrocks as green as can be,
If (child's name) picks one, now there are

Three little shamrocks in the morning dew,
If (child's name) picks one, now there are

Two little shamrocks swaying in the sun,
If (child's name) picks one, now there is

One little shamrock for St. Patrick's Day fun,
If (child's name) picks it, now there are none!

We did this a few times so that every child had a chance to pick shamrocks (and plant them again). :)

Craft: Green Shamrock Crowns!

Our Spanish-language storytime presenter came up with for this storytime. It involved what is traditionally one of my craft-time no-no's (GLITTER), but you know what? It turned out great!

Each child got a 2-inch wide green strip. I asked them to glue the shamrock diecut in the center of the strip. Then, we decorated with glitter glue (gold was awesome), shamrock jewels (Oriental Trading), and markers.

The kids looked positively royal. :D

luck of the irish...

Last night was our monthly Evening Storytime and being that I won't see this group again until April, it seemed only fitting to make our theme St. Patrick's Day. Now, as my regular readers know, (wait... do I *have* regular readers - Hi, Mom!) I am new to the storytime game and this is my first go-round with holiday themes. I learned in February that Groundhog's Day books can be terribly long. In March, I am learning that St. Patrick's Day books can be just terrible. :)

Now, to be fair, I am a little bit biased when it comes to St. Patrick's Day. My mother is from Belfast and my father is from Derry, so I am an Irish girl through and through. As an Irish girl, I know that the Irish are not four leaf clover enthusiasts - our symbol is three-leafed shamrock, thank you very much - and I know that there is a lot more to our folklore than the cheeky leprechaun. So I get a little frustrated with offerings that don't go much beyond that.

That said, it's all in fun and fun is what storytime is about - so I read my leprechaun stories and presented my fairly detailed paper-piecing leprechaun craft and I think all went very well indeed.

Here's the setlist*:

'Hello Everybody'


Welcome: I asked what people knew about St. Patrick's Day and/or Ireland. My evening storytime has a wider variety of ages, so I get some pretty cool answers - it's about being Irish, people eat corned beef and cabbage (not this Irish girl!), leprechauns hide gold at the end of rainbows, Ireland is green, etc. etc. I shared that I am Irish and have visited Ireland just recently (over Christmas) and that the Irish tell wonderful stories about magic and fairies and (yes) leprechauns.

Wiggles

Clever Tom and the Leprechaun: An Old Irish Story by Linda Shute
I have to be honest and say that I did like this leprechaun story -- because Tom was caught in a way that didn't make him seem like a complete fool and the leprechaun was wearing something other than a green suit. :) Tom knows his leprechaun stuff - once you find one, you can't look away from them or they'll escape and leprechauns though tricky are true to their word. Tom is clever, but like most he is no match for a little man with a treasure to guard.

Song: 'The Hokey Pokey'
I shared with the group that the Irish love to dance. We formed a big circle and I talked a little bit about ceili dancing - which I guess could be likened to (and likely is the origin of) American square dancing. Since we didn't have time to learn to do either of those things, I told the kids we'd do a big group dance that we all know - the Hokey Pokey!

Looking for Leprechauns by Sheila Keenan
Twins Kevin and Devin live with their granny and are always up to mischief - which often includes making "monkey faces". When they hatch a plan to catch a leprechaun, they know that in order to get his gold, they'll have to make him laugh (which is news to me, but okay...) - putting their monkey-face making skills to the test.

Craft: Leprechaun Pots
Yep, I went the easy route. I did want to do something with shamrocks (we have the Ellison die, after all!), but the ideas I came up with were either too much like a craft we'd recently done (The Valentine's Day Hugs) or I was missing a crucial element (enough green pipe cleaners for Shamrock headbands). Instead, I came up with a fairly intense paper-piecing craft (7 paper pieces, googly eyes, a pompom, a gold coin, and a confetti "sticker") that the families really seemed to enjoy.

Wish I'd thought of that flag, too - but it's just a Picnik add-on. :)

The pot o' gold is a black pumpkin diecut with a strip of black glued across the top (I did that ahead of time) and the leprechaun is a gingerbread man. I made the signs with MS Publisher clipart and a free font from fontspace.com. We had the coins on hand from a previous Summer Reading Club and I used big Glue Dots to turn them into stickers. I also used Glue Dots for the pompom nose (most were smaller than this, but I was short on the ones that were more flesh colored) and the confetti shamrock (I wanted a shiny shamrock sticker, but I couldn't find any!).

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley
I actually read this book after the craft - I wanted to have enough time to do the craft, but I didn't want to leave it at two books and one song. I decided to use this story as a way of explaining to the kids that the Irish identify with the shamrock more than the four-leaf clover (though in fairness, the shamrock is a clover). In this sweet and simple story, Bear is told that a four-leaf clover is lucky and he does his best to find one as other animals chime in with their thoughts (and appetites!). At the end of the story, I gave every child the  pièce de résistance of the evening's craft - the shamrock sticker. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!