Hickory Dickory Dock--Ocean Style!

Hickory Dickory Dock, the fish swam up the clock!  Here's a fun way to combine an old classic nursery rhyme with ocean critters.  

You can see my Hickory Dickory post here, set for sale here, and original video here.  My Ocean Set post is here, the felt set for sale is here, and there are a bunch of Ocean videos here.

Somebody's Moving in the Sea (an Ocean Song for Kids)!

When I was teaching preschool, we used to use this tune to welcome the kids to circle time.  "Somebody's knocking at my door--oh, Suzie, I hear you knocking..."  It's actually an old hymn, but we went a little lighter with it ;) 

I thought this tune would work perfectly with my ocean set.  I think I was right :)  I certainly had fun making this video and performing all the movements.  

It would absolutely be super fun to make this a standing up movement activity!  Do it!!

Summer Reading #4: Fishy Tails

Wheee--it's the fourth installment of my summer reading ideas for the Tails and Tales theme!

The summer reading program is focusing on animals (tails) and stories (tales) this year.  Well, I've got plenty of both types of flannel boards that fit the bill--but I thought it would be fun to add some new songs and movement activities to the mix.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be adding new videos of these new songs to my YouTube channel.  I'll also post them right here on the blog. 

This week I thought I'd put my ocean friends set to good use.  These fishy fellows have been used in several videos already...

But those tails....  We need to sing about the tails!  Of course fishy vocabulary (gills, fins, swim, dive...) abounds in this one, and so do color words and motions and rhyming.  Ah, kids' songs--I love 'em :)

Here are the fish:

Here's the Fishy Tails video:

and here are the lyrics:

Fishy Tails ©Wendy Gerbi

To the tune of Gray Squirrel. 

Blue fish, blue fish, swish your fishy tail! (swish your tail!)

Blue fish, blue fish, swish your fishy tail! (swish it again!)

Use your gills to get some air (raise your arms a bit from your side as you take a breath)

Flap your fins—steer here and there (flap your hands like fins and move about)

Blue fish, blue fish, swish your fishy tail! (swish it!)

Purple whale, purple whale, slap your whaley tail! (slap hands like a big tail!)

Purple whale, purple whale, slap your whaley tail! (again!)

Swim up high to breathe your air (pantomime swimming to surface)

Use your tail—steer here and there (swim around)

Purple whale, purple whale, slap your whaley tail!

Great white shark, great white shark, swish your sharky tail! ( swish your big tail!)

Great white shark, great white shark, swish your sharky tail! (again!)

Lurk around and hunt some fish (dorsal hand/fin up, sharky look)

Give your tail a great big swish!

Great white shark, great white shark, swish your sharky tail!

Tuna fish, tuna fish, swish your tuna tail!

Tuna fish, tuna fish, swish your tuna tail!

Swim so fast and dive so deep

Swim, swim, swim—you never sleep!

Tuna fish, tuna fish, swish your tuna tail!

Octopus Video!

Ah, the beloved Charlotte Diamond song!  I like to use my Ocean Creatures felt set with this one.  Here's a video example:

YouTube: Over in the Meadow Song!

Check out my newest video of one of my favorite flannel board sets!  

Over in the Meadow

I presented a bunch of flannel board songs and games to a lovely group of librarians this past week, and on the drive back home I started down memory lane.  I miss doing circle times!  I love singing, dancing, reading, and playing with kids!  (My cats just don't interact the same way ;)  )

One of the songs that stuck out on that lane of memories is this fantastic version of Over in the Meadow.  It's a Barefoot Books version, which I was introduced to by one of my past student's mom.  I just love, love, love it.  Here it is!

I have a felt set of this song, too.  I couldn't do all ten animals--it was just TOOooooo much. 

 But I've got five parents, and 15 babies, and that's just right for me :) 

(I ended up making a custom set for a lovely lady, and it does include all 10 parents and their wee babies.  In case you're interested, here's what that looked like:)

And here's a video of my set in action:

I love combining books and music, and this one throws in math as well!  Hey!  Learning IS fun!

Happy spring!!

Like what you see?  Subscribe to my newsletter for lots of preschooly goodness, and get a free Shake Your Booty Cube, perfect for circle times, story times, and using at home!

