Greetings and thank you to all of you who follow Every Day Is Storytime! I have been slow to post my latest theme as I have been busy finalizing my first picture book, Miss Lucy Jane, which will be published and available in September. The beautiful illustrations are by my cousin Emmeline Hall. I am very excited and look forward to sharing Miss Lucy Jane with the world come autumn.
Every day, whether it is filled with activities away from your house or busy with lots of house and yard moments, is wonderfully framed with the comfortable look and feel and smell and spirit of the home you create with your family. Take time to take a few photographs (or make drawings) of favorite spaces in your house, making sure everyone gets to add their special places to the list. Take a photo (or draw a picture) of each person and pet in your family. Use your photos or drawings to make a banner all about The Story of Our Home and Family. Write under each picture why that place was chosen, who chose it, and what special things you can do there. Tape your pictures to a string or ribbon and tape your banner across a window or pin it to a curtain. I hope at least one of the pictures shows an especially good place to read a book!!
BOOKLIST:
Collect books from around your house that have something to do with home and family. Check your local library for the following titles. Request them from the interlibrary service if necessary. Be sure to explore the library shelves for books that look good to you1
Castles, Caves and Honeycombs by Linda Ashman
I Want to Say I Love You by Carolyn Buehner
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? Eric Carle
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Big Brother, Little Brother by Penny Dale
Where's My Mom? by Julia Donaldson
Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack
Moving Day by Robert Kalan
Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
What Baby Wants by Phyllis Root
We Were Tired of Living in a House by Liesel Skorpen
This Is the House that Was Tidy and Clean by Teri Sloat
Raise the Roof! by Anastasia Suen
This Is the House that Jack Built by Simms Taback
Bunnies on the Go by Rick Walton
The House That Jack Built by Jeanette Winter
After you have shared a few books and talked about your own home and family, have fun with my HOME ACTION RHYME. I wrote it many years ago to use in my Home and Family storytime. It is one of my favorites because the hand movements flow so smoothly from one to another. Try it and see how it works for you. My teaching suggestion is to talk about the individual homes that appear in the poem and who lives in them so everyone knows what you are talking about. Then read the poem, learn the actions, then put them all together. Face your child to model the actions, or do them together in front of a mirror, or do both!
HOME
A king lives in a castle,
A bird lives in a tree,
A bear lives in a deep, dark cave,
And a fish lives in the sea.
A mouse lives in a mousehole,
A hive is fine for bee,
A turtle crawls under a shell,
But a house is home to me!
Copyright 1999 Jane Willis Johnston
Substitutions: Replace "king" with queen or prince or princess in the first line.
Replace "house" with any other kind of human home, such as igloo, treehouse, houseboat, tipi, tent, apartment, trailer, or anything else you can think of. Be sure to create a motion for your new word. Take turns being inventive.
ACTIONS;
Castle: Stretch fingers and hold hands on sides of head to show a castle tower.
Tree: Stretch arms way out at your sides.
Cave: Hold arms in arch over your head with hands together.
Sea: Keep your hands together and make them wave up and down as you bring your arms down in front of you. You are making a wave and a fish swimming at the same time!
Mousehole: Now open your hands and touch fingers to make a circle for the hole.
Hive: Close your hands together into a double fist.
Turtle shell: Move one hand curved over the other. Stick out your thumb and little finger of the covered hand to show the turtle's head and tail (unless you want him to stay pulled in under his shell!)
House: Lift your arms over your head and bring your hands together in a point for a roof.
HOME AND FAMILY ACTIVITIES:
Choose a few small stuffed animals or dolls or action figures, gather up whatever building supplies you have (blocks, legos, boxes, plastic food storage containers, plastic cups, straws, plastic spoons, etc.) and build a differently shaped house for each figure. Consider their size and shape and what their needs might be. When you are finished, you will have neighborhood all ready for you to tell a story about each house and who lives inside and what they like to do when they are home.
Get a little exercise by moving all around your house to the rhythm of my poem about going home.
You might want to get a lot of exercise and move in all the ways described in the poem. Choose a place that is going to be "home" and when you get to the last line, run to that place and plop down!!
ALL THE WAY HOME
I like to go walking and skipping and riding,
I like to go climbing and jumping and hiding,
I like to see all of the world when I roam,
Then I like to go running all the way home!
Copyright 2003 Jane Willis Johnston
Take a look at your The Story of Our Home and Family banner before you settle down in a cosy corner of your home for a good bedtime book. Sweet dreams!
