Whale Storytime 11/28/18

By Awnali Mills

Today’s storytime was all about whales.  The books I chose were Following Papa’s Song by Gianna Marino and The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan.

After our opening song, my orca whale puppet brought out the letter W and pictures of W words.  Our last picture was a whale, and we sang Slippery Fish.
Slippery fish, slippery fish, sliding through the water,
Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!
Oh, no! It’s been eaten by an …

Octopus, octopus, squiggling in the water….
Tuna fish, tuna fish, flashing in the water….
Great white shark, great white shark, lurking in the water…

Humongous whale, humongous whale, spouting in the water,
Humongous whale, humongous whale,
Gulp! … Gulp! … Gulp! … BURP!
(Cover your mouth.) Excuse me!

Then we read Following Papa’s Song, which is a lovely story with even lovelier illustrations. I just adore the colors in this book.  Because the story talks about a young whale following whale song, after the book I played a short clip of whale song from Sound Bible.  This was very well received.  I always feel like I’m listening to haunting opera singers.

After that, we did the flannel Five Giant Whales.

Five giant whales, swimming on the ocean floor,
One went to blow (OR off to play) and then there were four.
Four giant whales, swimming in the sea,
One saw a shark and then there were three.
Three giant whales, swimming the ocean blue,
One dived to the bottom and then there were two.
Two giant whales, swimming just for fun,
One got tired so then there was just one.
One giant whale, swimming all alone,
He was very lonely, so he went home.
Then we sang a version of The Elevator Song called The Ocean Song from Jbrary.

Oh the ocean is great and the ocean is grand (put your arms out wide)
There are lots of tall ships and very little land (hands together up, and then down)
And we sleep down deep in a hammock near the floor (snuggle into your hammock)
And this is what we do when we go out the door (open up a door)
We ride the waves up, we ride the waves down (rollercoaster arms up and down)
We ride the waves up, we ride the waves down (or stand up and down)
We ride the waves up, we ride the waves down (or lift your baby up and down)
And we turn around (roll your hands around each other)

Then we read the funny little book The Whale in My Swimming Pool about a little boy who just wants to go for a swim, but can’t get the great big whale out of his swimming pool.  Our next tune was Orca Whale sung to Ram Sam Sam.
An orca whale, an orca whale (arm waves across body like whale in waves)
Little sea scallops (hands open and close like a shell), and an orca whale.
An orca whale, an orca whale
Little sea scallops, and an orca whale.
Sea otter, sea otter (fists beat on chest)
Little sea scallops, and an orca whale.
Sea otter, sea otter,
Little sea scallops, and an orca whale.

I had the kids all practice the moves with me, and then we sang the song through twice.  They were really good once they’d had some practice!

Our last flannel was an interactive whale rendition of Five Sharks in a Bathtub.

One whale in a bathtub, going for a swim.
Knock, knock, splash, splash, come on in!
(Count up to five)
Five whales in a bathtub, going for a swim.
Knock, knock, splash, splash, they all fell in!

We sang our closing song and finished up with playtime.