Over in the Meadow

Finally!  I have been trying to make a new Over in the Meadow felt set for at least a year.  I think I was overwhelmed with the number of pieces--I had planned to make the accompanying scenery like sand, tree, beehive, etc.  But when I gave myself permission to just do the animal babies and their grown ups, it all came together :)

My animals are as cute as I could make them ;) My eyeballs are cut using a die cuts--no way can I make my circles that neat with a pair or scissors!

Here's a video of these guys in action:

You can get more details and buy these cuties here.

I love this song so much--I have four versions of the book in my classroom--not even including the Over in the Garden, Arctic, Jungle and Ocean versions!  

Here are links to my favorite Over in the Meadow books:

Over in the Meadow  Absolutely love the cd that goes with this one!

Over in the Meadow  Why do Jane Cabrera books go out of print??

Over in the Meadow  Our copy of this is a Big Book

Over in the Meadow  This is nice for one-one-one, but the illustrations are not good for group story times

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week--and you can find the roundup here!  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Like what you see?  

Click below for 17free song strips and lyric cards, and more preschooly goodness delivered to your inbox!

Ocean Set Update

I posted my original Ocean Set here several months ago, but decided to add a shark and a tuna fish so that it could also be used to perform Slippery Fish.

There are actually SO many songs you can use with this set. Circle time fun for all your fish loving friends :)  ( Click here to see some videos of them! )

If you buy this set, I include a list of ocean-themed book titles to go along with it, and the lyrics to several ocean rhymes and songs that work with these cuties.

 I have switched to using wool-blend felt, so I re-did the whole set last weekend, and I'll be bringing it in and using it in my classroom this coming week.  The kids have been playing with my Construction Set for the past few weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they use this set...

Want fun tidbits for preschool teachers, librarians, 

or anyone with young kids in their life?

Flannel Friday is being hosted by your's truly this week--the roundup is here.

You can find many more ideas on Pinterest, and learn more about Flannel Friday on Facebook or the FF blog!

Flip Flap Fly

I love this little book.  But it's little.  I haven't even checked to see if I can get a bigger version to use with larger groups--I just went for it and made a felt set to go along with the poem instead.  I love the illustrations, I love the poem, the vocabulary, the rhymes...  I hope my kids love seeing it on the flannel board!  (And it goes well to a jazzy little version of the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune, too!)

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Lisa at LibraryLand.  

For more info about Flannel Friday, check out these links:

Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

Slippery Fish

I've had a foam version of Slippery Fish in my classroom for years.  It's been through a lot, and the fabric paint has peeled off of most pieces, and some of the octopus' arms are stapled on.  Poor guy. So I finally took the time to re-do this set.  Here it is!

I was introduced to Slippery Fish (actually, its real title is Octopus) from a Charlotte Diamond CD I bought many, many years ago.  Like, maybe 20?  I had no idea it was such a well known and oft-felted song!  I use it Every. Single. Year.  Frequently.  And somehow I'm still not sick of it!

Here's a video of the set being used with that lovely song:

                              

This set is available at my shop :)  (But it doesn't include the Slippery Fish lyrics shown above--rather, there's a cute five little ocean creatures rhyme in there.  Copyright, you know!)

You can find the Flannel Friday Roundup Here.

For more info about Flannel Friday, check out these links:
Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

Shark Stories

So, Shark Week.  Hmmmm.....  And I'm hosting it!  Hmmmmm......  I checked out all the cool ocean sets on Pinterest, and I looked through my own collection thinking I might just post my old Slippery Fish set, or add a shark to my Ocean Set.  I even have a laminated clipart set for Three Little Fishies (aka Boop Boop Ditty).  But I decided I needed something different.  So, I started googling.

I made this set by searching for 'shark size chart'. I really wanted to emphasize the difference in the size of each shark. I printed out one of the million images that came up and traced the sharks I liked.  I then enlarged each one about 2x bigger to create my templates and got to work flannelizing them (and the diver!)  Add a little fabric paint, and voila! 

I haven't decided exactly how I'll use them yet.  I'm thinking a take on Sue Williams' I Went Walking...  Maybe:

I went diving!

What did you see?

One Blue Shark was swimming by me!

Or perhaps a take on Brown Bear:

Blue Shark, Blue Shark, what do you see?

