Storytime Recap: Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day, we had a veterans and peace themed storytime. As usual, we began our time together with our welcome song, "Clap Everybody and Say Hello." Afterwards, I introduced the concept of honoring our veterans for their contribution to keeping the peace by reading excerpts from Veterans Day by Arlene Worsley. I talked about how Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day, honoring the peace agreement after World War I.

I introduced our first story by talking about how many people have veterans in their families; mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas. When the soldiers come home from war they aren't just veterans, they are also teachers, cooks, lawyers, and sometimes gardeners. Grandpa Green by Lane Smith is a wonderfully illustrated story with a little boy guiding us through his great-grandfather's memory garden.

I like getting the kids up and moving, so I led us in 3 repetitions of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." This is always a fun song to do, as the repetition is important for language learning and the increasing speed of each repetition leads to a lot of giggles.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes And eyes and ears and mouth and nose Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

Next I talked about how I love the next book because I have two dogs at home. Making connections to your everyday life is a great way to help kids connect with the stories you read together. Tuesday Tucks Me In by Luis Carlos Montalván is a sweet but informative story about how a veteran soldier is comforted and supported by his service dog.

The kids still had plenty of wiggly energy to work out, so we did another action rhyme, this time with animals since we just read about a dog.

Jump like a frog Stretch like a cat Hop like a bunny Flap like a bat Wiggle like a worm Slither like a snake Now be a wet dog And shake, shake, shake

Since I talked about how Veterans Day was originally a day honoring peace, I wanted to end storytime with a book about peace. So we read Peace is an Offering by Annette LeBox, a rhyming meditation on the many different ways we can find and give peace in our lives.

We finished up with our Goodbye Song.

Lastly, I introduced our movie, the animated version of Wind Flyers by Angela Johnson, a story about the life of one of the Tuskegee Airmen from World War II.

See you next week!