I see a Tiger Shark looking at me...

Here they are all lined up:  diver, blue shark, tiger shark, thresher shark, hammerhead, great white...all atop the huge whale shark!
(Huge whale shark, do do, do do do do, huge whale shark do do, do do do do...)

This particular set isn't for sale, but please check out my shop with many of my other sets:

Flannel Board Fun

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week!  Check out the Roundup HERE.  And of course you can find a huge assortment of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Board, and other goodies at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page and  FF blog.  Check them all out! 

So Many Fish!

I've updated this post with pictures of my new fishies!  See below for the chant that goes along with this one--though now that I've made this big new set, I can see lots of other ways to use these,  similar to ways we use my Mitten Match set...

This is a set I made many years ago.  The fish are cut from sheets of foam.  I drew them with coordinating colors of marker on the foam and then cut them out, and stuck a square of velcro on the back of each one.  I think this probably works best in a classroom, where the teachers know the names of all the children--not sure how valuable it would be for librarians, unless you know your group well enough that you know every child's name...  It definitely works well for me when I have a smaller group of children, so there's not a long wait for anyone to come up and take their fish.

With my new found skills and insight (!) I will be re-making this set using felt (no little velcro squares to tempt the children to peel, peel, peel), and I will make the fish much bigger.  These are fine for small group time, but bigger is generally better.  I'm not sure why I always made my story/game pieces so small in the past.  What was I thinking?

Ocean Set

Here's another set I'll be offering for sale at my school's upcoming Vendor Sale.  This one's similar to the Space Set, and I think I'll make a copy for my own use in the classroom.  I intend to add have now added a shark, and could easily have these to accompany Slippery Fish, Down by the Ocean, or various other ocean songs and rhymes.  And I know the kids will enjoy having these on hand for open-ended play, too.

Click here to buy this set at my shop!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kim at Literary Commentary!  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page

Five Little Fish

Though I didn't go swimming with any fish on my recent trip to Nicaragua, I was at the ocean, and there are sharks in Lake Nicaragua, so I'm posting this in honor of my trip anyway!  You may recognize that awesome shark from his original debut at Piper Loves the Library, but the fish are all mine.  Or, well, at least copied from a google search of clip art!  I love the way the collage method makes their colors stand out.  

The children always look a little hesitant when I pull such a grumpy looking shark out of his storage bag. But I place my finger over his furrowed brow and show them how different he looks--and then we all start wiggling our eyebrows at each other and talking about things that make us happy or grumpy or surprised, and once we finally get back on track to do the shark stories, everyone's feeling much more at ease!

Here are the poems and songs we typically do with this set.  I believe I found these both at Perpetual Preschool ages and ages ago.

Five Little Fish/Teasing Mr. Shark

Five little fishies swimming in the sea, (encourage the kids to 'swim' their hands)

Teasing Mr. Shark--"You can't catch me!" (thumbs on temples, fingers waving in air)

Along comes Mr. Shark as quiet as can be (swim him behind the board with fin showing, and the kids can put their hands up like a fin, too!)

And SNAPS that fish right out of the sea! (Kids clap on 'snaps' and shark/teacher removes one fish)

Continue on, counting down.  I always like to give the option of a happy ending if anyone seems upset.  Sometimes we ask Mr. Shark if he's eaten the fish, and he answers with grunts, keeping his mouth tightly closed!  Eventually we tell him a joke so he laughs, and all the fish come swimming right on out :)  Or something along those lines...

This particular set isn't for sale, but please check out my shop with many of my other sets:

Flannel Board Fun Shop

Five Little Fish (this one doesn't use the shark)
(sung to London Bridge;)

Five little fish swimming by the shore,
By the shore, by the shore,
One got caught, then there were four, four little fish.

Four little fish swimming in the sea,
In the sea, in the sea,
One got caught, then there were three, three little fish.

Three little fish swimming in the blue,
In the blue, in the blue,
One got caught, then there were two, two little fish.

Two little fish swimming in the sun,
In the sun, in the sun,
One got caught, then there was one, one little fish.

One little fish swimming straight for home,
Straight for home, straight for home.
Decided he would never roam, smart little fish.

This week you'll find the Flannel Friday roundup at Catch the Possibilities and of course you'll find lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's blog or Pinterest page.